Illinois

We took a little jaunt up to Worden for a few days in June.

We also took a little field trip to the seminary.

Chaplain Stein was preaching that day in chapel. We've grown a bit, eh?

Getting ready for Greek class.

Evangeline's first house.

 Back in Worden there were plenty for everyone to do.

Sleeping arrangements.

 Someday...

Evangeline and Linus

Linus, Evangeline, Eve

Cool kids eat on the porch.

We found some stowaways before leaving.

We got back to NC to find the bees doing this.

So I quick built another hive and split this one. 

I think it worked, but I also think they might have tracheal mites in the old hive.

Birthday Beach Bash

We decided to go to the beach for my birthday, and the Woodses were ever so gracious to let us use their place again. Now, the kids don't really know that you drive all this way to go to the actual beach with the actual ocean, so they insisted on spending most of the time in the pool. That's fine. Evangeline really developed her swimming skills.

You might need sunglasses for this one.

Grandma Carol and the girls.

Can't be too safe.

No vacation is complete without plenty of tv watching.

t i r e d o u t
from swimming all day long.

Fermentos

Good news everyone! 

The raw milk guy at the farmers' market is going to start selling kombucha soon.

We picked up some cabbages (cheaper than whole foods) and got to work making kraut.

They're actually somewhat helpful with this.

braf time

Long Awaited Video

Ta da!

Ballet Recital

Evangeline had her ballet recital yesterday.

Four classes.
Each class sat and watched the other classes perform.

Evangeline was probably the best of her group.

She has a mean curtsy.
Each class came up with a story for the performance.
E's class was about Princess Vanessa befriending a mean witch, who ended up being converted to a nice witch.
We asked her who came up with the name Princess Vanessa, to which she promptly responded "We all did!"

Irene was super proud of her big sister.

When the dad gets the flowers, they are going to have thorns.

Whats a ballet recital without facepainting?

Stay tuned for a video.

The robins left the nest, and I found this one hanging out on the front porch this morning.

full swing spring

It took a few years, but check out how many peaches we've got now! 

Our friend Adam didn't believe me that this drill actually worked, and drilled a hole in the gate. Irene saw it and after he left, went and drilled her own hole. This is Grandma Ernst's drill.

Guess who got suckered into letting his daughter eat a bag of cheetos for lunch.

I made this bread.
It is a sourdough country loaf made with mostly wild yeasts, a recipe from Tartine, in SF.
I started the sourdough culture initially with the lees from a mead I'd made,
but I think that its actually become quite sour and tasty by now.
I could hardly believe it when I took it out of the oven and it looked like it is supposed to.

Things are finally growing in the church garden.

 Schara graduated from UNC, and we went to her party.

There was a dj and a dance floor.

Evangeline burned it up, with help from a new friend.

The girl can do the cha cha slide.

The baby robins aren't so babyish anymore. They're sure to be gone any day now. If I want a pet robin, this is my last chance for this year.

We decided to brave the wilds of the restaurant frontier after Ellee's concert today and made a trip back to our old haunt, the Printworks Bistro. The food was great, but the dining experience was a little hectic thanks to these two blessings. Irene brought us probably 12 pieces of broken glass. But hey, they have a good mom, so its all okay.
The relative peace of this time was promptly broken when Irene brought a cigarette butt to her mother and put it in her lap. How beautiful.

Evangeline finally figured out how to pump on the swing.

Mom brought home goggles.