Freestyling: Star Wars on the Mind

The "Real Santa"

Santa made a visit to the Dana Point Harbor and we were lucky enough to get him all to ourselves. We are anxiously awaiting the big day and can't wait to see our families and friends in Idaho!

Evan's 3!

Snowboarder Cake

Halloweenie!!

Try not to get too scared by this spooky ghost!!!!

Don't worry there's a strong fireman around to help protect you.

Sam's ghost costume only lasted for pictures (turned out that wearing a sheet around is rather uncomfortable). He was over it and put on his knight costume for trick or treating.

Grandma and Grandpa Carberry joined us this year for Halloween and also to celebrate both of their birthdays. The boys were so excited to design their cake. We made "Lego Guy Golfer Cake".

Love and miss you all soooo much!

Hard Cider

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away."  Many of us have heard of this saying.  I think that most of us just don't know that "the apple" is referring to a tall glass of hard cider.  Hard cider or fermented apple juice was the most popular drink during colonial times.  It was more common than water because the fermentation process killed all of the bad bacteria often found in well water.  Also, apple trees were originally planted for the purpose of making cider not for eating apples.  Surprising I know.  I learned all of this on our drive with our friends up to Julian, a small town east of San Diego famous for its apple orchards.  Vila, our friend from Finland gave me this little history on apples in the US.  His plan was to juice 10 gallons of cider.

Cider making production line:  apples ground up, then pressed and poured into five gallon glass jars.  By the end there were happy bees everywhere.  Took two hours to press 10 gallons of cider and will only take 3 wks. minimum to make hard cider.

This is the owner of the apple farm showing us how to run the juicer.  The boys thought that he was a pirate.  While Vila worked, the boys and I went on mission to find the hidden tepee where this "pirate" sleeps.

We picked apples for eating.  The boys loved the simplicity of food growing on trees.  Imagine that!

Apple Orchard Ninja Gang....watch out!



Sam I Am

Sam likes to talk right before he goes to sleep at night.  That is when he wants to tell you about all the the rich ideas and feelings that move through his mind.  Last night he told me, "I have two brains. My second brain is my heart.  It remembers everything.  I think that I can hear a little thinker in there."
Sam carries with him a longing for deep understanding of the world and the way things work. A few days ago he said, "What is God made of?"
I said, "Everything."
Then he asked, "Who made God?"

 Here Sam is ready to go out and learn in the world at his first day of Kindergarten at Journey School.  (Happy here, but the tears came later and for the first week.  Now, thank goodness he loves his school.)

Evan is my helper in the kitchen.  On this particular day we were making Joe's birthday cake and yes Evan is wearing a batter beard.  Yum!

The boys love to celebrate a birthday!

Grandpa Doug

We love you....thanks for the belly laughs!

p.s.  I will post more from our fun summer soon and can't wait for some girlies to get back on the blogwagon.  I thought this would be a nice way to start it off.