Reunion 2018

Way back in July of 2016 we had our first official family reunion at Mt Rushmore, South Dakota.  At that time, those that were able to make it decided we should have another.  And thus the plan to have a family reunion in 2018 was born.  And we did it!  We created an event on Facebook, picked the date, and began all the planning.  A place was picked, we decided to camp again and were able to find the right combination of lodgings.  Reservations were made, meals were planned, vacation time was reserved, and travel plans were made and booked.

At long last the day arrived and it was time to pack up and hit the road.  Actually, for some the travel began sooner than others because they had farther to go.  So a day or two before the day to check in at the campground, families began arriving at our house and final preparations were underway.  The prize for traveling the farthest went to Stachellbeere who came from Hawaii.

Pretty soon all the cars were packed and loaded.

People were ready to jump in and get on the road!

At Mt Rushmore we had a cabin but those were harder to come by this time.  But we found a place with some yurts which proved to be almost as good!  The only thing they didn't have that the cabins had was bathrooms and air conditioning.  But camping is roughing it, right?  Besides, the ceiling fans turned out to do a pretty good job so it worked out just fine.

All the comforts of home.  Well, enough, if not all.

Besides, you don't go camping to spend all your time in doors anyway.

So some of us were in yurts and the rest were in tents.  We ended up in two tent sites and two yurts, which met our needs quite nicely.

I really liked that this campground was so heavily wooded.  It gave a nice feel f privacy, that and the fact that most of the days we were there were weekdays so there weren't that many people around anyway.

Right up to the edge of the camp site the trees were thick and tall.  Even the day it got windy it wasn't all that noticeable because the trees kept it out.

We tended to congregate at Moosebeere's camp site.  That's where all the food was done, the games were played, the stories were read, the talk was done, and the campfire was enjoyed.  It worked out very well.

If fact, we brought the big, nice chairs from the two yurts over to Moosebeere's site and set them around the campfire.  Those, in addition to all the camp chairs that everyone brought proved to be  more than enough seating.

Moosebeere proved to be quite good at getting the campfire going.

The first night we had "walking tacos" (a term that has always seemed odd to me, but what the heck.).  Everyone fixed whatever they wanted in their "taco" and everyone was quite happy with dinner.

After dinner it was seating and visiting around the campfire until bed time.  A very nice first day.  The talk lasted a while until everyone drifted off to their tents or yurts and off to bed.

Breakfast was bright and early, the kids saw to that.

After breakfast the days activities called for some sight-seeing.

Twiner shirts, quite unplanned but pretty cool nonetheless!

First stop was the Cana Lighthouse.  First time I was there the causeway was high and dray and we rode our bikes out to the "island."  Next time we were there the walkway was awash.  We figured it was because there had been a lot of rain just before our visit.

This time the walkway was under a foot of water and there was a wagon ride across.  It really is an island now.

A very bumpy wagon ride because all the nice crushed granite on the trail has washed away and now it was just big rocks.  Apparently they no longer try to keep the causeway serviceable and just provide the wagon ride.  That was funner anyway.

This lighthouse is a real nice place to visit.  The group that maintains it does a real nice job. 

While the lighthouse is a working lighthouse, it is fully automated and maintained by the coastguard.  It no longer needs anyone there to keep it operational.  So a local group of volunteers keep the grounds up and maintain the exhibits that are there.

This time I made it to the top.  The other two times I didn't but this time I did - all 97 steps!  Because they don't allow kids under five years old up, and because they limit the number of people that can go up at a time, it took us three groups to all get up there.  That worked out pretty good because that way there was someone to watch the kids that couldn't go up. 

So after everyone had been up that wanted to go we just walked around the grounds and took pictures for a while.

It was a pretty nice morning.

We got some pretty nice pictures.

And the kids had fun when we walked out the path to the lake.

They got to look around, some played in the water, wadding a little bit.

Soaking up the sun.

And, yes, throwing rocks into the water.

After a while at the lighthouse we headed over to Sister Bay to have lunch at Al Johnson's restaurant.  This is the place that has goats on the roof mowing the grass.  Unfortunately it was too hot for the goats to be out that day.

We had seen them up there on our other visits but not this time.

Stachelbeere made some comments about how we ought to try the pickled herring so we got some and those that wanted to tried it.  I have had it before, when I was in Germany.  But it was new to everyone else.  I like it.

They didn't have a Ruben on the menu but they had a corn beef sandwich that was pretty close to the same thing.

I think my lunch might actually have been more healthy than Brombeere's.  That's a role reversal!

It was a good lunch!

After lunch we went to the beach park across the street and played in the water for a while.  Heidlebeere had brought her paddle board so everyone had to have a turn.  For the kids, that meant Heidlebeere took them all out.  A number of the others also gave it a try.

And, ahem, some were still getting the hang of it.  But at least Blaubeere was in there trying!  She actually made it quite a ways standing up before taking this spill.

Then it was back to camp for dinner.

Two little cousins catching up on all the happenings since they last saw each other.

The second evening's menu was tin foil dinners.  What camp out is complete without tin foil dinners, right?!

For this crowd that means a lot of tin foil dinners. 

That is not a tin foil dinner that Erdbeere is holding over the campfire.  Its popcorn.  She was trying to do pop corn.  Unfortunately, it didn't go too well.  But the tin foil dinners turned out really well.  Yummy stuff!

And Himbeere took one of the beef patties and put it between two waffles to make a slightly unorthodox hamburger.  But it was good anyway.  Anything cooked over a campfire is good, right?  Well, not always but this was.

Dessert was peach cobber cooked in dutch ovens.  I think this was the first time I had ever seen dutch oven cooking where the ovens weren't buried in the coals but it turned out very nice.

The cobbler cooked faster than the ice cream churned so it had to stay warm next to the coals while the ice cream finished.

But in the end it turned out very well.  An excellent dessert!

The next day was spent pretty much chillin' in camp.  We talked about a few things we might want to do but in the end we all opted to just stay in camp and enjoy the scenery and quiet.

That was a good thing.  It brought some very nice relaxation to the whole affair.  Some people were more in need than others for some relaxation.

This was a very nice part of the whole reunion, just relaxing in camp, enjoying one another's company.

Someone had the foresight to bring some books.

Dinner that night was brats and dogs over the campfire, followed by marshmallows and s'mores.  This was a camp out, we had to have campfire dawgs and s'mores!

All too soon it was time to pack up and head back for home.

When Heidlebeere took down her tent she found out she'd had company the whole time.  Interesting.

Then it was time to pack it all back into the cars and head for home.  This time it took a little less space because of the food that had been eaten. 

So now the reunion is history, a memory, memorialized by a refrigerator magnet.  It was a very good time.  Nearly everyone was there, though some were only able to be there part time.  Still, it was so good to see everyone again and spend some time together.  And guess what?!  There's already talk of doing it again.  We talked of the next reunion being in three years because we have a graduation in two years that will involve significant effort to attend - it will be in Hawaii!  So stay tuned for more details to come!

Happy Fathers' Day!

Last week was Fathers' Day, a national holiday celebrated and not celebrated in a wide variety of ways across the country.  While for Mothers' Day, the month before, most church congregations do something, Fathers' Day is more of a hit or miss kind of thing.  For Mothers'd Day, at the end of sacrament meeting, there's almost always some kind of remembrance.  Flowers, a small book of poetry, or some other small token of remembrance and gratitude.  However, its not unknown for Fathers' Day to pass with little more than a mention and brief comment over the pulpit.  That's has always been fine with me, I'm not complaining in the least here.  I don't miss the attention at all on those years when next to nothing happens. 

This year was a year that they (and by "they" I mean I'm not sure who came up the idea) asked all the guys to hang back after sacrament meeting and then the youth gave a can of root beer to all the adult males.  Fathers' Day (and Mothers' Day, for that matter) remembrances have become "safe" that way in recent years, something for every father or potential father, just in case. 

Anyway, I thought root beer was a pretty nice thing but I didn't want to just drink it right then and there.  I've sort of lost my taste for soda over the last several years and don't drink much of it any more.  However, I still appreciate a good root beer float.  So I took mine home and stuck it in the fridge.  Something else I got for Fathers' Day was a pear - I happen to really like a good pear and this one showed great signs of promise. 

But it wasn't quite ripe, which is a common aliment with store bought fruit.  So the pear went onto the window sill in the kitchen.  There it enjoyed the ripening benefit of the sun each day over the coming week.

So the week passed and each day I'd check the pear to see how it was coming along.  Each day it got a little riper, a little softer.  This was looking good.

Today I decided it was time to enjoy them both.  We had acquired some vanilla ice cream during the week.  It was a special purchase, normally ice cream at our house is a little more exciting than just plain, old vanilla.  So I got out my A&W mug, poured my A&W Root Beer in it, along with a couple of scoops of ice cream, and got about the yummy business of enjoying them both.

And they were good!  The pear was at the perfect stage of ripeness, so juicy it was almost messy to eat.  It was perfect.  And a good root beer float is good in any case.   I love how the ice cream makes the root beer all creamy and smooth.  Oh, it was so good.

All too soon, the pear and root beer float were gone.  But it was sure good reaching that point!

I wouldn't go so far as to call it idol worshiping, but I do have a wonderful reminder of the virtue of a good root beer float that I can't help but think upon at times like these.  The pear was courtesy of Maulbeere, the artwork the courtesy of Erdbeere, and the root beer float courtesy of some thoughtful people at church.  It was an excellent way to celebrate Fathers' Day, I thought.  I'd happily do it again, given the opportunity!

Mission Critical - The Birthday Cake

Brombeere had a birthday, which is a happy thing.  We like having her around and having birthday after birthday.  The last several years her interest in birthday cake has declined, preferring instead fruit of one sort or another.  Or occasionally she'll go for cheesecake.  She likes cheesecake and her favorite is the Jello mix, the quick, easy stuff.  This year she was leaning toward watermelon but then saw a recipe for berry cobbler that was supposed to be real easy and real good.  So she looked at me and said, "You ought to make that for me!"  When we went shopping and she got all the ingredients then I knew I was on the hook.

So, as is my custom, I got everything I was going to need out and ready and got started.  This recipe called for the juice and zest of two lemons. I had reservations about the zest, last time I cooked and included the zest I hadn't particularly liked how it turned out.  But I decided to take a chance and include it. 

The recipe also called for the juice from the lemons.  So I'm looking at all the seeds in the lemons and thinking, how am I going to keep all those seeds out of my cobbler?  I wasn't excited to be picking out seeds so I squeezed them into a cup, fished out all the seeds, and then dumped the juice in with the rest of the berries.  Now that probably seemed like the obvious solution to you right up front but I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of it.

Then, as I got a little farther along with the recipe it called for powdered sugar and I'm thinking, What powdered sugar?  But when I looked back up at the ingredients, there it was.  I had missed it.  So I got some out, measured it up, and dumped it in.

So far it was looking pretty good.  I liked this because it didn't call for having all the berries sliced, chopped, or otherwise cut up.  Just dump them in whole.  That was pretty nice.

So once I had all the stuff together for the berries I stirred it all up and set it aside.

Then I got out my favorite cooking toy and whipped up the batter.  I put all the dry ingredients in, along with the butter, which I had chopped into chunks, and it the button.

It made pretty short work of mixing all the stuff.  Very nice.

Then I added the Half and Half until it was the right consistency.

Then the berries went into the pan ...

... and the batter went on top and it all went into the oven for an hour.

Our oven cooks a little hot and I forgot so it got just a little bit over done.  But it still looked and smelled pretty good.

Served it up with a nice dollop of ice cream to melt over the top of it and it was all ready.

And then, the taste test - it passed!  It was yummy!  Couldn't even tell the zest was in there at all, blended in quite nicely.

Good to the end.  Have to admit, I thought it turned out pretty good!

Nothing left but a sink full of dishes.  One of these days I'm going to figure out how to cook without leaving such a pile of dirty dishes.  Then it will be perfect!

A Fun Birthday

It was Himbeere's birthday and we decided to go all out, or at least a little ways out, and grill some steaks.  That meant we first had to dig the grill out.  I don't think we grilled even once last year.  So it was all covered and buried under all the other junk that got piled just outside the garage because the garage spent the last year or so stuffed clear full of our kids' junk.

So first I had to locate the grill.  Then I had to move all the stuff that was piled on and around it.  It looked worse than it actually turned out to be.

Once I got the stuff moved away and the cover off, I had to clean off cobwebs and other stuff.  Then I  opened up the grill.  That was not encouraging.

It looked pretty dismal.  I was not encouraged.  I wasn't sure I'd even be able to get it lit, even though I knew there was plenty of propane in the tank.  After all, I knew I had refilled the tank shortly before the end of summer the last time we used it.  But after finding a wire brush and giving the whole thing a real good going over, I turned the dials to the right position and hit the lighter.  Lo, and behold, it fired right up!  Amazing!

We had gone to a meat market and got some nice steaks.  We had a coupon so it hadn't really cost us $19.  More like six cents.  Yeah, good meat is expensive.  Good thing we had a good coupon. Otherwise it might have been just burgers.

So Brombeere spiced it up and used the meat tenderizer.  Yes, she beat on the steaks a while and got them all tender and ready.

Then they went on the grill, which was all warmed and ready by then.

As they cooked they got close supervision from a four legged fellow who made sure to stay close by. He initially tried to act disinterested.

But you could tell he really was very much interested.

I left it to Schwartzbeere to determine when the right moment arrived to take the steaks off the grill. Actually, they turned out pretty good, I thought. Schwartzbeere is good that way.

After the steaks we brought out the traditional birthday cake. Well, not quite traditional. It was a double thick brownie "cake." That also was very yummy.

With the candles lit it presented a small fire hazard but Himbeere remained calm.

Rather than expend his precious breath putting out the fire he got a piece of paper and waved it over the flames which actually worked quite well to put them out.

Cake and ice cream - chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate.

Then came the gifts.

He had fun with it - actually smiled a bit.

Then he set into the serious business of opening the presents.

Paper went flying ...

... out came the goodies ...

... and when it was all over he was worn out by the exertion.

Nothing left but the wreckage.

And thus Himbeere arrived at the grand old age of twenty-five. A quarter century old. Truly a milestone worth celebrating. And it was a good time. Happy birthday, Himbeere!