Let's Mow

Time to drive Daddy!

Phonics Desk Phun!

Alec is nearly two. I thought this video Julie shot best showed his aptitude for future reading and knowing his letters and sounds.

Day Trip to the Lodge

After filling our bellies with Sunday breakfast we decided to do some exploring between here and Lake Quinalt. Our first stop was the Quinalt National Fish Hatchery. We enjoyed a self-guided tour of the rearing ponds, hatchery room and fish ladder. Over 8 million chinook, coho, chum and steelhead are released each year from this facility. Impressive.

We then headed North toward the Lodge located on beautiful Lake Quinalt and in the rain forest at Olympic National Park. We dined in the Roosevelt Dining Room (Named for FDR, who made a visit to the Lodge while President) There is a lot of history at the Lodge and it was fascinating to tour the grounds. The best part...less than 40 minutes from Seabrook to Olympic National Park and we've just scratched the surface.

More Photos

Sunday Surprise!

Our house made the front cover of today's Business section of the News Tribune. While the focus was not on our house, but on our friend Casey, it was a surprise to see it there front and center. Congratulations to Casey and everyone at Seabrook, what a great write up!

View the article.

Grand Opening

During yesterday's perfect afternoon I decided it would be as good a time as any to crack open the first bottle of the Alaska Frontier Ale. It did not disappoint. I will be dropping off a few for friends around Seabrook.

Saturday at Seabrook

The weather was beautiful today. We enjoyed a relaxing day doing everything from searching for slugs and tadpoles, to hot tubbing and roasting marshmallows. I've added a bunch of photos to the May '08 gallery as well. More to come tomorrow.

Life is good...

78 degrees, blue sky. Nothing more to report.

Amazing Seabrook Sky

Arrived earlier today. Couldn't pass up snapping a quick iphone
picture this evening while on a short walk. More pictures and posts to
follow. It's good to be back.

Poker Night!

Fun was had by all at Marty's place last night. Despite a late arrival from all the participants we managed to get in three games. It was good to be back around the table with good friends, to chat, laugh and ridicule. All part of the camaraderie we've forged over the past few years.

Around the table were, Thomas, Scott, Chad, Dave, Marty and myself. Most of us left full of good food, and at least one of us left gaining a little weight in the wallet.

Here's to next month!

To the Zoo with Grameano

Ian is still sick. He had to miss his field trip to Northwest Trek yesterday. Today was Charlotte's turn and if it had not been for Grameano, she would've had to miss her field trip too. Since Ian was too sick to go to school, Julie had to stay home and take care of him. I had meetings today that were put off from yesterday since I was home, thus I could not stay home again.

Grameano cheerfully stepped to the plate to take Charlotte to the Zoo. Charlotte had a fantastic time and talked all they way home non-stop about all the fun...Everything from seeing the octopus, eating ice cream and petting a REAL rat! She followed it up by saying, "Don't worry Daddy, I washed my hands when I was done."

More May photos can be found here as well.

Belgian Wit to Secondary

So tonight I took the Belgian Wit from 9 days ago and transferred it to the secondary fermenter. This will allow me to clean out the primary and make them into secondaries for the Alt done over the weekend. I allowed myself a small sip whilst transferring and while a bit yeasty will definitely be good in a couple of weeks. So good in fact, that I will be picking up another set of ingredients to do another batch.

Swim Lessons!

Charlotte is ready to join the other Sea Puffers!

The Resting House

Ian is not feeling well today. He had a rough night with a high temperature. Unfortunately this means he is going to have to miss his field trip today to Northwest Trek. He and Julie were planning on leaving about now for school to pick up friends and head to Trek. It was to be an all-day field trip. My job was to work from home and keep tabs on Charlotte and Alec.

I feel bad for him, but I'm not sure how much fun it will be for the class. The weather has returned to our usual 50 and rainy (plus some wind). It's unbelievable how three days ago it was 95 and today, 50 with rain.

So, now the task is to keep the other two away from him so they don't get it too! Fifths Disease is going around in his class, so that is the likely culprit. Hopefully we can push through this and keep our plans alive for a trip to the coast this weekend.

The Commish

Tonight is school commission. I'm heading out in a couple of minutes and will grab some dinner on the way South. It is not always easy to get the energy up after a long day of work for a two hour meeting, but it is well worth it to have this level of participation.

St. Michael School is a very special place. I have been around a lot of schools in my time and I believe it offers students a great education.

I am honored and excited to participate.

Spring Cleaning! Outside Edition

The weather has been spectacular and gratefully not as brutally hot today as the past couple have been. Friday was supposed to have been the hot day, but my vote is for yesterday being tops. I was showing a consistent 95 yesterday. Mercifully, today was in the high 70s, more my style.

After Church I got started on getting the deck ready to re-stain, so I moved all the chairs, pots, bbq, etc and spent a few hours cleaning and prepping the deck. I topped it all off with a good pressure washing for the patio below the deck. We are going to be getting a quote on under decking so that the rain does not drip down on you below so we can use the space when it's raining. Nothing like sitting in the old hot tub and having muddy deck water drip down from above. Since the hot tub is now history, we're working on cleaning up the space.

The kids enjoyed the slip 'n slide yet again and Julie worked in the yard planting, pruning, and beautifying. It is looking fantastic...I'll get some pictures posted soon!

Ready, Set, Go

Alec's idea of a slip 'n slide.

Alt Style Ale - Recipe

So, the process has begun...heating the water now!

BC Alt - All Grain (10 Gallons)

22 lbs - Briess Pale Malt
1 lb - Crystal 60
.25 lbs - Chocolate Malt

5 oz - Hallertauer (60 minutes)
1 oz - Hallertauer (10 minutes)

White Labs WLP036 - Platinum Dusseldorf Alt Yeast

More to come...

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

We didn't buy peanuts AND Cracker Jacks, but since there are peanuts IN Cracker Jacks we got it covered, along with hot dogs, chips, cotton candy, regular pop corn, etc. etc.

Ian, Charlotte and I headed out last night to watch the Tacoma Rainiers take on the Tucson Sidewinders at Cheney Stadium along with other St. Mikes families.

It took us a while to get in the gates due to a sell-out crowd and a traffic accident (gratefully not ours) out in front of the stadium.

Once inside we treated ourselves to some dinner and snacks. We watched some of the game, but mostly enjoyed exploring the stadium and seeing the game from different spots (mainly since our seats were tough to get in and out of with all the people).

The highlight for Ian and Charlotte was meeting Rhubarb the Reindeer and each getting a souvenir ball (for Charlotte, pink of course), and mini-bat for Ian.

Fun was had by all and they are asking when we can go again...next stop is likely Safeco Field to watch the Mariners...tickets should be easy to get and seating plentiful. Not sure what I mean, just check the standings... :)

See More May Photos Here

Slip Slidin' Away

Following Ian's school conference this morning, Mommy dropped Him, Alec and I off at Toy R Us to pick up a new Slip 'n Slide. Our current Slip 'n Slide did not make it though yesterday's playdate, so we needed a new one.

Toys R Us was a bit picked over with the warm weather, so we found a cool, shark Slip 'n Slide complete with opening and closing jaws. The best part, over 20' of slide. Ian was thrilled. Charlotte a bit less enthusiastic as the video below illustrates.

A Boy and a Backhoe

Alec loves trucks and it is very hard to drag him away when he's watching them work on the construction at St. Michael Parish.

Single Stab Wound to the Hand & Alt Style Ale Coming Soon

I stabbed myself today for the first time ever. It was not fun.

I was using a Leatherman to cut a plastic pot off a plant I was preparing to put in the ground, but the only thing that got put anywhere was the Leatherman into me.

The wound is not bad, nothing like the time I tore my ear off riding my bike home from Paul Mudget's house. It was traumatic enough however, to mention here. For a split second I thought to myself, "What are you doing? You just stabbed yourself..." I'll spare you the photos and no, Mom, it does not need a stitch. :)

In any case it's in the meaty part of my right hand under the thumb, a little neosporin and I'm good to go...

In the interest of ending this post on a lighter note. Everything else is great. The weather is perfect...the kids are doing fine and over the weekend I'll be brewing a Summer Alt Ale...

Tomorrow Ian has his last conference of 1st grade. I can't believe it, 1st grade. He is such a great kid! I will be taking him and Charlotte to a Tacoma Rainiers game tomorrow night, shhhh, they don't know...

Playdate

Ian has been looking forward to today for awhile. His best friend Matthew came over to visit and play prior to swim lessons tonight. I just got home and it looks like they have all been having a good time - Slip 'n Slide, Battleship and frog catching. It's good to see a sunny day and to hear kids playing in the yard when coming home. Life is good.

To Aberdeen and Back - Oh and Swim Lessons

A crazy day! Not sure when was the last non-crazy day, but today qualified as one even by my standards.

Up early and had new hire meetings, sales meeting and then a presentation for a possible new client. All pretty standard fare for life at SiteCrafting. Here's where it got a bit nuts. I had a 1:00 presentation and then needed to leave to be in Aberdeen, WA for a training at 2:30, so I did 15 minutes at the 1:00 and let Mark take over from there. I then traveled the 75 miles to the coast to present. Left at 4:45 so I could be home in time to take the kids to swimming lessons at 6:00. (We were early). Just now settled down, kids are playing wii and ready for bed. All so we can start again tomorrow bright and early.

Wouldn't change it for the world!

Samiclaus Christmas Ale

Meant to add this entry yesterday, but did not want to preempt Mother's Day with a post about Christmas, especially when it included Ale. However, the bottling was a success. 23, 22 oz. bottles with gold caps. Look for these this coming winter.

Note to self: New tradition, brewing 12/6...Nice, this year it's a Saturday.

Belgian Wit

So it's steeping. A sort of wonderful tea that ends up with the attractive name of wort. Which in turn after fermenting for a few weeks is known as beer. This time, it's Belgian Wit.

Belgian Wit is a "wheat" beer, often whitish in color from suspended yeast. Learn More.

This is not a clear beer, but is very refreshing. I brew mine using 1/2 Belgian two row malt, and 1/2 wheat. The rest of the recipe is below, but it all adds up to a very good beer.

10 lbs. 2 Row Belgian Pale Malt (Dingmans)
10 lbs. German Wheat Malt
.5 lbs. Rice Hulls
4 oz. Saaz Hops
2 oz. Sazz Hops (finishing)

Gruut

2 oz. Corriander Seed
1 oz. Bitter Orange Peel
1 oz. Sweet Orange Peel
White Labs WLP Belgian Wit II Ale - Platinum

Prost!

Snacks and the Weather

So today is a big day if your name is Charlotte in our house. Today is snack day at school, and as a by-product of doing snack you also get to do the weather. Today she is starting he unit on ponds and so she and Julie created some frog lily pad cookies. They are very cute, although she chose to go with gummy frogs vs. the real one I found out back.

Mother's Day 2008

So there's a lot to be said for Moms. I have a wonderful mother and I am blessed with a wife who is, in turn, a fantastic mother to our kids. Everyday she greets it with a loving consistency worth noting. Lunches, packing the car, snack, stuffed animals, juice, milk all make up the symphony of the morning routine. Some mornings are easier than others. Tantrums or kisses the love and care are the same. Rarely are there thanks and that is why we have Mother's Day. While every day is kid's (and husband's) day, today is for our Mom.

We got up and headed to church. It seemed like forever since we've been there. We've had a lot going on and it was nice to all be together. We were joined by Gramiano (Julie's Mom) and step-dad Omar.

Following Mass we hit the Olympia Farmer Market for gingerbread boys, tomato plants, roasted cashews and a crash course in navigating crowds. A good time was had by all.

Our appetites calling us, we stopped at Casa Mia for some pizza and then home for gardening and relaxing.

In the end it will probably not be the sort of pampering day Julie deserves or needs, but it was fun and we were all together.

So for all the days we forget to say thank you, we thank and honor you today, our Moms. We love you.

Alaska Frontier Ale - Bottled

So, last night I bottled my Alaskan Frontier Ale. Brewed it two Sunday's ago and it looks to be very good. I originally intended to do 10 full gallons, but ended up with a bit more than 9 due to some problems getting the wort transferred into the carboys.

The recipe for 10 gallons is below for all grain.

• 20 lbs. Pale Malt (2-Row) Gambrinus
• .80 lbs Crystal 80
• 1.5 lbs Crystal 120
• 1 lb Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
• .20 lbs. Special B
• .12 lbs. Roasted Barley
• 4 oz Fuggle Hops - 60 min
  
• 4 oz Mt. Hood Hops - 15 min, and at end of boil
• Yeast White Labs WLP002 English Ale
  

I have 23, 22-ounce bottles that will be ready to roll in two weeks and about 4 gallons in a keg that will be ready to sample Tuesday. Next up for brewing is a Belgian Wit (my absolute favorite from last year) Likely will do this tomorrow or Monday evening depending upon when I can get my Christmas Ale bottled.

---UPDATE---

Tried a sample a day early...still needs some time, but will be good. Definitely dark though so I am updating the label to include American Dark Ale as well.


--- UPDATE 2 ---

Poured a pint (see photo above). Very good. Should approach perfect in a few days once it has cleared up a bit.

Welcome

So it begins.

I have been threatening to do this for some time and as they say , no time like the present. So I'll say it again, it begins.

I have been blogging rather unfaithfully on our company blog, but this is meant to be more of a personal blog focusing on things like my hobbies (brewing, fishing, smoking - the food kind), family, and fun.

Enjoy!