oscarbrew

Ryan 6 Comments »

On Christmas day Amy surprised me with a huge, heavy box. Until I opened the box I was convinced it was a tool of some kind. I was über-shocked to discover that the tools inside were for relaxation and enjoyment: 8 different brands of root beer! Yum!!!

bottles

Each of these rootbeers were carefully hand selected. The main criteria: the ingredients had to contain natural sugar. High Fructose Corn Syrup is a four letter word in this house. All in all there was 34 containers of deliciousness. It took an extreme amount of self-restraint to not over-indulge…

caps

The point of my drool is there are lots of brands of root beer, and these are really good. And because I’m a geek, I will very quickly tell you why. Ok, here goes (in no particular order):

  • Blue Sky: Best root beer that comes in a can. Very sweet candy-like taste.
  • Natural Brew: Made by Smuckers. In addition to the normal ingredients it contains wintergreen oil which gives a really cool aftertaste.
  • Bundaberg: Made in Australia, contains molasses, sarsaparilla, and licorice. Very bold non-root beer taste.
  • Maine Root: Clean taste, not at all syrupy, “fair trade” ingredients. Amy’s favorite.
  • Bulldog: So creamy it’s like a cream soda. Honey and real vanilla.
  • Thomas Kemper: Tastes a lot like Bulldog but not as creamy. Has a syrupy aftertaste.
  • Oogavé: Made with agave nectar (1/2 the sugar) which adds a tasty citrus-like aftertaste. Made in CO.
  • Virgil’s: Full bodied taste, anise (licorice) and caramelized cane sugar make it smooth and creamy. My current favorite.

 If you happen to buy any of these, “we” would love to come over for dinner! Ha!

manure-ial weekend

Everyday, Ryan 6 Comments »

Life has been getting in the way of taking care of our summer crop, but we finally managed to get our hands covered in cow poop this weekend.

While Daddy raided Home Depot, we got to work planting sunflower seeds. Hopefully they grow tall enough to hide the struggling trees in the front yard. Try to look past Brinley’s hoochiness. Last year’s summer clothes still need a bit of an overhaul.

dig

This weekend is going to be a long one kids! Junk food like this is a rarity in these parts; better take full advantage before Mommy changes her mind! hork! stuff! inhale!

rarejunkfood

Between naps Rowan spent her time in makeshift play cages protected from sawdust, nails and other manners of manly dangerment.

entrapment

We didn’t keep her pent up the whole time. This was the first time she’d ever had free roam in the backyard. She came up with a new way of crawling, trying to minimize contact with the itchy-scratchy-still-half-dead-grass.

freerange

Ryan’s birthday came just in time for this project! Thanks Grandpa J for the handy-dandy nail guns! The birthday boy was too enthralled with his new toy to realize this was back-breaking, sweat-dripping labor!

bigboytoys

Another one of Daddy’s birthday gifts. ha! We had the boy working overtime on bug patrol as we all meandered in and out of the house.

flycatcher

Happy Birthday to Daddy. The best birthday float ever!

birthdayfloat

Happy Birthday old man, now back to work!

bdayboy

The sweat was pouring, the muscles aching. Time for a lunch break. Grilled hot dogs are a summertime essential, shown here being devoured in true princess fashion.

grilleddogs

Lunch is over, get back to work!  Rock removal specialist Rowan got busy clearing the border along the back fence for the planter boxes. She even tasted a few to make sure they were really rocks! Way to be thorough!

helping

The planter boxes are finshed, and fit into their spaces like Cinderella slippers. Not-so-hoochie Brinley demonstrates the high quality clay found in 99% of Colorado backyards. Let the digging begin!

shovel

Friday came and went. We moved on to Saturday. Will we finish? Yes we will! But first, time for a sugar boost. By the way, Cherry Limeade and Mango Limeade taste really good together! A word of caution, double intake of icy Sonic beverages may lead to brain freeze!

sonci

Drew thought it would be helpful if we doubled the number of tools we had on hand. He planted a rake in this super fertile organic hummus. Scoob!

growingtools

Rowan took five to devour a banana. Hey Rowan, is your zipper afraid of heights? Or big doughy bellies that threaten to suffocate?

nanabreak

One box complete, four to go. Them herbs and onions are lookin’ real nice. grow babies, grow!

herbsandonions

Three down, two to go. Give those plants a drink Drew, they look a little depressed from transplant stress!

water

Mission complete! Everything’s planted, fertilized, and watered. The soaker hose is one of man’s finest inventions. We couldn’t have done it without Drew’s snowboots. Way to be prepared!

finished

About an hour after we were finished the sky ripped open and it poured. We finished just in time! The kids have been sure to mention the garden in their prayers…heres’s to a successful harvest!

rain

men in trees

Drew, Ryan, The Outdoor Woods No Comments »

We came. We camped. We conquered.

Drew & I had the privilege to go on the Father & Son campout at the new Girl’s Camp site. Sorry Sisters, it isn’t quite the Hilton yet, but we did get the pine cone toilet paper stocked and bear-breath hair dryers installed…

Men in trees

First step: Construct our humble abode. I was thrilled at the discovery of a campsite that had been “finished” that no one had called dibs on. Sand might be firm, but it’s a lot softer than rocks!

Roughing It

Second step: Explore! We found plenty of “evidence” from elk and moose, but were unsuccessful in our quest to track the bear.

outdoor woods

Third: I will teach you an important lesson in history Drew. You see, the red man makes a small fire and sits very close. The white man makes a big fire and sits far away. Which kind of fire do you want to make? That’s what I thought…

firewood

It was a cold night, but nothing us tough guys couldn’t handle. Now it was time to get to “work”. As a group we opted to stay away from the chainsaws, bonfires, and falling trees and stick to making our campsite the best in the whole forest. 

cold

Here be Fire King and his sidekick Flame Boy, having labored much in the log moving specialty.

Fire king flame boy

Finally my patience won out and I was able to photograph this rare Pine Monkey searching for his friends during hide & seek.

monkey

That’s enough dirt for one weekend. Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeya!

See ya