My neighbor called us over today to see an iceberg. Now, it has been an unseasonably cool summer, but not that cold! Turns out they went to Newfoundland for holiday last week and saw some icebergs. These icebergs make thier way all the way from Greenland, and float down what's now known as "Iceberg Alley" near Newfoundland. It actually takes these icebergs 2 yrs to go this distance. here is the remains of the one she brought home with her. She asked the boys if they wanted some for thier cold drink, but they thought that was gross! Truthfully, it's pretty pure water from the mountains, even though it spends it's time in the saltwater all throughout it's travel. Ryan took the picture, a budding photographer that boy!

Some of the many faces of Caitlyn

We have baby birds! Steve pointed out the nest on our front porch the other day and he wasn't sure if there were babies or not. Well, I managed to catch the mama going to feed the babies, and must have scared her away. That left the babies wondering where their food went! Sorry babies!

Horses and Turkeys and deer, Oh MY!

Because we live out in the country, we see a number of farms and wildlife whenever we drive somewhere. Caitlyn loves looking for the cows and horses, they are pretty easy to spot from her point of view. One of the things I remember vividly from my childhood is my dad always looking out the car window for deer and turkey. He's a hunter, so was always looking out for them, hunting or not. My mom also burned in my memory the fact that deer run out in the road when you least expect it especially in the spring and fall, so we always had our eyes peeled at dusk looking for them. Funny the way you remember some things from growing up. So, I have been teaching the boys to spot deer and turkey as we drive through the country side. Caitlyn is always asking me where the cows and horses are and I saw Aaron sitting up looking very intently out the window the other day in the car, it was so neat to see him interested in it like I was/am.

Last Week I took the plunge and brought everyone to the strawberry patch down the road to pick strawberries for jam. I was so excited to be making jam again!!! We picked 2 flates of strawberries (which is about 9 quarts-i think). It was a little difficult to convince Caitlyn they weren't for eating yet, hopefully the stained face and clothing didn't give her away to the farmer!

One of the blessings of many hands is, light labor. It only took about 1/2 an hr to pick all those strawberries and they were delighted when I mentioned they all needed to be smashed! So, they took turns mashing the berries woth all the noises that accompany boys smashing things.

Unfortunately, my luck ran out at that oint and the process became more difficult from there. I bought the wrong pectin. I will spare the details. So, 3 trips to the store, 9 boxes of pectin, and 24 hrs later, I have 24 jars of homemade strawberry jam! Yeah!