Taking a Walk

Last weekend was spent up in the Flathead valley with Erik's folks. We sort of got out of the smoke that had plagued the Missoula valley for weeks and enjoyed a beautiful weekend with family. We decided on Saturday to drive up to Lake Mary Ronan and take a walk/hike around the lake. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for a walk.

We all went, even Cody, of course. 

Lake Mary Ronan is smaller than Flathead, but it definitely has it's own beauty. We walked through an area with lots of cattails which had some cool fall colors going on.

It never ceases to amaze me how diverse and beautiful the landscape around Montana is. There's lakes, mountains, cattails, bushes, trees and so much more.

I'm truly grateful to live in such a beautiful area, and that we can drive just a few hours from our house to find such treasures.

Our dry summer was pretty obvious in the siltyness of the road at one point and the bushes and trees which were already turning so many fall colors. 

It didn't deter us in our walk however. 

Of course we had to stop a few times. Once to cross a ditch in which we found HUGE crawfish and once or twice to pet the pup. 

We finally got to the actual lake and spent some time chilling out there. Cody waded out in the water just enough to get his feet wet, but not too far.

While we skipped rocks and explored.

And, of course, just chilled out.

Once Cody was done in the water he came over to where Erik and I were perched on a rock and tried to crawl up into my lap. I didn't want a wet dog sitting on me, so I didn't let him.

So then he went over to Erik. Which is funny because he usually chooses me over Erik for some reason, probably because I'm the one home with him most days. Would Erik let the wet puppy, who was kinda cold and wet, sit in his lap?

Well, because under that hard exterior shell, Erik is actually quite the softy so yes, he let the cold, wet puppy cuddle with him until we left.

Seriously, though, how could you say "no" to that cute face?

We enjoyed this view of Lake Mary Ronan.

Papa and Grandma enjoyed hanging out with the kiddos.

Kiddos enjoyed playing with the puppy.

And puppy probably enjoyed the whole thing, but especially being able to cuddle with "Daddy".

And a good time was had by all. :)

Kombucha

A few months back I bought some kombucha from the grocery store to try after hearing folks rave about it on the forums over at Everyday Paleo Lifestyle and Fitness. My kids aren't totally on the sauerkraut bandwagon, and so I figured it was worth a try to see if I could get them some other form of fermented food. I liked the bubblyness of it, but didn't find every flavor that great. Kera really didn't like any of them, and Lindsay fell in love with all of them. So I began buying a bottle or two, mostly for Lindsay, every week. But then I got to thinking about how I like to make my own of almost everything and surely that's cheaper in the long run. I'd seen several blog posts about how to make your own, so I decided to try my hand at homemade kombucha.

The first thing you need for kombucha is a SCOBY, or a Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. You can order them online, try to find one locally or grow your own. I don't know anyone locally that makes their own kombucha so I decided to try to grow our own since it was much cheaper than ordering one online. I figured if I couldn't grow one than we'd try ordering. I found this great blog post about how to grow your own SCOBY and followed the directions. I wasn't sure if it would work, but I peeked in on it after a week or two and found a film growing on top just like it was suppose to. After about three weeks I had this beautiful 1/2" SCOBY:

Once you have a SCOBY, you get to brew your kombucha tea. I used a combination of directions from this post, this post and this post.

Basically, you make a gallon of tea, either regular or green tea. I used cheap ice tea in the family size bags. Four bags total for a gallon of boiling water.

Steeped it for 5 minutes and then added 1 cup of sugar. I don't use regular sugar anymore, but the SCOBY has to have something to eat, and there isn't any left after it's fermented, so no worries here.

Then, once the tea has come to room temperature, or the same temperature that the SCOBY is, you pour the tea into a large glass jar. I found mine at Walmart, I think it was originally a cookie jar but this is a much appropriate use. Carefully place the SCOBY on top with about 1/2 cup of the liquid from the SCOBY jar. My SCOBY actually sank the first time, which is suppose to be fine, but when I checked my kombucha a week or two later I found mold growing on top, so I ditched it all and started from scratch with growing the SCOBY. Now I make very certain my liquids are both at the same temperature before combining because I don't want to kill my SCOBY.

You cover it with a towel, secured with a rubber band and set aside for a week or two. This summer mine was brewing in 2-3 weeks, but this winter it will probably take longer because we keep our house pretty cool. I just leave mine on the counter completely covered by the towel.

After it's done brewing, which you can test by slipping a straw into the tea under the SCOBY and tasting it. It should be kinda tart but sweet. The longer it sits the less sweet it will be. Then you can do a second ferment with fruit juice which gives it flavor and makes it bubbly.  This is the fun part. I've tried a variety of fruit juices to see what is our favorite. Lindsay loves hers made with grape juice, while Kera likes hers made with this juice called Razzleberry. (I like them all.) I love that I can make it in a way that both kids will drink it! Score one for fermented foods that the kids will eat!

I followed the directions in those prior links about second fermentation. Unless I give my SCOBY a break, I end up with a constant supply of kombucha in the frig at a fraction of the price of the store-bought stuff, which is great because we drink a little bit everyday, more if it's a flavor everyone likes!

Have you ever tried kombucha? Do you like it? Have you thought about making your own?

The Story of How Cody Joined Our Family

The day before Cody came to life with us I went to the Farmers Market and the mall with my mother-in-law and the girls. Erik and his dad were floating the river and fishing that day. Us girls decided to take our produce home and eat lunch before heading off to the mall for some clothes shopping for the girls. During that driving around we noticed some folks set up on the grass near Wal-Mart with puppies for sale. We saw the sign that said "Golden Retriever Puppies" and could see the cute, furry little bodies playing around in the grass. We could tell they were adorable even as we drove by, which is exactly why I didn't stop.

I said out loud to both Karen and the girls, "I am not stopping they are so cute, I'm sure we'd fall in love." And so I didn't. Even as we drove past them three times, I never stopped. I just drove on by because I knew it would be trouble if I stopped.

That night I mentioned to Erik we'd seen them and how cute they were. He said something about I wonder if they'll be there tomorrow, but that was it. The next day we were dinking around the house, doing homework with the girls and getting ready for Monday. I was in the laundry room starting some laundry, Erik was outside, chatting on the phone and said to me through the window, "I'll be right back." He hopped in my car and took off. I had no idea where he was going.

Turns out, he'd driven down to where they were selling the puppies. He talked to the guy and looked at the pups and came home pretty much with his mind decided, but his hands empty. He came in and said, "They have a really cute, calm one down there. What do you think? It'll be a lot of work, so are you ready?" I was sort of surprised to hear those words that day, but not that I heard them. I knew that someday we'd get a dog and after our fiasco with Pedro, we knew that we needed a big, outside dog. We'd recently camped with friends that had Golden Retrievers and we thought that would be a perfect dog. Not to mention it's one of the breeds of dog that Erik has always liked. 

It seemed like these pups were maybe meant to be. So, I said "Yes. I'm ready for a puppy." (Ha ha, little did I know I had no idea what I was saying.) So Erik took Kera with him down to see if we could get a deal on a pup. A couple hours later he came home with this cute, furry little guy that we'd decide to name Cody.

Erik said he picked the lightest colored and calmest of the litter, and I believe him. Cody is so good already at staying put in his "spot" in the house. He's playful like a pup but is pretty chill too. He loves the girls, and me too since I spend every day with him. He's definitely a lover and not a fighter.

He's a great dog, but he is a puppy and by default that means he takes a little more attention and responsibility. And it's been a bit exhausting and stress-inducing, but each day it gets easier and I'm more confident in our "puppy-rearing" skills. We've had to have a couple talks with the girls about counting the cost of having him and how they are responsible for him as well. They've both stepped up to the plate so wonderfully, taking him out to potty, playing with him, taking him on walks and even *gasp* picking up his poop without complaining!

Some days I still can't believe he's a part of our family.

I'm excited to see what kind of dog he grows into and all the fun we'll be able to have with him like hiking, camping and playing outdoors.