Catching up! Salt Creek first...

How in the world do I write a post when there is just way too much to catch up on! That is the one very, very overwhelming thing about blogging for me. Getting behind and then not knowing where to start.

Okay, we this summer has been whizzing by! I can't believe it's the end of July. We've been on all sorts of adventures- bike camping, tide pooling, beach camping, raspberry picking, family reunion, weddings, receptions, more camping, parades, wading pools, and lots of gardening.

I'm going to backtrack to the 4th of July weekend. We went camping with our friends the Parkers, Larsens, and Frahms at a wonderful place called Salt Creek on the Olympic Peninsula. This place in the mecca of all tide pools. Seriously. I had never seen tide pools like these. The friends we went with are all fabulous, fantastic people and we had a really nice time together. We all have little boys, believe it or not!

Cassandra had emailed me back in January asking if we wanted to go with them on this specific weekend when the tide is one of the lowest. We of course said "We're in!" because both Rob and I love tide pooling and we love the Parkers. Forrest is right in between our boys in age and we sure love playing with him.

We woke up early Saturday to get down to the tide pools during the low tide. The geology is really interesting there- I'm speculating here but I believe the tide pools are made from a volcanic rock formation that was once the ocean floor and has been pushed up to the surface. The rock is sharp and craggy with nooks and crannies- perfect for ocean life to take up residence in :) The tide pools have layers of life in them. They were truly spectacular.

Here's some pictures:

Gid











After tide pooling, we went to this nice beach and played for a few hours in the sun:

Forrest, Gid, and Atticus


John, Walker, and Rob trying to make a damn


Trying to make a mote for a sandcastle

It was a terrific weekend, with one exception. The last day, I started to feel miserable. I had a terrible headache and my jaw and lymph nodes were totally swollen. I had a fever and uncontrollable chills the night before. I thought that my wisdom teeth were erupting. Long story short, I ended up having a bad case of strep throat and I've been through two 10-day antibiotic trials (the first didn't end up clearing it!). I also had a dental appointment yesterday and she said I do have a wisdom tooth erupting and another very close. The has been a weird spring/summer for me in terms of my health... It does feel good to get questions answered and all these things cleared up.

making strawberry jam

We went strawberry picking with some friends a few weeks ago. It was super fun! We went to a farm called Biringer Berry Farm up in Arlington. We've actually gone to Biringer the past four years and I've always been very pleased with their berries. You get to take a tractor ride out to the field (it's totally waking distance but my boys LOVE that part!).


tractor ride


berry picking


my friend April with her two adorable girls, our little pal Forrest and my boys

Once we got home, it was time to get down to business! This is about half of the strawberries we picked-



Aren't they beautiful!

The fun part was having my boys help smash them! They got such a kick out of the funny noises that the strawberries would make as they were getting squished :)





I washed them thoroughly and removed the stems. Then began the process of simmering, adding an obscene amount of sugar as the recipe calls for, pectin, lemon juice, etc. Then boiling, filling the jars and canning. This would not have been possible if it had not been for my good friend Katie C. who came over for a playdate and helped me out with my kiddos!!

I have to admit, I like freezer strawberry jam better. It's just that we have a tiny freezer and it's full to the brim already, so, alas, no room for jam. The jam turned out delicious. This is what i got out of my jam making processes, minus three jars (one I gave to Katie, one has already been devoured, and one we took camping with us).