Yogurt

We go through a lot of yogurt in our house. By a lot, I mean we could easily down a 2 pound container in a day.

So I was very interested in this post about making yogurt. While something about it seemed so, um...gross...I was still interested. And the more I read, the more I thought, "you know, I think I could do this!"

After consulting with several other granola moms (my mom, one of the original hippy earth mothers, my sister in law Jenn, and my friend Katrina) I decided that yes indeed, I could and would try this. Katrina's husband said he even made it himself using the top of his fridge to keep the milk warm and cozy...to which Katrina responded, "in which country?" "Ann Arbor" was the response. Got to love TCKs...

Anyway,
So, yesterday, I made my first attempt. Basically it works like this (if you want the full directions, check out this tutioral out.)

First you...ok back up ( I know, I really haven't even started but hang with me on this)

First First, you need to sterilize your equipment, but I didn't get a photo, so you'll have to go to the tutorial to check that out.

Then, you head your milk in a water jacket until it reaches 185 degrees F. Stir occasionally.


Next, you need to cool that said milk down to 110 degrees. I used a ice cold bath for the pot in my kitchen sink.


Then, you add about 3 tablespoons of a starter yogurt (I bought some at the store...oh and it has to be plain, with live active cultures in it.) Mix that in good.

Now it's time to put the yogurt to bed for about 7 hours. Put the pot on a heating pad in a quiet corner of the kitchen. Make sure to cover it up all nice and sing a little song...you could probably skip that part. Anyway. Leave it alone for 7 hours to do it's thing. And if your heating pad is like mine, make sure to reset it ever hour, so it will keep the pot warm.


After the 7 hour wait, pour your almost yogurt into a container, stick it in the coldest part of the fridge and leave it overnight. In the morning you will have plain yogurt. And you make as much yogurt as you had milk...so we made about 1/2 gallon!


You can add all kinds of things to make your favorite flavor...this morning Forrest and I had it with fresh strawberries...so yummy! And yes, I will be making this again!

Vacation Part the Third

Ok, so I kinda fell off the wagon with the whole chronicling our vacation. But I am sure you will all forgive me.

So, picking up where we left off...

The stroller came! Hurray! It's wonderful and made the last half of our vacation much easier. Praise the Lord!

Noah and I made a quick overnight trip to Miami on Monday and Tuesday with just Elliot. Interesting trip for sure and a lot of things to think about, but more about that all later. Forrest stayed with Buela and Buelo and had a blast swimming, chasing lizards and playing.



Wednesday all of us headed to NASA for the day to be nerds and enjoy all the space stuff. Very fun. We also went to look for nuclear subs at the beach. Forrest just wanted to play in the water...and he managed to get soaked!


Thursday we went to Islands of Adventure for the day. Such a fun place! One of the Islands is Dr. Suess Island, with things like a Cat in the Hat, 1 Fish 2 Fish rides, and a Suess Character carousel. There was also plenty of big people rides. The weather was sunny and warm. Overall the day was great.

We flew back to Detroit, not the funnest trip home, but we made it. Friends of ours picked us up and convinced us to stay with them for the night. We played, went swimming at the community center and I even got to hit a few Mom to Mom sales in the area on Saturday.

We are back in Fairview now, and were greeted by snow and sleet last night...yuck. But the warmth and sun was great for a week! And we are home just in time for Forrest's Birthday later this week!

Vacation Part the Second

Yesterday we decided to check out the local agriculture. Just a few minutes down the road from where we are staying are the orange groves, which look a lot like the apple orchards back home only there are orange balls instead of red or green ones. We check out what really was a farm access road between groves...amazing...the dirt road was ORANGE.


Then we headed to this very cute, very local U Pick citrus place...just like the apple orchards that have picking in the fall, with apple cider, animals to pet, and other produce... We were able to pick oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines. We got an amazing orange slushie and some huge tomatoes and orange blossom honeycomb. Forrest was able to pet some baby ducks, play on the slide and the swings. Elliot seemed to enjoy it too on mama's back. Overall a very family friendly, local color kind of trip.


After naps, we headed to the pool for a short trip...all I have to say is when we are back to the great white north and can't go swimming everyday, Forrest is going to be one sad little boy! He loved the slide at the pool! Elliot enjoyed his fingers in the stroller.


Speaking of strollers...

Remember the whole "you people were too rough with my stroller and broke it" thing? Here is a bit more background on the stroller. My mom scored a great deal on a Chicco double stroller for us, by great deal I mean $65! And it is red! Anyway, I knew I couldn't afford to replace that stroller because new they are more like $300 and so this whole broken wheel thing was making me mad, not to mention that we are doing some heavy walking in the next couple of days.

Today, Monday, was the first day any of the places I needed to deal were open. I called the stroller company, and of course they don't make the wheel replacement because that particular wheel is riveted to the stroller frame....arrggggg! So, I set out, bound and determined to get the airlines to buy me a new stroller and have it overnighted to our condo.

Success! And it really wasn't much of a fight. Praise the Lord, because I really don't like confrontation...but I needed to get a new stroller shipped to me here. So, tomorrow I should be picking this beauty up from the main office...just in time for our trip to Cape Canaveral on Wednesday (that would be NASA for those of you who are interested at all...yes, we are a nerd family who does nerdy things on vacation. )

Vacation, Part the First

"Are you sir, aware of section 7-5-whoknowswhatnumber ordinance of the Transportation Safety Administration regarding gels, aerosols, and liquids? Is there anything that will harm me because I am about to dive in." (read with a Barney Fife kind of tone in your voice, and yes the TSA guy really did say that to Noah, only he knew the right number for the right ordinance.)

This was how our morning started yesterday at the Detroit Metro Airport. Chalk it up to no sleep, 2 babies, and just my plain old stupidity, but I managed to pack all our shampoo, shaving cream, sunscreen stuff in a carry on bag. Somehow the shaving cream exploded all over the suitcase and because all of those things were "too big" according to the TSA, my favorites of all of those are now in the trash somewhere outside of Detroit. Oh well.



The boys did great on the flights, and things were going just fine, when we got off in Atlanta to find that our double stroller, a super nice one that I love, was minus a wheel!!!! They broke my stinking stroller! It could limp along, which was good, because how was I suppose to carry 2 boys, a backpack, a overflowing diaper back and a carry on with no stroller!

We finally made it to Orlando, where we dealt with the whole "you broke my stroller" thing. They say they will pay for the wheel replacement. Yeah you will.

Anyway, after realizing that our rental car company wasn't right at the airport, we loaded everything, the above mentioned, plus 2 carseats, a larger suitcase and 2 cheapy loaner strollers, because they didn't have a double, into the rental bus...for another hour long fiasco with another company that is doing all they can to get as much of your money as they can.

But it all worked out...our free housing is WONDERFUL! We spent today playing, swimming and enjoying the sun and the naked babies and doting aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents. Tomorrow we are most likely going to pick ORANGES! Crazy!









P.S. Yes, I really did take the airplane photo at the top...isn't it cool? The planes were all lined up like that behind ours on the runway...

St. Patrick's Day

March 17th is a big day around our house. We pull out all the stops...corned beef, cabbage, green everywhere, and Lucky Charms.

While Noah is totally Dutch, in all meanings of the word, I have a good chunk of me that hails from the Emerald Isle. The story goes that during the potato famine, so many grandfathers back left everything there was to leave and came to find a new life in a new land across the seas.

If you were to see my grandfather, you would think he was the one that came off the boat. My brother has a strong Irish look, and I was blessed with the bottom heaviness of the motherland...but I digress...

I love corned beef and cabbage, and I love the music, but I really love the fact that we get to celebrate a missionary who God used turned a whole group of people from paganism to Christ. Don't know how much you know of the story, but Pat was actually a slave in Ireland. He was captured by Irish raiders (there is a reason the Roman Empire didn't want them!) and after 6 years escaped back to Wales. He then became part of the church and went back to the very people that had enslaved him. Pretty cool!

So, tonight when you sit down to enjoy your soda bread and corned beef (what you don't have yours in the crock pot?), thank God for the missionaries He has, is and will use to reach people who otherwise would never hear the Gospel!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A Confession

Alright...

Someone should have told me that green tea has caffeine...this is not what I want to be doing at 12:39 at night...err..morning.

Anyway...moving right along.

I have been feeling a bit guilty over this lately and I need to confess,

I read the blogs of people I don't know.

Ok, it's out there. I feel guilty about this because somehow it feels like I am eavesdropping, or sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong.

There are a couple of people somewhere in the world, that I know way too much about. I know their kids names, what funny things they have said recently, what their husbands do for a living and what they ate for dinner last night. I found them through friends of mine, but the people who I read about probably don't even know that I am reading about them. Is that fair? Shouldn't I make my presence known? That way they would at least know I was there.

Here is where I begin to justify, just so you know. They have put their lives out there for the whole Internet world to see...so, is it really such a bad thing? I don't know. Is it ok to comment on how cute their kids are? Or are they just blogging so their family and people they actually know can read what they ate for dinner? Someone please help me on the whole blogging etiquette here. Or is this all just some sleep deprived, caffeinated mama's ramblings at ohIdon'tevenknowwhattimeitisanymore?

Someone who has slept more than 4 hours at a time in the last 6 months, please help.

Oh, and for the record, you can make yourself known, you can comment on what I made for dinner last night, and then you don't have to feel like your are eavesdropping, because I have put my life out there for the whole Internet world to see.

Does chamomile counteract green tea?

Stream of Conscious

So tonight, around 9 pm, Forrest woke up. He usually goes to bed around 7 and sleeps straight through till morning. However, tonight he apparently had to process out loud with someone because today was so very very interesting and different.

Noah's brother Jeff, his wife Michelle and sons Collin and Zach were here for the day. They came last night after Forrest was in bed, so when he woke up they were here. Anyway, here is the stream of conscious about our day from the mouth of an almost 2 year old snuggled on his mama's lap, in the sweet darkness of his room with a ni night wrapped around him...

Collin...uncle Jeff...Michelle...Michael inda bus (mama note: Michael is one of his Little People, and Forrest has a little people bus) play zebras...griffas...two griaffs...one griaffs...two giraffs (sorry to interupt again, zebras and giraffs don't wander our home, again these are Little People animals that frequently get to ride in the bus too.)eat...mouth...bite it now...try it now...bite it...grapes...melon...tiger cheese...juice...mommy...daddy...Elliot...Forrest...daddy home...

Can you tell the impactful parts of the day? What a sweet kid!

Sewing Machine

My machine is on the way out I fear. Granted, it is almost 30 years old...but I think it should still work. It is making this awful screeching noise when I use it. The noise so bad that Forrest started crying because of it today. Yah, not good.

Noah try to make it better, but I don't think it worked. Any ideas?

Declaration of War

Just would like you all to know...

In the international treaty between animals and people, when an animal pees in a humans area, it is considered an act of war.

Well, let the record show...
That stupid, mangy animal has now PEED on my freezer!

So, this hereby is a declaration of war between the Kamper family and any squirrels, be they black or grey that would venture into our area.

Any help from our allies the humans would be much appreciated!

Woodland Creatures

Ok...before you get warm, soft, cuddly thoughts of Bambi and his friends in your head, this is not a post about how great my furry neighbors are. In fact, this more or less a case against having furry neighbors.

So, to begin, I will present exhibit A.

On February 20th, I caught a squirrel using it's claws to hang sideways on my screen. A while later Noah took this video. I was dumbfounded...first, why would a squirrel want to be in my front porch? Second, how did it get there?

Then, I discovered this! I was so mad! (Exhibit B)

That stupid fur ball ate it's way into my house (ok, not truly my house proper, but pretty stinking close!) and in the process recked my screen!

Alright, well, once is one thing. I will deal with the screen when it gets warmer.

We hadn't seen any more of that stupid squirrel, so I didn't think too much of putting bread out on top of the freezer the other day. We went to Holland for the weekend, and when we came home last night I discovered this! (Exhibit C)

That mangy animal thought it needed a second entrance, one twice as big as the first! AHHHHH! And not only did it eat another hole in my screen, it ate the companion loaf to this beauty!



Today I found that stupid beast of a thing SITTING on my chair out on the porch and he had his grey squirrel buddy friend with him! The nerve! Using my front porch as a place to chat. I pray they didn't leave behind any fleas!

So, now I am stuck with holes in two different screens, am out a loaf of bread, and am scared that when I go out onto MY front porch I am going to get my face gnawed off by a indigent squirrel who thinks I am interrupting his tea time! Argggg!

Noah, being the ever faithful, protective husband, found the airsoft gun and put it right by the door for my protection. So, all squirrels, be forewarned...I will pelt you!

Blogging at 55

Because I think it is so fun to blog while we are on the road, I thought I would give the quick update. We had a great time in Holland this weekend! So nice to be around people we know so well, and they still love us, our warts and all.

We are currently just outside of Grand Rapids, and the rain is quite fantastic. We also just discovered there is suppose to be rain, sleet, and snow as we get farther north...oh joy. I just hope we have power when we get home this time!

Oh Holland,

How I have missed thee...

Your cement looks so nice this time of year. The steel and brick of your buildings is so inviting! While your tulips aren't out just yet, I can imagine you dressed in your finest for the festival!

I have missed thee, dear Holland. Missed your street performers, your abundant coffee houses, the ethic eateries. I have missed the ease of commerce within your limits.

I do love my woods, the deer, the soft sounds of silence. But I miss the Mexican ice cream, the different languages, the common love of all things historic.

We have just a few short days together, my dear Holland. Let us make the most of it.

Be Bear Aware

It never cease to crack me up what manages to find it's way into our mailbox here at camp. This one came a while ago, and I have been meaning to write about it for sometime. I found it again when I was cleaning out my desk and had a good laugh again.


First off, I love that someone here was thoughtful enough to stick it in our box. There is some really good information in this little pamphlet! Second off, I love that I live in a place where I might need to know this information. Third off, I love the fact that the spokesman for the Be Bear Aware and Wildlife Stewardship Campaign is General H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Come on, you remember him, you know from the first Gulf war.

Here are just a few of the highlights. Pay attention here, you never know when you might need this info!

Hike in a group, keep children close at hand. Make your presence known, call out, 'hey bear, ho bear'
(This is why I have sleigh bells on our sleds...)

Don't sleep in clothes you cooked or handled fish or game in when camping
(or really anytime for that matter!)

Place sleeping tents at least 100 yards from food storage and cooking areas, place tents in a line spaced apart, not in a circle.


Ok, let's say despite your wonderful signing of 'hey bear, ho bear' you see a bear while hiking...

If a black bear is visible, but not close, alter your route so that you will move away from its area.

If a black bear approaches, do not run. Remain calm, group together and pick up small children. Continue to face the bear and slowly back away. IF the bear conitues to approach try to scare it way by shouting and acting aggressively.

If a black bear attacks, fight back using everyhitng in your poer-fists, sticks, rocks, and bear spray. (don't opt for the 'play dead route')

If you want a good laugh...check out the link to the Be Bear Aware website...there is a video of a dancing bear...just what you need to help get through a Monday afternoon!