Family Time

The end of June and beginning of July found DH and I having a lot of family time.  It started with beef brisket being on sale, and DH deciding he wanted to smoke a brisket on the upcoming Saturday and invite all the kids and grandkids to spend the day and have a meal. 

Everyone was invited, and told to bring a side dish to round out the dinner of smoked brisket.  All except DD2 and Brad were able to come.  The afternoon was full of kids, grandkids, ball, and smelling the brisket smoking in the smoker.  

We had baseballs, softballs, the appropriate bats as well as a batting tee, and anyone who wanted to got a chance to pitch, bat and catch.  Which was just about everyone although I only ended up with pictures of one grandson and one son-in-law actually hitting the ball.

At this little place here, we bat away from the house, into the large backyard.  If you hit it over the septic mound, it's a homerun.  If you hit it into the cornfield beyond the septic mound it's even more impressive but the fielders don't really like you because they have to go searching in the corn to find the ball.  At one point, DD1 got a little fed up with her husband because he kept hitting them into the corn for her to have to retrieve.

Buck and Rascal practicing t-ball.

Buck is a lefty.

DD1 pitching and Honorary Son hitting,

DS2 and Faline watching.

Will it go into the corn?

Once the brisket had reached the optimal internal temperature in the smoker, DH wrapped it in a towel and set it inside a cooler (without ice) to rest for an hour before serving.  He couldn't resist offering everyone a smell at the end of the rest period before removing the brisket and slicing it for serving.

Smelling the brisket, trying not to squish Sixlet in the process.

The four oldest grandkids: K3, Toad, Rascal and Faline, were invited to spend the night at this little place here, and DH built a small fire using a hollow stump.  Once it had burned a bit, smores were made with K3 and Toad doing the marshmallow roasting until they tired of cooking for the smaller kids.  After that, DH roasted a few opting to save on his back and knees by just sitting in the grass.

After church the next morning, DH and I took those four grandkids hiking at a recreational area about half an hour away.  We let the kids determine how long we hiked and were pleasantly surprised to have Rascal and Faline walk for about two miles.  Shortly before getting back to the trailhead we'd begun at, Faline announced that her "knees are tired", so DH put her up on his shoulders for a little ways before having her finish the trek on her own feet.

Faline is quite a character and is known for saying what's in her head at the moment.  Being three, she also has some funny mispronunciations and word mix-ups as her vocabulary builds.  A couple gems from the 24 hours she was with us:

 

(At bedtime, which was later than normal, and she wasn't wanting to lay down and give it in for the day yet, at which time I told her that I was really tired and wanted to go to sleep.) "My body says it's not going to sleep; you can go to sleep Ahma, but I'm not going to."

(While leading us in the common Lutheran table prayer) ". . . and Moses endures forever." (rather than ". . . His mercy endures forever.")

(When debating what toppings to get on pizza for the grandkids to share after hiking) "I don't like pickles on pizza, but I can pick them off." (referring to green peppers).

For July 4th, DS1 invited us all to his house for a cookout in honor of the fourth and for Toad's 10th birthday (his birthday is the 5th, but that was a work day.)  Again, everyone except DD2 and Brad were able to attend.  DS1 grilled hot dogs, brats and burgers and introduced us to an alternative way of cooking corn on the cob: shucked, placed in a cooler, boiling water poured over it to cover, then the lid of the cooler closed and kept shut for an hour or more.  It turned out really well.

Buck enjoying some corn.

There was some more batting happening, as DS1 had recently purchased a pop up style batting cage and a pitching machine for the kids to practice their batting skills.  All three of his kids have been playing summer ball through the school.

Apparently when it's your birthday, you can bat barefoot,

 shirtless and in shorts like Toad as along as you wear a helmet!

Back at home after that party, DH and I decided to relight the remainder of the stump from the Saturday before and get it the rest of the way burned.  Alas, it was not to be as we had no sooner gotten a fire going than the sky opened in a downpour!  We relocated into DH's shop to wait out the storm, sitting inside the opened back door.  Once the rain had passed by, there was a really bright rainbow.  A few minutes later, a fainter rainbow appeared just to the left of it.  In the photo below, you can just barely make out the double rainbow portion near the edge of the tree's branches.

We did, eventually, get that stump burned on Saturday evening, a full week after first lighting it.  It had gotten rained on and put out at least twice since then.