We're off!

My last post for awhile... we are leaving in about an hour to head home to MN! The kids are so excited. I just got done packing the car and it is looks like it is going to explode. 2 parents, 2 kids, 2 dogs, luggage, hats & mittens, a big ol' roaster oven, extra car seat we are bringing to my brother, a keg and case of bottled homebrew, and a partridge in a pear tree. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and are able to share it with family. I know we are very thankful this year to be able to be home for the holiday, it's something we used to take for granted until the military became our life! Time to get this circus on the road...

Home for the Holidays!

I am very excited! Sailor/Farmer/Husband's leave got approved and we are officially leaving Friday very early to head home to Minnesota for Thanksgiving! The kids are so excited and have already started packing as much unnecessary crap as they can fit into their little backpacks. I was hesitant to tell them for awhile since it was possible that hubby would be sent out somewhere, but the carrier left without him yesterday for a week, so I know that our plans won't be changed "courtesy of the Navy" now. (Knock on wood!) The trip is so long, but it always seems to go by more quickly near the holidays. We will leave at about 3-4 am and usually try to power through 1000 miles the first day from Virginia Beach to Janesville, WI - then that makes for a nice 2nd day of the trip. Wake up a little later, breakfast, then only 4-5 hours 'til home. I really love MN in the summertime, but the good thing about going this time of year is that we won't have bikes, kayak, etc on top of the car, makes for an easier ride! My mom is having a ton of family for dinner, so we should get to see just about everyone in the family. My dad's blues band has a tradition of playing a local bar the night before Thanksgiving so no doubt my mom will get "stuck" with the grandkids and dogs while we get some much needed time out and will get to really enjoy a night on the town with a trusted babysitter! It doesn't get any more trustworthy than your own mom, does it?!

As far as our storm goes, we have been cleaning up the past couple of days. We fared much better than some in our area. Our fence came down, lost some 2x4's off of our pergola and the kids' playset, and just general disarray and light flooding of the yard. The veggie beds seem to be fine (raised!) and believe it or not, I still have blooms on my azaleas, though the trees were stripped clean of their leaves, can't quite figure that one out. We have a massive container ship that actually washed ashore near us, they are trying to figure out how to tow it back to sea. We also lost ALOT of sand dunes near the ocean, and a couple of ocean fishing piers.

I designed some labels for the first time for our homebrew since we will be bringing plenty of that home to share at Thanksgiving. I can't seem to get a decent picture of the labels, so I'll spell it out...

on left: (named after our deceased rescue Bernese Mountain Dog!)

Pickett's

Recycled Dog Extra Pale Ale

woof - woof

renew - reuse

ADOPT!

on right:

Ludwig Family Homestead

Hophead

Double IPA

dry hopped suburban farm homebrew

We also mini-kegged a batch of Belgian Farmhouse Ale. This is the first time we have kegged so I am anxious to find out if "it took"! Guess we'll know soon enough! Good thing Leine's is plentiful back home to keep everyone happy if it turns out that it didn't carbonate well :)

I hope to post again before we leave but I will be trying to post as well from home if my mom will let me hijack her Mac for awhile.