A very full weekend

Saturday morning we got up early to get a few things done before the "fun" stuff.

My guy worked on the chicken shack and my son and I tended to the chickens and picked our first batch of green beans from the garden.

Right after lunch we hooked the boat up to the truck and took it to another lake that is close to us.

Turns out this lake is much bigger.  It takes at least 20 minutes to cruise around the whole thing. 

My son's daycamp is on this lake so him and I were looking for it because it's usually low traffic in the water.  Turns out it's not where I thought it was and way on the other side of the lake.

We took my son tubing for the first time.  He enjoyed it very much.

That is a huge grin on his face.  Crummy zoom on my smartphone.

I also snagged a short video of him. After a bit he looked all business while he was riding around.

After a bit my guy took a ride on the tube and I drove around.  I managed to bounce him off the tube.  :-( Chalk it up to my not being able to read the water very well yet.

Then after a while he tried to coax me into jumping into the water. I'm pretty sure the whole thing didn't go the way he thought it would.  I also learned that I have absolutely no upper body strength and I couldn't pull myself up on the ladder.  I pretty much just fell into the boat very ungracefully.  It was not one of my finer moments.

All in all we were out for at least three hours.  After a bit we just cruised around and looked at all the houses.  There are a lot of really nice looking homes on that lake.  One house had a long waterslide which started up by the house and went down a small hill and ended at the waters edge.  I'm guessing it cost a pretty penny.

After getting the boat back home we drove to town for necessary supplies, came home, had dinner and watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  My son fell asleep near the end. 

This morning we got up and my guy started on the chicken shack and after about an hour he had the first wall up.  This included time for setting up his tools and such.

Less than an hour later he had the second wall up.

Working on the third ... 

Then the third was up ... 

Here I started snagging shots of him working. ... 

Taking a measurement.

 

Framing out the window. 

Framing out the door.

 

Then, the fourth wall was up.

After putting up the walls it was debated whether to continue and put the sheeting up for the walls or go berry picking.

Berry picking won out. We went out and picked at about a gallon of blackberries. 

Our usual spot had plenty of blackberries and TONS of blueberries still.  Every so often each one of us would pick a handful of blueberries and eat them.

We weren't the only people out picking berries.  Though I think everyone was going for the blackberries and ignoring the blueberries, which is sad.  My DH and I were discussing this and decided that the next time we go out berry picking one would pick on berry and the other would be the other berry.  My son can choose which berry he wants to pick and we will go from there.

My son showing me his berry stained hands.

My guy hard at work picking berries.  You see the "dark spots" in the bushes?  that is ALL blackberries.

While the chicken shack was being worked on I was outside at the picnic table cutting up the green beans my son and I picked yesterday.  It was nice doing that outside because I could just toss the cut ends out in the grass and  the turkeys would come gobble them up.

I put the cut beans into my cast iron pot.  It is the only thing I have big enough to hold all the beans.  After blanching I wound up with seven quart sized bags that held 14 ounces each. Not too shabby.

Daily 5 things of the day that made me happy

1. How quickly the chicken shack is coming along.

2. The fun family time this weekend.

3. Blackberries!  I have enough for a batch of jam.

4. Hot fudge sundaes.

5. The fabulous recipe my guy found for cooking guinea fowl.

Balsamic Braised Guinea Hen with Onions, Carrots and New Potatoes
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/balsamic-braised-guinea-hen-with-onions-carrots-and-new-potatoes-recipe.html?oc=linkback