Sierra Day and more winemaking

We had a great visit with all the family out east, and it was good to see Grandpa. He is doing pretty well, and is feeling good and in good spirits. Sierra has pix of our visit at his place, so maybe she can post some of them?

We had a good visit with Diane and dick and went to the zoo one morning and saw the pandas and the baby panda. It was really cute. The baby was climbing around and at one point hanging from a branch before dropping to its butt on the ground!

Sierra day was a huge success, with tons of good food, and Nicaragua flags everywhere, and a special cake, and beer, etc! We spent a good part of the day at Chuck and Marge's and got to visit with the cousins and see the babies and young kids. Tanya and Kirstan are both pregnant and it was fun to talk and see how they are feeling. We didn't get to see Christy because she is still in Africa doing her work with the Red Cross.

But we got to visit with Chuck and his two children Hope and Walker, and Kym and Nicky, and Tanya and Brian and their three children Alana, Conal and Nolan, Kirstan, and Dina. The weather was warm so we took a great family photo outside.


On the home front, Mom and I are working on our first batch of wine, and plan to start a second batch tomorrow! Wine needs is best if stored in a cool, dark place, so we have been fixing up the hatch/crawl space in Quentin's room. The temps are good and we'll make some storage shelves down in the lower part, where it is coolest. We figure we can store about 140 bottles down there, so that is great!


As part of step three you have to stir the wine real well to get out the carbon dioxide. They recommended (and we got) a paddle like stirrer that fits on the end of an electric drill. That seemed to work really well, and after we stirred it up we'll let it settle for 2 weeks or so, and then if it is clear, we'll bottle it! Then in about two months it should be good to drink. That's the only downside so far, all the waiting.

Love you all!