Beekeeping

I am once again behind on blogging.  A few weeks ago I went into the bees and started to write a blog post about it.  I never finished it and since then our friends Paul, Amy and Clara came to visit and they went into the bees also.  Amy wrote up a really great explanation of what they learned and included cool pictures they took while they were out there.  You can check it out here.  Here is my experience and an update on life in the bees:

This past week has been really rainy.  So rainy that Jason hardly worked Thursday or Friday.  Rain is not ideal beekeeping weather.  Because of that we geared up for Jason to be gone all day Saturday and possible part of Sunday.  I took the boys yard-saleing that morning and around 10am Jason calls me and asks if I want to meet him out in the bees.  You see, never in either of Jason's careers (Apple and beekeeping) have I ever really known what the heck he actually does.  With Apple I would listen politely and nod when he talked about work, I would try (unsuccessfully I'm sure) to ask intelligent questions, all the while knowing I would probably never REALLY understand what he did.  So far beekeeping is the same way, except that I think I could actually learn about it and Jason assures me that if I could see it I would understand it better.  Not to mention that everyone has questions about bees and it wouldn't hurt me to know a little so I can answer those questions. We have talked a lot about me going out and working with him.  While we were dating I visited him in North Dakota for a week or so and helped a little but that was a long time ago.  So when he called and said it was a good day, I jumped at the opportunity.  My lovely mother in law had called me earlier saying she wanted to see the kids, so I called her back and asked if she wanted to see them for a few hours a her house and she agreed.  I hurried over to the shop, found the purple bee suit (yes the girl suits are purple), hopped in Jason's truck and met him out there.  He was actually in Lincoln where I grew up and the country out there is so beautiful.

When I got there and got all covered up, Jason showed me how to split a hive.  Basically they are taking a full hive and taking some of the unhatched baby bees (brood) and putting them in a new hive.  They then come back a few days later and put a new queen cell in the hive.  It was so fascinating, I loved it.  I got to see lots of baby bees hatching and Jason and I found a couple of queens which is tricky.  One of the workers brought a frame over and showed me a queen hatching from her cell, it was seriously the coolest thing.  I also got to see lots of bees covered in pollen entering the hive.  Now when the boys and I go on walks we pay special attention to the bees.  I'm so glad Jason had me go out with him.  Here are some pictures of the yard we were in.

I get asked a lot how we are liking the career change. So far Jason is really liking the beekeeping thing.  He enjoys being outside most days (despite occasionally bad weather and his allergies).  He also is having carpal tunnel problems, but has been wearing wrist braces at night that have been helping.  I like the change so far for the most part.  When he is in town we see more of him, but he has been and will continue to be out of town WAY more than he was at Apple (he never really had to go out of town then).  We are gearing up to head to North Dakota.  I have really mixed emotions about the North Dakota thing.  Part of me is SO nervous about being in the middle of nowhere and having nothing to do and no friends.  Not to mention that we don't really know for sure, when we leave, where we will live, when we will come back etc.  I am trying to go with the flow, but sometimes it is hard for the planner in me to do that.  On the other hand, I am really excited for this adventure.  The idea of picking up and taking off with my family for the summer could be really fun, and in a way not knowing exactly how everything will play out is kind of fun.  Our kids are young and not in school so there is nothing holding us back.  We have a few road trips planned (in our minds) for the summer and look forward to exploring a new part of the country.  We would love visitors so if anyone has been dying to visit North Dakota but didn't think it was possible because you don't know anyone there, it is your lucky day :)

Easter 2012

Ok everyone here is OUR Easter post.  I know you are probably tired of seeing everyones kids dressed in their Easter best, finding eggs and opening Easter baskets, but here is one more :)  We had a really nice Easter this year.  It is so nice to not have to travel (even if it was only a couple of hours) to be with family on holidays.  We get to do all the big family stuff, but we still get a lot of time together as our family.

This is just a random cute picture of Max and Owen at the park.  I'm sure someday they will be great friends.

This is how I found Ollie watching a movie the other day...silly kid.

 Saturday we headed to our primary Easter egg hunt.  My kids aren't old enough for me to want to brave community egg hunts yet so we keep it simple.  Right when we got there Ollie started finding eggs and putting them in his basket, he wasn't too happy when I made him put them back and wait for it to start.

 Max and Anderson looking for eggs.

 Jason has been working at least a 1/2 day most Saturdays, so he met us over there when he was done.  It was a gorgeous day.

That night we dyed eggs with my parents and then left the kids while Jason and I went to dinner with some friends.

 We have 9am church right now so we held off on finding eggs and baskets until after church.  Plus, I liked the idea of talking about the real reason for the holiday before celebrating the commercial side of it.  Church was really, really good.  We had amazing speakers and really beautiful musical numbers.  We also attended a musical Easter fireside a couple of weeks ago that really got me in the spirit of Easter. I really hope with everything we did, something got through to my kids :)  The Easter bunny hid their baskets, and with a little help Ollie found them right away (I swear I am more excited than they are).

Max got right to work opening this Cadbury egg.  This kid has a MAJOR sweet tooth.  After he opened it, he put the entire thing in his mouth.

 I didn't get a cute picture of the boys together but you can see their matching outfits.  I got a little carried away with the eggs this year.  I think I hid about 60 around our house, so needless to say Ollie had a good time.  Max would set his basket down, walk around, find one, bring it back to his basket and repeat.  It was cute.  He didn't make it long though before he had to go down for a nap.

Ollie and Grandma checking out his loot.  The eggs mostly had fruit snacks and money.  I figured I could confiscate the fruit snacks and put them in his lunches for preschool.

 After a very nice and relaxing afternoon we headed to my aunt and uncles house for Easter dinner and another egg hunt for the kids.  I love going to their house, they have great deck to sit on and enjoy the nice weather and they have a nice big yard for the kids to play.  

A lot of my cousins weren't there this year so Ollie was the oldest of the four kids, so he got a LOT of eggs, again.  Max enjoyed his more appropriately sized basket :)

We did get a family picture.  And lest you think we take ourselves too seriously, a ugly face picture as well (your welcome).

My boys LOVED this wagon.  They had all four of their grandparents there and convinced each of them, along with their parents, to give multiple rides around the yard.  When they ran out of adults to ask, we found Ollie pulling Max around.  It was really sweet.  I love my boys.

 One of the best things the Easter bunny brought was and extra 40 pack of darts for the nerf guns.  The boys have loved playing with the darts.  Yesterday they lined them all up on the entertainment center and then knocked them all down.  It was good fun. 

I hope everyone had a very happy Easter!!!