Putting Up the Tree

We've got our tree up and decorated. Currently, we only have about 10 ornaments on it, but we're planning to get more for Jaden and from other people. We usually get some from our volleyball players, etc. This is a great year since we haven't had a tree for the past 5 years. Each year Christmas comes and we just can't find the time to put up the tree. With Jaden, we wanted to make this a special Christmas for her (and for ourselves) so we went ahead and put one up. Pictures are to follow, but now it's off to Shawano for a few last minute gifts!! We're definitely getting into the spirit of the season. Jesus is almost here!

Home Made Root Beer

Tonight, Scott and I had the opportunity to make some home made root beer. It was an interesting experience. First off, I've been reading up on the process and found that this is a fairly dangerous activity. A lot of pressure involved if you don't handle it carefully. With that said, we decided to work in a save environment. Somewhere we felt safe and secure. We went to Mom's kitchen. Here, I began by mixing up 13 cups of cold water, a tray of ice cubes, 1.5 cups of sugar and a half ounce of root beer extract in a pitcher. Once I had it mixed up, I realized that there would be too much in the pitcher to fit and we poured some out into a 2 liter cooler. Then came the fun part. We added about a pound of dry ice to the mix. Wow did it bubble over. I replace the lid as best I could an held it in place until the pressure within forced me to turn it and release some of the force. It was really cool to watch. This high level of bubbling pressure happened for about 15 minutes. At the end, we had some fairly good root beer. I'd say give it a whirl some time.

Next week I'm doing the same thing with my students in science class. Stay posted for the results. I'll try to get some video/photos on too.

It's Almost Here!! Christmas

Sandy, Jaden and I are getting ready and into the Christmas spirit. Yesterday, we bought our Christmas tree (Jaden's first) and put it up in the living room. It's a nice looking Blue Spruce. Tonight, we'll decorate it and make it look super. Things have been going well here at the house even though we haven't posted in a while. Reason we are posting again is because I had the opportunity to see Taylor's blog and though it was pretty awesome that she was doing such neat things with technology. More to come...