Up to our pits

The Last two weeks Micah had Annual training where they did Gunnery and he came in 2nd(not bad for a rookie:) Right before Annual training he had some leave time to use up so we managed to float the Boise River and take the boys to the Boise Zoo. At the Zoo there was kind of a park area where ducks were floating in the river and some nice climbing trees. Jacksen (my ER/No Fear child) immediately started to climb and big brother followed (Can't have little brother showin him up!) although not quite so confidently as Jaks (Morgan is definitely the more cautious of the two).

WHAT DID I DO WHILE MY HUSBAND WAS BUSY @ A.T. FOR TWO WEEKS? Well I canned. Apricot Jam. Lots of Apricot Jam. I had a friend who wanted to learn how to can and put a "wanted anyone's spare fruit or veggies" ad on craigslist and got buckets and laundry baskets FULL of apricots. I helped her can for a few days while our kids played together, then when she said she was done and there were still 2 laundry baskets full SOOOOO then I went to my sisters and we made MORE Apricot Jam until we were sick of it. Then I gave the rest to friends to deal with. In total I took home nearly 60 pints of Jam. There is something satisfying about opening up your pantry and seeing it full of home canned goods. The highlight of this is that my friend that I taught how to can(and who's hubby is Nat'l Guard with my hubby---so they were both gone), had a neighborhood pool so nearly every evening of that canning week, we took the kids to the pool---it was the highlight for them and me :) Swimming is amazingly relaxing when your pregnant. (Thanks Amber :)

After our hubby's were done with A.T. They had a Family picnic for everyone's families, complete with Jumping apparatuses, A Dunk-Tank (where everyone had the opportunity to dunk their Commander!) and water balloons and squirt guns. The water balloons were a big hit with the kids. Our boys thought this was a good way to "get" Dad. After several attack efforts on their part, none really doing any terrible Damage, Micah grabbed both boys and dragged them threw the grass where they emptied out the dunk tank...After that all the other kids started attacking Micah with balloons and he had to bust out some cat like reflexes closely resembling some Matrix moves.