fun freezing february

February is full here at the Welmers' house. We have Bernard's birthday, Valentine's Day, and Angie's birthday all in four days. So, we went big this year! We had our first official babysitter for Johan and went out for a nice dinner - it was great!
I (Angie) also managed to pull off a surprise party for Bernard. We met several good friends and their kids at a nearby sledding hill, and Bernard spent the afternoon in snowy bliss. Johan loved the snow and sledding! Even when he got cold, he never complained and kept that cute grin on his face. He's definitly his father's son!
Here is a picture of the day (sorry there aren't more - my camera ran out of batteries!):

This year Bernard decided to expand our garden area. We spent hours talking about what we would plant, researching seed and soil, and planning to our hearts content. Bernard did all the work this year as it was really hard for me to bend over at nine months pregnant!
We planted several kinds of lettuce, spinach, carrots, peas, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, onions, green beans and kale. I also decided to experiment with an herb garden this year which includes cilantro, parsley, basil and lavender.
No we're part way through the summer, and what a bountiful harvest! We had so much lettuce and spinach we were giving it away! We go out weekly to pick and weed and admire those plants. Bernard has such a green thumb! Now we're busy storing up the excess food for the winter and enjoying all the fresh (cheap!) food this summer. Here are a few pics of our harvesting trips:

Bernard's day job

Hum I was just looking through the list of posts we have made over the past year and noticed I had written up a post about my job but I never posted it for everyone to see, so I guess I will post it now as it tells a bit about where I am working.
I am working with an organization that does community development, capacity building and connecting people together. Now it is not community development work as you would think of in the third world where you would help develop every piece of infrastructure but it is more focused on poverty reduction. NWAF looks at poverty reduction as a community issue, it is not something were individuals alone can be lifted out but the whole community needs to work together. This is really exciting work and it is interesting to be around. Through my work here I will become more knowledgeable about community development and how organizations in the US do it. I really expect this job to help me in the future when we will be working in an international setting, plus it is a great experience.
My actual job is computer related - I am the IT Associate, this means that I keep the computers up and running and fix all the little problems people have with their comptuers. The nice thing about this job is that I am also learning more about running a computer network and servers. This job is a great learning and growing experience for me.

restarting a hobby

A few years ago I (Bernard) got into amateur radio (also know as Ham radio), then life got busy and I put the hobby aside. So a few months back I decided to try and get back into it and get licensed in the US. Since then I have been studying US regulations and radio electronics. I finally took the test and passed. So now I am licensed in the US with the call sign KD0DVO.
The things that attracted me to this hobby is that it would allow me to communicate with people anywhere in the world or from anywhere in the world, many people involved with amateur radio are also very involved with public service, and many people have combined amateur radio with computers. All three of these reasons are really attractive to me and a whole new world of experimenting and learning has opened up for me.

birthday getaway

Since we couldn't do much for our birthdays (which were the week of Acquire the Fire), I was determined to do something special the weekend after. After a tip from Bernard about wanting to go for a nice walk and some help from my mom, I had a plan: take Bernard out for a walk on Friday night. What he didn't know is that I packed for the weekend, put everything in the trunk, and started driving north.
We spent the weekend on the North Shore hiking, relaxing, and taking in the beautiful scenery. We stayed at a hotel that had a water slide, so that was a bonus, too (thanks, Mom!). We toured several state parks, took lots of pictures, browsed in local shops, and ate some amazing food.
The actual "walk" was Saturday night. The MN DNR puts on candlelight snowshoe walks all over the state in the winter. Neither of us had ever tried snowshoes before, but we thought we'd give it a shot. It was so beautiful - walking under the billions of stars with candles (surrounded by ice columns) to light the way. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time!
Here are some of the pictures of the weekend. (no, none of the showshoe walk - we forgot the camera!) I guess it just means we'll have to do it again next year. Enjoy!

new year traditions

We haven't blogged in forever! Sorry to all of you who faithfully check back. New Years Eve we followed a Dutch tradition that Bernard grew up with. We made oliebollen (oley-bowl-in). Literally translated, it means "oil balls." I know, doesn't sound very appetizing, does it? I just call them Dutch donuts. They're delicious and traditionally eaten at New Years. Here are some pics of the process and Bernard enjoying:

oh where is my snow brush?

Monday morning started out normally..that is, until Bernard found that his car had been broken into and some of his favorite things stolen. They jimmied the passenger side door open and took the stereo (of course), the amp from the trunk, the tire iron, the car tool kit, Bernard's favorite Mag-lite, and his most favorite snow brush. Angie moaned about the stereo while Bernard was just annoyed that his favorite snow brush was confiscated - they've been through a lot together, those two. :0)
The weird thing is that they didn't clean out the car. They left his nice boots (maybe they didn't wear a size 13?), the umbrella, the multi-tool, and the bag of trash. At least they could have emptied the trash. Go figure. But, we are thankful they didn't break a window or steal the car. Needless to say, we've survived our first time being vandalized and will forever remember that snow brush fondly. ;)

Apple Picking

Most people know that Angie is a l0t better at writing then I am, but she wants me to write some blogs as well. So here goes nothing.

Fall is a great time of year, the trees turn wonderful colours (yes that is spelled correctly :) ), the air becomes crisp and the smell of snow starts to waft through the air. Can you tell I enjoy snow and the cold?

But it is not winter so I will not go down that road. I also enjoy picking/harvesting my own food (one of the reasons I can't wait to own a house - so we can have a great garden), so fall is a great time of year. Especially for apple picking. This fall Angie and I have gone apple picking three times. It has been so much fun doing little activities like that with her (Ah the benifits of married life). The first time we went apple picking was to an older orchard, we got some great apples there called Honey Crisp (they are a new variety of apple developed by the the University of Minnesota). The second time was with at an outing with my work, where we got a few apples but not many. And the last time was with some friends of our, the Johnson family. It was interesting to see the differences between these three orchards. The first one was let go - most of the trees had not been trimmed for a few years. The second and third were well kept, but out of these two the first was more of a production farm while the second was a LARGE pick your own farm, there were a few hundred people there, but the apples were at least the size of a softball.

It was so much fun going apple picking with my beautiful wife, we will have to go more next year.

the walking oxymoron

It's true, I have been known to refer to Bernard as my walking oxymoron.
(what does that mean, you may be asking) Well, I'll tell you.
Shortly after our wedding, I began to notice a few things that didn't appear to have the ability to coincide with one another. As much as I believed I knew the man I married, I have learned that living with someone gives you a whole new perspective. Let me give you a few examples:
- Bernard is meticulous in the kitchen, but his desk is a pack rat's haven.
- He spent five years getting a great degree in forestry, but prefers to spend his days working with Information Technology (in which, he has had no formal training or certification).
- Bernard is most definitely an introvert, but one of his favorite things is meeting new people in a big group setting (shudder).
- As you may assume from Bernard's training in forestry, he is an environmentalist - but of course he has no problem with using all the natural resources available (blasphemy to all those tree huggers out there).
There are many more instances, believe me. I love my husband dearly, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's this: every day is an adventure!