Brisket success!

Hi, friends!

I wanted to tell you about my weekend and a fun party we had for my flag football team. It was a great season -- my dad coached us, and a friend's dad also from Scouts was the assistant coach -- even if we didn't win too many games. But we sure accomplished goal #1: have fun!

I was super excited to have my teammates over to our house for an after-season party. I made sure to tell them I was going to barbecue. And what would be the best thing to barbecue for a great group of kids and parents? Brisket!

Now my dad and I haven't had consistent success with smoking a brisket. It's a hard piece of meat to barbeque well. It has a really thick side and a thin side, and the whole thing takes all day to cook. It is a challenge to cook it all day and keep the uneven piece of meat juicy. The previous time we barbecued a brisket it turned out all burnt up. Not good. And my mom kinda thought it might be a bad idea to try it again, especially for friends coming over. Mom was thinking it might be less risky to try it just for our family first, to see if we can pull off a good brisket, before we introduce it for friends.

But we insisted to try it again. My dad and I got up early, about 7 am, to start preparing the brisket that we aimed to serve around 6 pm. We got a great quality brisket, about ten pounds of prime cut, and our first job was to get it out of the bag and trim it.

After we trimmed the right amount of fat from the brisket, I next had to prepare the rub. I've made some really tasty rubs before, but this time I decided to keep it simple with just freshly ground pepper and some good sea salt.

By now it was about 8 am and it was time to get it in the grill. You've all seen that I work with a pretty small grill. Other barbecue pit-masters might say my grill is not really adequate to smoke real barbecue. There is no off-set smoker nor is there much space to keep the brisket away from the heat that is so important for the barbecue process. My grill might be more suited to grilling steak, hamburgers or hotdogs. But you've seen that I've been able to make some great ribs.

What my dad and I did was to be very careful in banking the charcoal to one corner of the grill. We put a drip pan filled with water to the far side, where we would put the brisket. Our goal, with the limited grill space we would work with, would be to keep the brisket as far from the fire as we could.

Here's how we started at about 8:30 am. I placed the brisket on the grill

And then it looked like it was a good fit!

Now we settled in for the long haul. We had a 10 pound brisket so we figured it might take us about 10 hours to cook. Our goal was to keep the temperature consistently in the 200-225 degree Fahrenheit range all day. With brisket it is imperative to keep the temperature low and steady -- if you get the grill too hot you're just going to burn up your meat.

So we played around the backyard and neighborhood, and add charcoal and wood to the grill all day long to keep the fire going at the temperature we needed.

Finally my friends came over. Not everybody from our team could make it, but here we're starting to gather!

Finally after about 10 hours we were just getting too plain hungry. My dad made some hot dogs for the younger kids, but hey, we were here for brisket. I pulled the brisket off with my good friend Patrick. It looks pretty good doesn't it?

Now what would my audience say? These are my teammates, their parents, not to mention my parents and brother (especially Mom still a little uncertain about my brisket capabilities).
Here's what the audience said:

I think it was a hit! At least that's what everyone -- including my mom -- said! We barbecued that brisket very carefully, and we enjoyed every bit! We had some great sides, and then played in the backyard after supper, even had a fire around the fire pit. It was a great day.

I'd say Come and Take It, but then seeing how good that brisket turned out, I'm a bit shy in sharing.

See you again soon!

Your friend,

--James

Steak!

Hi, kids!

I hope your weekend was great! As you saw in my previous posts, my weekend was so much fun! I got to hang out with my neighbors and enjoy one of the best fall weekends so far in Austin. My dad even got the backyard fire pit lit up so we could roast marshmallows and make 'smores. For you who aren't familiar with 'smores, what you do is roast marshmallows over the fire, then make a sandwich with them in between two pieces of graham crackers and a piece of chocolate. Yum yum!

But before we got to have dessert, we got to have one of my favorites again: steak! The last time we grilled steak was at Garner State Park and we had tenderloin. This time my dad picked up some strip sirloin steak. That's another really yummy kind of steak. To be honest, there is what the grown-ups call fat marbling in the steak that makes it taste so good. The tenderloin is real soft, but it doesn't have as much fat in it, so the flavor is a little different compared to the strip steak.

Here I am getting the steak ready with some pepper that I ground fresh:

There are what my dad would call a few variables in grilling the steak (as with any meat) that are important if you want a tasty result. The type of steak (would you believe there are probably a dozen kinds of beef steak?) and it's quality are two variables. Some people say the quality of the beef is more important than the cut of the beef. But my dad always tells me we can grill some magic with no matter the kind of meat we get.

Other important items: getting the temperature just right, and controlling that temperature so that it remains constant. For grilling steaks, and I mean grilling and not barbecuing, it is important to get a high temperature. For barbecue and meat like brisket or ribs, you want to keep your temperature lower. Another very important variable is time. You can't overcook the steak. That would be awful! Would you believe that cooking steak has to be measured down to precise minutes? Thickness is another important variable, especially when we're talking steak. A thick steak makes for a juicy steak. If you have a thin steak placed over a high temperature, you better be ready to pull if off the grill real quick, or you'll end up with tasteless leather. Yuck!

For my steaks I got the grill smoking hot with two stacks of charcoal. The temperature was probably around 350 degrees Fahrenheit. My dad and I wanted to try a new technique with the steaks. We banked the charcoal to one side of the grill, to concentrate the heat and get the grill rack as hot as we could. I put the steaks on the charcoal side to start. You can see me wincing. It was hot!

I kept those steaks on that intense heat for about two minutes, then I flipped the steaks over. I wanted to sear those steaks on that very high temperature. Check out the flame!

After about four minutes, I then moved the steaks away from the direct heat. I let the steaks finish cooking for another 8 minutes, so about 12 minutes in total. They ended up seared on the outside, with those crisp grill markings and crunchy edges, and on the inside, juicy to pink right in the middle. This was pretty fantastic.

Dad made some mashed potatoes to go with the steaks, and boy oh boy did supper turn out great. Come and Take It!

Halloween!

Hi, kids!

Here in the U.S we celebrate every October 31 an event called Halloween. I'm not sure all the history to it, and it's probably a dark history that probably isn't kid-friendly, but nowadays what it means is we get to walk door to door and ask for candy. We call it trick-or-treating. We usually end up with a whole back full of chocolate and other candies.

The kids obligation is to dress up in a costume. You can be scary or sweet. As you can see, me and my brother chose scary costumes.

I was a skeleton:

My brother Andrew was a werewolf:

Scary! (Don't) Come and Take It (my candy)!

Come and Take It flag

Hi, kids!

My family and I drove out to Wimberley yesterday to see their Market Days. Once a month they gather hundreds of vendors who sell all sorts of neat stuff. We picked up some cool stuff. I finally picked up a Come and Take It flag.

Here I am in my backyard with Andrew and a couple of neighbor friends. I think I described the story to the flag before. It refers to the Texas fight for independence from Mexico in the early 1800s. There is a town nearby Austin called Gonzalez where there was a Mexican army outpost, and included in part of the armory was a single cannon. Well the Texican (what they called the Texans back then) townspeople rebelled against the Mexican army, and actually dared the Mexican army to try to take back the town and it's cannon. The Texicans famously and defiantly said, "Come and Take It"!

Texas went on to successfully win its independence, and for a few years in the 1830s was actually an independent republic. Texas later joined the United States and in 1845 became the 28th U.S. state. There is still fierce price in the independence of Texas!

Tarantula!

Hi, kids --

Yesterday we were getting ready to go out on errands. My brother Andrew went out the front door, and a moment later came back inside, ominously saying, "you've got to see this!" We didn't know what to expect. Guess what it was?

A tarantula at our garage door!

My dad got out my hockey stick, and we picked it up and tossed over the backyard fence. Good riddance!

You can come and take that tarantula!

Great ribs & Peri Peri chicken

Hi, kids!

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty much a fun time. We had a party in our neighborhood on Friday night to celebrate a neighbor's birthday. There was a jumping castle and even Halloween movies. Basically we ran around the cul-de-sac with all our friends and exhausted ourselves!

Saturday my dad woke me and Andrew up real early. We had to leave for church at 6:30 am to help make breakfast for our All Pro Dad's event. It was great! I made some really crispy bacon again while my dad made the pancakes (with chocolate chips mixed in!). Pastor Ted organized some neat activities for us to do, focusing on putting together small bags stuffed with everyday supplies that we can give away to homeless people we meet here in Austin. That was pretty fun and a good learning lesson of finding ways to help out those not as fortunate as we are.

We got home from our All Pro Dad's breakfast and then turned out attention to preparing our barbecue. Some great friends were going to join us for supper! I had my neighbor Campbell come over to help me get the rub and ribs ready. Here we are prepping our supplies:

Campbell had never helped me before, so that was fun showing him how to get the ribs ready. He was a great help!

Then I had to go get my dad and get the charcoal and wood set for the grill. We waited for the grill to get good and hot, about 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Then the grill was ready for the ribs!

My dad kept an eye on the ribs for the afternoon while I went and ran around some more. After about six hours the ribs were ready to be pulled off the grill and eat! Here I am checking out the ribs. Notice my tiny grill. Tell me if you don't think me and my dad need to get a real pit about twice if not three times as big!

One of my longest friends, Marc, and his family came over for supper. Here we are appreciating the barbecue ready to eat! It was great inviting friends over to enjoy some of the most favorite barbecue I like to smoke.

We had those yummy ribs, and we also had some of my dad's favorite chicken, using that Peri Peri marinade recipe that he found while in Africa. The chicken turned out great too! We had so much for leftovers that Mom made a terrific soup with the chicken. I think she could be a restaurant chef with that soup. We'd call it: Smoked Peri Peri Chicken Tortilla soup. How does that sound? Come and Take it!

Coming into focus: weekend fun & bbq plans!

Hi, kids!

I hope you all are doing great! My week is going good. It's been a good few days at school, and the weather here in Texas is perfect. It's so nice we can keep playing outside after school until Mom calls us in for supper, and then again for night after that.

I think we're going to have a real fun weekend. Our neighborhood is planning a party on Friday night, and that's always so much fun running around with all my neighbor friends. Then on Saturday it looks to be full of even more fun. First, we have another All Pro Dad's breakfast set for Saturday morning at church, and I'll plan to help my dad cook up some pancakes and bacon just like last time. Then we're going to go to a church friend's ranch to gather some wood. We're almost out of firewood at home, and what with the weather cooling off and needing wood for our barbecue, my dad figured we better go get some soon.

Finally on Saturday we aim to have some friends come over for supper. It'll be a surprise what we'll cook for them, but I already have lots of bbq in mind. My dad has this tasty marinade recipe for chicken that he picked up during one of his trips to Africa. It's called peri-peri and it comes from a country in Africa called Mozambique. It's a really tangy and juicy marinade and I can't wait to barbecue some chicken with that. I also want to bbq some ribs again. They turned out great last time and I really want my friends to try that. I'd like to try to barbecue a brisket, but the last time I tried that with my dad, the brisket didn't turn out so good. It was pretty dried up. My mom says we need to try barbecuing a brisket again just for ourselves, making sure we can smoke it right, before we serve another not-so-tasty one to friends.

Ok friends have a great couple of coming days at school and I'll see you again this weekend!

Your friend,

--James

Huge rain in Austin!

Hi, kids --

We got so much rain this weekend in Austin that we had to come back from camping a night early. At least we stayed dry last night. It rained hard all night long!

We got up this morning to go to church and on the drive we passed by Slaughter creek in our neighborhood. We pulled the car over to check out the creek because the rain was collecting so much and powerfully it was almost scary. We had never seen the creek this flooded:

BBQ pit dreamin'

Hi, kids:

You've seen some pictures of my barbecue pit at home. It's not really a real pit, but instead a small grill that if we squeeze the meat around close enough, we are able to smoke up some barbecue. So my dad and I have been looking around to get a real barbecue pit -- something that has a lot of space to maneuver the meat, and something that has a smoker box attached to it. With the smoke box you can put your charcoal and wood separate from your meat, and it really helps to cook the meat away from the flame (so you don't burn it or overcook it) and more consistently.

We were driving through the town of Luling to get to our boy scouts camp, and we came across this barbecue pit for sale. There was a sign listing it for sale for $2,100 or best offer. It sure looked like a great pit -- it had two sections for meat, the offset smoker box, and a tall smokestack to draw the smoke through the pit. We're still thinking about it. My dad and I were only worried about Mom's reaction to spending that much money on a bbq pit!

You can see how great it looks! You could fit a whole pig into it!

Black's BBQ in Lockhart

Hi, kids!

I hope you had a great week at school. Mine was pretty good, and when the school week was done I got ready for my boy scout campout at Camp Green Dickson, near Gonzalez, Texas. Just Dad and me were going, since it was a Webelos rank event, so Andrew got to stay home with Mom and have a fun time to themselves. I think they were planning to go to the nearby Mighty Fine restaurant, to get some might fine hamburgers and fries.

While they went out for burgers, my dad and me planned to stop in Lockhart for some famous barbecue. Lockhart is like a bbq capital in Texas, with several great bbq restaurants. We knew they had some places like Kreuz's and Smitty's, and then we saw a sign for Black's. That's the one we wanted to try.

Black's is famous for being the oldest bbq restaurant in Texas still owned by the same family. We got to the entrance and it was well worth the drive:

Here I am with some of my favorites: ribs, brisket, and a Big Red soda!

We had to 'fess up to Mom when we got home. Between my dad and me we probably ate 2 pounds of barbecue, plus sides. We got mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and fried rice to go with the bbq. Mmm it was so good! Come and Take It!

Garner State Park after-camp report

Hi, kids!

We had a great time camping at Garner State Park. It was a bit of a drive to get there -- my dad told me it was 170 miles from our house. But what a beautiful drive. And once we got off the highway it was like being in the middle of nowhere, with no cities or much traffic. As we approached the park it was first all flat, and then we started seeing the Hill Country canyons!

We set our tent up at dark, so we couldn't really see what the park looked like. When we woke up in the morning, we began to discover the extent of the hills, river and canyons around us. We started the day exploring the Frio river. Here my brother and me are leaving camp for the river:

We went fishing below the dam. Even though we didn't catch anything, we sure had fun casting and jumping around the rocks. Here you can see how pretty the walk along the river was:

There were some good fishing holes, even if the fish weren't biting! We also tried fishing above the dam, and though we didn't have any better luck, it was a great site!

After fishing we went for a great hike to explore the hills on top of us. They had a couple of caves and some long trails that took us all the way to the top of the canyon overlooking the Frio river valley. It was a misty morning, and that felt good as we climbed the mountain. It even threatened to rain, but thankfully the rain held off and we were able to keep going!

Our campsite is at the bottom of the valley, just behind my right shoulder.

We finished up the hike and returned to our campsite in time for the sun to break free of the clouds. It was a beautiful afternoon to cool off in the fresh Frio river. Mom had a great idea to rent us a paddle board! We had never tried that before and here was the perfect chance. It was so much fun -- if you haven't tried it yet, ask your parents to take you to a river where you can rent one. The paddle board has a lot of balance to it, so even though I had never tried it before, I was able to get the hang of it right away. I never fell off once.

Then it was soon suppertime! And I was in charge. Guess what we were having? I think I mentioned it last time: one of my favorites, steak! My dad picked up a very special treat for us to grill, some beef tenderloin steaks. Look at how huge they were!

We also had corn on the cob to get ready, and mom made some biscuits on the Dutch Oven. So I got the charcoal and wood good and hot, then put on the steaks:

I kept a close eye on the grill, to make sure the steaks didn't get overcooked and dried out:

 I couldn't quite tell the temperature, and also because the steaks were so thick (about 2 inches almost), I kept the meat on the grill for almost twenty minutes. I flipped the steaks about halfway:

Then the steaks were ready! How do they look to you?

Here we are at our campsite picnic table. Come and Take It!

Garner State Park camping!

Hi, kids!

It's mid-week -- how has your week of school been? Mine has been good, and full of activities. After school and besides homework, I had two scouting meetings to go to. Last night was my own Webelos scout den's meeting where we learned about engineering and making electrical circuits. That was cool and was led by another scout's dad who is a real smart chemical engineer. Tonight was my brother Andrew's wolf den meeting and we learned about bicycle safety from another scout's dad who loves to bike. I'm helping my mom and dad lead Andrew's den, so in a way I get to be their den's den chief. That is a great responsibility for me!

Here I am in my scout uniform:

My family is excited for the upcoming weekend, because we get to go camping! We're going to one of the best state parks in all of Texas -- at least that is what I've heard, but I'll have to find out for myself. This will be our first time going to Garner State Park. It is on the Frio River in what we call the Texas Hill Country (it is a part of Texas that has real hills!). With all the rain we've had lately, the river should be flowing, and the trees and grass should be soft and green. It could be a perfect weekend! Of course we plan to grill while we're there. My dad is talking about a special treat of grilling one of my favorites: steak! Mom has already picked up ingredients for making 'smores. What can be better than going camping, going hiking in the woods, seeing the stars and hearing nothing but nature, and grilling meat and 'smores around the fire?

Wish you could come camping with us! I'll give you the update from Garner State Park.

Your friend,

--James

After dinner report: yummy St. Louis ribs & pork tenderloin

Hi, kids!

Well I must say that the ribs and pork tenderloin turned out awesome! After my dad and I got the grill all heated up and smokey (we aimed to keep the temperature at around 225 degrees Fahrenheit) I got ready to put the pork ribs on. I made up another Memphis-style rub to put on the St. Louis cut ribs.

We had all afternoon to play in the backyard, run around with friends from the neighborhood, and watch the barbecue work its magic. Dad kept an eye on the meat and listened to his favorite music like last time (some more Johnny Cash, Mumford and Sons, and The Digital Age). We counted on six hours that the ribs needed to be smoked. About halfway through the six hours I pulled the pork tenderloins out of the 'fridge. Here's a photo of them in the bowl of salty-water brine that I put them in the day before.

I put the same Memphis-style rub on the two pork tenderloins, and got the ready for the grill, putting them next to the pork ribs already cooking nicely!

We kept adding some mesquite wood chips to the charcoal, to give the pork a nice smokey and sweet flavor. After about six hours we were ready to eat! I pulled off the meat and doesn't it look great?

My mom made up some mashed potatoes (one of my favorites) and brownies for a special-treat dessert (another favorite, especially if they come with vanilla ice cream!). To top the day off we got to eat our supper in the family room watching a movie: Escape from Planet Earth. That was funny -- it was about creatures from outer space who got stuck on Earth and had to escape to get back home and to their families.

It's Sunday now and that means church, flag football, and friends. This morning my brother Andrew got a new Bible. He's a third-grader for Sunday School, and that's the year our church gives the kids Bibles. Very cool. Then we came home and mom made lunch. Guess what she made? An omelette, and it was actually pretty good. Better than the one my dad tried to make last weekend when Mom was away at her church Pilgrimage retreat.

I was supposed to play flag football this afternoon. But we got a rain-out! Can you believe it? It actually rained pretty hard last night. I heard at church we got about 2 and a half inches of rain during the night. All here in Texas! So the football field is like a mud bowl, so the leaders decided it would be better for us to not slip and slide and maybe get hurt.

We're chilaxing here at home now. I have the afternoon to play with friends, my brother, and hang out. My dad is thinking of making a special fish soup for supper, and Mom's doing laundry. Pretty good day!

See you soon, my friends!

--James

All Pro Dad's kick-off

Hi, kids!

This morning we launched our first All Pro Dad's event for the year. What a great time it was! If you can join us later, we'll have another event in late October and one in early December. Y'all are welcome!

It was an early morning -- I got up with my dad and brother at 6:30 am to leave for church and help make the pancakes and bacon. I was co-in charge of the bacon while my dad was in charge of the pancakes. They all turned out great -- crispy bacon (my favorite) and fluffy flapjacks!

Then our friends turned up about 8 am. We had a great speaker, Brett Rodgers who leads up the University of Texas Young Life Program. He gave us some strong words of encouragement like being thankful for what we receive all the time.

Next we went outside to play some games. Here's a picture of our inaugural group:

Pastor Ted showed us how to make a home-made slingshot to be used to launch water balloons. We went out to the field to launch water balloons at some of the dad's. I was the first kid to hit a parent (sorry Mr. McLatcher!) -- woo-hoo!

Then we played an all-time favorite: kick-ball. I love that game.

Now we're at home, relaxing, playing, watching my favorite TV show: Duck Dynasty. Today's show had an alligator who found its way into their shed. That's like the time a rattle snake showed up on our drive-way. It was sunning itself and we didn't know how we were going to get rid of it. I sure didn't want to ride over it with my bike! Mom called the police and get them to use their snake trap to move it somewhere else, but before the police arrived the snake started to slither. Yikes! So my dad pounced on it with a garden rake and whacked it a couple of times behind its head to kill it. Here you can see how long it was. That's my brother Andrew giving it a close look!

We're fixing some great bbq for supper tonight. We're going to have pork ribs again, and some pork tenderloin. I helped my dad start on the pork tenderloin last night. We put them in a bowl of brine (salty water with some herbs and spices) to let the meat get all tender and marinated. Then today so far we made up the rub to put on the meat. Pretty soon we'll light the charcoal, get some hickory wood going on the grill, and get the smoke breezing!

Ok my friends, I'll check in again later and let you know how the bbq turned out! Come and Take it!

Your friend,

--James

Longhorn Caverns & Inks Lake

Hi, kids!

How was your weekend? Mine was a blast. Would you believe we finally got rain in Texas? We got a deluge all Friday long. And what it did was clean up the air and cool things down. It's like a bit of fall weather now -- I'm so glad!

Mom had a great time at her church Pilgrimage retreat at a place called Camp Buckner, in the Texas Hill country near Marble Falls. We went there Saturday afternoon to surprise her, joining some other families and friends to tell all the parents how great they are!

Along the way we decided to explore a bit of the Hill country. So my dad, my brother Andrew and I piled in the car and off we went. First we stopped at Longhorn Cavern State Park. Here you can see me and Andrew on top of the sign at the entrance to the park. 

You can see how blue the sky was! We had a great picnic -- some leftover pizza that my dad grilled on our bbq for Friday night's supper. Dad picked up some of the best chips ever: Zapp's Voodoo chips all the way from Louisiana. Kids, if you haven't tried those yet, go get them!

While we were having our picnic, my brother Andrew went off exploring. Guess what he found? An observation tower built in 1935! It was built under a government program called the Civilian Conservation Corps, and they built all sorts of neat places like parks that we can explore.

We climbed up to the top of the observation tower and we could see forever! The sky was so blue and the trees so green! All the rain the day before made it magical.

Behind me and Andrew on the horizon is Inks Lake. Behind my right shoulder in the clearing of trees is Camp Buckner where Mom spent the weekend. On the horizon behind Andrew's left shoulder is a castle -- would you believe we have a castle in Texas?

We climbed down the tower and then hiked around the woods. I found a neat bench made of Cedar trees.

Then we discovered a pretty thicket of oak woods -- Hook 'em Horns (a shout-out to all our University of Texas fans)!

Finally we scampered down to the cave, which the park is named after. It was really cool to climb down several sets of stairs that led us under the ground.

We climbed back up from the cave and decided to drive next to Inks Lake State Park. We love exploring Texas state parks, and we had never been to Inks Lake. It was awesome! They have some great camping sites right next to the lake! We'll definitely have to camp there soon! We hiked around a little bit, and here I am on top of a granite rock cropping overlooking the lake.

What a great Saturday it was! We met Mom at Camp Buckner and sang her and the other grown-ups some songs. We got to explore the cool pond and creek they had, and we even did a little fishing for bass they had.

We drove home at sunset, and it was really beautiful, all green and with views to the horizon. We were talking about how you could describe the Texas Hill Country as God's Country!

Ok my friends I hope you have a great week at school! It's going to be another really fun week & weekend for me. In addition to school (you know I have to say how fun school is), I have scouts, a neighborhood party to look forward to on Friday, our first All Pro Dad's breakfast get-together on Saturday (my dad will be cooking pancakes and bacon!), church and flag football. I'm not sure what we're going to bbq yet, but I know it'll be great!

See you again soon!

Your friend,

--James



 

Come and Take It weekend bbq plans

Hi, kids!

You can now follow me on twitter @TexasKidBbq. I'm way ahead of my parents on social media -- how about you?

Today was a lot of fun -- but a lot of hard work too! School was good, but then I came home and had some tough homework to get through. I love to read, and can spend hours doing so. But my homework instructions were a bit complicated and I ended up spending 2 hours on homework, and it's only 4th grade!

I was able to steal away from my homework and go to my Scouts den meeting. We received a bunch of summertime activity awards, and we made plans for a fall camping trip to a park near Gonzales, Texas -- the site of the start of the Texas revolution. That's where Come and Take It comes from -- it's about a battle for freedom, and there was a fight for an artillery cannon. What a great way to see some real historic sites and learn our state history!

I do love to camp, and my family goes camping a bit often. Here's a picture of me in a nice park in Stratford, Canada on our summertime vacation

 

This weekend is going to be fun. Me, my brother and my dad are thinking about what to barbecue this weekend. Mom is going away to a church Pilgrimage retreat -- we're all happy and proud that she's getting a chance to experience a time of church fellowship and renewal. While she's away we'll play around the neighborhood, bbq, go to church, and play flag football again.

For bbq we're thinking maybe pizza on the grill -- we tried that a couple of weeks ago and it turned out great! It's like you're going to one of those fancy pizza restaurants where they have a stove that burns wood.

I hope your week at school is going good, and good luck with the homework. Let me know how that's going for you too!

Your friend,

--James