Kamping with Kollege friends at the KOA

This past weekend was our first "real" camping experience and fun was had by all! ("real" because although we slept in tents and cooked on open fire, we had a heated pool, water slides, bounce bladder and loads of other conveniences. It was a perfect "first time" experience for the boys! and no skunks!) We met up with some old college room mates of mine and their families. The boys did great sleeping in the tents, although they were a bit nervous the first night. Saturday we were plagued by frequent rain showers all day...could have been a lot worse. It was fun to watch our frogs and dinos (or dragon, depends on what boy you talk to) hop around the playground. We did all the typical things, cookedand played catch and jarts (the new safe ones...not the cool old fashion weapon-like ones) Jamison was in his element because Mr Dave and Miss Megan (former room mates) also went to "animal college" Jamison is still walking around with that field guide and knows a lot of those birds! He would listen to us old people talk about what they saw and caught and he shared his own stories. It was real fun to watch ALL the boys together (why is it all boys!). The elder Caleb (there were two) brought along a video game, all the youger kids LOVED that. We also celebrated Eli's, you can call me Elijah, 7th bday! and all ate cake, thanks for having that bday! we all loved cake! Happy Bday Eli!Being that old he had to reall take a big breath! We all enjoyed shooting the poo around the campfire, that happens at every age! (Jamison, Peter, younger Caleb and Eli).. Who is the stronger super hero? and why does Batman get all the fun toys?Here is Jamison (might has well have been a 50yr man) discuss politics and the economy. I should photoshop a beer in his hand. SMORES! I dont know how many times I had to tell the boys that, yes we will plan more "playdates" with Caleb, Isaac, Eli and Caleb. They all live a little far away but we can definitly do this more often. We cant let this go another 15 years!Below is some action on the bouncing bladder.



"Say we loved the KOA!"

heat and legos

It has been quite unpleasantly hot here lately. I always thought I was more tolerant of the heat but that was when I was in an office for 9hours of the day. Now that I am home and the inside temperature is 86°, i find myself more whiney about the heat. Even Indy is trying to stay cool. We have been finding him in some unusual places. We have been spending a lot of time under the ceiling fans....and Peter has been building like a mad man. He was pretty proud of this one and wanted me to make sure Aunt Kt saw this one, he used every block! AND...we heard the library has having a lego building contest. Peter had to sign up. He and Pat work through all of his legos to pick out the best pieces and talked about what he was going to build. (Jamison had no interest in participating) Peter was awesome, he listened closely to the librarian for instructions, used all the time to build his creation and when the judge came around to ask a couple questions he happily explained his "bad guy shooter machine". Look closely, there are wheels on the lego man's head. They were there to protect the lego men from bullets. Why are boys obsesses with shooting??He was awarded 2nd place!!! out of 20+kids, ages 4-6. Here he is getting his picture with the judge. After the waiver I had to sign, i was told it might be in the paper. How exciting is that! Here he is with his creation and ribbon. He also won a movie ticket which he is already planning to go see "UP"

Swim Lessons

Today was the boys first swim lessons. The LOVED THEM! Yeehaa! They were a little concerned about having to race...but then I reminded them that that is swim team, not lessons. First you have to learn how to swim, then you can race. Hopefully one of them will be interested in swim team!But I guess I am a little biased. I think Peter really liked having a boy teacher...they followed him around closely and hung on every word. We will see how tomorrow goes!

Fathers Day and Little Amerika

Happy Fathers day! We treated Pat to pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast and then gave him our gifts wrapped "daddy style" (in the target bag). Jamison picked out a baseball glove so they could play baseball together. I asked Peter what he thought Daddy liked to do and he said "read magazines" so Peter picked out 2 magazines, Car and Driver and a video game one. Then dads days choice activity....Little Amerika (yes, that is with a K). We packed a picnic lunch and headed to the small version of Great America. Pat was pumped...hoping at least one of the boys loved risking their lives on the permanently placed carnival rides. Pat started Jamison off with a bang... with the Swedish Tobogon. (yes...that is my eldest child and husband in there. Peter had enough brains to say "no Thankyou"). THat was quite a ride so I thought they should start off a little slower....helicopters. Here is Pat getting instructions from the worker. Then to the ferris wheel...everybody liked that one...and it looked less wobbly then the one at Bay Beach. Prices were pretty reasonable....so we all got slushies! Blueraspberry for Peter.....Cherry (anything red) for Jamison and I could not pass up the together shot with the bright colored tongues. Then off to the steam train....a real model steam train. This was the highlight of my trip...the train was real cool and the ride went up and down and along the country side. Even saw some zebras and long horned steer. The guy that built this thing was the guy driving it. It was very cool. I love this pic of peter! Then back for more insane rides. This is the Mad Mouse. The boys loved it! Pat will need a chiropractor and a few adjustments after riding this one as many times and he did. Here is Jamison in the start position of the Mad mouse....ready to find himself some cheese. The off to the scrambler. Which had to be stopped early because Peter was in tears. He said that he would never ride that one again...and I cant blame him. I cant take that repetitve spinning. Oddly....everyone LOVED the tilt-a whirl. Grins from ear to ear. I am just glad that my kids like these rides. They can ride with their father and I can hang out with the cooler and the camera and other random things that will fall off....hats, watches etc.
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Splash park and camping practice

Middleton has a new splash park that we met some friends at. It is pretty nice esp for the hot humid days that we have been having. Grown ups can use the kids as an excuse and stand in the sprinkling water and "watch" their kids, when in reality they just want to cool down also. The boys had a blast for about an hour...then Peter started to shake uncontrollably (again, I am seeing a trend) and requested to go home. It was still a lot of fun! I think we will be heading there again this summer. And then on friday we had a practice camping night. We set up the two tents in the back yard and slept there. This was the trial run for next weekend when we will be camping for real. The boys did great!....Wini, the dog, did not. She was in the house HOWLING all night. I dont know what was her problem. Pat ended up going in and sleeping with her so she would be quiet. Luckily she will not be coming with us. I think we might be set for next weekend....lets hope for no skunks (the boys are still concerned that they will be sprayed with skunks, silly curious george)

WW14 and cabin life

Can you believe it, WW14. Some of these ladies I have known for almost 30 years. Damn! This year it was in Mt Horeb, the land of trolls, mustard and the Shoe Box(ok, the shoe box is in Black Earth....but women will drive miles for a good deal on shoes!) We did venture out from our normal eat drink and eat again theme and hit the shoe box for some shoes, then to the Mustard Museum and out for dinner at the Grumpy Troll. We even captured a couple trolls but no one took on the challenge to locate all twenty. And here some of us are checking out the mustard, got to get there before they move to Middleton (insert gasp!). Fun was had by all! Thanks ladies for coming. WW15, Chicago! When the ladies left, I headed up to the cabin. Pat took the boys up there for the weekend and I enjoyed the early part of the week. We were able to find LOTs of different animals while we were there. This poor Mink frog was even caught twice. The other animals that we saw....eagles, loons, herons, pileated woodpecker, yellow bellied sap sucker, mallard ducks, geese and many other bird species, toads, painted turtles laying eggs, bluegill, snapping turtle laying her eggs, deer, ring necked snake and this garter snake...it appears to have just eaten lunch. Momma even saw a bear on the way home, unfortunately the boys were sleeping. Peter made sure he was dressed in his "super suit" so he would be prepared to hold anything. The weather was beautiful and he headed over to Sand Lake Beach. I was quite impressed how far Peter went out in the water. Jamison enjoyed rolling in the sand calling himself "sand boy" and then running back to the water and flopping around washing the sand off. what ever floats his boat. They were able to run around like crazy boys for about an hour before Peter would start to uncontrollably shake and cry that he needs to go back to the cabin. I guess when you have 0% body fat that will happen. I have never known that phenomenon.We also took off the training wheels this weekend....but after a few attempts they "requested" that the wheels be put back on. I guess they are not ready for a two wheel bike, although I thought they did pretty good for their first time. I was a little too busy preventing falls...so I was not able to take pics. Maybe next time. Thanks Gma and Gpa!