The second annual WW Family camping trip went down at Gov Dodge State Park. 13 kids 10 adults. You would think that was a recipe for disaster but the kids immediately clicked.
The razor scooters came out and the party began!
Saturday the caravan of minivans and honda pilots made its way to Stephens' Falls for a hike.
It was tough to get all the kids to look the same direction, or we lost a couple in the woods, we are not sure.
The 5-7 yo group of boys stuck together. When you are outnumbered by the girls you have to stick together.
Parents had a great time catching up, while cautiously watching the kids by the water.
They all had their chance behind the waterfalls. Surprisingly no one fell in or twisted their ankle.
This group shot turned out a little better, but we are still missing Joe's face.
The group kind of took up the whole trail but we flanked the kids with atleast 1 or two adults.
It was a perfect weekend, sunny and warm so after lunch we were off to the beach.
The kids decided to bury Jamison. Sand is still coming out of his ears.
Once the kids were in bed, we broke out the fresh peach pudgy pies....mmmmm.
If you looked up the word for "perfection" you would see this picture. I think a new must for any camping trip.
The Razor Posse. I hope our camping neighbors did not mind the back and forth and back again racing the kids were doing. Most of the kids were pretty crash free, except for Issac, he had a couple crazy crashes.
The boys resting inbetween the races. Thanks to all of the families for coming. The kids all really got along and had a lot of fun! I enjoyed catching up with the grown ups. We are already looking forward to next year!
BTW, Naps were required when we got home. We had some serious "over tired" issues. I guess that was a really good sign of great fun.
USA (blue) vs Mexico (green). 
Sadly USA lost 2vs3 and one of Team USA's goal was made by a green jersey. Better luck next year year guys!
Ulrika came from Sweden for her 20 year highschool reunion. Last time she visited, she and Indy did not hit it off. Or I should say that she was deathly afraid of Indy as he would stalk her and when he found her he would hiss and growl. This time they became friends and there was no hissing. He did, however, pee in Tim's suitcase. I guess that is how he directed his frustrations. 
We took Rika to Stewart Lake for a dip to cool down. She was a little warm, a guess it does not get to 85° in Sweden. I was pleasantly surpised how nice and clean Stewart lake is. A great place to take the kids to cool down. 
The lake is spring fed....and that water is super cold. So Peter decided to see how cold Jamison could get. 
Tim also was in town for the same reunion and had a nice time catching up with Pat and Rika. I love Rika's expression....oh dear....goofy american brothers. 
"What is Uncle Tim doing?" says Jamison. That is an iron. Watch closely boys, you will never see your mother doing that. Or atleast i hope to never have to do that. 
After the reunion events we took Rika up to the cabing for some north woods fun. Bike riding, boat riding, pug riding rock hunting and the list goes on. 
We even got the F-16 kite flying from behind the boat. all was good until we hear "mayday mayday" calls from the pilot right before he took a nose dive into the water. The pilot was able to eject from the seat, dry off and try again. Sadly, he had the same fate. Nose dive into the water. Maybe he needs more training. 
The boys really liked grandma's new waterfall. They had a good time looking for the amethyst and other fun rocks. 
A weekend cant be complete without a dip in the hot tub. Thanks Rika, we had a blast! Thanks for the visit! 
He was not pleased with the results.
"Mom, I can not go anywhere looking like this!"
Wini has her day at the dentist. Poor puppy. One extracted tooth and some antibiotics but she is as good as new. She was back to stealing waffles in no time. 
We trimmed the willow tree and some strange weed monsters came out of the woods. The boys are highly motivated by jobs that pay...this one was for a dollar! there were a lot of trimmed branches! I wonder if I can get them to clean the bathroom?
This weekend was a rough one for Jamison. We brought scooters along and I think Jamison brought his two left feet. This photo was taken after the second fall.....he screamed "not again!" He is showing his belly because he had a bad case of road rash across his chest. At this point of the weekend he had both palms and elbows scraped up. Good thing I had a well stocked first aid kit. 
Wini, the princess. She has been a pretty good camper, but she does need her comforts. The ground was muddy, so we did not want to get the kennel dirty. There was a crazy amount of dogs camping there this weekend. We even had a beagle in the campsite across the road. When the beagles got a barking the whole campground started.
Have to get a good rest in! esp if we want to make it to smore time. 
Pat and Grandpa were in charge of the pizza pudgy pies! Say "pudgy pie!"
We arrived a little early and were surprised to see.....Ruth, the naturalist at Beaver Creek Nature Reserve, the place I worked at when I was in college. Jamison listened really well and even was called on 2 times to answer questions, both times he was correct! At one point I was called out to help her...."once and intern, always an intern!" she says. She tells the crowd how she knew me but told them it was 10 years ago....sorry Ruth it was more like 17.
It was nice to see Ruth, Thanks Ruth for the great presentation!
Back at camp....Peter Gpa and Pat made sure the campdire was ready for smores! i melted some of our german chocolate and made squares that were perfect for smores. Those were the best smores ever! No Hershey bars for us!
Sunday we went for hikes along the lake. The humidity finally broke and the breeze was cool and refreshing. 
It actually was a little too breezy, there were only 2 boats on the lake. 
Back to Jamison....note the increased bandages. ya, that boy could not stay on the scooter. I think the trouble was he was trying to keep up with the little boy on the bike (Collin from Pewaukee) and would loose control. He is a mess. Once at home we took showers, cleaned up the cuts and bruises. Jamison wanted a count of how many ow-eys he has. 26, yup, 26 cuts scrapes or bruises. I think we will be headed to Target to get from biking gloves so if he falls he wont rip all of the skin off. Good Grief!
Here we are on the top of the steam boat....."iceburg right ahead!" opps, wrong quote. 
It took all of Jamison's weight and strength to lift the cargo. 
The new building had a "waterworks" area where the boys could learn first hand locks and damn....and of course get wet. 
Say Mississippi River!
I was then serenaded but a lovely chorus of hand farts!. "Jamison, that one was awesome!" says Peter with a Beevis and Butthead tone in his voice. 
The attic guard rain is up! woohoo. I think that took every ounce of Pat's patience and to think, the way the contractor suggested work! whod'athunkit. A bit more trim, a door and a handrail and we will be ready play and sit our behinds down and watch StarWars (The boys were told that the first movie we can watch up there would be StarWars IV, which is the first. a little confusing for a 6yo) Woohoo we are almost there!
Lily and Lucy have new bikes and the boys are 2 wheel experts so our plan this year for birthday fun was to meet in the middle in the town of Wilton and go for a ride! Stacey and Shelby were the crazy ladies that rode with us as part of the Piney Q MacDougal MS Bike Team. So now that the kiddos are older we are training them for the insanity! We started with a 4 mile (round trip) ride to the old train tunnel on the Sparta Elroy Trail. 
With every cute picture the boys asked for a crazy photo. 
And they are off! the boys took off and left the girls in the dust. You wait til next year boys when we have our training wheels off! 
The kids rocked on the ride, occasionally we needed a rest, but everyone does!
Stacey, sporting the new rode bike took off pulling the Burley. There was no kids in the trailer but a 4mo puppy, Sunshine Tinkerbell. 
We made it to the train tunnel where we got off the bikes and walked. Everyone have their lights?
Walk towards the light! The kids thought it was super cool to walk in the dark! 
We made it through...now to head back. 
Sunny was a fantastic dog in the burley...there is no way that Wini would tolerate that non-sense.
Future Piney Q team! Maybe next year we will make it to the super long tunnel! 
Back at home it was time for some belated birthday fun! A tower of cupcakes with candles for all of the kids years. (5+5+6+6)
Sunny and Wini met and became....well, not the best of friends. Watching a young puppy made us realize how much of an old lady Wini has become. Slow moving, grey hair and no patience at all for the silly things that Sunny wanted to do. 
Our first co-ed slumber party. 
Dont think this will be a thing we do in about 10 years. The girls thought this was fun until Lily came down and said that Peter was sticking his stinky feet on her. So they went to the other room.
Thanks ladies for coming down! We had a blast.!
