Bay Beach

For a change of scenery, the boys and I went up to Green Bay to visit Gma and Gpa Van. Summer time in GB means time at Bay Beach Amusement Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. I love the rides for $0.25 (compared to the $3 ones at the frolic). The boys could spend the whole day there!. This year Jamison expressed interest in going on the ferris wheel, so he and I went. Do you know how scary those things are when they are loading the people....AND that thing was there when Gpa was a kid! The ferris wheel swayed a little too much to the left and the right for my confort...but Jamison declared that he can see "for miles and miles!" At least I know that Pat will have a roller coaster buddy when Jamison it over 48" tall. Gma and Peter are below...I could not take my hands off of the wiggly car for very long to tak more pictures.

MH Frolic

Early June means time for the Mount Horeb Frolic and parade. The boys remembered all too well about the "smiling and waving". They took in a load of candy! Ranger the police horse made an appearance when excited Jamison but he was too shy to go and pet it. Hard to imagine! and Peter was very excited to see his favorite "box car" that delivers pizza. He still claims that he is going to save his money to buy that some day. The car...not pizza. and the parade finale!....the Mount Horeb Fire and Rescue Trucks! always a hit! After the parade we had lunch on our new patio set on our new deck. It sure is nice to have it again. Pat did a awesome job!

my scientist, ornithologist and a trip to the county park

Peter has been creating experiments and Jamison has been avidly studying his birds. I love that they are geeking out!Peter's hypothesis, "If I mix equal parts of mud, water and green stuff and let is sit there for 5 days, the green stuff will turn brown and the water will dry up." Well. we have waited 5 days and all I can says is a bucket of mud water and green stuff equals two messy boys. We went to our new favorite county park for a cool hike. We read that there was a chapel somewhere in the woods and the boys were determined to find it. And we did! Peter was a little nervous opening the door, heck so was I. I was not sure what one would find. But it had a nice tribute to St Mary and a bunch of flowers. There was also some really neat old trees that lead to a great photo opportunity! Jamison wanted to make a grumpy face, not sure why. We continued to hunt for birds. We found some rare, unique species, The Reddus Jamisus and Blue Rumped Peter Bird. I am excited that the boys love nature hikes as much as they do. It will be a fun, active summer! Ya, one morning I woke up to this.....I was trying to sleep in a little and Peter decided that he needed to adorn my bed with McQueen Cars. We are not allowed to take them down, and Indy the cat likes to play with them. Not fun.

bathroom pics

I have been meaning to get the towel bars up, one of these days. In the mean time, a sneak peak as to how the bathroom turned out.

Preschool BBQ

The school year is done and my boys will be moving on to kindergarten (yikes!)

We hosted the RedClass end of the year BBQ! The boys were so excited to see their friends from school and the parents had a nice time chatting.

Sand box with marbles and money, the jungle gym and bubble were a hit. And of course that pink jeep. The hard part was getting the kids to eat. When everyone left, Peter asked if he could have a hamburger for dinner. Dude....you were suppose to eat 2 hours ago!

while we were at the airshow.....

This is what Pat was doing. He was really working hard to finish this up before we have preschoolers and their family over for an "end of the year BBQ....and made it just in time, with an hour to spare! Pictures to follow.

Air Show and the Blue Angels

While Pat was working on the deck, the boys and I went to Janesville for an airshow starring the Blue Angels. Pat was pretty bummed, I knew he would have really liked this, and be able to help answer all the questions the boys had.Also starring was a F16 along with loads of other planes and helicopters and one crazy truck that blew flames out of the back. It was also red, Jamison had to have a picture of it.This F16 knew his stuff and wowed the crowd. The boys kept asking if that was Uncle Tim in that plane, they were a little sad when I said no, but someone like Uncle Tim was in it. I would also say that this one was the loudest demonstations, next time bring ear protection, sweatshirts over the ears could only do so much.The boys loved sitting in all the planes, "It was amazing" says Jamison. There were big ones and little ones. Peter declared this Marine plane below was his favorite, sorry Tim, I think it was the werewolf that he really liked. Even the popsicles were big, this is the biggest one I have seen! We talked to a couple of the small plane pilots and the boys got a lesson on how to fly them. Jamison just liked talking.....unfortunately telling everyone what happened to his neck "Peter was driving the pink jeep and Wini's rope got caught and we tipped over and now I get to use a magical plant" interpretation....Jamison got clothes-lined by Wini's lead and now has some rope burn. I have been putting some aloe on it to help heal it. I have pictures but I think I would get a call from social services if I posted them. It was nasty and something a mother never wants to see. BUT everyone is ok, he has a cool story and we have a new rule in the house...no toys with wheels when Wini is outside. Now back to the airfest. The boys did really well in the large crowd and I treated them to a toy plan. They would watch the planes go by and then reinact them with the toys. I would suggest you turn the volume down before you play this one...again, it was a little loud.

If this is how Peter is going to fly when he grows up I am going to be a little worried.
We needed a picture of the Coast Guard Rescue plane because we have one that looks just like this...ok, not so big but the boys thought it was super cool.
Quote from Jamison" Momma, I wish there were more stores at the airshow because I wanted to pick something out for you and say thankyou, I love you, I love Janesville." I guess he really liked the airshow. Got to love that kid! Thanks Gma Jill for suggesting it, it was a hit!

Go fly a kite

Pat told the boys they could pick out a kite, Peter opted for the most scary one he could find and Jamison has a new interest in aliens.We have the perfect place to fly kites...but the wind has not cooperated with us. We were able to get them up for a couple minutes but we are waiting to get some good air.

wow, two weeks have gone by

We have been quite busy the last couple weeks. The boys had their last day of school, and as a bad mom, i did not take any pictures. Although the boys loved school, i think I am going to be more sad about the end of school then they are. Jamison is enjoying the lazy days of summer...

We had some pretty warm weather...so we broke out the sprinkler. Years previous the boys did not quite understand what to do....this year....they are all over it! Grandma and Grandpa Van came up Memorial Day weekend to help with the building of the deck. A couple trailer loads of lumber the men were all set to start. Gpa and Pat spent most of Sat and Sun working on it along with some help from the neighbor and a friend. It is amazing what who will help when you offer beer. (on a side note, when budgeting for projects you always need to add an item line for beer). Day two, both men were moving slower and they both expressed that they feel muscles that they never knew they had. We were able to complete the top and both stairs, all we need to do finish is the handrails.While the men were working on the deck, gma the boys and I had some fun. We went to the zoo and a couple local green houses to picked out plants! The animals are cool, but the playground is more cool! We stopped for a refreshing drink from the water fountian, Peter missed his mouth.

Jamison has been very interested in birds and who am I to stop him. He pulled out my field guides and have been studying. We wanted to keep my book but I explained that every good ornithologist has their own life list and that we will get you your own field guide so you can start your own life list, and that is what we did. He was a little upset at the book store when he could not find the exact book (i got mine nearly 18 years ago, there have been a number of editions since then) but he was super excited to get his life list started. ( I convinced him that this book was better than mine). Now all he needs is a pair of binoculars. On Monday Peter had a serious pink jeep malfunction, a whole wheel flew off!. He limped it down the driveway and asked for daddy mechanic to help him out. I guess we all should be grateful Pat is a pack-rat, he had the needed repairs to fix it right up! Whew! Pink jeep rides again!.