Family Getaway

Last weekend capped of the end of our summer weekends away and while I'm glad to be home, we had a really fun weekend. Every year our church reserves this really great location right on a lake in Wisconsin's Northwoods. There are actually three buildings: a main house, a big kitchen house (with a few bedrooms off the back) and a dormitory building. This year we had about sixty people attend, and the buildings were easily able to accommodate our group.

What do we do there? Well, we eat. A lot. Everyone brings food and there's always way too much, but we sure have fun sampling other families favorite recipes while we're there. We play a lot of cards (Sheep's Head mostly). During the day we fish,



we kayak,



we read, chat and laugh. We play on the dock,



we rent a pontoon boat and go tubing and, of course, jump off the pontoon.



But, more than anything else we just relax. We attended for the first time last summer and after two years we're hooked-- we'll definitely be going back again next year!

Doctor's Park

Out of all the Lake Michigan beaches I've visited (well, on the Wisconsin side, anyway) I think Doctor's Park in Fox Point is my favorite. It's only minutes north of the city, but it feels so unaffected and pristine once you made the hike down to the beach from the parking lot above. And on a day like yesterday, with a soft breeze coming in off the lake and good friends to chat and play with, it was the perfect spot to spend an afternoon.

Here is Elisabeth digging in the sand with a friend.



Madeleine with two of the three girls she'll be attending camp with in just a few weeks. The third girl came down to play later too, but I forgot to snap a picture--rats!



Hank had a ball on the-- what are they?--piers? breaker walls? The mass of kids enjoyed seeing how nimbly they could jump from one rock to the next and, of course, loved jumping in the water.



And as an added bonus for the first time ever I made the trip both down AND up without pushing a child in a stroller or carrying a child! I know it was only a temporary reprieve but, still, I appreciated the break.

I Love Summer

I really, really do. Sure, it's obnoxiously hot and I practically feel like we're going to melt when we're outside but still, when else but in the summer does it feel good to play in the water? Thankfully, unlike last year, Hank passed his swim test today at the JCC Outdoor Water Park (where we're members) so now I don't have to hear him complaining about how he's not allowed to climb the rock wall or run off the diving board. Now he is able to do both those things, and Hank is so proud of himself and feels very grown up.

Here are some action shots of the kids enjoying the pool.









And OK, so Elisabeth is not enjoying the water here. And, in fact, if this picture had audio you'd hear her whining, "Mo-OM! I want to go back in the pool! Put your camera away!" And so, after a few more shots I did, and we did go back in the pool. But getting action shots of E in the water? Impossible. My camera would be soaked in about half a second because that's how long it takes for Elisabeth to charge into water over her head.

Walnut Grove Trip: Friday

We left last Friday after the final day of Vacation Bible School around 12:30 p.m.; it was a late start for the four hundred forty-six mile trip from our home to Walnut Grove, Minnesota, one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites.  

The trip out was uneventful.  Not serene, not terribly quiet, but relatively uneventful nonetheless.  We stopped the van at this lock and dam on the Mississippi River and the kids were entertained for a few minutes by a rather large ship waiting its turn for the water level to be evened out. 

And then, serenity.  Dad and Diana loaded Madeleine and Hank into their car for the remainder of the trip while Joe and I easily chatted with Elisabeth.  We arrived in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota-- the closest we could find a hotel with availability to Walnut Grove-- around 9 p.m. Friday night and while cars were unloaded, hotel rooms checked into, and plans made for the following day, the kids and I (and later the remaining adults) jumped into the indoor pool and hot tub to unwind.

When Madeleine was 2.5 years old she could easily swim with water wings and, if prompted by an adult standing in the pool below her with open arms, would jump into the awaiting arms.  When Hank was 2.5 years old nothing could coax him into jumping into the pool, waiting arms or not.  Now Elisabeth is 2.5 years old and that girl the the craziest of the three.  Not only can she swim easily with water wings, she can twirl around in the water, point her toes out of the water, swim where ever she wants to go and she jumps.  Goodness gracious does she jump.  She cares not whether there is an adult anywhere near her and, in fact, an adult that's too close might to told to "just go 'way; I do it myfelf."  She does leaping jumps, twirling jumps, and cannonballs.  In fact she does any kind of jump Madeleine and Hank do and she does it with no hesitation.

Hmmmm.  This was supposed to be a short post since it was a short day, vacation-wise.  

Father's Day

Question: What makes for an almost perfect Father's Day?

Answer: A girls' afternoon out with shopping and coffee (Superdad and Hank stayed home to mow) and an evening spent at a serene Lake Michigan beach with a bucket of fried chicken. The shopping was nice, but the evening was perfect. Its only flaw (hence the modifier almost in the question) was finding ourselves without a camera to capture the perfect sunset and the happy, goofy children. We all came home covered in sand and exhausted from giggling and running.

I hope everyone else had a nice Father's Day! I know it's not about the kids or me, but I assure you Superdad had a great day, and the rest of us did too!