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!

Pin the Tail on the Pony

Madeleine believes no birthday party is complete without some party games so, for my birthday celebration this past Sunday afternoon in Silver Lake, she designed and illustrated Pin the Tail on the Pony. All attendees, large and small, were required to play.

First up was me and, thankfully, no one photographed my stint at stumbling around with a blindfold on trying to stick a black construction paper tail in the proper place. Spoiler alert: I lost.

I did get the group with Joe about to take his turn, though. 



And Dad, too. The kids thought it was pretty hilarious that he first attempted to stick the tail on the house instead of the picture of the pony.



The funniest moment, though, was Elisabeth's turn. Her best attempt at sticking her tail on the pony?



Yep. Her own rear end. Kids and adults laughed for quite some time over that little mishap.

And finally, the victor, my sister.



Her prize? A pack of gum. Oh, and a lot of laughs. Thanks for the game, Madeleine!

Landmark Birthday Celebrations

We arrived home yesterday afternoon following a glorious three night stay at the Landmark in Door County. The weekend was nothing other than the very definition of relaxing. We endured a blizzard while there; being snowed in on vacation can only contribute to the relaxation, no?

While there I took no pictures, swam more than intended (being snowed in can be a bit limiting) and celebrated both Dad and Diana's birthdays. We also added a new card game to our stock of favorites: Poker. I also read a lovely book: Atonement by Ian McEwan.

And now we're back. Time to re-learn how to endure low wind chills without the aide of a one hundred and two degree hot tub to warm us, back to teaching the addition of three digit numbers with carrying and time to face the dreaded task of unpacking.

Chess

Superdad and I recently started battling over a chessboard after not playing against each other or anyone else, for years. Decades, probably. The kids noticed our activity when it first began last winter but, out of the two older kids, only Hank was interested in learning and playing. Last night Madeleine decided she finally wanted to learn how to play. I don't know if she is really interested or simply sees it as a clever way to escape bedtime but, either way, I'm happy to have another person to engage in battle.

If anyone is interested, I ran across this quasi-interesting website when trying to pinpoint the origins of the currently used pieces.

Oh, and when Madeleine was picking up the chess pieces she said, "How come chess is so complicated?" Indeed.