Long Lake June 2011

Just got back from our vacation at Long Lake near Waupaca, WI. It was a beautiful place to relax for a week. 1 week's vacation is NOT enough! We were just starting to really relax when we had to head back home. But nonetheless we had a great time.

Here is the cabin. It's tucked away in the pines. It was a cozy, comfortable place. Very simple and the screened porch was a lovely place to sit to avoid the mosquitoes!


We had a row boat, a canoe and a paddle boat to use during our stay. Didn't snap any pics while we were paddling unfortunately but the kids had us try each boat to see which they liked best.

Here is a pic of the lake at night. One of the rare clear nights we had a large moon and it was incredibly beautiful over the lake.

And here is our private dock over Long Lake. The lake isn't that big and it was relatively quiet almost all day. There were some speed boats and jet skies, but they really weren't that loud. The kids loved watching them speed by.



The water was really clear. And the bottom very sandy. The lake was about 10 feet higher this year so we didn't have all the beautiful sand that the owner promised for making sandcastles, but that didn't stop the kids from playing in the wet sand. They buried F's dinos, and played with the trucks endlessly.


We didn't have the greatest weather, though the kids didn't really care because they waded, and waded, and waded in the water. The first day we kept telling them - put on your bathing suits if you are going to wade because we know you'll get wet. But no, they liked getting their clothes wet. Thank goodness there was a washing machine and dryer! And yay for having fun in the water no matter what mother nature provides us with.

Bundled up on a colder day, but still wading:


Here they are getting ready to wade (oh yeah, and I finally got G in a pic):



Wading pic with a bit more of the lake showing:


These are my two favorite wading pics:




The other favorite pastime was fishing. The kids got really good at casting, not so good on the patience. G got them some worms for bait and they enjoyed drowning the worms and burying them in sand more than fishing with them. No fish were caught, but much fun was had.

Started out standing up and getting way into it:


Then came the sitting:


Can you tell who had more patience with it?


Both kids were delighted with the number of rocks around to throw into the lake. No wonder the fish wouldn't come by...


On a couple days we actually did swim. It was pretty windy most of the time but that didn't stop us!





And a silly pic of G and me:


Here is a random pic of F being a super hero of some sort with his 'laser beams'.


The last night was perfect for a camp fire and s'mores to say goodbye to this beautiful place.







Happy me with my beautiful kids:


Other favorite moments of the week:

• G teaching J how to play the game battle ship. She creamed me when we played!
• J and me sitting during 'rest time' and reading books side by side. She read her first full chapter book by herself. And afterward she said, "wow, it's really fun reading to yourself!"
• F's joyful face when he cast his fishing line really far. What an arm that boy has on him.
  

Can we go back please?

Blizzard 2011

This past week we had quite a blizzard. We already had a decent amount of snow on the ground then got about 1/2 a foot one night and the next night brought us at least another foot with up to 50 mile per hour winds. When we woke up on Wednesday we couldn't open the front door because the snow had drifted so much...even under our overhang on our porch.

So I decided to go out the garage. This is what greeted me:


And when I approached the van which was parked in our driveway, I saw the wind had made some pretty nifty contours around it:


So we started shoveling, and shoveling and shoveling. Both of us had sore backs and arms from throwing the snow over our heads!


After our shoveling, this is what the porch looked like:


And from the front door:


Here are some perspectives from the sidewalk towards the house. Check out how close the kids heads are to the roof!







And here is J having some fun with the mountains of snow:

J's 6th Birthday

The week of J's birthday she was student of the week at school. That meant that she prepared a poster board with things that represented her so she could talk about herself with the class (her first big school project). Here is what she put together:



On her actual birthday this is the outfit that she chose to wear to school:



Colorful as always!

She chose to have pancakes for dinner (we let the kids decide on what's for dinner for their birthday) and then go out to ice cream. Here is the ice cream cutie:


Her birthday party was at a place called Pump it Up - picture a room with lots of blow-up castles and slides. Here is an example of one of the slides:


Here is J and her birthday crew:


And a close up of my little beauty looking so grown up:


J chose a rainbow unicorn ice cream cake with Blue Moon ice cream (tastes like fruit loops, mmm):


And she blew out the candles!


And of course got to be queen and sit in the throne for her birthday: