Kenosha for the Fourth of July

I thought our vacation would be about basecamping with family and then day trips to fun new places in Chicago and Kenosha/Milwaukee. When we got to Kenosha it was lunch time. Dave held his new nephew quick before we left for lunch. Apple Holler is a little bit of a tradition with Ann and her little family so we went there for lunch. Dave had mentioned several times that he was feeling a little off, but we thought some food would help.

When we got back to Ann's house the kids took a nap and Dave realized he had a fever. A fever that didn't go away for the rest of the week and it was only Tuesday! After napping I took the bike gang to the park all by myself while Ann and her friend Gina cooked supper.

Wednesday we hung out and waited for Dave's parents to come to town so Dave could rest. I did a photo shoot with my new nephew Nathaniel and got to hold him lots. When Grandma and Grandpa showed up we ventured out to the Racine Zoo with the whole family. It was probably too much walking for Dave, but he just wanted to be healthy and with the family so bad.

The Racine zoo is a small zoo, but what it lacks in size it makes up with closeness to the animals. One of the Orangutans woke up with the boys noise and she came to the window so the boys could get close and personal. You get to walk through the kangaroo exhibit with no fence between you and the animals. And when the Tiger started to make noise and growl the lion was close enough to answer back.

Thursday was the 4th of July. The boys got matching outfits (Nate too). We spent almost all day enjoying the outdoors because for the first time on our vacation it felt warm enough for summer (I did not bring enough long pants and shirts for the cool weather we encountered for the first half of our trip). We grilled out and ate lunch outside.

Then around dinner time we all packed up and went to find a good spot to watch the Kenosha fireworks. We sat close enough to the stage to hear the string quartet play music while we waited. They played a lot of rock which was really cool.

And we got a great fireworks show, every time I thought it was ending it would keep going for nearly 20 minutes. The finale was mostly white and beautiful. One of my favorite memories from the evening was after the fireworks when we got back in the van we had a lot of traffic to contend with. Adam fell asleep due to his lack of nap that day, but Eli was wide awake and bored. He wanted to watch the fireworks so I opened the moon roof, but there wasn't really anything to see. So I held my phone up near the moon roof and scrolled the pictures I took and then Eli said, "where's the noise?" So I started making the best (and probably lamest) firework noises as I scrolled through the pictures and Eli said , "ohhh, ahhh!" Ha!

Friday came and David was still sick. He could keep his fever down with medicine, but we took him to the doctor and got the old- "it's a virus let it run it's course." So the rest of the family planned a trip without Dave and Eli (who was napping). We went to the dinosaur museum and then walked the boardwalk along the lake. I had some of the best ice cream ever (it was called Chocolate Lovers Dream or something and it had chunks of oreos, brownies and other things I can't even remember)!

Friday night was our last night of our vacation. We celebrated Adam and Jame's birthdays with cake and presents and a sparkler surprise after dark.

It was hard to say goodbye, but Dave was still sick and after playing musical beds all night long on Friday we were ready to be home.

Everyone except Dave took a turn holding Nate for one last time and we left shortly after lunch. 

I Wanna Float Down the River With You

Yesterday I was so excited to go for a canoe ride with my boys. I had been planning and dreaming (mostly dreaming) about it all week. I packed lunches and our essentials while Dave got the canoe ready. We drove 1/2 mile to the landing on Crow River just down the road. The boys were so excited. Adam had a smile plastered to his face the whole time. The wind was strong so we choose to paddle up stream on the Crow River instead of exploring the two lakes in town.

We had lunch on a sandbar at the opening of the river to the lakes.

Then we paddled up stream around many curves- creeking which is my favorite kind of canoeing. I kept asking Adam and Eli if they wanted to turn around and go home, but they insisted they were having fun and wanted to keep exploring.

Next time I hope we make it a little further, because it was so much fun. The boys did really well and sat in their little double seat my dad put in our boat last summer. It became apparent that Eli needed his nap towards the end of the paddle based on him not being able to keep his hands to himself. I mapped it out and we paddled about 5.5 miles in about 2.5 hours. A wonderful Saturday family adventure for sure!

Eli's First Fishing Trip

After the weekend craziness of a house full of guests- 8 adults and 4 kids (including us) and the Riversong Music Festival we decided a little evening fishing was in order. We went to the "spot" a little public DNR dock that gets lots of little fishes to bite for Eli's first fishing trip.

At first there was lots of give me the fishing rod.

And thankfully as soon as the bait hits the water the bobber goes down and the boy got to reel in a little fish.

We thought our fearless Eli would hold and touch the fish, but no way.

Big Brother gets the award for holding the most fish (and kissing the most fish?!).

For now I think Adam is our little fisherman and Eli is just along for the snacks in the cooler, but as he gets older I'm sure he'll discover why grandpa, daddy and big brother like fishing so much.

and then there were four

Our nephew Nathaniel Robert was born in June 11th. And he is adorable and such a good baby. I can't help but thinking about the four boys playing together next year.

We've been lucky enough to see him twice since he was born, but he's growing way to fast. This last visit we even got to see smiles!

Photography Sessions- 2 and 4 Year Old Pictures

The week before our family photos with our favorite photographer Renee from Dassel Dave took the boys to a Live United Photo Shoot. The boys did not cooperate and Dave (the new United Way McLeod County President) was not happy. Neither boy wanted to be in front of the camera and I think this might have been the only picture my boys ended up in (and didn't make it past the editing room).

So I was concerned that the boys wouldn't do well with Renee, but I was concerned about nothing.

Park Tour Update

We've hit up a lot of local parks in the last month or so. We go, we play and enjoy, momma Instagrams and facebooks about the park and then I forget to update the blog. Here's the updated list of the parks we are trying to visit this summer:

Parks with Playgrounds:

1. Shady Ridge
2. Women's Club
3. Rotary- "Hard Park" close to our house and we go all the time 
4. Oddfellows 
5. Roberts
6. Masonic/West River 
7. Riverside Jaycee 
8. Kiwanis 
9. Fireman's
10. Kimberly
11. North Woods
12. Lions Park East
13. Tartan Park- We call it the "Pirate Park" it's always a huge hit with the boys 
14. North/Community Playground 
15. South
16. VFW
17. Elks
18. Lions Park West
19. Rolling Meadows- Kids call it the "Easy Park" and it has no slide 
20. Driftriders
21. West Elementary
22. Junior Community Women
23. St. A's

A long, long time ago (a few days after Father's Day I believe) we finished our photo shoot with our photographer and then drove to get some custard and went to St. A's playground to eat it. Don't tell my kids that this playground is outside our church- I'll never keep them inside again. It has more swings than any park in town. It even has tire swings, which is what Adam wanted to name the park because they were so much fun.

 Eli attempted basketball, but we forgot to BYOB (bring your own basketball).

We go to the "Hard Park" all the time or Rotary Park. It's close to our house and has a great playground for the boys. The last time we went to the park Eli surprised us by grabbing and hanging onto the rings all by himself. I heard a little, "momma, momma!" from the other side of the playground. I walked over to the voice and this is what I found.

And then we got a video of him doing it, too.

A different night I caught Adam was pushing Eli in the swing.

If there is a "Hard Park" then there has to be an "Easy Park". Easy Park is in the middle of our neighborhood and it is called Rolling Meadows Park. The thing is this park has no slide and the boys always ask where the slide is or make a comment about the missing slide. No matter what my boys have a good time and never want to go home.