Blueberry Picking!

We went out Blueberry picking with a whole bunch of our friends that are a part of the "Summer Bounty" Club that Lori started. She knows a little bit (or a LOT a bit) about pretty much everything that you can do with summer produce and is more than willing to share every bit of her knowledge. So off we went to Maiden Rock

 Don't let the bucket fool you... I think only 2 or 3 berries made it in there!

 Shoving blueberries in as fast as she could!

 Smiling in front of some of their beautiful gardens.


This series of pictures is very funny- all of them need to be there for sure!

A day out on the River

Grapa Greg and Gramma Linka came to visit also during the heat wave and off we went to the river. We took a nice boat ride to a little tiny beach and everyone got in the water to swim which felt oh so good.

Emelia was kicking her little frog legs in her float- This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Linka and Emi!

Pete worked hard to stay hydrated  out of the Pizza Hut jug that we all just love so much since we *try* to keep him from drinking the river water.

Peter showed how high he can climb and how big he can jump!

We all relaxed...

Some more than others... on our way to dinner! We parked at the marina in Trempleau and walked to the Trempleau Hotel for a delicious meal that we all needed! What a super fun day that we had with Grandma and Grandpa!!

Buena Vista Park

Friends of mine own a small shop in Alma WI that sells handmade/ WI made items and asked me if I would love to sell some of my baby dresses/hats/aprons there. If you are ever in the area- PLEASE stop in and say HI to Susie and Angela. It is absolutely gorgeous in there and there are lots of fun things to check out!

So, I hadn't been there in a long time since they had opened, and thought we should check it out. So, last weekend when it was particularly hot and steamy, we loaded up and went to Alma to see them and to have a picnic at Buena Vista Park in Alma.

It is up on top of the bluff at the very edge of it and over looks the Mississippi River and lock and dam 4. I bet that on a day without 80% humidity you would almost be able to see all of the way to Winona... that day maybe a few 100 feet.

We took a super nice family picture...

And some cute ones of the kids!  It is slowly cooling off here but we figured out the BEST way to beat the heat and got air conditioning installed in our house! It was a long time coming, but oh so worth it!

Working with Mike

Mike and Julie are 2 of the most patient people in the whole world- I learn so much watching them interact with my kids about letting kids do things for themselves, helping and talking to them like they are actually people. Pete loves to help Mike with whatever he is doing and the other day they got hard to work planting flowers for Sarah's (their daughter who is my age) wedding.

 I think that Peter sometimes does a little more supervising that working, but he helped fill in some of the dirt at least!

 

Afterwards, as a reward for all of his "hard work" Mike gave Pete truck rides around the yard- Emelia even got to go for a little one!! 

I know that we have said it before, but we are too lucky to have the neighbors that we have!

Adventures with Friends

On the last day before I started teaching I opened my own little daycare center at my house. Kids were in and out all day long and it was AMAZING. I can't wait until Pete and Emelia are a little older and they can really have their friends over to play all summer long and that our yard is FULL of toys at the end of the day, numerous freezie pops have been consumed and everyone is exhausted. Until then, I'll take this :

 Our day started off with my friend Brianna dropping her twins off while going to a quick drs appt. It was like having triplets (they are 2 months younger than Emelia) lucky for me all 3 girls were AMAZING and didn't cry a single tear.

They were too busy playing! Peter was a big help to me as well and brought me toys and played alone or with the babies. He was sure to point out though which baby was his. (Cute story: The other day he was a little grouchy and we were dropping off paperwork downtown in the stroller. Another kid peeked in at them sitting in there and said BABY- Peter said "go away! MY baby" Guess he is getting to be a little protective of Miss Emelia?)


The twins were picked up and a little later Julia and Claire and Shana (their mom) came to play.

 Peter and Julia played in the pool and went down the slide all morning...

 Emelia and Claire played in the shade. 

 

 Pete loves to sit in baskets and flip them over for a diving platform!

BUT best of all...

 The big kids ran hard and got to cool off with a special treat!

Thanks Julia and Claire (and Shana)---- we have had the best summer playing with you!

A day at the Fair (last week)

Since I have been teaching in the mornings these last few weeks I am behind on blogging- here a few "'catch ups" for things we have been up to.


A few weeks back we went to the Winona County Fair. We took too many pictures to count since I want to make a book out of all of the pictures for Peter to read but here are a few of the best and to give a snap shot of what we did and what the kids thought was the best!

 

We got a free balloon from the Democrats with a hand-drawn MN on it and drank a lot of free water from the Culligan Man. 

 Checked out the chickens- one of the few animals that Peter liked to see.

 Looked at the baby animals-- ducks, geese, cows, horses, llamas, maybe puppies?

 Watched the sheep show- friends of ours were showing and we sat with another friend who explained the whole process and what the judges were looking for and who she thought did well- she was right every time!

 Looked at art (mainly for pictures of trains and dogs)

Saw what kinds of AMAZING things were for sale... answer: not much

 And looked a lots of tractors.

More Tractors.

 Big Tractors.

 Little tractors

 Pete liked the yellow tractors

 He also thought that Grapa Dan liked that one.

Emi knew which one Grapa Dan REALLY liked though!! 

**Please note: This represents a fraction of the time spent viewing heavy machinery and a fraction of the pictures taken of the tractors***

Happy 4th of July!

I am super far behind.... but didn't she look too sweet?

Strawberry Picking with Julia!

A few weeks ago we went out strawberry picking with Shana and Julia. I am sure that the kids ate way more than they picked- except that we both found a handful of berries in our bins with 1 bite out of them when we were cleaning them up the next day!