Just a beautiful day at the park!

Camping in Black River Falls.

Over the weekend we decided to get out of town and go camping in BRF. The Black River flows through town AND Lake Wazee is also there which is the deepest lake in WI. We spent time swimming at the lake and then found our place to camp- the campground was a state forest campsite that was awesome- nice sites in the woods- not hot at all, huge playground for Pete to play on and lots of pinecones to pick up. The one small drawback? The quantity of mammoth sized mosquitoes that swarmed from dawn to dusk. This is one of the main reasons that I have very few pictures of us actually at the campsite- Peter didn't seem to mind them too much as long as I had him sprayed up.  Before we went camping I asked Peter what it meant to go camping, he told me that you sleep in a tent and eat outside and that those things made him happy. He was still talking about it tonight at bedtime along with those pinecones.

Enjoying a snack of cake by the fire

 

Reading bed time stories.

 The other thing that we did the next morning was to go canoeing on the Black River- 4 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs in 2 canoes... it was a little bit of a circus act but Emelia liked looking around and watching the guys in their canoe and Pete loved dragging his hands in the water and playing on the sandbars and in the water.

 I liked seeing all of the clams that were in the water and seeing the paths they left behind them as they moved along with their "foot". I took videos of it to show to my kids in science this year.

A ParBY at the fountain Park

The other morning while I was changing Peter's dipe before we went downstairs I asked him what he would like to do that day- the answer? "Have a parby!" So that's what we did- Julia (& co.) came over to play for a little bit and then we walked over to the fountain park. This is the BEST picture that I could get of 4 kids 2 and under... (Wait until the end- Gma Moozer- you WILL be changing your desktop)

Peter climbed back out on the horse-- I mean turtle to stick his hand in the spray. I say horse since he fell off of the turtle last week into the water and had to be carried home dripping wet.

The babies were total sweeties and played on the blanket together. Claire is crawling all over and Emi is starting to walk her hands out as far as she can and tips onto her knees sometimes and sometimes clunkc forward and lands on her tummy.

I took this sort of nice picture of the kiddos.

and then....

took a picture of Peter and Julia- she wasn't looking but look what a goodlooking little man I have on my hands!!!!

Katie and JR come to visit

 Katie- my roommate for three year and her sister and her (unborn) baby boy came down to Winona for the night to visit! We spent lots of time talking babies and baby gear but also played some dominoes, had a picnic at SMU and had Pete show us around campus.(Doesn't campus look so beautiful in the summer??)

Emelia just kicked back and relaxed...

Looking for the black and white spotted fish in the pond

Pete parking his bike outside of Skemp... look out ladies!

Vacation with Jackson

 Peter and Emi and I went on a mini-vacation with Jackson to Grandpa Dan's and Moozer's house. We did a lot of really fun things- but some of the most noteable were: riding bikes A LOT and the boys learning to BAM into eachother and into grandpa Dan.

We also went to the steamtrain in North Freedom. It is a museum and restoration place that the kids/obsessed adults can walk around and see the old boxcars, cabooses, and go for a train ride. The key to this trip was that there was an actual working steam engine there taking people on rides- we didn't go on a ride- just watched the train come in and out of the station- it was fun to see but very loud with LOTS Of smoke- both boys were a little startled by it.

 Inside the train sheds looking inside the different cars.

Proof that Emelia was in fact there and being dragged along for the first of many trips to different train activities... Wait not true- she's been here and here...

We also had a campfire, put glow in the dark bracelets on our legs and CrazyRan all over the back yard.

The boys had their first sleepover.

And we went to the beach for some fun in the water, picnic, fishing off of the dock and playing in the sand!

A surprise visitor!

 We got a swingset for the backyard off of craigslist. As with the mojority of the things we buy it needs a little bit of work and help- after scrubbing it with deckwash and powerwashing the old finish off of it, the structure is slowly being cut apart, rotten pieces redone and set up in the back yard- until then, we found a way to put the slide to use!

 Emi just loved watching Peter- She laughs at him day in and day out- she also has grown to love animals and giggles and dogs licking her, barking or running around!

 While garrick and my dad were driving down to LaCrosse to pick up the playset we went to the beach on the river to swim for a while and to meet the guys who would want to cool off when they got back. Across the river we saw a boat.

 Of course, the next morning we had to go down, bang on the door and see what my old friend IKE- he is 87-was up to- he was back from hanging out with his boat in Virginia and was heading up north to see some friends. Pete and Emi got to meet Harry the Parrot and his dog Belle and Ike got to hold a sweet little baby...

Nope, she was terrified of him and he was ready to hand her back. That's okay- we visited for a while- he got my phone number and promised to call the next time that he was in town. We love you Ike!

Wedding Weekend!

Mike and Julie's daughter, Sarah got married this weekend- it was absolutely beautiful and a super fun party! We brought the kids with us for a while and then they got picked up and we got to have some fun of our own. Petey made it through abotu 2/3 of the ceremony when he called out for Julie- who then turned around and started to look for him... the final straw was when he told us he was a baby owl and started to hoot.

Emelia made it though with the help from her friend Sophie.

I think that we had better start to watch out for Peter becuase he worked his way around the room from pretty lady to pretty lady....

With Rachel- maid of honor 

Getting kisses from the bride!