Winona County Fair

When Peter and Emi came back from their school trip and I asked Emelia what her favorite part was, she answered "The MONKEY!" I looked at Peter and he said that yeah that was his favorite part too. The random animal petting zoo was back again complete with said monkeys, camels, fainting goats etc... When they went with their classes, they got to ride on a bus to get there, go on a ride of their choice (Emi "said" that she got to do two), and see many of the animals and have a snack!

We went back that evening as a family and pretty much did the same thing over again. But added in a long visit to the row of tractors AND saw the llamas attempting the obstacle course. Llamas can be pretty stubborn animals so when a few of the young girls we trying to jerk their llamas over the steps or under the hoops Peter would start giggling and I had to bite my cheeks so I didn't laugh as well! You could see the kids glaring at their animals and thinking "You did this yesterday!! Come ON"

 After we went to the fair, we went to our friend Susan's house to play on her trampoline and tree fort, have dessert and hang out. That night when we went to bed, I asked Emi what her favorite part of the day was... her answer: "Petting Susan's cat Nali". Sometimes I just don't know what to say!

Children's Museum

We go on spurts of visiting the Children's Museum in LaCrosse a lot and then taking some time off. The kids still get excited each time that we go and our time is spent doing different things as they grow up.

This winter their favorite things to do were:

Lainey: Climb. On Everything. And anything. She also loved driving the boats and cars. 

Emi: Play in the Kwik Trip and make pretend pizzas. She loves pumping gas into the cars and taking "orders" and putting them in the ovens. 

Peter: The train tables and he was also up for the challenge of the rock wall this year. He consistently made it up to the ledge in that picture which is even with the first floor of the building. The wall starts in the basement. 

Pumpkin Patch with Friends

We had the warmest trip to the pumpkin patch- I kept thinking while we were there that this is how people in California do these "fall" activities. This was our last week of this warm weather though, so I'm glad we made the most of it!

 This is funny- the moms were all talking and not really supervising this activity. As you can see, the boys had taken it upon themselves to "load" up the truck with as many pumpkins as possible- the lady that owned the patch was NOT pleased and said to "not touch the pumpkins unless we were going to buy them!"

 But, as you can see, we had quite the troupe of kids along- 8 kids and 2 babies (Lainey and Evan who missed out on the picture taking!)... it was like our own little day care center!

Swinging Bridge

We had a beautiful day with too much to do, so we got out of the house and went to check out a place we'd never been to before- the swinging bridge in Galesville. I haven't spent much time in Galesville- just have driven through to a yarn shop that we like to visit on occasion. We weren't sure where to go, but found the park that I remembered that it was attached to and started to walk-

 The "cave" we found along the way- Emi told me she saw "scary eyes" in it...

 We finally found the bridge!  It was much longer than I had anticipated and the kids were much more excited than I had thought as well!

Unpovoked love for the baby... Guess we know who everyone's FAVORITE is??

My little hiking buddy

 We also stopped at the apple orchard on the way home. They have a big green tractor out front that Pete usually comments on- so I said we could try and get a ride today. Of course the tractor wasn't there, but we walked back into the orchard to see if we could find it and just hitch a ride back. I was just about to say- I don't see it-- too bad-- when Pete piped up- I SEE IT! I see the roof of the tractor. Sure enough, just over the knoll you could see the flat green roof of the tractor against the green grass. We hustled up there and found an empty row and got a jostling ride back to our car.

Farm-a-palooza

We saw a flier at the grocery store for a farm show that wasn't far from our house. After Joan (our neighbor) gave us free butons to get in, we called grandpa Dan, made a date and headed up to see some tractors!

Peter surprised us all and got to/wanted to participate in a kiddie pedal-pull. He did a great job and had a lot of fun pulling!

 They also had a little bakery there with homemade cinnamon rolls, cookies and milk. That, along with watching the polka band and the polka dancers- might have been Emi's favorite part!!!

 Petey, of course, loved walking up and down the rows and rows of tractors- looking at the old and new, orange and GREEN ones.

 The kids got to go for a tractor ride that lasted well over 5 minutes! They went all over the grounds and loved every minute of it!

 This also might have been Emelia's favorite- there was a little petting zoo with pygmy goats, a donkey and a little horse. Before she would leave, she had to go back and give each animal one last pet.

Strawberry Picking

Then we went strawberry picking. It has been such a cool spring and summer that it wasn't until the end of June that there were strawberries available to pick! We headed out early one morning to go before school- the kids were good helpers and got to each take a basket that they picked to share with their friends at school. Our berries were pretty small, but we were told that at the far end of the patch there were better berries, but Shana and I didn't think the hike over would be worth it with the 6 kids!

As we were leaving an old man got out of his car and told me how much he enjoyed watching the kids play in the rows- he said he was 90 and his 88 year old wife was out picking that morning!

Memorial Day Camping

We usually head up to the north short to camp for the weekend with Garrick's family, but the last few years the weather has been iffy and we weren't sure about going with a 2 month old in 30 degree weather. Lucky for us, everyone- and a few extras even- agreed to come to Trempleau to camp for the weekend instead! We hiked, biked, had fires, went for walks around the campground and ate and ate of course. The kids did a great job of sleeping in the tent and Peter loved getting to pee in the woods. Linka had her big parachute hammock and we brought ours as well and that was one of the best parts for the kids- wrestling in them or lying quietly with grandma, reading books and looking at the trees. It did sprinkle on us a few times, but for the most part it was great weather and lots of fun.