That's not a FORT....

That's what Peter said when we went to LaValle to my dad's garage/workshop, or as we call it, his "Fort." Peter thought it was more like a HOUSE. We had a few days that we spent swimming, playing trains and going to see Kim in Milwaukee and then ended the trip with a visit to LaValle. The kids loved exploring the fort, playing in the creek, having a picnic and playing in the dirt. The grass was so tall that it was up to their heads which made it a little hard to walk in the field.

Hitting the Slopes

Peter has a little pair of cross country skis that Granpa Greg got him at the end of last year- there was never enough snow to play around with them then, but the first time it snowed this year he was all over the yard and up and down the block in them. We knew it was time to go back to Cascade and go skiing again.

 Emi and I hung out (since the tiny baby hill wasn't ready yet)

 But Peter skied and skied and skied!

 He was really interested (distracted) by everything going on around him- what are they doing, where does that trail go, can we go on the other chair lift?

But overall he had a blast! The last few times down the hill he didn't fall and needed a lot less help. Maybe next time he can go on the big chair...

Day Out in Winona

My parents came to spend the day with us a while back. You can always tell when school starts up because I go so long between blogging. I have a hard time sitting at the computer after I've sat all day!

But my parents came to visit for the day and helped me get a few things done, and had a lot of fun along the way as well. One of the activites that we did was use the free canoes on Lake Winona. We loaded up the kids and off we went. This is how the kids spent the entire trip, splashing in the water and leaning out as far as they could. Emi was leaning particularly far out so my dad was watching her when all of the sudden Pete (who was using my mom's paddle) went PLOP! Right into the lake! Without missing a beat, my dad reached in and scooped up Peter who was still holding onto the paddle, had one dry shoulder and was laughing! He must be the ONLY kid in the whole world who wouldn't be fazed by that.

Bike trip

 We went back to the Elroy Sparta Bike trail for what has started to become something of an annual trip! Garrick's goal for the year was for us to take the tandem out of Winona on the top of our car. I only wish I had gotten a picture of that! It is really big up on top of my little car. We also left with this little beauty. A new bike trailer for Peter to use to haul books from the library, watermelons from the Farmer's Market and his little sister around as needed.

 We just did a little ride to one of the closest tunnels so that the kids could walk through the tunnel on their own, play in the creek on the other side of the tunnel and then Pete could ride his bike back. Which he did. Almost 3 miles (mostly downhill) on his little Skut bike. 3 years old. He is a stud!

Pete's Vacation

We left Pete at my parent's house for two days on his own last week- here's what I got out of what he did... trains, bikes, swimming, trains, snacks, cousins, trains, trains. You get the picture! He had so much fun and LOVED the idea that he was a big kid getting to stay on his own at his "happy place." After looking at a few pictures of what he did, can you blame him?

Here is a link to the trains that they rode in the Dells: http://www.randgn.com/

Summer= Farmer's Park

 Summertime doesn't officially start until Grandpa Dad and Grandma Vivi have made a trip up to Winona to go to Farmer's park with us for the day. We brought nets to see what we could catch, played in the water,  on the swings and ran and ran!

 Peter loves to cross the stream on all of the rock bridges there!

 Look at the fish we caught!!

 I have been sewing a lot for Emelia lately. This was one of the more successful dresses that I attempted- She has another that is gray with posies on it too- everything that I sewed was made double- I figured that one would turn out great and one might have a few mistakes...

Date Day with Granpa Dan

 A few weeks ago, my mom was scheduled to work a double shift, Garrick had plans to go out for a long ride with his buddies, so what else would my dad and I have come up with? A day in LaCrosse to hang out, ride bikes and have lunch!!

 We took little Pete on a long bike ride through the wildlife refuge- we saw TONS of turtles out sunning (that's what they are looking at), birds, a few frogs and 2 snakes. This brings Pete's snake total up to four. He can tell you where they all were at... One at Farmer's Park... one at grandma and grapa Dan's house and 2 on the trail.

 And played and played and played at the big playground.

 Pete's favorite was the zipline. He could hang on all of the way across on his own!! What a little monkey.

We had such a fun day!! Next time we go, we'll go when the nature center is open to see the bees and the bullfrog.

On The BIG Chair

We went down to go skiing again this weekend and after a few trips   on the magic carpet, Pete graduated to the BIG chairs- as he put it. Lately he is all about doing what the big kids are doing- he did not like it that we were the only ones on the magic carpet, so when I finally released him to the bigger hill, he was excited. We have a little harness we put on him which is really nice for two reasons- it has a handle on the back which we can hang onto him with and also it has a rope that you can hold onto and ski behind him to slow him down. He was able to make it all of the way down the bunny hill without falling almost every time. He also was trying to make little turns to go one way or another- he has the idea down, but isn't fully able to do it yet.

We then spent Saturday at my mom and dad's house, playing inside and outside and of course had some cake!!

Peter playing with his digger that grpa dan made him... coming soon... sand pit in our yard.

Emi wearing pete's helmet- everything is a  hat these days- hats, socks, pieces of paper and she's been wearing my running bras around her neck lately.

Blowing out his candles.

Can't decide if I like this one

Or this one... Pete with his two favorite people.

Time for a bath

Last week we were playing down by the lake at my parent's house, it was starting to get dark and colder but Pete kept splashing in the water and throwing toys in the lake. Finally he threw one far enough that my dad had to get into a boat to grab it- Payton and Pete both slithered their way into the boat and Pete was leaning WAY over the edge playing in the water...

PLOP! I'm sure you guessed it already. Hearing him tell the story is even funnier, "I playing in the ought-ter and fell in... grapdan GOT me!" He thought it was both funny and scary- The muck in his hair was just the beginning of it... .

Emi had to have a bath while we were there too- their bathroom is under construction so the sink had to work for her!

Elroy Sparta Bike Trail

We took our first trip on the Elroy Sparta Bike Trail this weekend with the kids and my parents met us up there as well for the morning! It was a far cry from earlier in the week when we were all wearing shorts and tanktops- but it was great weather for biking.

We parked close enough to a tunnel that it wouldn't be a super long ride which meant there would be more time for playing in the tunnel and while we were biking. Peter did a great job of walking through the tunnel, making train and owl noises and holding his flashlight.

He and I even found a place in the tunnel to hide and surprise everyone!!

We spent time looking at the BIG doors and the water the runs along side of the trail and even caught a frog in the nets that GrandpaDan brought along.

Here Pete is "Putting it Back." into the water

Emelia also got some playtime with everyone!

(Everything is always so BRIGHT green there!)

Peter even got to ride his own bike for a while on the trail. At the trailhead there was a caboose with area pamphlets/information inside that Petey got to play in for a while... The next day at school his teacher told me that he was super chatty that day and then asked if we had seen his grandparents the day before... I said Yes and then she said... "In a caboose?" I laughed and explained what we had done the day before and that yep, they had in fact been in a caboose. Life doesn't get much better... does it?