Canoeing with daddy

It is so easy to take for granted what surrounds us in Madison, including Lake Wingra, within walking distance from our front yard. Jay wanted to take the kids out on the lake for Father's day and it felt as if we were upnorth at some secluded lake, not in city limits. Helps that there are no speed boats allowed, just lightly scattered with kayakers, canoers and fisherman.



Thanks to our neighbor, Miss Elspeth, who lent us some paddles for H and B which they have been practicing with all winter. Although they weren't powering us around the lake (boy are my arms going to be sore tomorrow), they did figure out which way to pull the oar through the water and nobody fell in!

If you can't find us at home this summer, bets are we are paddlin around the lake!!

Why we love him...

and the busy week continued.....

Shortly after Liz , Leon and kids jumped in their car and headed towards home, Shannon, Bruce and Liam arrived for the weekend. Our cousin Krista graduated from high school and we caravanned up to Merrill on Saturday for the party. We first had to make a stop at the Farmers Market on our way out of town.

Aunt Shannon bought the kids cookies, Bryn made out well with her "monster cookie" full of everything good. Henry managed to snag some daisies from a market seller and carried them around the square.

The highlight of the weekend was the horses. Krista's graduation party was at the ranch where she boards her horse so the kids had an endless supply of horse rides all afternoon. Liam was the first brave kid to get hoisted on to the horse and was soon followed by H and B. They even got a lesson in throwing a lasso.

Bryn and Henry with the new grad. Congratulations Krista!

Montana buds

Last week we had our friends Liz and Leon with their kids Ethan and Emi visiting on their LONG trip back to Montana from Florida. Ethan and Emi (although being 4 and 2 years older than H and B) were instantly adored by our kids once again, and the 4 of them were non-stop silly fun.



So good to see our dear friends from Missoula and hanging out with them brings back so many Montana memories......






As you can see from the above pic, Ethan showed his skills as the chicken whisperer. The second we opened the door to the fenced-in chicken run, Ethan was intent on holding one of the chickens. Determined he was, and sure enough he caught Lady Marmalade and carried her around the yard for a good five minutes or so. The other chickens gave him a run for his money and Lady Marm was the only hen that obliged.

Emi and Bryn spent a good part of their time seeing who could swing the highest and touch the leaves of our tree.







Henry taking a pucker to Leon's horn.

Liz with kids on the way home from a park.

Last minute snuggles with Ethan.



I think a road trip heading west in in our future...

Preschool party!

Hard to believe that Henry and Bryn are done with their first year at preschool. To say the time flew by would be an understatement. Spending their Tuesdays and Thursdays with Miss Sally, Miss April and Miss Rachel, and the rest of their class proved to be quite an experience and we couldn't have asked for anything more.

The last week of school they had an end of the year party for all the parents and kids. They had a scavenger hunt through the school grounds that ended with a special treat of popsicles and other goodies. We also competed in the three legged race without falling flat on our faces!

Henry decided the night before that he wanted to bring his clown outfit so he could be the "mascot" for the party.

Running to their next clue at Mr. Rich's science school bus.

Who would you vote for?

Lately they have been playing with a pile of wood scraps leftover from the chicken coop. They have washed them, stacked them, hauled them around the yard until Jay asked them if they should build something with them. I left home for a bit and came back to find that they built a podium, specifically asked for by Henry. They quickly remembered the speech that the mayor gave in "Curious George makes Pancakes" and have been giving our neighborhood speeches all weekend. Never a dull moment at our house.

As you will notice Bryn is MUCH more serious about this task then her brother.

And now the comic's version....... is he headed for class clown status already? How can you not laugh?

Last Friday H and B left early with Grandma to start Grandpa's birthday celebration at the cabin. As protocol, Henry and his one track mind needed something new to obsess about. This time around it was water skiing. He begged each of us to brave the chilly water and show him some tricks but he didn't get any takers, so then he talked endlessly about how badly he wanted a ski. Grandma knew what he needed and found him a wetsuit to wear. If you could have seen him waddling around, it was hilarious. Below he was taking markers and some cardboard to make his own ski.



Richgels joined us for the weekend and managed to teach them a new game with water buckets.

Grandpa doing his thing with the bean bags, and he's a pretty good shot!

Since the water was WAY too cold, grandma started a land - water ski school. They got down in a crouch, practiced their form and she would "lift" them out of the water with a tug. They didn't care how many times they were yanked out of the "water" nor the number of times they landed on their bottoms. Poor Grandma, she got the workout with this one.

Dancing to the tunes. Thanks to grandpa for a great birthday weekend and to grandma for all the lakeside fun.

Our surprise when we got home!! My friend Ann, left us a cooler full of the largest morel mushrooms I have ever seen. They were fantastic and of course we needed a picture to prove it.

Iowa's windy city

Of course the windiest little town in the middle of Iowa would host it's own kite fest and we road tripped it on down to check it out. Shannon, Bruce and Liam invited us for the weekend with the lure of a possible tethered hot air balloon ride. But of course it was TOO windy for even the balloon to go up, but the owners were sweet enough to let us climb on in and check out the basket.

Kids were able to make their own kites which were impressively good fliers, especially Liam's. All three of the kids were loving the sport of kite flying and Bruce couldn't help but buy his own fancier version to fly. Henry with his keen nose figured out that these markers were sure smelly and couldn't stop sniffing the darn things.

Bryn's favorite thing to draw lately is rainbows and her kite was no exception.

Liam was a doll and sat with me just checking out all the kites flying overhead and I couldn't help but snap some photos of the cute dude with his new haircut.

Racing down the field on all fours.

Aunt Shannon bought a bag of sour apple cotton candy and we all got in on that action. nummmmm.

Later on the kids found a perfect hill to roll down as the day was coming to an end.

Thanks to Bruce for starting off Mother's Day on a very delicious note with a mouth watering breakfast. We all had so much fun, just wish they lived closer......

Deep Sea Diving 101

Ever since Bryn and Henry saw divers in a giant tank at the Shed aquarium a couple weeks ago they have asked us more questions about the divers then about the fish they saw. Well, it was their lucky day this past weekend when they got to meet a real life diver friend of their own. Miss Kathie and Mr. Tim invited us all to see beautiful pics of all the places they have been deep sea diving and the marine life he has had the chance to swim next to, (including amazing video footage of whale sharks in the waters of Belize) and for an added bonus we made a trip to the basement and the garage to see all the diving gear he has accumulated.

Mr. Tim let them try on his flippers and gloves and showed them all the fancy equipment attached to the oxygen tanks. I'm thinking Mr. Tim should take this show on the road cause they loved it. Thank you both for the wonderful afternoon and the CD full of underwater photos you gave us to take home.

Below is Mr. Tim showing them the dry suit he uses in very cold water.

Back at Grandma and Grandpa's house the kids tried chasing butterflies and bees with their new nets while the adults worked on hanging the new hand made barn doors.

Taa daaa. We actually got the doors hung and now my dad's VW bug has an easier entrance into the barn.



It was a fun weekend to get away while Jay was busy typing up a 20- something page grad school paper.

Feedin' the chick-chicks

The chickens are starting to get a little more adventurous with their food these days. They've been pecking away at overly ripe bananas, baby tomatoes, and most recently, mustard greens. The greens have a little kick to 'em, and the flock seems to really be developing a taste for that kinda stuff. So are Henry and Bryn, it turns out.

Bryn's become quite the little mommy, making sure each hen gets her share...

...and here's Henry, finishing off the last of the greens.