Trip to Wisconsin, Day 2

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Our first full day in Wisconsin was a wonderful one.  So I'm going to post my favorite pics from that day.  First, our hosts took us on a Breakfast cruise as soon as we could get up and suited up and get ourselves out on their Pontoon boat.  I love a nice pontoon boat.  I have so many wonderful memories of renting one for the day when we'd go on family vacations when I was younger.  Seeing the same Joy in my sons was so wonderful for me.  The water was quiet at 8 in the morning.  We had a smorgasboard of foods, coffee cakes, fruit, and the coffee flowed freely.  It was The Perfect way to get a tour of Lake Camelot.  

The boys watch as we back out slowly, no wake speed.  

Oh the kids got very interested in Miss Nancy's driving.  And she showed them how it was done.  

I love this one, as Chris steers.  He actually did a great job! 

Sam on the other hand got a little distracted.  Nancy had to give him some pointers to focus, or he would just look at the wheel (not a good idea).  Gonna have to worry about that one when he's old enough to drive. :) 

The boys watch as we come in to port. 

Immediately after our brunch cruise, Chris hopped right in the water.  What's the point of being vested and in your swimsuit if you can't just jump right off the boat into the water?!  It was Great.  

The boys got all loaded up with floaties.  Chris kept his boat vest on, and got a lot braver about being in the water with Daddy, or moving where he couldn't touch.  They got out the noodles, and played pony race, then Chris built a noodle bridge for Daddy to sail under. 

I love how Sam is swimming in a tube WITH a swim vest, and just floating along with his boat.  Doesn't even care that he's in 12 inches of water or that he's up against the dock.  Boy cracks me up. 

And a little movie to make you giggle.   The lake is where Max potty trained.  So, Chris had to join in, this is total blackmail material.

By the end of our swim, the boys were doing Wonderfully on their own.  

After relaxing swims for all, and picnic lunch out by the dock, we all got dressed for what we termed as a Cheese Run.  About 1/2 hour from MorMor's there is a Cheese Factory.  And you can't go to Wisconsin and not have fresh Cheese.  Actually, Eric and I had a list of Must sees:  Beer, Cheese, and a Dell.  The Dell thing didn't work out.  But we got local beer put in our hands as soon as we arrived.  And this was the day of the Cheese.  

Chris and Max were totally stoked to go on a small road trip together. 

An aisle in the shopping section of the cheese shop.   This was just one side, and all three boys went a little crazy for the cheese.  Sam picked up a giant hunk, but then put it down in favor of a wheel of cojack as big as his head.  He wanted it because it was a Circle.  So we caved.  Hard to say no when they want Cheese.  Chris ended up picking a hunk of Edam, which I just finished off for lunch today, it was sinful.  He didn't like it so much once we got home.  Me, on the other hand, it was my favorite, melted in slices on a toasty sandwich.  We spent about 50$ on cheese on various types, trying things we'd never done before, and that was no not obscene, we'd packed a cooler for the road, and all of them have tasted So Good. 

This is Wisconsin State Dairy Cheese Factory (I think I got that right) and they are processing fresh cheese curds.  Separating the curds from the whey.  Apparently it's step 1 in Cheesemaking.  

And when the curds are fresh, they have a great squeak when you chomp into them.  There were plain curds, and some with flavors added.  Eric picked up a few different flavors.  While we went for some fresh ice cream, Eric sampled his curds.  Which were really good.  One that surprised me was the jalapeno flavored curds, they had diced jalapenos in the bag, so that the oil and pepper bits subtly covered them.  And the squeaky smooth cheese was the perfect counter to the spice.  I was surprised I liked them as much as I did.

 

None of our cheese curds made it back to Indiana.  And of course the ice cream was gone before we left the Factory.  Oh the wickedness!  I tell you, it doesn't bother me at all when Sam orders an ice cream he can't finish.  It's a burden I don't mind bearing, that I have to be the parent to "help" him finish.  

Here we are:  chock full of cheese and crazy.  

After the factory trip, the boys and I took a nap.  Even Eric fell asleep relaxedly reading.  For dinner, Nancy grilled out some burgers for us to test out our new cheeses.  I tried the fresh American (that we got for the kids and it was quite good) with the pepper jack.  Cheesy Meaty Goodness!  

And you know what?  Even Christopher ate his entire Cheeseburger!  Maybe he is our kid after all. ;)

Trip to Wisconsin, Day 1

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HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!

Ah yes, the blissful Freedom to pick up and leave for parts unknown.  Like Wisconsin.  Eric and I had never been, but we had a friend getting married, who invited us to be a part of it, so we couldn't resist taking the opportunity to see the state that we had heard so much about.  I find either people know Wisconsin and love it, or don't know it at all. People from Wisconsin know that there are 49 other states, but they may all be 1, because as far as they're concerned, it's Wisconsin and EveryStateButWisconsin.  I don't encounter people who have been that just don't dig it.  Now that I have been, I see why.  It really is an Enchanting place.  

Back to the details of our trip, we began on the 4th of July.  We fully intended to go participate in the town's local parade, as we do most every year.  However, this year it was unseemly hot.  It was 93 degrees by 8:30 am when we had packed the car.  So we just continued on, loaded up, and hit the road.  We had built some Flexibility into our trip.  Hopefully, we could make it the 6-8 hour trip up to our friend Nancy's family home.  But if we didn't, we could crash in a hotel on the way, since the boys had never made it as far as 6 hours before, even on our longest days on our New York road trip last year, they only made it about 5 hours before losing their minds.  I had packed some goodies, I just hoped they worked.  But if we started early and had the whole day, maybe, just maybe we'd make it to the lake in Wisconsin by dark for Fireworks.  

We shall see....

Top 10 from the First Day 

1.  Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder! 

2.  Our first stop for more than just potty breaks was for lunch at Cracker Barrel, where the kids kept themselves entertained with checker games. 

3.  The kids fought the good fight.  They stayed awake playing all manner of games on their dueling leapsters.  They kindof shared the ipad to play games or watch shows.  They even watched a couple movies.  But an hour before arrival Sam fell asleep.  Chris held out until about 20 minutes before we arrived.  

Travel time total: 9 hours. 

4.  Priorities!  Our friends asked which we wanted to do first: eat or swim.  Now THAT is my idea of a relaxing vacation, where the only questions are beach or pool?  Or Eat or Swim?  We chose Swim then Eat.  After a perfectly brief yet refreshing dip in the lake we were treating to fabulous local fare:  Point Beer (from Stevens Point about 1/2 hour away) and Johnsonville Brats.  (I had no idea they were from Wisconsin.)    

5. We learned that like Indiana, Wisconsin was on a Firework burn ban too.  It's just been too hot and dry for open flames.  And Wisconsin does a lot of lumber/paper business, so it would be very bad for business and trees to have fire.  Luckily, we had packed Festive 4th Temporary Tattoos.  So as the light began to fade we broke out the tattoos to put on the kids.  Chris picked a Peace sign for his face! 

6.  Sam picked  a couple different ones, but here he's showing off his Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness Tattoo.  

7.  Who can resist this?  USA USA! 

 

8.  After we were all tatted up, we went outside with our other goodies for the kids, Glow wands and Festive red, white, and blue glow bracelets.  Leave it to the boys to start playing Light Saber with them.  

9.  Max won though.  He took out both the boys! 

10.  OK, here's one I didn't take.  Happy 4th of July from the Willman Family!!!

Much Needed Break

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On Tuesday the 3rd, before we skipped out on vacation, my sister came over to play.  Now, if I think I was frazzled just preparing for multiple birthday parties and a small vacation,  I've got nothing on my sister.  She's a Superchamp of single parenthood as her husband is fighting in Afghanistan (Though he's supposed to get out this week!) with my nieces ages 2 and almost 4.

We often call each other commiserating about how our children are so alike in their Crazy that they should Patent it.  On any given sleep deprived day, we could send the kids abroad and the enemy would surrender just so we would go get them.  After telling my sister of my finally caving and sending the boys to Kidz Depot, and going for sushi, she began to drool.  She had been on the quest for the perfect Seaweed salad for quite some time.  Research of course, she needs to sample a good one in order  to figure out how to make it at home.  So, for science's sake, she came over, and we made plans to run away.

And we got rid of the kids for a couple hours.  I went shopping at Wal-mart for final travel preparations, I hate Wal-mart.  We did find this display humorous while we were there.

And no, we weren't drinking.  Just tickled us I suppose.  THEN we went for Sushi, and it was Good. 

After sushi, we brought the yahoos home for a quick dip before naps.  It was just what the yahoos needed.  It wasn't too shabby for us either. ;) 

Of course, being in the water with the girls, I couldn't take as many adorable pictures as I usually would.  I just had the girls and Sam swimming (or walking in the water) adorably around me.  Since it was 103 degrees outside, we didn't stay out long, just long enough to relax and refresh everyone before naps.  

During naps, I went and snagged Christopher and was able to capture the herd of cats on the stairs before their visit ended.  

They don't hold still very often, but when they do, they sure are Adorable !

Who's That Girl?

184/366   (For once I really started one at 11:59 PM, must be my lucky hour.)

On Monday, July 2nd, we got to Celebrate our Last of 3 birthday parties in 3 days.  It was for my Lexi Leigh.  Can it be, my sweet God-daughter, first niece is 11 already?  I can't believe it.  It was just yesterday we were sitting watching Jag, while other family members were pacing the halls at the hospital waiting for her to be born.

Where did that baby girl go? Now here she is: a beautiful,  kind, smart, playful young lady.

Alexis,  I can't wait to see what this next year is going to bring, and the woman you are becoming. 

My wish for you is that you find Joy.

And maybe that you find the cello as much fun as I did. ;)

Celebrations

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It's been a whacky couple of weeks, somehow July has just flown by.  Understandably, we've been partying like nobody's business since the month started, then we went on vacation, then this week was VBS.  Whew!

We started off July like a Bang!

First, we got to Celebrate the Julius Twins 3rd Birthday.  It was a backyard splash party, and it couldn't been a better day for it, like most of this summer, hot and sunny.

We arrived just in time for some lunch and sweetness from Kristin and Sarah:

Then we got to watch them open their presents.  We got them clothes and some coloring apparati, not nearly as much fun as the spoilage that other folks inflicted.  The girls were having a fine time opening presents.  

Sarah was running around showing everyone her Team Umizoomi videos, which she was pretty excited about.  When I asked her to show me, she shoved it right Into my camera.  

Her royal highness Princess Kristin casting spells on Mommy....while she's running the video camera, it will be interesting to see how that turned out.  

Time for the Pool!  

At first Sarah wasn't interested in getting wet, she was content to play in the shade at the water table. I can't blame her, it was bloody hot outside.  However, when it is that hot, a pool is a very nice place to be.  

So she finally got in.  But as you can imagine, half a dozen preschoolers make it very difficult to catch 2 smiling side by side.  Or side by side at all actually.  They were cute, but very much doing their own thing.  

Then the balloons came out.  

Here's Trouble.

Kristin got into the balloons, but it was a little hard for her to find people to play "catch" with.

Her Grandpa said Yes.  But do you see that twinkle in his eye?  There may have been some temptation there, but I think she just dropped it herself.  Or ended up up throwing it into the pool, that became a great trend.  

Everybody was having a great time throwing things or jumping into the pool.  Sarah even started jumping up and down, would get a little wet, then jump up triumphant, I Did It!  

Eric got this one.  Apparently, Mary had to spend quite some time to get this one to bust on top of Emily's head.  But when it finally did, it was Awesome.   

Ah yes!  Time for Cake!  Or Cupcakes.  And Cookies.  

Miss Kristin was pretty excited about blowing out her big candle.  

Sarah needed a little help candle blowing.  Personally I think she just didn't want to come out of the pool.

And the cupcakes and cookies that our friend Juli made were so yummy.  

That's a temptation to keep me out of the pool any day!  

It was a great party, but so much time outdoors wore all of us out.  We went inside and made the mistake of sitting down.  We shouldn't have.  We could have easily fallen asleep.  Who knew that pool parties could be just as exhausting for the parents as the kids?  But mine had a great time.  And more importantly, so did the girls. 

However, it was a duel special day.  It was also Mom W's 60th.  And Aunt Teri was still in town from the party, though she had to be at the airport for her own flight out just before suppertime.  Meanwhile Ryan and the girls just got back from their Florida vacation, so we all decided to meet up at the airport for a Birthday dinner for Mom.  I know, it sounds weird, but it ended up being perfect.  The kids happily ate McDonald's, while the rest of us...Did Not.

Mom thought it was funny to celebrate her birthday dinner at the airport, but I'm assured she was where she wanted to be, surrounded by loving family.  When you're surrounded by lots of loved ones, wherever that is, it's a great party.