Saturday, July 25, 2009

No argument

This morning was supposed to be my opportunity to sleep in. Since it was storming overnight, Anna ended up in bed with me. And, as soon as she is awake, she is talking. Chris made his best effort to allow me to get more sleep this morning by coming in to get her. Here is how their conversation went:

Chris: "Anna, why don't you go downstairs and watch Sprout with Scott."
Anna: "No, I'm still sleeping."
Chris: "No you're not, you're talking to Mommy."
Anna: "No, I'm talking to you!"

Can't really argue with that!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

July!

We've been so busy this month I haven't had time to post at all. From the 4th to family birthdays to a weekend trip, we've been gone from our house every weekend. I am so looking forward to lounging around home all weekend this weekend!

Our big event for the month was a trip north to Wisconsin Rapids. We were staying in Wausau about 40 miles north of that town. It was pretty much in the middle of the state, so it was quite a drive up there. It is such a beautiful area; mostly farmland (dairy farms, of course!) but with rolling hills and hills and red barns everywhere! The weather was chilly to start with, but it turned out nice.

My father-in-law is one of six in his family, but everyone else lives up there, so we don't get to see them much. We planned our trip to attend a graduation party for a couple of my husbands cousins, and also to honor his Grandfather, who turned 90 on Tuesday. My husband, especially, enjoyed seeing how his cousins have grown up since he last saw them. We were able to take a ride on the river in one of the cousin's boats. Scott and Anna loved it! Lizzie stayed behind with Grandma; since she is crawling around now, I didn't want to have to wrangle her on a boat!

We were only able to be gone for a couple nights, so we planned to stop several times on the way home to make sure the kids got to see and experience as much as possible. Instead of going south through Illinois to get home (the way we came) we went east to Green Bay and then drove south along Lake Michigan.

We first stopped in Green Bay to see Lambeau Field. It was a very nice stadium and we had fun shopping at the Packers Pro Shop. We weren't able to see the actual field because you had to take a stadium tour to do that. By the time we realized that was the only way, we didn't want to wait for the next start-time (nor did we want to spend the money on it since we'd already been shopping). But my husband appreciated that he can say he's been there, none the less.

We took I-43 south from Green Bay and eventually got off the interstate onto SR 32 north of Milwaukee. This was such a beautiful drive! We were driving through the most beautiful towns I've ever seen, right along the lake. We found a park with a beach and stopped and played in the sand for a while. There were people swimming in the lake, but let me tell you, it was FRIGID! You could not have paid me enough money to get in. It was a beautiful day for seeing the lake: warm, and sunny and clear so the water looked beautiful blue.

You would think the kids had never seen sand in their lives, they were so excited to play in it. And the loved that the sand was already wet without a hose or watering can! Anna was so excited when she spotted sea gulls. She said to me, "Look at those chicken birds! Those chicken birds like the water." It was such a fun day! Just down the shore was also a playground and the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Children's Museum. It was such a nice area and we will definitely plan a trip to see everything in the area sometime.

Instead of posting tons of pictures into the post, I'm going to try to load a slide show! Hopefully it will work...