Camping in Door County (vacation part II)

The second part of our trip was camping in Door County. We left Minneapolis on Monday and stopped at Shawano to stay the night and to buy/pack for our camping trip. We shopped on Tuesday morning and I left Rob to shop with Ky while I ran to purchase a book for some leisure reading.

Rob got to experience the thrills of shopping with Kylan. Kylan does not like to sit in the cart. He wants to push the cart. So you either have to let him push it--and pull things off the shelf as you chase your cart and pray he doesn't hit any elderly (so far he has only hit one); or battle with a crying Kylan as he sits in the cart wishing he was pushing it. BTW--he will stop crying and be quite sociable if people come and talk to him. --Think about that next time you see a mom struggling with a tantruming toddler.

Anyways, so off we went to door county. We had a great camping site. We were near the water and near a playground, yet not too close to anyone else. Ky loves to camp. He likes to find sticks and poke them in the ground. He also likes that he can easily access our car--which he tries to open the door and climb in (good thing he isn't big enough.) He also likes to wave and say hello to EVERY single person that walks by--and if they are driving by in their car he yells "BYE" and waves. He is a very sociable and lovable little guy.

So of course we did the usual trails with him. Ky seems to enjoy them and will even take a snooze from time to time while we are walking. However he is a very noisy little guy. We see very little wildlife with him. This camping trip we only saw wild turkeys and squirrels. He babbles the whole time.

The best story we have of Kylan is when we stopped at an overlook and were admiring the scenery (Ky was busy hugging a rock), when a trolley full of people pulled up. I would say there were about 15 - 20 people. Ky was fascinated by the trolley and anxiously began waving and yelling HI at the passengers. Well the people exited to look at the bluff and I think Ky thought they got off to watch him. He started working his charm. He was hugging rocks and babbling to the people, hugging my legs, waving and saying hi. He made quite an impression. The best part is when they all reboarded to leave. Ky was yelling "BYE" and waving. I swear everyone on the trolley waved and yelled bye to him. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN SOMETHING TO HAVE ON VIDEO CAMERA. You only see cheesy stuff like this on commercials....Speaking of cheesy commercials, Ky and I drove behind the Oscar Meyer wiener-mobile the other day.

Okay back to camping...We of course took Kylan to the beach. And he only ate the sand a couple of times (this is a big milestone for him.) He loves to be buried in the sand. We made him into a merman and then tried to give him big people legs. I think the onlookers appreciated our sand sculptures more than he did. Rob also dug a really deep hole--and of course I put him in it. Oh what fun! This is why you have kids!

So while in Door county we also explored the local towns, Rob bought taffy, I bought wine--actually we both bought wine. Our favorite winery is up there. We also went to a restaurant that brews its own beer called shipwrecked---and we have no plans on returning. I paid $15 for them to serve me cold roasted chicken! YUCK! And their beer was about as bad as my chicken. Otherwise the weather was good (though it would have been nice if it had been a tad warmer.)

While we were on vacation our home was getting rain storms almost daily---which was a good thing--since it had been so dry. We got home Saturday afternoon and Rob immediately began unpacking so he could pack again. (The next day he was leaving for a business trip to San Diego.) It rained all afternoon into the night.

That night I went to bed and Rob continued to work on laundry. Around 12:30 or so Rob woke me up to inform me that the basement was flooding. (A great way to wake up.) Sure enough when I went downstairs we had a large amount of water on the floor. It appears that one of our basement window wells was filling up with water and the water was then coming in through the window when it would rain heavily.

So we began moving furniture and boxes (Thank goodness we do not have a finished basement.) and pulled out the wet/dry vac and lots of towels. I went outside multiple times to see if I could fix the solution. (Every time it would rain hard we would have to start all over with the wet vac and towels as the water poured in.) After speaking to Mom and Jan (around 3 AM) we covered up the window wells (we were concerned about all of them) with garbage bags and cardboard. They seemed to do the trick. We then stayed up until 4:30 cleaning the basement. We then went to bed and were awakened at 5:00 by Kylan who refused to go back to sleep. Rob and I got about 2 - 3 hours of sleep that night, respectively.

The next morning we got up and went to Menards where we were greeted by other *happy* flooded folks. We bought 30 bags of dirt (around 1000 pounds) loaded them ourselves in the car. We also bought plastic window well covers. We then spent the morning playing in the mud (yes of course it was still raining) fixing the grading on the house--which was the ultimate cause of the flooding.

BTW--it was interesting that none of the neighbors even asked what was going on or called the police. THere we were in the middle of the night creeping around our house with flashlights--and then we spent several hours playing in the mud the next morning. What ever happened to nosey people?

So Rob left on his flight that afternoon (thank goodness it was delayed). He then enjoyed the next four days in warm sunny San Diego, while I kept close watch on the basement--which did not flood again--thank goodness (PROBLEM SOLVED!) And yes it rained every day he was gone and then some....Tons of flooding in the area and August 2007 is officially the wettest month EVER in the history of Madison. And now the mosquitoes are taking over....

I got bit twice in Walmart today--that is how bad they are. The kids at the Y come in covered with them. You do not DARE go outside--even with bug spray--they still bite you...

When I go to pick veggies from my garden, I put on sweatpants, sweatshirt with a hood, and boots to pick. Then I protect my face with my hands...and yes this is how I went out today when it was 90 degrees. Nobody questions my dress though---they all understand.

Alrighty--so this is about it for this blog--next blog will be about my brother Jeff's wedding.

So Milestones:

Ky is starting to eat with a spoon.

He is getting really good about drinking from a glass without spilling.

I think he is adding a new word to his vocabulary almost every day now--today he said baseball.

He also will try to imitate what you say, for example I may say "Bear go downstairs" and Ky will say "Bear O onairs."

He can scoot down the stairs on his butt now--and if it is a single step he will walk down it and not fall.

He stacks blocks--but he has been doing that for a while.

He is coloring now--not eating the crayons! This is a HUGE milestone!

He prays--I think I put this in the last blog.

He sits and reads. The kid loves books. He will page through them and act like he is reading.

He scoots on his bike now (we have been working on this for a while.)

He understands the concepts of a lot of things now. For example, I pulled out the vacuum and he grabbed the cord and tried to plug it in--of course he couldn't because it was child-proofed--but he tried.

I think that is all the milestones for now. Blogger just added the easy capability of adding filmstrips--so hopefully in the future I can actually put video clips up of my baby. (I gotta buy some cables first though). Until next time!

A trip to Shawano & Minneapolis (vacation part 1)

Where to begin...It feels like it has been a very long time since I have blogged....

So let's start with the first pic. Kylan hugs EVERYTHING!!! Rocks, Poles, people, stuffed animals, dogs, trees, mulch....you name it--he hugs it--and not only does he hugs it, he actually pats it as he hugs it. Silly boy.

Side note--today I took him to Jacksplash--outdoor water fun area for kids---and I had to pry him away from hugging a pole to get him to go back and play in the water. What a silly kid! But he is so lovable--and now he blows kisses too. He smacks the back of his hand with his lips and then throws it. Dada takes all the credit for this one. He has blown kisses to Kylan after his tucking every night since he was little...

Okay--so before our big vacation we had to take a trip up to Shawano to drop off our camping gear. Shawano was going to be our half way point in this trip. And with a mid-sized car there was no way we could take everything we needed for the week long trip in it. So Ky got to spend some valuable time with his grandparents. Unfortunately, G'ma Debi was feeling under the weather, but we still all had a nice time. Rob and I discovered a beach there and we spent several hours playing in the water and burying Kylan in the sand---he such a compliant child. Ky also made a new friend-Makayla. He makes new friends wherever he goes---he such a social butterfly. He says "Hi" to everyone. And you can see the disappointment in his face if people don't respond. Sometimes if people don't respond he will change to "HEllO" to see if that works better.

So back to Madison--Ky had his last swim class. Rob and I both went to be with our little guy. I have to say it was an embarrassing lesson. In the pool, Kylan wanted nothing to do with us. He wanted the swim instructor to hold him. He was getting angry and having a tantrum. He kept reaching towards her. All the other babies were just fine--but our little Kylan--wanted the attention of another--and thus she took him and he was happy. VERY HAPPY. In fact when she gave him back to us, he got frustrated all over again. He kept giving her big smiles and saying please (or BOB in Ky's language) and reaching for her. I thought this wasn't supposed to happen until he was a teenager?!

The following weekend, Rob and I celebrated our fifth anniversary ( a little early) and nana and G'ma Jan came to watch Kylan. I told them that they could put Kylan in the pool while Rob and I finished packing...and well I came down a few minutes later to find G'ma Jan and Nana in the pool and Kylan sitting on the porch steps watching them. It was too funny---so that is why those pics are there.

On to vacation...

We left Saturday morning for Minneapolis and arrived in the early afternoon. What can I say--trips always take longer when you have a little one. We only stopped twice though. The second step was at an A&W in Wisconsin. They had a juke box that Ky was intrigued by. In fact it was very hard to get him to leave. Rob and I went to the exit and said "Bye Kylan" thinking he would follow. But no--Ky instead waved to us and said "BYE" and went back to the juke box. And yes we did have a room full of people watching this. Lots of laughing...

Anyways we got to Kelly's just fine--unfortunately we couldn't say the same about her back yard. The night before there had been a storm, and she had downed limbs everywhere. And to make things worse, some of the limbs had fallen on her power lines--so Kelly had power, but limited power. For example--the oven did not work, yet the microwave did. You could only really turn on one light in her house at a time. It made for an interesting weekend. It was too bad that we hadn't brought our camping lantern and stove--it would have helped. Oh yeah--and the electric company said that maybe they would get someone to her house by Tuesday.

So Saturday night we went to the Mall of America. We were curious what it looked like--and I wanted to go through their underground aquarium. Lets just say the MOA is a very expensive and large mall with an amusement park in it. WOW! Don't think I need to go back...BUT the aquarium was very cool. We walked through the aquarium where you have giant sharks, fish, stingrays, etc...swimming over your head. Kylan thought it was pretty cool too. At the end of the aquarium they also had a place that you pet the stingrays and sharks. That was neat--and Kylan wanted to pet and splash.

The next day we got to meet Peter and spent some time in Minnehaha park and walked a bridge that overlooked the skyline. Minnehaha park has a cool waterfall and you can walk down the banks of the Minnehaha river until it meets up with the Mississippi. On our walk, I impressed everyone by spelling Mississippi with one "I". (An expert feat that everyone needs to witness at least on time in their life.) We also saw the ancient hieroglyphics of the minneapolins. They were very impressive.

The walk on the skyline was really cool. You could see the infamous collapsed bridge in the distance (pic with caution tape and the pic below it) and the rescuers were still at work trying to recover the victims. The bridge was full of lots of onlookers. We could also see the baseball dome (don't remember the name but it probably has to do with cereal or something) And a really cool building that was built inside an old partially collapsed building--don't remember that buildings name either (Kel- if you read this let me know and I will update the blog. Of course if you don't read this and never respond then this comment will forever remain here reminding us all that you never read my blog :( --how's that for a guilt trip.)

Anyway that night we went back to Kel's and sat in her very dimly lit room and talked about world perspectives with Peter--who's from Poland. It was very intriguing--and I like Peter very much. Way to go Kel!

The next day Kelly was off to work and so we said our goodbyes--actually we said them the night before. Rob and I did some driving of Minneapolis though. WE spent the morning in the Sculpture gardens and took pics in front of the infamous cherry. Kylan didn't appreciate the art very much--however he did enjoy hugging all the granite markers with names and descriptions. After that we searched for local ice cream and stopped at blue Sky creamery. We walked away disappointed. Kel--you needn't waste your time there. (Side note---whenever we travel we try to find good local ice cream.)

After that we drove through St. Paul and checked out the capital. Very nice city but a lot less crowded/built up than Minneapolis. Following that we were on the road back to Shawano for our layover.

Ky did an excellent job in the car. We had a big box of toys next to him, so he stayed pretty busy and happy. Next blog I will write about the rest of our vacation, but for now milestones...

Ky now has two molars -bottom right and upper left.

He can scoot down stairs and will walk up stairs if there is a railing he can hold onto.

He is really starting to talk and copy things we say. For example he said "Air DADA" (aka where's dada) or "AIR BEAR" (aka here bear).
He now knows his hair and ears and toes and bellybutton.

He is actually starting to color with crayons instead of eat them.

okay--he's crying--just woke up from his nap, I will put more milestones in the next blog. later!