Wrapping up July

Can you believe how quickly time flies?

Summers are just CRAZY. You are finally able to get outside and you just CRAM everything possible into such a small time frame.

In July we enjoyed several more GREAT beach days as well as a trip to Milwaukee--complete with journey through Discovery World and a Brewer Game. We ran a little late leaving from Madison (of course--I had lost our membership card) and went straight to Discovery World (after I found it). We had a difficult time with parking. Discovery World had a sign saying parking was $14 and we were only going to be there 2 hours--and thought that was ridiculous. Being former residents we knew we could get a parking garage for much cheaper. Unfortunately, we had forgotten about the "accident" that had happened the prior week where a boy was killed by a concrete slab that fell on him in a parking garage. So, naturally that Main parking garage was closed for inspection and ALL of the other parking garages were full due to the loss of that major parking garage. (Yes this became a BIG deal--as we lost 30 minutes of our Discovery World time driving in circles.) We eventually were forced to the Discovery World garage where we discovered that their sign, was merely there to "Scare" away people who were trying to use their lot since the other lots were overcrowded. I think we paid $3 to park. HOW FRUSTRATING! What happened to honesty! Anyway...so we got to Discovery World and the kids had a blast.

Rob impressed us all by laying on a bed of nails. Kylan showed everyone his infrared tummy, and Alaina..well she was Alaina, just trying to run everywhere and get a "behind the scenes" look at things. (Yes with that child, I am often running behind store counters to get her and back rooms...)

Their music section was really neat--though lost the small child interest. Rob and I of course did the "read as much as you can while the kids are still in sight" tour.

The water area was the best part of the journey. Unfortunately, we got there at the very tail end of our time. We literally only had 15 minutes or so to look at the fish tanks. Alaina was very funny! She is such a bold and adventurous child, but when it came to walking on the glass (with the fish and water below) she was petrified. Be sure to check out the videos! She was too funny!





Since we got kicked out of Discovery World so quickly, we played in the outside park--which is a musical area. The benches are xylophones and they have this metal screen that makes music as the kids pass rocks through it. It's pretty neat.

After that we were off to Oscar's to continue our ice cream quest. Oscar's is a custard place on the the west side of Milwaukee. It was pretty good. We also got burgers & fries, but were not that impressed with those--Gille's is definitely better.

From there we were off to the Brewer game. We let the kids play at a playground along the way and journeyed into the stadium. Alaina did VERY well this game. I was impressed by her. She sat through much of it and just watched the crowd--and ate (of course!) Sadly, the Brewers lost...

So that following week Ky bit holes in his shirt. I was so angry with him. He has been doing this for a while and I have been trying to stop him. Anyway, we felt a punishment was in order. This was probably one of Ky's biggest punishments. We talked to him about how things cost money and we have to work in order to earn that money. And, since we had lost a shirt he needed to "pay" us back by working. So I made him wash all the tile floor by hand. He enjoyed this for about the first 45 minutes. But the last 30 minutes were full of much tears as they DRUG on. I was pretty sure I had made an impression since I had not seen any more holes in his shirt--however on Aug 28th (over a month later), I discovered another chew hole in on of his shirts. Naturally, he will be washing the floor again. And hopefully it will once again make an impression.

The following weekend we went to Rob's company picnic. It was held at Mt. Olympus. We decided that since we hadn't been in the Dells in a while we would camp Saturday night and also spend Sunday in the area (Devil's Lake). But as always, things don't work out as planned. The kids had a great time at Mt. Olympus. Ky went on his first "real" roller coaster. He just made the 42" requirement (though when we are the doc's a week later he measured in at 41.5".)

He LOVED it! During our day at the park we learned that our passes were actually good for the next day as well, so we made plans to skip Devil's Lake and come back on Sunday as well. We left at a reasonable time for dinner, but had trouble getting our tent set up in a timely manner and then finding a restaurant to eat at. It was nearly 9PM by the time we got the kids fed. ARGH! Yeah they were overtired and cranky. (If we do this next year I think we will just pack a dinner.) This was NOT worth it.

The next day when we returned, it was cloudy and not as nice. In fact we got rained out for part of the afternoon and ended up in the overcrowded indoor waterpark. BLEH! We left early and were very happy to get home. SO TIRED!

The week following, we signed Ky up for the Soccer Bible Camp at the church across the street. I was so excited to get him in. Five afternoons for $40. They provide snack and then feed the whole family on Friday! It was a wonderful blessing. Ky loved the camp. He loved his coaches and learned a lot. I did try to get some pics of him, but every time I did he was playing with his pinny. Oh, well! That's my boy!

The following weekend, we went up to Shawano to "get away". It was nice. I really relax better when I am not at home looking at the children's messes or thinking about what I need to be doing. On Saturday we spent the day at Shawano beach. It was so nice! I love watching the kids play and enjoy themselves.

So that was July--are you exhausted from reading this? I am exhausted from typing it! Summers are always so busy, and I am sad to think that it is almost over. *Sigh* Stay tuned to the August posts--including a trip to Kentucky!

4th of July 2010

Kylan played T-Ball this summer for the first time. He was the youngest on his team since it was a 4-5 year old league and he turned 4 just days before the session started. I was nervous that he wouldn't be as good as the others--but my fears were quickly eased as I watched all these little kids who couldn't catch, hit, or throw, try to play a game of t-ball.

The first game was amusing, after that every game was pretty much the same. One kid would hit the ball. All the kids on the field would run towards it. There would be a dogpile for the ball. One kid would finally get up with the ball in their hand. At least one other kid would cry because they either got hurt in the pile-up or because they did not get the ball. The adults would then have to tell the kid with the ball Over and Over to throw it to first. The kid would under/over throw it. First baseman would then run around trying to retrieve it. Next batter.

The runner was limited to first base, unless they were the last batter then they got to hit a homerun. (Be sure to watch Ky's first homerun in the video below!)

Ky enjoyed the game. I enjoyed watching him. He would often try to go up to bat with his glove still on. It was so fun to watch!



The beginning of July, I dug up the rest of my carrots. It was very exciting since I had not grown carrots before. They were so yummy- but I am not sure they are worth the work since I can get them so cheap at the store. Nonetheless--fun! I never realized how funny looking carrots can grow. Be sure to notice the photo of one of my carrots that appears to have it's legs crossed!

For the fourth of July Weekend we went camping at YellowStone Lake. It was highly recommended by a friend of mine. It was a cute little campground--but not my favorite. The lake was actually manmade, which was a bit disappointing. And while the water was clean it had clumps of algae junk-EW!

We reserved our campsite online--knowing that the campground would quickly become crowded for the 4th. However when we got to the site we were quite disappointed. We had to park on top of a hill where there was some free space for the kids to play. At the bottom of the hill was the fire pit (can we say DANGER!) and just beyond the fire pit was the picnic table and then a spot for our tent. This actually made it very difficult for us since we had to be careful of the kids running down the hill and falling in the firepit.

We tried setting up chairs between the hill and firepit, but you couldn't sit in them due to the incline. We also used a white rope to make a line to show the kids where they could not walk. It worked okay--but Ky ended up with a lot of time outs until he got the "rope" system down.

We arrived Friday night and set up camp. The next morning we decided to do a trail before swimming. It was TOO hot! And honestly the trail was not that exciting. At one point we found a puddle with tadpoles--and that was about the most exciting part--that is until we found the inchworm. Otherwise there really wasn't any other wildlife and the trails just were not as scenic as we hoped. And then the trail got whiney (not WINDY, whiney). Yes, the boy began to whine. He couldn't walk anymore. He was tired of the trail...blah blah blah. (Notice the sad boy pics.)

I think we were all pretty annoyed by then and Ky was not helping the situation. We made it though--and went straight for a well-deserved cool swim!

While at the beach, Ky met a boy who was a little older than him. It was really cute watching them play. At one point Ky came to me and asked me if he (Ky) was in preschool--I assume the boy had asked him. I told Ky "Yes and that he was in his Mommy's Preschool of Love." He then went back and told the boy that--TOO CUTE! And the boy just nodded, like "yes, of course."

Towards the end of our beach time I decided to bury Ky in the sand. We had a lot of fun doing that and even had some stray children join in. We tried to mold his body to look like a gingerbread man, but then he started moving.

After that it was back to the campsite for dinner and s'mores. This was Alaina's first time roasting marshmallows--so I did make sure to get some video of that. Not to mention, it is too funny watching these wee ones try to deal with all the sticky.



At one point, Alaina actually knocked her chair over and fell into the firepit, but thankfully the angels were watching her. She did not get hurt, just pretty scared--which helped to prove our point of needing to stay away from the firepit.

The next day was the 4th of July and I tried dressing the kids in their red, white, and blues. Unfortunately, Alaina's skirt was a bit too big in the waist, so she had droopy drawers for much of the day.

That morning we walked another trail. This one was more interesting because it went around the water preserve. Ky caught a monarch--and this was TOO neat to watch--be sure to watch the video of it--his expression and holding the butterfly is just PRICELESS! We saw several differnt water bird including a heron? pelican?, yeah I don't know what it was. At some point on this trail though, I got stung by something and it really hurt. I was done with the trail by then and just wanted to get back to the car.



After that we had lunched and then tried to figure out what to do. We had planned to camp one more night, but the forecast was calling for storms. We were also watching tons of clouds moving in. We decided to pack up and leave after dinner. We didn't want to have to deal with packing up a wet tent the next day or trying to get the kids to sleep through a storm. Turns out we made a good decision. It rained a couple of times that night. All in all it was a good 4th of July weekend.

Introducing my NEW MONEY SAVING BLOG!

I am so excited...

So yeah...I was putting all my money saving deals in my family blog and I didn't want to clog up my family stuff with my AWESOME savings...not to mention I am just bursting at the seams wanting to tell people about all these fabulous deals I find AND how you can do little things at home to save money...So I did it...I started another blog...a separate blog.  And yes I did much thinking before I just threw this blog together.  I already have over a year's worth of topics on how you can do little things a home to save money (and be green!)    So check it out...become a follower or like my facebook page so you can see my new articles as they come out.  I plan to update my site 4 -5 times a week--but I should first let you know that I will be out of town for a week (so don't think I gave up on my blog if you suddenly notice I dont' have any posts--I will be back!)  Yeah!  Check it out.  Let me know what you think, and tell me if you have any green ideas to share--I know you have some too!  Here it is!

http://simplegreensavings.blogspot.com/

Happy Savings!
Jess

Finishing up June

Sometimes it is amazing how fast time flies...

End of June was a wet one! The kids hit the splash park (where only Ky splashed, Alaina wanted nothing to do with the water), and then I took them to the beach. And what a glorious day at the beach it was.

We had it pretty much to ourselves. I sat in a chair and read, and they played so nicely! It was one of the most peaceful mornings EVER. They didn't fight, they didn't cry. AHhhhh...I am now sure that the beach is the solution to keeping the kids happy--and yes, I have taken them back several times since.

So you are probably wondering about my pathetic cherries. When we moved to this house I told Rob I wanted a cherry tree. And so we planted one 3 years ago. Last year we had our first cherry...that a bird must have eaten! This year we had 3, that when we picked we discovered they had been pecked at (Hence the careful cutting of the cherries.) At least we tasted them and they were delicious! Who knows maybe we will have 9 cherries next year--and if you are nice to us, we may share!

One Saturday we drove up to the local Creamery and enjoyed Sundae's and a hayride to the cows. It is kind of a funny story. I mapquested it, and we followed the directions and pretty much were lost. I ended up turning up some random country road (that was not the road we were supposed to be on) and there it was! What makes this story really funny, is that we discovered that we never had to turn to get to the creamery, it was actually on the main road--so once again Mapquest sent us on a wild goose chase. (BTW--have you ever noticed the disclaimer on the bottom of their directions when you print them out...Pretty funny!0

IT was a HOT day at the Creamery. A 90 degree day, of course. Alaina was not too happy with it, but we survived. I felt bad for the cows. They were panting and so HOT! Poor ladies!

Our final adventure in June was taking the kids to Leopold Nature Center. We walked around the paths and attempted to identify trees. I brought the Audubon Society Tree Identifier book--and well, Ky just wasn't that interested. Bummer. Well I learned a few new trees when I wasn't chasing kids. Alaina was HILARIOUS on this trip as she kept stopping to kiss the flower. Then she would grin up at me and say "I kiss Flower!" (Yes I got one on video, be sure to watch.) These kids crack me up. Seriously, if you live a boring life, have a kid. They will fill your schedule and ALWAYS keep you guessing.