Some of Summer

 For a few days this summer, we borrowed a barefoot boom for the boat.  This pole extends out from the side of our boat.  The idea is that a new skier can put themselves up on the boom; and if you're teaching kids its a lot easier to have them next to the boat.  In the end, we just played around with it.

Long days on the lake.  Jack's favorite sleeping spot was under the drivers feet...one of the few places for shade in our boat.  Nice white legs Jake.

Hiking.  I mean "hiking".  It's not like the west where you go uphill or somewhere inaccessible  Just walking through the trees.

Spent a day at the Milwaukee Public Museum.  Didn't make it through many exhibits, but we loved the butterflies and the dinosaurs...and the Jeep.

Up North -- Dirt Track

I thought I had more pictures of this.  Bah.  Maybe not.  So, after a lovely fish fry dinner at a super classy place "up north" we saw signs for racing.  As we had nothing else to do, and our dear friends were good sports, we decided to check it out.  Out of pure luck, my two girls were chosen in a random drawing to ride in some of the cars for the national anthem.  Jackson had SO much fun watching the cars race around the track.  The culture and people watching were surely a highlight.  Playing redneck is fun.

Up North -- August 2012

If you live in Wisconsin, you need to make the time to go "up north" during the summer.  It's rural.  There are LOTS of lakes.  Warm, warm lakes.  We've made it an annual trip.  You should join us sometime.  We'll bring our boat.  You can bring the beer Diet Coke.

Hello. My Name is Nicki. I have a blog.

Wow.  I can't believe how long it's been since I posted.  I feel awful.  Guilty.  Sad that I may have missed some time to capture in words and pictures some of what our family is doing.  Oh well, I guess.  I think the whole idea of going back is overwhelming, so for now, here I am.

Here's Jack.  He's getting huge compared to the most recent pictures here.  No baby here.  He talks non-stop.  Loves cars, trains, planes, firetrucks, garbage trucks, race cars, tractors...anything with wheels and the potential for speed.  I've tried sparking an interest in something like animals, but outside of dogs, he is not interested.  He talks so much and is so fun as he learns to talk, that I wish I could keep him from growing more.

Here's the rest of the crew.  Everyone is in school all-day this year and that's been a change that I have mixed feelings about.  I truly miss my kids and struggle to realize that they are growing up.  I miss the time with them.  However, I really enjoy spending more one-on-one time with Jackson.  I think that with these three kids so close in age, I kind of missed the joy that is a two-year old.  Not that I didn't love and adore these guys, it's just that when Brooklyn was Jackson's age, I had Tyler and Sadie too.  Whew.  It's hard to even imagine that now.  Selfishly, I also am much more mentally stable and truly happy with having just a bit more time "to myself". No, I'm still not doing any of the crafty stuff or sewing things that I would like to do, but my house is cleaner and more organized, my meals are healthier, and my "to do" pile is more manageable (though maybe bigger...I just get through it faster)

First Day of School 2011

It's surreal/emotional to be blogging about the FIRST day of school last year, when the last day of school is in less than two weeks.  This year, I sent off Sadie to Junior Kindergarten.  When I grew up, you went to Kindgerten when you were 5, and it was a half day program.  Here, kids start a half day program at age 4, and by age 5 they go to all day kindgergarten.  I had a LOT of apprehensiveness about this when we first moved here.  Now, I love it.  My kids love it.  The Junior Kindergarten (JK) teacher is Mrs. G.  My three oldest are all a year apart in school, so this is now our third year having a child in her class.  She is amazing.  She is the reason that I feel good about sending a little four-year old to school.  

Can you believe those legs hold little Sadie up?  Man, my kids have grown.  Again.  The best part?  They are the best of friends.  Brooklyn and Ty chose to play together at recess.  They chose each other over their friends.  They are so excited for Sadie to join them next year.  Part of me worries that they are too co-dependent and they need to learn to make other friends.  But the mom part of me takes so much joy in seeing their friendship.  I hope that as they go through school, they will continue to be each other's best friends.  I think it could take a lot of the heartache and frustration out of the picture if they have each other to lean on.

Haircuts!

Cutting off those adorable curls.  The heartbreak...

This was WAY back last August.  All of the kids were looking a little (or a lot) shaggy, so we headed to get everyone back-to-school haircuts.  Jackson got his "first" haircut on this monumental day.  Based on experience and a number of bad haircuts, we've learned that it's less expensive (on both the pocketbook and my emotions) to go to a salon that just cuts kids hair.  The kids think its an outing.  

Northwoods Vacation 2011

 I love those movies that you can find on TV and just start watching at any point and you don't have to watch it, but you can watch it, and just having it on keeps you company.  I'm sitting here watching TV and blogging...My blog is lately one more thing to feel guilty about.  The fact that I am so behind keeps me from even trying to catch up.  Blah.  Here are A LOT of pictures (probably too many) of our Northwoods vacation last summer.  A-MAZE-ING.  Comparing one vacation to another is hard.  However, if I had to rate this vacation over others, it would be awarded "most relaxing".  We stayed with three other families in a lakeside home.  We enjoyed our own private beach and dock.  The kids had a paddleboat, a canoe, a ski boat, a sailboat, and several other floating devices to keep them busy.   They spent a lot of time sitting and playing in the sand, as well as the very shallow water off of the beach.  With nothing but a gas station for shopping and no T.V. to speak of, it's wonderful to just slow down and chillax.

 This is a picture of one of our friends "towing" a tube behind the paddleboat.

The one and only adorable little Jack admiring a frog.

Me (open your eyes) and my friend Heather chillin' lakeside.

Did I mention we loved the sand?

Wait.  I'm missing one!

My kids are jaded fishermen.  I grew up sitting on the side of a lake.  Fishing and waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting.  Fishing off of the dock here, we could barely keep baits on hooks and get fish off of hooks fast enough.  You're actually happy when the fish works himself off.

T-Bone

Playing on the tube.  If I recall, the was some kind of "king of the mountain" style game going on here.

A friend found this great "museum".  It was an old steam engine.  We rode the engine from the "station" to a small town where the kids fed farm animals, pet icky kittens, and toured a logging museum.  Very off the beaten path.  Very unregulated.  Very, very fun.  

 These darling men were the engineers.  The one I remember (still) was named Salty.  I think they have their dream jobs.

Like I said, the "museum" was pretty unregulated, no rules kind of a place.  The kids had fun playing on the train tracks.  (What kind of parents are we?)

 Kiddos had fun in the petting zoo.  Poor Sadie later got bitten by a pony.  She didn't feed ANY animals after that.  

Back at the lake.

Oops.  Got a couple of dorks back at the train.

A few of us...not sure where the rest of us were...

 Ty loves to do "tricks" when her waterskis.  It is truly amazing that he doesn't wipe out.  Goofy kid.  It's so much fun as a parent to watch.

Judging by the lack of wake, that sign is a big thumbs down for "SLOW DOWN DAD!"

Anyways, sorry about having so many pictures.  Good times.  Good memories.  Come join us sometime.  It's like living in an LL Bean catalog for  week.  

Summer 2011

During June and July, Brooklyn and Tyler took at art class.  They came home with so many fabulous projects, it inspired me to come up with a way to display my kids art (other than the fridge).  I hung a curtain rod in the playroom in the basement.  The drapery clips are perfect for holding artwork.

Last summer, we made it to a few Brewers games.  Milwaukee has made Brewers fans of us.  Our kids love to do the chicken dance and by next year they'll have the words to "Roll Out the Barrel" down.  The Sausage Races are a huge highlight of the game, and we're working on learning more about the game and spending time watching baseball instead of wandering the concourse scouting for snacks and playing on the playground.

In August, Grandma and Grandpa Morton came for  a visit.  We took them out on the lake to watch the kids ski.  Later, we launched in Lake Michigan and took them for a boat ride in the Milwaukee River.  We stopped at the mall for lunch and ended our boat ride at Discovery World.  

Grandma and Grandpa were then headed to Minneapolis for a baby blessing.  They wanted to ride Amtrak and offered to take our three older kids.  We accepted their offer and bought tickets before they had time to think things through and change their mind.  I think all went well and the kids were superbly well behaved (sometimes, grandparents tell lies).  My in-laws are fabulously good sports.  My kids made memories they'll always remember.

We "saved" my in-laws the next day in Minneapolis.  We met up at the Mall of America and spent the weekend with Jake's brother and his family for a baby blessing.  I somehow am missing any pictures of the aforementioned sweet baby.  Funny how at great, fun, big family gatherings, I never manage to get pictures to capture the fun.

Random picture of the butterfly exhibit at the zoo.  We spend a lot of time at our zoo.  

Haha.  Here's what happens when you leave out peanut butter and jelly with Jack around.  I probably shouldn't laugh and take pictures when he does stuff like this.  Perhaps he'd be more well-behaved if I didn't think he was so stinking cute.