Swim lessons resumed

Year 2 of swim almost started out great until Mackenzie, at the last minute, chose not to participate. It totally brought me back to where I was 1 year ago, only it was Landon fighting me not wanting to go. I'm not sure what it is that makes them dread it so much. We have a pool in our backyard and some days I have to drag them out of it. Maybe its the fear of the unknown.

The teacher offered to take Mackenzie from me to see if she'd go along. As I peeled her claws from my back, I handed her off and hid in the doorway. After 5 minutes, yes it was a whole 5 minutes, of her constant screaming I gave in and got her. I really wanted her to stay and give it a whirl, but sensing all eyes on me and them wondering when was I going to make the screaming stop I said enough. I'm not sure how tomorrow will go or if I will just forget it and say lets wait til next year.

The boys however have grown tremendously. Landon who pulled the same stunt last year that Mackenzie pulled today hopped right in the pool and was ready to go. Last year it took him 4 days to even get in the pool and not once did he put in face in the water. Today in he went, not clutching on to a teacher and even put his face in the water. SUCCESS!! There is no question in my mind that this year, for sure, he will finally graduate from level 1.

Micheal of course seems to excel in everything he does thus making this another task he can very quickly cross off his completed list. At one point today they had him doing the crawl and to my surprise he knew how to do it and even did it better than another boy in a higher level that I had watched.

WAY TO GO MICHAEL!



So for the next 2 weeks our mornings will begin at the pool improving our swimming skills. Bring on the water!

Weekend away

Its not very often that Steve and I get to go away with out kids. So when we received an invite for his cousins wedding that just so happened to fall on the same weekend as our 10 year wedding anniversary we jumped on the phone to find a sitter. After a few quick calls I had 2 of my sisters lined up to watch the kiddos.

Finally the weekend had arrived and off we went to Stillwater Minnesota. We left home at lunch time putting our arrival time around dinner time. Thanks to some recommendations we headed down to the Main Street in Stillwater. The streets are lined with antique shops, speciality clothing stores, art shops and restaurant's galore. We opted for the Water Street Inn so we could injoy our dinner on the deck overlooking the St. Croix river. The food was great and the walk along the river and store fronts was enjoyable thus leaving us glad to make the trip down there.

Since the wedding didn't start till early evening on Saturday we took a quick 30 minute drive to Mall of America simply to say we finally made it there. We were overwhelmed with all the stores we found inside. My main goal was to find the Lego store of course for the boys. It never seems to fail, no matter where we go, we end up saying...too bad the kids weren't here they would love this. The amusement park inside was simply amazing!

The wedding was absoutly beautiful. It was an outdoor ceremony and you couldn't have asked for a more perfect day!

The bride and groom looked stunning.

And the kids that were in the wedding looked adorable too!

Beaching it Up

On Father's Day Steve took the boys out to Random Lake to do a little fishing. Michael was most excited for this big venture. The only fishing they have done is just fishing off the end of Grandpa's pier at the island. After a busy day and late night Saturday (didn't get home til 12:30 am after the movie) the boys still managed to get up and out the door by 7am Sunday morning. Steve's Dad Gary and my dad Mike also joined in for the trip. Landon only lasted til 10am and then wanted off the boat so Gary kindly took him to his house til I could come get him.

 My Mom and I were planning on taking the girls to the beach so we headed out, got Landon and met the men at the beach.

 

 

 

The men joined us for a picnic lunch and Michael insisted on heading back out since he hadn't caught a 30 pounder yet. So off Steve, Michael and Dad went to try to catch some bigger fish.

Mom and I hung close to the water front and watched these 3 beach bums enjoy themselves.

 

Lainey has already fallen in LOVE with the water this summer. She just can't seem to get enough of it. She just grabs her little floating ring and toddles herself around and around. I love it when she kicks her little feet up and lets herself float about. I can't help but think she must have been a fish in another life.

Mackenzie kept herself busy swimming, digging and building castles.

And then there's Landon. He put in his time fishing in the morning so he could enjoy the afternoon digging in the sand.

The fishing men finally got off the boat at 2 pm...way longer than I ever expected them to be out there.  And since Michael spent all day on the boat this is the only picture I got of him. I did send Steve with my old camera to take pictures with but, he took none. Oh well there's always next time...

On the go Saturday

I've lived in Ozaukee County all my live and never have paid the Pioneer Village a visit. It was on our summer bucket list last year, but because it is only open 5 times throughout the summer we missed making it there. We happened to be home this weekend and it was their free, and I LOVE free events, family day so the kids and I took advantage and headed over.

I admit I was expecting there to only be a few buildings to see and figured we'd be in and out in 30 minutes, but to my surprise there were 26 buildings to go through. There was an old school house, carpenters shop, barn, several houses, blacksmith, an old train station and a few others. All the kids really enjoyed going through the buildings and looking at all they had to see. 

They even loved giving this old laundry tub a whirl. They weren't too keen on me getting one of these to replace my washer, they said that'd be too much work.

They were also able to learn how to make their own candles.

2 1/2 hours later we made our way through it all. I was impressed at all there was to see. In September they are having a Revolutionary War reenactment and the boys are already talking about going back to see that.

Our day didn't end there. We went home to take a little break and then loaded up the truck to take the hour and 20 minute drive to the Drive in Theater. We enjoyed a picnic dinner and played some catch while waiting for the movie to begin.

As a kid my parents would take my sisters and I to Drive Ins for a special night out and we would love that. I wanted my kids to enjoy one of the few Drive In Theaters left out there so off we went. The long drive was worth it as the kids

LOVED it!

We are already talking about going back when Ice Age come out. We shall see. They all did great. Lainey spent more time jumping back and forth over the seats, but hey what do you expect from a 20 month old.

Relaxing at Home

Sometimes we just need a break from our busy schedule to relax and do nothing. The boys have been good and kept their room clean for more than just a few days , so I thought I’d give them a reward.

I was telling Michael how a coworker’s boys love Lego’s just as much as they do. I also informed him and Landon how these boys keep the Lego’s together, they don’t tear them apart 3 days later and leave them unable to be put back together. My boys were making some of their own cars and house so I told them how these other boys have a whole lego city built on a table that they can play with.

My boys instantly became excited and wanted to do the same thing. Only 1 problem, of all the Lego’s we own not a single one is a lego city all are either star wars or another superhero. Lucky enough for them I just happened to have airplane and truck set stashed for a rainy day. Even though it wasn’t a rainy day, I knew after the busy week they had, they could use a day to chill and build Lego’s

So I gave each of them a set and for 2 hours they worked like crazy beavers to get them done.

Years ago when the boys were into Thomas the train my dad made them a LARGE table to set the trains on. The table has been collecting dust in the basement so Michael and I hauled it upstairs to their room so that they would have a place to play with the new Lego’s. Of course they wanted a lake so I found a can of blue paint and added a lake for them.

For 2 days now they have been playing almost nonstop with those set and the best part, they are still together. I can’t help but think we have just wasted 2 beautiful days of summer in the house. But then I think of how great the boys have been playing together and we have plenty more sunny days ahead, so for now we’ll take a break inside.

Sidewalk paint

We gave this a whirl this week. I saw this on the ever wonderful Pinterest and instantly knew the kids would love the do some sidewalk painting.

It was super easy to make. ¼ C cornstarch, ¼ C water and a few drops food coloring of your choice.

The paint itself work great and the kids had a blast making the sidewalk beautiful. Next time I may try small paint brushes instead as the sponge seemed to absorb a lot of the paint making us have to re-dip the brush a lot.

No need to worry about any staining. Lainey unintentionally got paint on my pants. Once it dried it left a chalky residue and all I did then was wipe it off with my kitchen rag and it was gone.

Baseball!

Michael has started his second week of baseball and I am super excited to be able to watch and cheer him on.  Yep, I know it all already, I'm going to be that crazy Mom on the bench that every rolls their eyes at. I'm ready, Bring it!

This kid eats, sleeps and breaths baseball which makes him more than ready to get out there and play ball. 

Landon has played baseball the last two summers as well, but this year he just wasn't excited about it. So he's taking a break this year and hopefully next year he'll be ready to give it a go again. Until then its off to the diamond we go Tuesday nights to give Michael a big Cheer!