Belated Happy Fathers Day

Wow! It's been a while since I've put anything on this blog. Needless to say, since school let out, we have been quite busy. Last weekend, we couldn't properly celebrate Fathers Day with the surprise I wanted because Rich and Ian spent the night camping with the Cub Scouts. So, we just made plans to celebrate it the following Sunday.

When I asked Ian what he wanted to do for Fathers Day, he told me he wanted to go geocaching. He came up with spots around the yard to hide clues as to where we were headed on Sunday. Of course, my dear, sweet husband didn't make this an easy task as he took the afternoon off on Friday (so we couldn't hide anything that day) and then on Saturday, he took the GPS when we were going to use it to do the hiding. It turned out ok because the kids and I had fun doinga "mission impossible" getting the GPS from Rich's car, hiding the clues and then getting the GPS back before he realized it was missing. In the end, it was funny watching Rich try to find the clues in the backyard!

Our eternal early bird, Kyra, woke us up before 6:00 a.m. on Sunday morning as she was so excited to get going. We went up to Peninsula State Park in Door County and spent the morning and afternoon hiking, looking for caches and having a picnic. Here are some of the pictures from the day:


Ian and Rich planning the next cache to find.


We climbed up Sentinel Tower and got a great view of the bay and surrounding scenery. We had a gentleman take our pictures and of the four he took, this is the only one where my hair was not blowing straight up in the air! It was really windy once you got that high up!


Ian and Kyra made short work of climbing up the many steps to the tower! Kyra was really brave - I thought for sure she would freak out at the "see through" steps (at least, I was!).


I had to take this picture because it was so funny! Kyra is figuring out how to annoy Ian. I know I should really not be encouraging this type of behavior, but I just found it cute that she put together that she could block his view by sticking her hand up in front of him as he peered through!


What would an outdoor day be without a picnic? The funny thing is that by the time you purchase what you need to prepare said picnic, you could probably just eat out for less! Of course, it's all about the "experience" and let me tell you - Kyra was all about the picnic basket and red-checkered table cloth!




And just for the record, the kids are drinking Baumeister Rootbeer!


In all, we found 4 of the 5 caches we seareched for and everyone had a great time!

My Slugger

Ian has had a grand total of two baseball games now. Last night though, after much anticipation, he got his first hit! And, it wasn't just a tap either. He really walloped the ball into center field and got a stand-up double. He's just beaming still!

She's Just a Giver!

The other day, I mentioned that Mel has been bringing creatures to the back door. Well, this morning, she took her obsession a little too far. Yes, my darling puppy brought us a baby rabbit! Now, I did not see this poor creature who happened to be at the opposite end of a curious pooch's snout, but somehow Mel did not crush it and Rich placed it back in a nest (although we don't think it was the correct nest). So now, I think Mel might want to be looking out for Bunny Foo-Foo!

A Night Out (well, sort of . . . )

Rich had to travel for a production run yesterday leaving me here with the kiddos on a Friday evening. I will say in his defense that it is not often that he has to travel on the weekend and at least I don't have to worry about getting Ian up and off to school in time the next day.

One of the nice things that we have here in town is a second-run movie theater. Since I am generally not very good at getting to the movies in general when they first come out, it suits me just fine to watch them after they are not quite a "hot ticket" and for substantially less than it costs at the regular theater (especially now that the curly one is now of the age where we need a ticket for her too). The other nice benefit is that it is such a family friendly theater and so even though Ian and Kyra are reasonably well behaved when it comes to going to the movies, it's definitely a more "causal" atmosphere in which to watch a movie.

So, I took the kids for subs at Jimmy John's and then we went to see Monsters vs. Aliens. I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I hadn't really paid attention to the reviews when it first came out, but I will say that it was highly entertaining and provided quite a few laughs for everyone. It was definitely a treat for all even though we wish Daddy could have been watching it with us!

How Do You Say Thank You?

Given that we are now two months in to dog ownership and life as we know it pre-Mel will never be the same, we can say that she is a wonderful dog yet she still has some strange habits! One has developed most recently and that would be her fetish with June bugs!

Now, ever since the time my Mom told me the story of her friend, a pizza deliver man and the june bugs, I have had a dreaded fear of June bugs (although not to be matched by my much later developed irrational fear of kidney beans). They are just plain creepy bugs. They are HUGE, they buzz around your head and are not one of our Lord's more beautiful creations (to that end, I am sure that June bugs do serve a higher purpose other than to just creep me out; I just wish they wouldn't buzz by my head). Back to my story . . .

We have taken to calling Mel the "slink" because she can slink about of just about anywhere given enough time to ponder the situation. So, when returning from work in the late evenings, I always put the porch light on to keep an eye on her. Needless to say, this attracts my least favorite insect. And guess just who has taken to making these her new playmates? Yes, nothing says love just like a regurgitated june bug still struggling to crawl and fly. It's a good think I have a husband to chase these things down!