Choo choo! Here comes the sugar train!

The day after the five hour tour, we took the kids and went to a Lumberjack camp/Steam train attraction about 40 minutes northeast of our cottage. Colby is huge into trains and we knew it would be a hit with him. We got to ride in the caboose (and in the top of the caboose at that!) and he was THRILLED! When we had to get off, however, he was NOT thrilled. NOT. We got past it and had a great time - we took a little pontoon ride down the Rat River, got to pet a slew of baby farm animals and then got to ride the train back to the station. It was a fun day and another memory from my childhood that I got to share with my kids. Fun times! What was NOT fun was that it took the kids 2.5 hours to fall asleep that evening after having been run ragged all day and having had only 6.5 hours of sleep the previous night.

The next morning we had a bit of a slow start to things and then decided to head on out and try some geocaching. The kids were not into listening and we were planning on searching on a somewhat busy atv/hiking trail that turned out to be located adjacent to a busy highway. Although we did manage a car picnic for lunch, it was clear that we were not going to have a safe situation with the busy roads and the not listening and the kids just weren't into it. We packed it in and decided to try the fantastic (and LARGE) candy store in nearby Lakewood for a shift in activity. Do I need to even bother saying that the kids were VERY into that activity? Ha ha. They loved it. We had some ice cream, the kids played a game of giant checkers with Steve, we bought a few treats, and we spent nearly an hour and a half wandering around looking at the offerings and deciding that the candy store in Lakewood will be a family tradition when we visit. It was a great lesson in choosing to shift to an activity the kids ARE into rather than trying to force the one we want to share with them with the result of everyone being stressed and in a bad mood. Yes, the kids ended up "rewarded" for their bad attitudes, but as I pointed out to Steve - they had no idea we were even considering the candy store and we hadn't promised it for good behavior, nor had we threatened to take it away for bad behavior. So all we did was change the plan. Besides, once they were good and sugared up we had a great time for a good long while. It's all about perspective!

FIVE hour tour

I know that the font is tiny and the formatting is funky. I typed this blog entry while we had no internet access and tried unsuccessfully 47 times to copy and paste it here. So I saved it as a jpg and now I'm done fooling with it.

Camptastic!

We just returned from a five day adventure in the wilderness. Okay, it was a camping trip in a state park well within an arm's reach of civilization. However, it was our first attempt at camping with the kids and we were a bit concerned. We had a blast! Yes, there were moments of insanity, lack of patience, tantrums, and ill mannered children, but they were far outnumbered by the moments of awe and wonder, tenderness, joy, and humor.

We tented it while our dear friends and their five children resided in their camper. The kids loved the concept of the tent. It was a little hard to settle them down at bedtime even after running them all day and leaving them up from nap, but Steve did a fantastic job of it every night (I claim NO credit there). It was STICKY and hot while we camped, but the tent cooled off at night and was entirely bearable. We did weather two pretty nasty thunderstorms. The first night, both kids slept through the storm, but Colby woke up during the windstorm that followed the thunderstorm. He wasn't scared, but laid on his bed calmly and told Steve that he wanted to "watch the wind". The second night he slept through the massive thunderstorm, but Kailin woke up and told us she was scared. We had her climb in with us and she snuggled in much the way she used to when she first came home and fell asleep immediately.

I think the highlights of the trip were riding the Wisconsin Ducks, riding a mini steam locomotive, and playing in a creek - Colby was allllll boy for that adventure - sitting right down in the water the first time I turned loose of his hand. The only true "lowlight" was that Colby apparently got himself into some wild parsnip and now has some nasty looking blisters on his lower legs. Thankfully he doesn't seem terribly bothered by them, and I'm hoping that they heal fast. It has postponed our swim lessons, but it's no huge deal.

We are headed up north to my family's cabin this weekend and I can't wait to watch my kids laugh and explore some more. We haven't taken many family vacations together, but now that we've started I'm kind of hooked!

Inchy

I found a caterpillar on some lettuce I cut from the garden the other day. I showed him to the kids and we turned a just emptied mayonnaise jar into a home for him and the kids have their first (I'm sure of many) bug pet. "Inchy" mainly crawled around and explored his new condo that first day, when he wasn't curled into a ball out of fright from an excited Kailin ferrying him around showing him her world (who could stop her from doing that?!). I stuffed a lettuce and a spinach leaf in there with him, and he munched away.

What I learned overnight is that a. Inchy, like caterpillars are made to do, grew A LOT overnight. I also learned that b. Inchy poops. A LOT. MUCH. Copious amounts of caterpillar crap dot the inside of his condo now. I'd like to clean it out. But to be honest, Inchy's getting to the size that kind of grosses me out. I'm happy to keep shoving lettuce leaves in there for him and hoping that he'll turn into a cocoon and then a butterfly. But I don't need to touch him. Ha ha ha.

Bring in the circus cows!

Yes, I did mean circus cows, not clowns. The kids and I attended Washington County's "Breakfast on the Farm" last weekend and it was eventful for certain!! Both kids were a tad (read MUCH) underslept, Colby is VERY three, and I was faring things alone since Steve was a bit under the weather. Despite the tantrums and spectacles (us, not the animals), I think both kids had a great time. We had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, sausages (Kailin's favorite), scrambled eggs (Colby's favorite), applesauce, and all the organic milk we could drink. Then we took a barn tour. Kailin was very taken with the calves and only balked a bit at the smell in the big barn. When we left the milking parlor and headed out for the pasture to see the big cows, she was in her glory. Both kids love all animals and have no fear, so they paraded up as close as I would let them. After we finished with that, the kids took a ride in a barrel tractor. That was a huge hit and well worth $2! They each got the chance to hold a chick, pet rabbits, kittens, and chickens, see horses and geese and then we got what they'd been after allllllll morning - a balloon. We'd seen dozens of helium balloons fly up into the sky all morning and I cautioned them strongly to hang on tight to their balloons. It took about 25 seconds for Kailin to let go of hers and launch into a wailing bundle of tears so loud that the balloon lady came running over to offer her another one. At that point I looped the strings so that the balloons would be attached to the kids' arms. Colby refused. To his credit, he did keep hold of his balloon for another half hour -til we were just about to the car and then off it flew. The balloon lady was nowhere near, so he was left with empty hands and promising that "next time I yisten to Mommy." That's getting a teeny bit ahead of the story, though.... after we got balloons, I decided it was time to start heading home so I aimed us over toward a "bathroom". We did our business...well the kids did....I had to hold it since I couldn't figure out how to get all three of us in there with any kind of hope of not having my kids covered in filth and germs, and saw that there was a huge John Deere tractor nearby. The door was open so I let the kids climb up inside. Colby was instantly smitten with this giant machine he could drive. I told them they could play with the steering wheel, "but no buttons!" and Colby immediately wanted to know why and when I didn't answer him, he started hypothesizing.... "If I push buttons then I drive dat way and run over dat circus?" "It's not a circus, bud, it's just a tent for the musicians." "Dat a circus." "okay, fine."

When I could finally pry my youngest from the lure of the John Deere, we headed for the tractor that would take us to the car. It would have taken us to the car, that is, if I'd remembered where we parked. It was a little disorienting since there are no landmarks except cows, and they tend to move a lot! We got off the tractor where I thought the car was (it wasn't) and ended up walking on over to the fence line to get a better idea of where it might be. That turned out to be one of the best things we did all day! They kids were excited to be close to the cows and it almost appeared that the cows were excited about being close to the kids. A bunch of them wandered over to check us out. I snapped some fun cow pictures for my "farm wall" and the kids had fun mooing at and waving to the cows. All in all, it was a fun but exhausting morning and I'm glad we went!

What I didn't realize is that the circus thing would stick. All the way home he wondered if every farm we passed was "the circus". Then later he described his experience at the circus to Steve's parents. Then yesterday as we drove the country highway to the grocery store, he again asked at every farm as to whether or not it was "the circus". No amount of correcting that it is a farm and not a circus will dissuade him. He's tenacious for certain! Now I'm just kind of curious as to how long it will last.

The Farmer in the Down....

I had to record this before it goes away. Colby sings the old familiar "The Farmer in the Dell" song but has edited it to be "The Farmer in the Down." I'm not sure what, exactly, he thinks a "down" is, but come to think of it, he probably doesn't know what a dell is, either. ha ha ha. I love listening to him sing it and I'm also presently taken with his version of "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" which he learned while watching "Tom and Jerry". I'm doing my best to capture it on video because it is a sight to behold - unlike "the Farmer in the Down," this one includes dancing and butt bumping and some 'tude in his voice. Priceless.

Whistle a happy tune...

Kailin has finally learned to whistle! She's getting pretty good and has gone from being only just barely audible last weekend to whistling a little (recognizable) tune now! I'm so proud of her. She's been working diligently (and patiently, I might add) for SO long. I just got her yearbook back today (I'd sent it to school with a note asking her teacher and the aide to write down their favorite memories of her) and Mrs. Ferber said that the day that Kailin nearly leapt off the bus with a huge smile on her face ready to show her that she could finally whistle was her favorite day all year.

Today was Kailin's last day of 4k. I can hardly believe that a year has gone by (well, 9 months) since she first boarded that bus with a smile on her face. I'm thrilled to say that she got on the bus that very same way today - not excited that it was the last day of school, but excited that she got to go to school. I am forever indebted to Mrs. Hokanson and Mrs. Ferber for all that they did to give her a fantastic base to build on. She's already excited about 5k next year even though we have yet to find any of her classmates (she'll be in half day 5k whereas most of the kids will be full day). When I told her that I didn't think any of her close friends would be in her class next year, she surprised me by saying "That's okay, Mom, I'll just make some new ones!" without any hesitation or dismay in her voice.

That little girl of mine sure has grown up these past months. I'm extremely proud of her and of who she is becoming. I love her beyond a shadow of a doubt and more than I could ever hope to express in words.