Loving summer

A few nights ago we had a tornado warning. Eric was taking call from home and got paged at about 9 p.m.  He braved the storm and headed out, only to get a flat tire halfway to the hospital. ("It looks like a dinosaur talon took a swipe at my sidewall," he said.) So he gets out in the pouring rain and changes his tire, which only makes him slightly later than expected. What makes him slightly more later than expected is that he takes an underground tunnel to walk to the ER before he realizes that the hospital side of the tunnel locks at night. And of course the side he came in locks after he gets in. So the poor guy is drenched, stuck in a tunnel, and wondering where this is all leading his career. He eventually finds an ancient call box and tells security that he's going to exit using an obscure, alarmed emergency door. The  door leads him to an even more obscure atrium, which has a fire escape staircase, which leads him outside the hospital. He goes into the ER, finds his patient, treats him, and returns home at three in the morning. 

     Some of Eric's residency stories make my job seem like a birthday party! I guess it kind-of is like a birthday party: it's not the kind where you rent out Jump-o-Rama and they bring the pizza and cake and decorations and clean up when you're done--it's more like a homemade one where you're working the entire time, but it's still plenty fun and something that you would do again. This is what the party looked like this week.   

A friend brought us to a delightful splash pad, where the kids spent a happy couple hours:

      

We were also kindly introduced to an indoor gymnastics center filled with kid-friendly equipment:

We've been digging the (heated!) pool near our home, plus the library programs and parks. We've played baseball in the backyard and rode bikes/wagons/police cars around the neighborhood:

And of course there are the normal things like mixing "potions" and trapping brothers in laundry baskets and writing letters to baseball players:

I guess that "birthday party" is a poor analogy--it looks more like a summer camp. I should think of a funny camp name for myself and puff paint it on a khaki hat.

Even better than all that was a magical Friday night with Eric, where we went to the Dane County Fair!

(Unfortunately the turkey legs tasted like salty ham, but the delish cotton candy, funnel cakes, and fresh lemonade made up for it. Eric was proud of me for not stressing about the cost of all these things, which, by the way, is absolutely criminal. I guess it's just once a year, right?)

 

Notice how the kids' smiles in the first ferris wheel picture (taken before the ride) look a little plastic, but the bottom pictures (taken after the rides) are all authentic. They really had a good time.

In general, we're all having a good time. Even Eric is, despite being overworked and a little bewildered. And even I am, despite the same reasons.

Here we are

We're in Wisconsin now. Wisconsin! The neighbors, the Relief Society, and the mosquitoes came to meet us with immediate enthusiasm. If I feel a burst of energy sometime, I will backdate and tell about the adventuresome last month in transition here. But for now, just know that we're loving the home, the neighborhood, and the city. Some unexpected benefits to life in Madison:

1. There is a grocery store here called Woodman's, and it is every discerning shopper's dream. Think of any grocery item you like, and they have it--in every variety imaginable. I went there to get some brats for the Fourth of July and there were no less than thirty different choices. Six aisles of sandwich bread! A forty-foot–long aisle of yogurts! It is wonderful and cheap (and slightly ghetto) and five minutes away.
2. Our master bedroom has a view of the wooded green hills surrounding our neighborhood. We drive past a dozen corn fields on the way to church. I go running around fields of wildflowers and forested areas. And ever since finding two wild turkeys in our yard, the kids and I have been "turkey hunting" every evening. We ride bikes to the roosting spots and make turkey calls and throw bread near the birds until they run away.

3. The second day we were here we bought a mattress. Three teenage guys went out of their way to help us secure it on the van. When it blew off a half mile down the road, two men stopped and helped us reorganize. Dozens of other experiences could exemplify the friendliness here. Wisconsinites are just pleasant, nice people.

4. I was a little worried that we would have trouble finding things to do in Madison. But cultural and community events here are varied, quality, and often free. Just today we attended the best children's theater production I've ever seen: Z Puppets Rosenchronz presented "A La Carte: In a Fool's Kitchen" with such warmth, humor, and creative genius that it impressed attendees of all ages. It was free, at the public library. 

5. Speaking of attractions, have you ever heard of Wisconsin Dells? The central-Wisconsin city is a conglomerate of super-sized water parks, theme parks, theme hotels, and roadside animal statues, right in the middle of nowhere. We went there yesterday and knocked ourselves out at Mount Olympus, "a land of myth" with "156 acres of adventure." Here are some photos:

In this last picture is a new friend, who invited me and the kids to go up to the Dells with her and two other families. The women offered generous help with the children, including little snacks and the photos. The next time I want to do something good, I will invite someone new to come somewhere fun with me. There is nothing as relieving as a friend!

In summary, we are glad to be here and feel optimistic about Wisconsin life. Eric is taking his residency on like a champ, although it's certainly stretching for him (and for all of us, of course). But life is good and we have much to be grateful for.

Baseball boy

This weekend was the last game of Jacob's baseball season, which meant 1) a trophy

and 2) snowcones!

We've had such fun during baseball that even the eighteen-game season seemed to fly by. I will miss seeing him bat (this is a serious league--coach pitch for kindergarteners!)

and run (he leads off like a pro!)

and field (he's even had a couple double plays this year!).

Our entire family has loved supporting Jacob. Eric absolutely delights in playing catch and pitching balls; 

Zachary and Michael play catcher for us or take swings off a tee; even little Adam throws his hands up and cheers each time I do (and I do a lot!). I love being a baseball mom.

I really, really love it.

Hurray for Jacob! And here's to several more years of the great American sport.

Eric's back!

For the past four weeks Eric has been on night float at the hospital, and we've hardly seen the guy (awake) at all. But now he's done, and so he's been trying to get to catch up on the life that he was missing for the past (almost) month! First he replaced the brake pads, calipers, and rotors on his car, a project that took him and my dad several hours over two days. Their work saved us over a thousand dollars, though--hurray for handiness!

Zachary's learning the ways of handiness, too:

Oral surgery was also on Eric's to-do list. Today we had a six-hour "date" during the excursion to Western Maryland for the surgery. The mountainous drive was a beautiful backdrop for conversation. On the way back, however, the poor guy was still half under anesthesia and had short-term memory loss. This was similar to how he felt when he was doing night float, though, so he took it like a champ.

Darling Eric, I'm glad that you're home tonight. Life's better when you're here.

Goals!

This book about reading aloud to children recently inspired me:

 

As I was telling the kids about it, we decided that we would make May a super reading month. We made goals to visit the library weekly, expand our reading pool to include new authors and genres, and read a total of 500 books for the month. Five hundred books would be approximately four books per child plus one shared scripture story per day. It seemed manageable when we made the goal, but it turned out to be a goal that we really had to work on. We ended up finishing on June 3, so it was actually 500 books in May, plus three days. Five hundred books is A TON of books!  

I maxed out the limit on my library card during every visit and felt like a pack mule lugging them back and forth each week. It was a positive experience, though, and I think that we've increased our selection skills and reading enjoyment. It gladdens my heart to see Jacob taking a book along with him

or to hear the younger boys ask for another and another.

Books! What deliciousness.

The other goal we recently reached was part of the kids' chore responsibilities. They get a nickel for each completed chore (or a dime, for hard ones). We told them that we could go to the National Aquarium if they could earn $20 towards the trip. I know that this goal took more than a month, and even more than a month plus three days. In fact, it probably took them more than two months! But last Thursday the electronic piggy bank said $20--hurray! We even excused Jacob from school so that we could be at the aquarium on a less busy day. The boys savored every exhibit, even the river ones displaying grayish trout that most people brush past. 

And of course they loved the shark staircase, the coral reef shipwreck, the rainforest room, the ray pool. We even got to see a dolphin show:

Amazing!

So great work, boys, on your goals! You're super readers, super workers, and super kids.

Department of Tourism

Have you ever called your county's department of tourism? It never occurred to me until yesterday, when I wanted to plan a hike with my sisters and niece. When I called the department, a receptionist told me about a trail built on the original B&O RR roadbed, plus he clued me in about parking options, historical sites, and the terrain. This is a resource that I will use again!

Armed with sunscreen, water, and those delicious Nature Valley peanut bars, we set out with enthusiasm! 

After hiking down to the Patapsco River,

we splashed around,

crossed a metal suspension bridge,

and finally arrived at a roaring dam.

I could sense a calmness--almost a reverence--as the children sat on the riverbank

or stared up at the treetops.

What a beautiful, sacred earth we have. 

After we came home the boys stripped themselves of calmness, put on capes, and requested pictures of themselves jumping off the ottoman. Yes.

Here's Jacob,

Zachary,

and a double!

What kids! I guess they can't always be calm, but they can entertain themselves for hours, without as much as a single phone call to a county office.

Rugby

It's intense, fast, international--what's not to love? Eric and I played a walloping game on Saturday, where His Brawniness scored about a dozen tries. Here he is in action:

O.K., maybe that's not actual, actual footage. But if the other players had been able to catch him by the waist, they would have been airborne. Eric and I, my brother, dad, and son (Jacob) played on the same team and everyone on the field called us all "Raynor." I haven't been called my maiden name for a long time--it felt fun, like I was fourteen years old playing church basketball. (Also, my dad was the oldest guy out there by about 15 years, and the guy was a beast on offense--go Dad!) 

Contact sports! There's nothing like being grass-stain–slammed to the ground to say, "we're friends." Oh, here we go. I found the picture:

Good times.