Devil's Lake

While cleaning this morning, I realized that I was fighting a losing battle: the kids were actually making messes faster than I was able to clean them up. So I decided to cut my losses and leave for a day trip to Devil's Lake, a state park about 40 miles north. I left half the breakfast dishes in the sink, a couple loads of unfolded laundry on the couch, and possibly some other messes around the house. We took off!

We only forgot two things: the sunscreen (which cost us about $7) and the camera (which cost us about 8 megapixels). Oh well. Here are some phone pictures of the kids building on a perfectly sunshiny day:

Forestland surrounded the beach area on three sides, and the warm water extended for a hundred feet before becoming deep--just ideal!

This river system became more complex throughout the day, with dams, reservoirs, and cities across the area. 

Sunny Michael told me, "Mom, this is the best place in the world!" 

Adam has officially figured out how to play in the sand instead of eating it--hurray! Even though he missed a nap, he was a darling all day and really had his share of fun.

After scrubbing down and redressing (you've got to love those dank state park showerhouses!), we stopped by the concession stand and bought some reasonably-priced ice cream cones:

We ended up being gone until dinnertime, which was long enough to wear them out: three of the kids fell asleep on the ride home. I took this picture at a stoplight, which was probably even more irresponsible than leaving my housework undone at home.

I tidied up and de-sanded the swim gear tonight after the boys went down. Being in the sunshine all afternoon has made the clean quiet even more satisfying. Good day, good night. 

Fun to be one

Can you believe that Adam is one year old today? Happy, happy birthday, darling boy!

We celebrated with a bike ride and baseball in the morning and a trip to the toy store in the afternoon:

Topped off with some carrot cake, 

I'd say it was a successful commemoration.

Fun facts on Adam:

• He snuggles up and hears a song to go to sleep. I rock him to sleep with "Nearer, My God, to Thee;" Eric sings jingles from 1980's toy commercials. Adam loves both.
• In his first year of life, Adam has traveled to twenty-three states!
• Adam has probably read Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar a few hundred times. He always relaxes on the page about Saturday and then impatiently turns the pages until we get to the butterfly. 
• He shouts "hi" to strangers and puts his right hand straight up in the air to wave.
• He lies on the floor with a toy car and runs it back and forth while saying "brrrmm, brrrmm!"
• A few weeks ago Adam met his great-great-grandpa, Grandpa Roy, who is 102!

How would our family be complete without our little Adam? A friend to everyone, Adam fills our home with joy. Happy birthday, little one.

Fenced

This week we got a fence, and it came with all kinds of bonuses. First of all, the fencers brought in a skid steer with a drill attachment. If you ever want some time to fold your laundry, I highly recommend the skid steer:

The skid steer was more than captivating, however: it also left some wonderfully large clumps of dirt behind

PLUS some kid-sized holes.

Are you beginning to see how exciting this all was? There was also a pile of wood perfect for climbing

and some scrap wood for building.

We're talking HOURS of building

(and painting).

I dug this "garage tunnel" by Michael:

We were also given a pile of extra fence planks for the boys to build with. Jacob made a list of 18 ideas for that project, including "a clubhouse," "a pretzel stand," and "a go-kart." We'll see how it goes. 

The fence served us nicely last night, when the boys dropped and retrieved parachute guys during the entire time that I prepared dinner:

Ah yeah.

In other news, 

• Eric and I had our 8th anniversary on Friday! It's our special tradition to have Eric either be on overnight call or out of town on our anniversary--we observed this ritual for the sixth time in a row. But we celebrated yesterday, when we bought ourselves bikes and then took a fun family ride around Madison. Being married to Eric is my greatest joy.
• I am the new organist for our church! I've been working for a few hours each week to pipe some new life into my repertoire. It's been a delight and a challenge.
• The house is coming together! There are many rooms that have NO BOXES in them. Eric's study is "done." There are also blinds in the windows now, and I think that it turned out nicely:

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.