Wednesday, October 11, 2017

7 (Final) Summer Quick Takes

This is my last summer post. I promise. After these seven random memories, I'm fully moving on to more recent things -- like Reid's first day of first grade and Nell's 5th birthday. Recent, ha!

1. Solar Eclipse
The whole nation was totally swept up in solar eclipse business. I was singing "Total eclipse of the heart" all day every day for a solid week! I swear. People (that we know) planned entire family vacations around the path of totality. It was a really big deal.

Maybe it's just my general "meh, to pop-culture" attitude, but I really wasn't swept up in it. I didn't want to bother buying special eye wear, and I definitely didn't want to make my own. I inquired at the library and was told they did have a viewing party with approved eye wear scheduled. But that was during the little girls' nap time, and I wasn't about to uproot our whole schedule for this.

On top of all that, it was cloudy and the forecast wasn't looking great. Come 1:00 (our best view was at 1:17) I decided to just turn on PBS kids and not really mention the whole thing. Well, Ready Jet Go (a show about space) was on and they were showing an Eclipse episode. "Perfec!" I thought, and I headed to my room to do the budget.

The moment that show ended at 1:15 Reid headed out the back door to find an eclipse. Ah! I panicked. If there was anything I knew about the eclipse it was that I should NOT let me kids look at it. What a parenting fail. I ran as fast as I could to stop him. When I greeted him on the deck he eagerly pointed "Look Mama! Look! It's an eclipse!" And I ... well I immediately looked. Ha! It was pretty amazing. Nell had followed me out, and she was gazing upward as well. "Stop!" I shouted as I threw my hands over their eyes. "You cannot look right at the sun!"

I seriously felt like the worst parent ever. Not only had I downplayed the whole thing, but now my kids were going to be blind for life because I hadn't stopped them from seeing it. I did call the Doctors' Office. The nurse on the other end told me he had actually ran out to see it real quick too. It was kind of comforting, to be honest. And of course, there's the now famous photo of our fabulous President Trump looking right up at it as well. Sigh. We messed up on the same level as Trump.

But here we are months later and none of us have blind spots, and we did get to see something pretty spectacular. Reid and Nell spent the rest of the afternoon drawing pictures of the eclipse and other space miracles. It was pretty cute to see how much spark that one little episode of "Ready Jet Go" gave them.

(picture)

2. Rest of La Crosse
In my last post I mentioned we went to La Crosse Wisconsin with my parents on the First day of September. After we sent my parents off to Minnesota (and then Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah) we headed over to the Children's Museum for a couple hours. There was an awesome rock climbing wall both Reid and Nell tried out.

(videos)

Before leaving the area we drove up to Grandad Bluff. This was the other "most see" tourist attraction all our local friends recommended. I really regret not taking my mom and dad there. It was absolutely fantastic and no picture could ever do it justice. I just can't believe how gorgeous the Mississippi Bluffs and Valleys really are. It is breathtaking for sure.



3. Favorite Outdoor Play
Back in June I mentioned the kids favorite outdoor play toy was a pile of random boards and lumber we cleaned out of the garage. Below is a photo Ben took of them playing with all of it. Reid also used it to make some art in our flower beds.



Near the end of the summer the boards started to lose their novelty, and instead the kids started playing regularly in the tiny stretch of gravel under the mailboxes. They seriously played here every day for several weeks. Silly kids. I'm so glad they are easily entertained.


4. Backyard Fires and Neighborhood Hikes
I don't think this section even needs any explanation. Be warned, Lou's joy might jump out of the screen and bite you.





We are so grateful for our big backyard and the town's open fire pit ordinance. We are also so grateful for the nature center behind the kid's school. We are blessed with so much outdoor living space to explore. 

5. Clowns and the Library Reading Program
The kids completed the library reading program and earned some awesome necklaces, new books, and free kid's meals. As well as the awesome incentives to track our reading, the library also sponsors a bunch a fun free programs. One evening our whole family went to a clown show. This was a big deal for Ben, since he isn't a fan of clowns. Luckily he said they were more like "Trams" and those didn't scare him. He he.



It was a great show, which is no surprise since Mike and Miler both worked on the Barnum and Bailey Brother's Circus route. It was a really awesome family night. We are grateful for all the amazing community programs we participate in here in Wisconsin.  

6. Evenings out with Adults
The night before we took off for our family vacation I was able to drive up to Green Bay and have dinner with my Aunt Syd and Uncle Howard. They were on a tour through the area and staying a couple nights in Green Bay. It was so lovely to have an hour with them. It felt so strange to have a little piece of "home" right here with me, thousands of miles away. It's funny, I am almost getting a little emotional just thinking about it.

The night my parents arrived in town Ben and I attended the wedding of one of my former Young Women. We were at a table with the new Stake President and his wife, the Munsons. The other guests at our table didn't show up, which made our time together much more intimate. It felt like a much overdo double date. We had such a great time chatting with them about parenthood and the gospel and so many other random things. It's nice to know there are so many other LDS couples, striving to raise young kids in the gospel, out here in Wisconsin with us.

7. 4th of July
That's right, I never even blogged about our Fourth of July. It was pretty simple and absolutely perfect. The ward had a little Picnic out in Ripon (a small town in our ward boundaries). The park we reserved was fabulous. Reid loved catching clams down on the river.

Coraline and Nell loved all the playground equipment.

Mara loved showing off her patriotism.

As we got in the car to head home I asked Ben if he'd gotten a picture of each of the kids. When we realized Nell hadn't been in a photo yet, I quickly remedied the problem.

Ha! It was quite the tiring afternoon. That evening Ben took Reid and Nell to another near by town (Omro, also in our ward) to view the fireworks. The moral of this story is that small towns do the 4th of July best. They really do. 

1 comment:

Claudia said...

Summertime fun for sure! I love the way Coraline wears her S'Mores! S'more much fun!!! I want to go catch Clams with Reid some day! And Mara looks so cute and happy, which she is both! Best photo shot goes to.....Nell!! I LOVE IT!

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