Chasing the End of Summer

This summer slipped through the cracks of my fingers, I swear! I feel like we hardly left Oshkosh. Actually, I feel like we hardly left our house! There are two main parks in our city (Menominee with the lake and zoo and South Park with the creek and splash pad) and I didn't take the kids to either one. Not once! I think back to my first few summers here and realize how much time has changed. With just one or two kids to entertain (and keep alive) I was constantly looking for opportunities to get out and explore. Now, I figure the three kids can entertain one another in their own backyard! There's really no need for me to lug them around the city or state, trying to find ways to occupy our time.

But when August snuck up on me I felt a little panicked. Snow will be here before we know it and we hardly created any adventures for ourselves! I quickly realized I needed to put a couple of things on the calendar (like our family trips to the community pool and the beach). For the very last day of summer I scheduled a trip to Sheboygan so we could visit Bookworm Gardens and Lake Michigan (again). However, looking at this week's weather I decided to bump our adventure up to today (I decided this last night).

The kids and I had a great day. Based on their recap of events I think Bookworm Gardens was actually a bigger hit than the beach. But their excitement at the beach would have convinced me otherwise. "Mom, it's warm!" they shouted as they got in knee deep (it wasn't warm, but it was swimmable -- amazing how big of a difference just 20 miles can make). And then the real excitement, "And there are no flies!!!" We stayed for a couple hours and splashed our little hearts out.

But first, a little photo tour of the Gardens.

The gardens themselves are worth the trip. It's just an added bonus that they manage to tie in dozens of children book classics.

There are seven different themed gardens and each one has marques for six to twelve books. The Woodlands area is where we spent most our time. The kids loved playing at the The Little House on the Prairie area and in the Japanese Tea House.  

Other features in the woodlands included the fairie gardens, Winnie the Pooh's house, The Three Bears, and more. Nell and Coraline looked adorable crammed into Pooh's house and all three kids loved the bears. Coraline was really into Mama bear, who was climbing a tree, and she gave baby bear a sweet little hug as we walked away. She also enjoyed a snack with this gnome.

While I stand by my assessment that the woodlands area was their favorite, both the big kids would tell you "Charlotte's barn" was their favorite part. This is simply because we've been reading Charlotte's Web the past couple of weeks and I really hyped the book up by telling them we would be going to a museum with Charlotte's Web. In fact, Nell named it "Charlotte's Web Museum."  Because I changed plans so last minute we hadn't actually finished the book. Luckily, I downloaded an audio version and we listened to the last few chapters on the car ride over to Sheboygan (just over an hour from Oshkosh). They were really excited to find Charlotte and Wilbur and they did spend a lot of time in the barn imagining where the goslings might be hiding and where Lurvy might have poured the slops. It was fun to listen to them live inside the details of the book as we explored The Farm Garden.

Reid even thinks he spotted some of Charlotte's babies up in her web. Coraline rode and kissed Wilbur -- she really took to that sweet little pig.

They decided this pig must have been "Uncle", the large pig who won the blue ribbon at the county fair.

We didn't spend as much time exploring the other gardens, as there was less shade and we were all turning into a sweaty mess (paired with some hangriness; it wasn't a great combo). But we did manage to find the Three Little Pigs, Horton Hatching the Egg, and McElliot's Pond. Reid pays such close attention to details. He asked where all the trash was in McElliot's Pond, ha! I told him the little boy who fished there probably bought it and cleaned it up.

Seriously, can't you just tell 1) my kids loved this experience and 2) these gardens are gorgeous? It was a great morning. But we were all ready for our picnic lunch by the time we left. 

After lunch we were off to the Beach. There are city beaches in Downtown Sheboygan, but since we just purchased a State Park Pass we opted to head a couple miles South of town and check out Kohler Andrae State Park. It was gorgeous, completely different from Point Beach -- but still really gorgeous. The Great Lakes coastline always takes my breath away for a little bit when I first arrive on their shores.

The area just West of the beach was not as heavily forested as Point Beach and the beach itself was not as wide. In fact, by the time we left there was almost no beach left -- tide was coming in and we scrammed.

This time around there was a lot less playing in the sand and a lot more playing in the water. The kids loved how shallow it was. We walked out a good 50 feet and I was still just knee deep. They put on their puddle jumpers and crawled through waves for almost half an hour -- giggling the entire time. I didn't get many pictures, because I was in the water with them most of the time, but here are a few cute smiles.

It was a rewarding and tiring day!

7 Things About Our Beach Day

We have such good memories of last summer's trip to Point Beach State Park that we had to do it again this year. Here's 7 quick things I want to remember about this years trip.

1. It takes us about an hour and a half to drive over to Lake Michigan. The kids can get a little restless (except Coraline, who is constantly sleep deprived -- her own fault -- so she naps). Reid kept requesting Star Wars songs and when that came to an end he started pestering Nell. Near our destination the GPS told us to turn right on County Rd PP. That's when Reid lost it. There was no controlling him the rest of the way to the beach. "Street PP. Nell, we have to turn on street PP." Giggle, giggle. "Where are we? We were just on street PP?" Giggle, giggle. And on and on and on. Our kids always use the correct anatomy, so I don't think he was thinking PP as in penis, but rather just urine pees. Either way, he thought it was hysterical. We did not.

2. Once we set up our spot on the beach we started eating our picnic lunch. Simultaneously, the flies started eating us. We do not remember any flies (or bugs period) from last year. They were horrible this year! One local told us he thinks it is because of the heavy rain. We did enjoy ourselves and we will go back next year, but the flies definitely had us packing up earlier than we'd planned. They were that bad.

3. The other thing that was not as picturesque as last year: the water temperature. I remember it being a bit chilly last year, but I'd describe yesterday's water as ice cold. We consulted our random local friend about that as well, and he said it has less to do with the weather and more to do with the current. So though it was a nice hot day, the water was not very tolerable. That didn't stop Coraline though. I always want to remember her laughing as the waves of ice cold water hit her chubby little thighs. She thought those waves were the best darn thing to ever happen to her. Unfortunately for her, she insisted on holding my hand -- and no one else's -- in the water, and I just wasn't willing to go as far into the lake as she wanted. She screamed and screamed at me to go further, but I just couldn't. The water honestly hurt my shins. It was painful, that's how cold it was. Ben tried to take her out further and Nell even offered to appease her as well, but she wasn't having it. So as much as I'd like to remember her sweet giggle, it'll probably always be paired with her scream of frustration. She did both equally.



4. Good thing we took a lot of beach toys! Without them our trip would have been a total waste. I took the kids to target the day before (to buy Coraline a toddler bed) and we picked up a big bucket of sand toys. They all loooooooved it. However, my favorite toy to watch them play with was our big squirt soakers. Nell tried to act so casual before any attack. I'll never forget watching Ben whisper something in her ear, and then fill up his own soaker. She excitedly said "Okay dad!" and then ran over to the beach and reassured me "Nothing to see here, mom. I'm not looking for anything. Just playing in the grass, mom," and then "Oh!" once she spotted her pink soaker near Reid. She giggled as she ran off to pick it up, fill it with ice cold water, and then proceed to attack me with the help of her father. Oh the giggles. She was so happy with her trick! "Nothing to see here, just playing in the grass mom!" It still just cracks me up. The grass, really Nell?!?!

5. Reid loved our sand toys the most. He dug and dug and dug. And then he asked Ben to dig for him. And then, he ended up buried in the big hole. He was all giggles, even as Coraline poured sand over his head and Ben followed that with ice cold water. He was also a really good sport about getting himself out. Once he'd crawled out he used the left over sand pile to make a bed. I should have snagged a picture (earlier today he asked me if I had one), because he sure loved that sand bed. He kept telling us how comfy it was, and he didn't want to leave because it was so nice, "the flies don't bug me while I'm here!" I doubt that, but he certainly didn't notice them once he was in his heavenly bed.

6. After we loaded all our stuff up we headed over to the Nature Center to clean up a bit and buy some ice cream. We ended up in line behind a father with two young kids just about Reid and Nell's age (he was the local guy I was referring to in #1 and #2). Reid and Nell struck up a conversation with the little kids and it quickly turned into this: "I'm almost four and my brother is almost six. He's really big and strong. He can pick me up, want to see? Show them Reid," and then Nell flung her arms out toward Reid and he hoisted her off the ground with the help of no small grunt. She was so proud of her big brother for picking her up right in front of her new friends! That girl cracks me up!

7. Reid and Nell picked out their cones first, and as I was debating whether or not to get Coraline her own (or make her share with someone else), she waltzed right up to the counter and reached her tiny hand over the counter to try and find hers. It had worked for her brother and sister, surely her own was coming next! So I caved, and paid a small fortune for her to have her own special cone. Boy oh boy was she proud! That girl is just too independent and too darn grown up. We sure love having her around!

Weekend Nature Walk

We decided to check out a Nature Preserve in the community North of us. Oshkosh has several little Nature Centers and some nice nature walks along the river and lakes, but we don't have one big designated wildlife spot. I've written about Heckrodt Wetlands numerous times, it's in the town about 10 miles North of us. But we've never been to Gordon Bubolz, which is about 18 miles North of us. 

Ben actually said he preferred it and couldn't believe we'd never been here. I'd heard about it years ago, but just always felt satisfied with the places we'd already explored. Anyway, it has a good balance of forest, prairie and wetland. We took a forest/prairie hike, checked out the visitor building, and then fed turtles at the main pond. Here's some photos of the outing.

When we stopped for a snack break Reid built this cool little creation. He spent the rest of our hike imagining what animal might come discover/play with it. He was pretty proud. You can't really tell in the picture, but the stick is actually at an angle above the ground, being held up by other sticks. He would have kept building it up forever had we let him. 

Nell of course needed to be carried for a bit every now and again. Daddy sure loves lugging around his girls. At the end of the trail we heard some sort of wildlife in the pushes just off the path, so Ben went to figure out what it was. Suddenly he got all excited and reached down to catch it. I wish I had recorded the kids reaction when he pulled a garter snake eating a frog out of the bushes. They screamed so loud and took off running for a good 50 ft. They were going full speed and had no intentions of ever stopping. A couple other hikers were approaching in the opposite direction and they didn't know if they should laugh or run for cover. When I finally caught up to both kids at a bench near the trail entrance they were both covered in tears. I finally calmed Reid down enough to go back and check it out. He's been so into snakes lately, I was really surprised it scared him so much. I told Ben he'll have to narrate his actions next time, a little "okay, I'm going to pull out a snake eating a frog" might have gone a long way. 

(pictures from Ben's phone)

(turltes)

The turtle pond was appropriately named, as I've never seen so many turtles in one place in all my life. The kids were in heaven watching them all fight off small catfish for the fish food we threw in. The lady running the nature center building gave us a free bag, which was very nice of her. Ben's already planning to go back and we'll be sure to take some cash donations next time. 

We love supporting local wild areas!

AirVenture!

During the last week of July Oshkosh is always transformed into one of the busiest sky's in the world. This isn't an exaggeration. During EAA's AirVenture the Oshkosh control tower is the busiest tower in the world. And nearly all those planes stay right here in the sky that covers our beautiful valley.

I think Ben has gone with his dad every year we've lived here, but this year was my (and Nell and Coraline's) first. It's a pretty cool event and I wish it were easier to explore it all -- I think I'd have to go without kids for that to happen. Reid loves it and is a real trooper despite all the heat. Ben and I had to leave early with the little girls. Nell actually came down with hand-foot-mouth while we were there (Reid began that on Thursday).

The girls were testing out the new wagon before we loaded up and headed out. 

You can tell Reid's hand-foot-mouth was pretty mild. This was day 3, which is suppose to be the worst day. 

My favorite plane there was probably the cargo plane. It was HUUUUGE. I wish they had tours for the public, but they didn't. I can't even describe how big it was. Another cool stop was the Federal Building. They had kiosks for the National Parks (featuring the Wright Brothers), Coast Guard, Air Force, National Weather Center, and more. There was a tornado simulator and a couple other interesting things.

The War planes were a top spot to check out. As a group, they were definitely the most exciting to look at. Reid loved checking them out.

And the air show for that day was made up of WWII aircraft. That was pretty cool to see. Unfortunately, this was when Ben and I decided to take the little girls home. Reid was happy to stay with Grandma and Grandpa, as he wasn't about to leave before seeing a couple bombs drop.

Because of the kids sickness we had to skip Church, so that gave us a great chance to go out to the seaplane base and check out that portion of EAA. I'm telling you, airplanes take over this whole city.

The highlight of the whole weekend was simply having Grandma and Grandpa with us for a full 48 hours. The kids were in heaven. 

Popping bubbles with a jet plane, of course.

Wild, Wild Life

Almost a month ago I wrote the following up as my facebook status:

Excuse me while I wax poetic about Wisconsin on this gorgeous (summer-like) spring day. I've loved everywhere I've lived. Utah offers geographic diversity and adventure that is unparalleled to any other state. The DC area's richness - - both of culture and our nation's history - - is breathtaking. But if you love experiencing the beauty of the four seasons, there is no better region than the Great Lakes. Summer and Fall in Wisconsin are absolutely gorgeous - - like nothing I've experienced anywhere else. With the help of zertec, Spring is pretty great too.


Technically we are still in Spring and the zyrtec is doing it's job. Life around here is absolutely gorgeous! We've had so many adventures with baby and full grown animals. The kids and I have started talking pretty regularly about our backyard habitat. And I love how alive our backyard (and neighborhood) habitat really is.

Our least favorite neighborhood animal is the crow. They are always up squawking in our biggest maple trees. Finally one day I decided to investigate (honestly, I thought they were fighting and I might get to see one of them die!). We were waiting for Reid's bus when we discovered a great horned owl living in our tree! Reid was so excited to tell all his friends at preschool and some even commented that they'd been hearing him at night and wondered where he lived! Most days he is in our tree, once or twice each week he seems to settle on the street just East of us, but we can always find him thanks to those obnoxious crows!

Well, little did we know, there was an owlet nest in the backyard across the street from us (those neighbors aren't as outgoing as I am  -- while I was running up and down the street telling everyone to come see our cool owl they kept their little owlets a secret from the rest of us). I had wondered if there was a nest nearby, but it wasn't until a few days of heavy storms that my neighbor kiddie-corner across the street called to tell me our tree owl was hopping around her backyard. I was puzzled, since I was looking up at our tree owl the moment she called. Intrigued, I went over to her house and discovered a juvenile great horned owl. I can see why she thought it was our full grown friend, because it was no small animal! The texture of it's feathers and lack of tuft let us know it was in fact a baby owl.

As a group of us gathered in Jari's yard, the (not so outgoing) neighbor directly across the street came out and filled us all in. The nest had disintegrated in the rain and while one of the babies made it to the safety of another branch the other fell to the ground. Not quiet ready to fly it hoped over her fence (away from her crazy dogs) and into the other neighbor's yard, where it waited patiently for us to all ewe and awe over its grandeur.

Sibling without injury

Full grown mother (or father, we think there might be two) on the morning of the accident. 

This all took place on Saturday, and last we heard the injured juvenile was still hopping from backyard to backyard. At bedtime that evening there was another big storm and Reid was quite worried for baby great horned owl. He asked if we could say a special prayer for it, and of course I let him offer up the sweetest little prayer. He was very glad to hear it had survived the storm, and yesterday our neighbor spent a good five minutes pointing out the non-injured sibling who had flown (or maybe hopped) to a different tree in her yard.

As I'm typing all of this days later I can still hear the crows going crazy! I don't know why they haven't given up. The owl obviously could not care less about them. I have wondered if staying in our tree was a decoy to keep them away from the nest.

We regularly see cardinals, robins, finches, doves, and many other bird varieties fluttering around our yard. After one of the rains last week the kids and I discovered a pair of deer hooves in our garden (they were not there before the rain, when I was raking out the rocks). Ben actually saw them race through our yard the next day. We also have a plethora of bunnies and squirrels, and while the kids love them (and I have to admit the bunnies are cute) they are both quite a nuisance.

Sunday afternoon Ben told us all he'd seen a big frog in the ditch at the Church and we made plans to go rescue it and put it in our neighborhood pond. That turned into another great wildlife adventure. I wish I had caught a photo of him sticking our bucket in the ditch and chasing the frog through the muddy leaves. Neighbors had to think we were pretty crazy. I did get some photos of Reid releasing the frog and finding a baby turtle.

Reid and I reached the pond first and immediately began spotting pond creatures. There were many large frogs perched on lily pads. When Reid hollered at me to come see one he changed his mind "It wasn't a frog, it was a baby turtle!" I didn't actually believe him, as I hadn't seen it, but when Ben and the girls arrived he immediately told Daddy where to look and Ben lifted up a few lily pads and found the baby snapper.

He was so excited to hold it and let it crawl up his hand. He also asked if he could be the one to release it. This nature preserve is actually part of his (environmental charter) Elementary school. He takes a lot of pride in it and is always excited to tell me about the days they spend outside.

Finally releasing Mr Church Frog. I hope he likes his new home! 

Boops liked finding tadpoles and frogs. She wasn't in the mood for pictures and only consented once I told her she was a princess with her frog, "like Tiana!" she proudly shouted. 

There were so many tadpoles!

Can you spy the princess's frog? It's there, I promise. 

We really do love living in the Midwest Great Lakes region and all the wildlife adventures that are right at our doorstep. This certainly is one of the richest areas of the world, even if it's constantly in economic decline. It may not have the right minerals or energy sources, but it certainly has soil and water sources rich enough to feed the entire nation. Perhaps one day we'll prioritize meeting everyone's basic needs over fulfilling our deepest desires. If that day comes I have no doubt the Great Lakes area will be vital.

*read this last paragraph as a "bring on the Millennium!" statement and not a random political plug*