Summer Has Begun

 

With school out and the weather warming up, we thought it was time to actually plant our garden. The kids had fun picking out what we were going to plant and then actually planting them. William loved using the watering can as a horn to blow in and then had fun filling it up with water and blowing bubbles in the hose when Jim, Elizabeth and Isaac planted.

 We also felt like it seemed appropriate to invite a bunch of kids over to play one day to kick off summer as well. With the trampoline set up along with a slip and slide, the kiddie pool and a couple dozen popsicles later, we had the grounds set for a really great day. All 10 kids had a great time and pretty much entertained themselves. After I have this baby, I said I would do this again. That evening, all the kids were pooped after an afternoon in the sun with friends.

I am looking forward to many more simple, summer days of just playing in the water, on bikes and eating as many popsicles as a mouth can handle.

Livestock

 I think we might have some future 4-H and FFA members in our family because our kids are obsessed with farming and farm animals.

We took another trip to Hinchley's Farm, our 3rd trip to be exact. For anyone who hasn't gone, I highly recommend it! With every visit that we have done, each one has been a bit different depending on how big our group is and what is going on at the farm.

 This trip was especially fun because William was old enough to actually be excited for the animals. His love for animals is just like his older brother and sister. With this visit, not only did they pet and milk a cow, but William and Elizabeth loved having the baby calves suck on the hands and fingers, Isaac and Elizabeth loved feeding the lambs with baby bottles, and all 3 kids loved feeding the goats, watching the pigs, collecting chicken eggs and holding chickens and a rooster. Isaac kept asking if he could come back and get a job on the farm. I wish there was a local farmer that we knew personally that would let Isaac volunteer a couple of hours a week because he would love that. He thought he was the big man on the farm when Tina, the farm owner, would give him small tasks like make the lamb bottles, carry the bucket of goat feed or clean the poop off the stroller wheels with the hose.

 Because the kids had so much fun at Hinchley's Farm, we thought they would also enjoy Cows on the Concourse. We drove down to the Capital Circle and bypassed the farmers market for cows. It was a kick off for Dairy Month here in Dane County where farmers get together and bring cows the kids can touch, play games, eat and drink ice cream, milk, and grilled cheese sandwiches and learn about cows, the importance of exercising and buying local.

 Jim and I laughed because we figured only here in Wisconsin would the highlight of the day be being able to have cow spots face painted on your body. The kids LOVED it!

Spring Fun

 I know that we have been absent from the blog for a while, but it doesn't mean that I haven't thought about blogging. With such a long, cold, drawn out winter, once the weather hit 36*F and sunny, the kids were itching to head outside. We took them to the Henry Villas Zoo in Madison and let them play outside with chalk and sand toys in the driveway.

 

So Easter came and went and we had to adapt a bit since the yards were still covered in snow. The kids had fun dyeing Easter eggs and we hid the eggs in the house for the egg hunt. Jim and I joked that we should just throw out plain, white hard-boiled eggs in the snow and watch the kids try to find them. Even-though we didn't do that, we still found the colorful, plastic eggs for the next couple of days around our house.

 Elizabeth was a proud graduate of her year old preschool class at Westside Christian School. She has grown so much this school year and just thrived there. The teachers were absolutely wonderful and I am sad that she won't be attending her second year of preschool there next year.

 

Spring finally decided to show up in May and the kids were thrilled! Our neighbors found a rabbits nest in their backyard and the kids thought it was fun to see the tiny bunnies. As the weather slowly climbed to the 60's and 70's, we traded our pants for shorts and our mugs of hot chocolate for popsicles. William especially loved eating his first popsicle outside and I enjoyed watching it drip all over him dyeing his skin.

Isaac finished his spring season of soccer with Middleton United and I think he would make any professional soccer player proud with all of his falling down on the field and dramatics even if the ball or player wasn't even near him. He looks forward to playing again in the fall and Elizabeth is excited to start her soccer journey in the fall with him.

The first weekend in May was fun because not only did we go garage-saleing in our town, but we watched the annual Cross Plains Beer Parade. Basically the town gets together and has a pub crawl with the 3 pubs on our Main Street and then there is a parade celebrating beer and how prohibition didn't work. The kids loved gathering the candy that was thrown, watching all the horses, old cars, tractors, and carriages. There were also bands and of course, people dressed up in period clothing holding up signs protesting prohibition and promoting beer drinking and making.

The kids had to get a picture with the mascot for Culver's.

Jim and I decided to take the kids on our last outing to Chicago before I have this baby. We visited our friends, the Fa'anunu's and then got a hotel and took the kids to the Lincoln Park Zoo. As excited as the kids get for staying in a hotel, I seem to dread it more and more. No one ever gets a good nights rest when we are in a new place and we are all sleeping so close to one another. So we embarked on the day at the zoo very tired. The kids had fun looking at the animals but the highlight of their day was looking at the exhibit about poop. We should have only gone there because the kids were fascinated by animal poop.