Bay Beach

So - we found something we should have found a long time ago. On Wednesday (my last day of summer) the kids and I went up to Bay Beach amusement park in Green Bay with Jacob's friend Dominic, his mom, and his brother Evan. It's free to get in, and then the rides are either $0.25 or $0.50 each (almost all the little kids rides were a quarter. Three hours and ice cream cones for all - less than $10 total.

Here's Allison - not having any resemblance to the ride itself.....


Most of the little kid rides were variations on a theme. Central pivot point, circular motion, arm attached to .... ladybug, car, fire engine, bomber, caterpillar, boat, etc.



The big kid rides we avoided because they were things that spun (teacups and the like). There was a giant slide, Allison and I went together and she didn't like it that much. There were also bumper cars, but Allison and Jacob were not interested. Next year (?) there will be a roller coaster.



We waited a LONG time to ride the train, which was very anticlimactic. There was also a Merry-Go-Round, which Allison loved. Since I bought $15 in tickets, and we spent less than $10 - I guess we'll just have to go back.

One more paddle

We went kayaking again today. It was a beautiful day, and the lake water seemed even clearer than it usually is. We paddled to the public dock - went swimming and had a picnic - then paddled back. The kids were great until the car ride home. Too much sun... too tired... I don't know.

When we got home - we attended to a few yard issues. I cleaned out the pool (my newest plan involves draining the gross stuff to the yard rather than through the filter). It's better but still needs work. Brian also tackled the apple issue. The back of our yard is one solid layer of apples. We don't know what to do with them because there are too many for the compost bin and we don't have any hunting ground to use them to bait deer.

Love / Hate

Generally, I love calendars (they are like "To Do" lists for time). However, right now, I'm in a love/hate relationship with my Google calendar. I'm inescapably drawn to it - and yet at the same time it creates an incredible amount of panic.

My new online courses go live in 1 week - my face-to-face classes start in 2 weeks. The remaining August days are filled with all those things I wanted to get done this summer but didn't - and not the fun stuff either... the "take-the-car-in-for-that-recall" kind of stuff. You'd think that the looming deadlines and the "No, I have NOT finished that syllabus" would provide some motivation. Instead, I'm like a deer caught in the headlights with my heart racing but my legs locked. This should be a fun year.

Other fun vacation pictures

Keep the trees or not?

We have 5 large (LARGE - like 60-80 ft) cottonwoods in a strand between our house and our neighbors. Some people around the block happened to have some guys out to cut down 15 comparably large cottonwood trees today from their yard because they got concerned following the large storms that we've had this summer. So, I asked the guy to come around and give us an estimate for taking down our cottonwood trees. It was very reasonable.

So, I'm pro-ing and con-ing the trees. Pro - shade, privacy. Con - cotton, sticky pods, branches (see pic from earlier), the potential to fall on the house, the need to disassemble the pool filter twice a summer, the fouling of the air conditioner, and the moss on the roof. And one is rotting at the base.

Conscience - can I really take down 5 trees that have been there longer than we have? Then, what do we put in their place? Finally - would I rather have granite countertops? I don't like spending money on landscaping. This explains a lot about our yard.

Hailstorm picture - July 2010

New roof

We finally got an insurance adjuster out to assess the hail damage. Apparently we need new:
roof
deck box
sunroom roof
screen door
window screens
playset canopy
pool suncover
2 downspouts
and new waterproofing on the deck

The siding was in excellent condition, however. Weird, eh?

Charlotte

Vacation post #3: Things to do in Charlotte

At the beginning of our vacation, we stayed with Aunt Jeanne in Charlotte for the weekend. Mostly, we just hung out at her place or in the neighborhood swimming pool, but we did a little sightseeing.

Our Children's Museum passes from Appleton got us into the Discovery Zone center downtown. We all had a lot of fun there.

Building block towers.


Seeing frogs.


And laying on a bed of nails.

Also in Charlotte, we searched for a good BBQ place, only to learn that not updating your GPS has undesirable consequences for finding restaurants (or restaurants in Charlotte go out of business very rapidly).

The kids had fun with their cousins too - playing at the pool and at Aunt Jeanne's house. Neither would get on the top bunk of the bunk beds, though.

Surf's Up

Are there crabs?

Three years ago at the beach, Jacob would have nothing to do with the water and Allison jumped around in it. This year - it was the opposite. Though he was hesitant in the beginning - Jacob ended up loving to play in the surf, jump in the waves, ride on the raft, and especially collect the seashells. Every day he took a walk with Grandma and Grandpa up the beach to look for shells.



Allison on the other hand, did not like the salt water very much. So, she spent time playing in the sand with Barbie, and finally enjoying the waves from the relative safety of the raft.

Alert, Alert!

Vacation post #1: Jacob is hilarious!



Jacob was hilarious in the car on vacation. On the way from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach - each time we'd pass a fast food restaurant we'd hear a squeal from the backseat. "OH MY GOSH!! MOM, DAD, DID YOU SEE THAT? Guess what it was?" After a few minutes of guessing obviously wrong things... we would come around to what it was we were actually supposed to have been SUPER excited about. Mostly it was McDonald's (with an OUTDOOR playland MOM!!) or Burger King. Once, it was Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel??

It was even funnier because we weren't planning on stopping for any food (particularly fast food) - but we had four hours of fast food spotting.



The last night was even funnier. We were driving to Jacob's other favorite thing - mini-golf. It was late (past bedtime) for the kids and they were excited. All of a sudden we hear "ALERT, ALERT, ALERT!! IT'S A McDONALD'S!! ALERT ALERT!!"

I feel for the kids. They get in Mom and Dad's food catch-22. It goes like this - no fast food unless we're traveling. But then when we're traveling, we take them to places we can't get in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the kids were not wowed by Chick-fil-A - otherwise we would have eaten a lot more fast food. They did great in restaurants, though, all vacation long. They have a new funny habit of sharing / trading between their dishes. Usually it works out OK - half a grilled cheese for two small pieces of pizza - for example. Sometimes, less so - two french fries for your entree.

We did have some awesome, wonderful peaches. Who knew that there are varieties of peaches! We stopped at some place in the middle of South Carolina and bought peaches and peach bread and peach pie. Yummy!!

BTS Shopping

Well, the back to school shopping is nearly complete. This year, I decided to shop earlier - since my procrastinative tendencies the past few years have left me scrambling for some odd-brand piece of required equipment. Last year was the infamous art paper hunt. I think the school supply lists are longer than they used to be. (I also realized when talking with the babysitter the other day that I was getting dangerously close to being a "when I was a kid, the world was so different...." kind of person).

But none-the-less, the length of the supply lists can be evidenced just by the expense of finding everything - so far $200. This included all basic school supplies (pencils, folders, etc) on the list, ($130!) plus Jacob's gym shoes and Allison's new backpack. Jacob opted to used his "old" Batman backpack and Allison doesn't have new gym shoes yet. The shoes must be left at school, so they have to be a separate pair than regular tennies.

This expense also doesn't yet include any new clothes (other than gym shoes). Jacob will definitely need new pants, since he grew out of his old ones this spring. But he seems to be in a bit of a growth spurt, so I think we'll wait until the weather gets pant-friendly. You know - like mid-September.

The next step will be to write the kids initial on each and every supply. Yes, this means each colored pencil and each crayola crayon. Fun stuff.