Camping Weekend

Last weekend, we went camping at Peninsula State Park in Door County. I'd never been there before, and continue to be impressed with the facilities at Wisconsin's State Parks. Our trip started out a little rocky - we'd forgotten the tent poles - but as Brian went off to try and buy rope and/or a new tent at a semi-local Walmart (because Walmarts are everywhere), Dad and Darleen tried to attempt some sort of structure with ropes, the people camping next to us came over and offered us an extra 4-person tent they had in their camper. Super-nice people. So we did that. We gave them some beer - but I think we got the better end of the bargain.

Some highlights: we didn't take the boats but kindof wished we had. We did take our bikes and went exploring around the park, including the lighthouse that we weren't willing to pay $4 a person to tour.



We played in the water for a while, not swimming as Green Bay is cold and it's not that warm out. Jacob played for about an hour and half down at the canoe launch. First throwing rocks into the water, getting his shoes all wet, then finally taking his shoes off and rolling his pants up to wade in and play. He probably would have played there for another hour as well, but Allison and Dad had headed back to the campsite 45 minutes before and I worried they would wonder what happened to us. Walking back to the campsite was funny because his pants were wet and his shoes were wet and he didn't want to walk but when I picked him up - he kept asking to be put back down to investigate the flowers. So it was slow going until we ran into Allison and Grandma with dry sandals. To solve the pants problem we just took them off and Jacob walked the rest of the way in his underwear.





Saturday night it rained - and we were glad we had an actual tent to be in. Sunday was wet - but I think we looked.... um.... respectable.



Brian left early on Sunday to catch a flight to Germany. We climbed up Eagle Tower to enjoy the view - and then Grandma and Grandpa headed home and the kids and I went up into Sister Bay. We ate at Al Johnson's Swedish restaurant (with the goats that live on the roof), played at the local park, and then did Pirates Cove mini golf. Thankfully the mini-golf was not crowded because the kids were racing through it like mad. Allison did score two hole-in-ones though. Despite the slow beginning - we ended up having a great time and I hope to get back to Peninsula again.

Happy Belated Birthday Jacob!

So I'm late posting things. Last Sunday was Jacob's 4th birthday. He was excited, and had been planning his birthday party for months (absolute truth).



There was an overall Lightning McQueen theme - from the cupcakes to the wrapping paper. He had a great time. My overall plan was for the kids to spend the whole day outside, but then it rained and was very cold, so we had to improvise. The kids played "who can keep the balloon up in the air the longest," colored McQueen coloring pages, and played "balloon basketball." Those balloons were seriously a well spent $1.50.



Here are the "boys" - Kaden, Dominic, Josh, and Jacob.

Rhymes

This is apparently what the girls sing now when they jump rope (as Allison's been singing it a lot this the past week):

"Judge, judge, call the judge
Allison's having a baby
Wrap it up on toilet paper
Send it down the elevator
Boy, girl, twins, triplets
Boy, girl, twins, triplets"

I think it sends a bad message (or two). Is it worse that what we used to sing? I can't even remember. Cinderella dressed in yella went upstairs to kiss a fella....

Last Day

Yesterday was Allison's last day of kindergarten. She's a 1st grader now.

Here are pics of the last day of school and the first day of school. Personally - I don't think the kids 'look' all that different, but many things have changed.



In kindergarten - Allison learned to read, she kept a poetry journal, she loved music class, she learned to play Mariokart, she earned all her daisy scout petals, she learned karate, she learned to push herself on the swing (even if she'd rather be pushed by you), and she made new friends at her new school.

In preschool - Jacob learned to write half the letters in his name, he also learned to play Mariokart, he switched from a love of Thomas to a love of Cars, he made 3 best friends, he had his first drop-off playdate, he took swimming lessons, and he learned to get all his clothes on and off on his own (even if he'd rather have you do it for him).

I'm sure there is much more that they've done this year, many hurdles encountered and tackled, and countless small milestones reached and exceeded. Congrats to both kids on a great, great, year!

Oh Donut!

Jacob has a new phrase that he picked up from his school friend Collin - it's "Oh Donut!" He uses it where you would otherwise insert a "oh darn" "oh damn" or perhaps "dammit." I'm fairly certain Jacob doesn't know those three phrases because we don't use them at home ("oh crap" being my phrase of exasperated choice). And frankly - Oh Donut is probably preferable to Oh Crap coming from a 4-yr old.

Then yesterday I was stopped by a colleague in the workroom who apologized again and was very concerned because Allison overheard him say "idiot" at the baseball game a few weeks ago and he wanted to make sure she wasn't repeating everywhere. (No, and frankly, I had totally forgotten about it until he reminded me).

But it got me thinking about phrases that we use - particularly how we change our speech because we don't want the kids to shout "holy f***ing s**t" at home - or (as is more likely the case - if they decide to do it) in public. So we substitute more innocuous terms for about everything we would hear in a George Carlin routine - plus some.

My question is this - why do we then choose things that sound like the word we are trying to avoid? Rather than "dammit" we sat "donut." Why not "peaches"? 'Oh, peaches, that didn't work.' We say "fudge" rather than, perhaps "fruitcake" (which is - if you think about it - a more appropriate substitution for something crappy).

And when you slip up - there is nothing worse than having it repeated back to you in that cute little 3-yr old voice while sitting around the dinner table at Grandma's house.

Running low on time

Today I didn't do much. I started cleaning up in the office - which essentially was enough to get everything out but not put back away. I'm missing a few months of "important paperwork," which is code for the bank statements and pay stubs that I need in order to finish updating the financial software which (until about 3 weeks ago) was stuck in March 2008. Now we're onto February 2009 - and stuck again. So close, and yet so far....

Then I was side-tracked by Jillyn's request for old family photos. I did not think I had any (really old, great-grandparent type ones) but decided to pull of the big box of photos which hadn't been untaped since we moved to Appleton 3 years ago. Then I had to flip through all manner of pictures I took in high school (because they were there) and realized the benefit of labeling who is IN the picture even when you are sure that you'll remember who they are because, heck, they lived upstairs from you for two years and.... oh what was her name.... Needless to say, perhaps a yearbook quiz will be in order before our class reunion this summer.

Then I ran on the treadmill because the triathlon is in, like, 6 weeks, and I've yet to start really training for it. Really training means more than riding my bike to work (1.5 miles away, 2.5 miles if I take Allison to school first - that's 5 miles roundtrip....). I also ran several errands, including signing Allison up for "special needs swimming lessons," which I'm still not sure that Brian is kosher with (swimming is one area that Allison seems to do ok in the group - although I did notice that she was the only kid in her class that the teacher did not ask whether or not she would be in 1st grade next year - poor kid is so small...). My feeling was that we wanted to do individual lessons over group lessons, I explained the situation to the YMCA and they suggested this - as a bonus it's $30 cheaper. So, ok.

Allison also has a pretty loose tooth. The tooth thing has been an interesting experience in literal-think-ism. Rather unknowingly, I think, we have been attributing some of Allison's quirkiness to.. well.. cute quirkiness. (like why does she insist on putting on a tutu when she wants to dance?) A teacher at her school mentioned once how much Allison thinks "literally." Now we see a lot of things in this new light of literal-think-ism. Exhibit A - loose tooth. When we first discovered the loose tooth, Allison staunchly denied it was loose. "NO, I DO NOT HAVE A LOOSE TOOTH." Ok, well it wasn't all that wiggly, so I guess you could see it that way. As it's gotten looser, we've delved more into this tooth issue only to learn that they had a dental hygiene talk at school and she was told something to the effect that if you don't brush your teeth then they will get cavities and fall out. Allison was sure that she brushed her teeth, sure that she had no cavities, and thus sure that her tooth was not falling out. After several conversations and one very convenient episode of Franklin - she's come to understand that loosing baby teeth and gaining adult teeth is a good thing.

The other problem this tooth presents is that Mom does not "do" tooth removal and Dad is scheduled to travel the next few weeks. The thing will have to fall out in an apple or something because if I have to pull it the next event in the sequence will be me passed out on the floor.

Anyway, I should have a good post tomorrow after volunteering at "Berry-O-Rama" the Janet Berry School field day. That's why I took advantage of today. Tomorrow and Thursday I'm volunteering and Friday is the last day of school. My few days of "free" time are passing quickly.

Jacob at the park

These 70-degree days are why I love WI.



Jacob masters the "caterpillar" at the park.