We loaded up the family buggy and headed to Holmen for a visit with Lisa's inlaws. The are really some of the nicest people that I am related to and we always have a good time. Showed up to the new place late on Friday night and then proceeded to stay up even later, but finally Molly agreed that I could sleep next to her for a couple of hours before the kids woke up and we headed off. Brad had heard about a sand prairie not to far from the house and all of the kids had some extra energy to burn off--carbon credits be damned. It was really a nice hike with the summer prairie flowers starting to come into bloom including some blue lupin. We were able to spy a couple of Karner blues and a viceroy (or maybe a swallowtail) and a familiar black butterfly that I can never recall the name of. The ticks were pretty thick and initially the kids were turned off by them but as the hike grew longer and the ticks more common all of them down to the youngest become nonplussed by the little blood suckers. The ticks were prevalent enough that the kids just took turns picking them off each other. Merrick and I brought up the rear for most of the hike as Merrick had a lot of sticks to carry through the woods--they apparently don't grow on trees. Tick checks went on through out the remainder of the weekend with most of the them standing out like a turd in a punch bowl when those little blond heads got wet in the shower/bath. The kids got a long quite well and Sophia and Jacob now fight about 'fair turns' that their little brothers are getting--so I guess that is a change. We were able to get some 'definite maybe tentative plans' penciled for a midweek camping trip in the next few weeks so I am looking forward to seeing the gang again real soon. Maybe then the horseflies will be out that will be so much more exciting than just ticks and mosquitos.
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