"Idiots Out Wandering Around"

 
 

  Counting the miles is much easier than counting the innumerable but memorable laughs and smiles.  We packed the explorer to its gills with humanity and luggage and headed west.  A detour through Valley Fair added only a few minutes to the total road trip time and was well worth it.  The heat was as high as the excitement for the big coasters and we headed straight to the wild thing.  Merrick, Ella and I forged a quick allegiance against the mighty coasters as the others waited in the wings.  It was great and with almost no lines we were able to ride the green beast twice in about 15 minutes.  The whole day felt as if it was our park alone. We weren't sure if the lack of lines was due to the heat or that it was a Thursday or maybe the maintence cut back on the rides.  Yup the restrictions have become a little lax.  Grace added 3/4 of an inch to her height for the Corkscrew but simply smiling at the young European worker.  Merrick and Grace were also riding the ocotopus, a large black scrambler with an altitude plane as well, when the ride abruptly stopped.  The worker told me they would be able to get the kids down.  Grace was standing up in her car and then Merrick too was standing up while still high in the air waiting to be off loaded, as the PA system sweetly played the country ballads of "anything can happen" and "we die young."  When they finially reached the ground the workers stated to work on their car.  Apparently the safety belts weren't holding them in!!  We hit all the major coasters, but finished with a big splash ride with the kids running loops for about a half hour on the same ride.  We told them final ride and as they were getting off, the next group of people was stranded on the watery ascent.  Back to the hotel and a greasy pizza joint before setting out again on our trail.  We didn't make it far before we made a stop at Minnesota's largest candy store (the yellow barn), for some morning sugar.  We made it to Sheldon in the early afternoon.  the pool was filled with kids decked out in Tyr gear.  There were canonballs for everyone including grandma and chicken fights across all age and gender categories.  If we weren't swimming then we were eating or wandering to the park for Ollie's birthday pinata.  The darkness of the evening didn't pull us from the water but rather like a moth to the flame, Kate tossed in hundreds of glo sticks for the kids to dive for in the darkening water.  Sunday found us ready to head home and although we missed the Spam museum everyone traveled very well and the hours quickly slipped away as we made the trek back with plans of doing it again.

Full swing summer

 

 Soccer has only next week left and the garden is in need of a legume harvest, so we are clearly in fully, smack dab in the middle of Cesar Julius' month.  Summer school ended last week so we have been shifting gears into full summer mode.  We did get out for a berry pick and have been spending plenty of time at local pools.  The kids are having a blast jumping off the high dives.  Not sure if I should be proud or a little apprehensive at the way Merrick has no fear and jumps with his little body from the 12 foot heights.  Luckily the winds have been light and he landed on course all giggles.  Sophia spendt last weekend tubing around the big lake at a friends cabin.  Merrick and I have a lot of dude time as Sophia really starts to spread her wings of independence.  We have been spending most of it outside, but did visit the library as well.  We hit the links early Monday morning to play some frisbee golf, but that ended when I lost my disc.  The second disc that course has swallowed up--it looks so open.  Merrick finished off the course and we just continued to walk and chat.  Truly a great time.  Caught a couple of grasshoppers for Mitch at our favorite field, but then I sent him into the store by himself to buy some more.  He came out all smiles at his independence.  His smile grew with his self-esteem and my pride as he beat me in chess later in the week, while Sophia was entertaining friends for a sleep over.  Chess and blackjack are still his games of choice and I think the math and promethian nature of the games must be good for his edutainment.  We are packing up today for our trip west.  Plan on hitting Valley Fair on our way to Munkly Arky's place to visit the whole family.

So now we Dance!

  We camped in a totally new way this fourth, it was a festival, a resort, a circus of laughs, giggles and water spray in all its wonderful forms.  We were fortunate to be invited along by Amy to join her traveling clan of merry makers and with was great.  With a dozen or more others already at the campground we headed out early on Thursday morning.  The resort had miles of road for the kids to scooter around on and two different parks, ice cream shop, geocaching, beach with obstacle course and slides and a to compliment those features was a legitimate pool and waterslide features.  There was plenty of smore time to replenish the calories that the kids spent running around in a dirty dozen pack.  Friday was pontoon day.  We rented a pontoon for several hours and trolled around the lake stopping occasionally to swim in the shallow areas of the lake.  The heat and humidity was too high to allow much in the way of afternoon napping, but Merrick and I did coopt an AC controlled hardside and crank off a much needed recharge during the four day stay.  The weekend had fireworks on the beach with several locals putting on very remarkable shows from about 5 different places on the lake.  The arcade was always an option for the kids and we spent a couple of green backs on bubble hockey. Saturday was the bike parade followed by the campground dance. The arcade was converted into a fully functioning video DJ came in to set the stage for conga lines and dance hits that were perfect for the kids. Watching the kids shrug at the late hits of the 70's was hillarious, but they danced nonetheless.  One of the tribe also had his 5th birthday, which required superhero capes and masks for everyone.  Somewhere along the line we had water balloon fights, rode the trolly, ate a couple of ice cream cones, but even now as my body starts to recover from the fun the chronology of those event is lost to me.

Summer in forms most Gorgeous

 

 
 

It has been Sophia's Birthday week which just ended with a late night sleep over with her friends.  Grandpa and Grandma made it over for some mini golf, cake and icy cones.  The mini golf winner is still unknown as I lost interest in keeping score with such creative counters. Rest assured we were all winners with a twist cone to beat the heat after an afternoon on the links.  Merrick's soccer wrapped up, albeit anticlimactically, as the last night was cancelled due to a lightning and sever storms.  But it was a good year either way.  Summer School for Sophia is still in full swing and she is practicing for her play that the drama class is putting together  this has freed up a lot of "dude time" for Merrick and I.  So we hit the parks, thrift stores and rivers for a variety of fishing forms.  We caught some bass on hook and line and also tried our hands at carp spearing in the local rivers, including the river hog pictured. The garden is coming along really well and the raspberries should be ready soon and the peas are already way above Bruisers head.  Those are the highlights with a lot of summer seeping into all the crevices between.