An intimate little party

Sophia's return also meant it was time for her birthday party.  It was a little gathering, but full of fun and activities.  She had asked for a sleep over in the tent with a meal of homemade spaghetti and brownies....so that is what she got.  We spent the day on Friday setting up the pool and tent as well as making all the noodles.  The pinata was filled and hung.  The girls played with silly string and various basketball games until the sunlight faded and the glow sticks came out for bracelets and earrings.  I pretty much hid out in the living room and gave them full run of the cart load of snacks we purchased earlier in the week.  They apparently were well enough provisioned to make it until three in the morning and by the time the pancakes were served they were all showing signs of a long night.  She is eleven, happy and healthy...what more could a proud dad ask for.

Berries, a Birthday and a Beautiful return

Well she is back,  Sophia returned from her trip in time for her birthday.  She was full of stories about ziplines and beach soccer and had bags of souvenirs for everyone; fudge and key chains.  Grandma made a trip over to visit Sophia, and the rest of us and we were able to find a sunny break in the weather to run out and do some berry picking.  The berries were a little sparse but we filled a couple of buckets.  The kids also found great thrills in running up a large dirt hill that had been cut away to harrass the nesting cliff swallows.  We set the pool up this week and tried the radiator heater that we built a couple of weeks back, the rain has been so steady and temperatures genearlly so cool that it was the first time we thought much about the pool.  Merrick had left his skateboard out in the rain so it needed to be stripped down and repainted, but that seemed to be fine with everyone as well.  The weather has kept us a little pinned down but we still have Soccer four nights a week.  Merrick finished up his season, also ending my time as coach.  He is really a good player and it was certainly fun to watch him develop first as a player and then as a team member as he began to find open passing lanes and feeding it to players that had not yet scored.  Sophia will play until the end of July and I will be able to watch her play more regularly now that I am not coaching.  I was able to see her play this week, due to the rain delay, and she too has good vision of the field and hitting the open areas of the field.  Today is her birthday party and we spent yesterday setting up tents and making brownies and a homemade pasta meal.  Tonight it will be campfires, glowsticks, pinatas and waterballoons and all things a birthday girl could want.

Ice Age and Ice Cream

With the new basketball hoop equipped with a net there have been plenty of games of HORSE.  We obviously played some shorter games of PIG, but Merrick also believed in a game called PIGME.  We played a game of pigme, with the bet that if I won then only PIG or HORSE would exist.  The hoop is quite low and likely only a little over 8 feet, which makes it great for all the little legs/arms that toss balls at it.  Merrick and I did give carp spearing another go, but with all the rains lately the river is just too high.  Met up with those TR girls for what ended up being about a 7 mile ride through the woods.  It is an undulating crushed stone trail that is part of the Ice Age trail system, but fortunately ends at an ice cream shop in the State Park.  It was the first blue lipped picture of the summer.  Again with all the rain, the trail had some really flooded parts, but the crushed stone gave a solid substrate and we gleefully road through the water without anyone tipping over.  There are robins hatching at both houses and with a totally of four nests, the occurance has become almost common for the kids to watch the feeding of the fledglings.

Hartman Creek State Park

Grace gets some Hatchet practice

The Kids Swim during the beautiful weather

Pudding for breakfast, seems about perfect

Grace tries out the mosquito repellant bandanda

Merrick heads out to refill the water for us

Father's Day weekend seems like the perfect time to camp, our slightly smaller tribe as Sophia is still in South Carolina, headed out to Hartman Creek State Park.  We require a westward like convoy with two vehicles to pull the trailer and all the bikes but it is all worth it once we get there.  The weather was perfect and we even managed to pack up a day before a long soaking rain.  I forgot the worms in Amy's fridge so we didn't fish at all while there but certainly took some time out of the day to spit on the surface and watch the palm sized pan fish race to the limits of thier world to explore the intrusion.  The bugs were present but not too bad considering it has been an banner year for insects.  The kids spent plenty of time exploring the grounds on their bikes without any major accidents, although Merrick did take a minor spill that required some bike repairs.  My bike also needed some attention having come off the the roof mount while driving to the campground.  Around the campsite we played four square on a 'course' that was drawn with sidewak chalk and spent time fending out turf from maurading raccoons.  During a short walk to the beach we watched a doe race across the path and then a new fawn leasurily wander around in front of us.  We took a great hike along Deer trail path and watch another doe run through a marshy shoreline area as well as a muskrat swim right to us on the shore.  Plenty of birds and the berries are starting to set as all things summer should be.  There were smores of course and sometimes even for breakfast and a couple of trips into town for supplies we forgot as it was the first trip of the year and also just for an ice cream run.  We apparently have enough time to clean up the trailer and clothing and then head back out to our next cabin in the forest!

Bruiser's Busy Days

Sophia has left town for her two weeks on the Atlantic Ocean.  She headed out as soon as school was over and is currently enduring the long car ride albeit sending pictures of some of the beautiful scenary she is seeing in West Virginia.  She expects to hit Mrytle Beach by mid-afternoon today.  Merrick and I have been getting into the summer grove although there is no way we are at a sustainable pace.  He had school for a few days more than I did, which allowed me to join him for lunch on consecutive days.  The first day, we played some kickball in a light drizzle and the rules have certainly changed since I last played it on the elementary playgroud.  If you kick past everyone it only counts as a double, homeruns might make the other kids feel bad.  You can not throw the ball at kids (I found that out the hard way) because it might cause someone to get hurt (on the grass with a soft ball) and you can't actually catch a flyball because if someone gets an out they might feel bad.  I bowed out of recess the second day.  We were able to dance when the music was played in the lunch room and even started a conga line.  Music is allowed, dancing for more than 90 seconds at a time comes with a reminder that we were to be seated and finish our lunch.  All the new rules made my head hurt and I wasn't even trying to learn any of the content!  Merrick and I did get pudding cups, which were awesome, but it was made clear that it could not be traded for his friends ice cream....more rules.  We did finish rebuilding the windows in the garage and got them painted as well so hopefully the amount of rain getting into them diminishes greatly.  Amy also scored us a sweet thrift sale backboard and with the paint on hand and couple new bolts fromt he hardware store Brusiser and I got it put up and played the first of many games of HORSE.---of which he won.  Grandprize and Grandma had sent Merrick a little play money so we quickly burned that up on the Race track, easily winning both of our heats and almost lapping the others both times.  With the batting cages so close to the track it seemed logical that we practice out cuts a little before heading home.  He hits better than I do or in reality ever have.....I was more accoustomed to swinging three times and then sitting down, but the machines kept pitching so I was able to strike out several times in a row.  Merrick has great hand eye contact and smacked the ball with solidity.  On the penultimate day of school he did loose another tooth and of course we made the required end of school Zesty's run.  Sophia had rode her bike to school and then hit a different ice cream spot with her friends....alas, the grow up so fast.  On the first day of vacation Merrick and I headed to Kewanee county for a little fishing and much like the batting cages and basketball he bested me at the bait science as well.  Catching two to my none.  It has been a busy couple of days for Brusier...and that is how it should be.

 

 

Almost Official!

Summer is of course here, but with the kids finishing up their last few days of school, it isn't quite officially here.  Early in the week Sophia was able to celebrate "1840's day" with throwback clothing, games and lunch options. It was a rather low key weekend for us.  Friday both the kids were a little sniffly and other than a quick run to the hardware store, we hung close to the couch for an end of the week recharge.  Saturday all spirits were much improved and we hit the treasure circuit to see what we could find.  Merrick scored a Star Wars Puzzle, but we didn't find much else that we needed. Merrick is still on the hunt for a old style hand mixer and Sophia is always keeping an eye out for porcelain dolls, while I rummage for cast iron pots.  I had to do some work on the rapidly aging garage but the kids spent time shooting their guns and we did pull the doors off their bedrooms for some practice spray painting....graffiti....guerrilla art. The TR tribe made its way up on Saturday afternoon and there were the standard versions of tag and school.  Ella and Sophia did walk down to Langlade park for a while which is a minor milestone that required them to cross a pretty busy street.  Sunday we all headed towards Zesty's for a little ice cream to usher in the Summer days after our domestic duties were taken care of as well as a walk along the bike trail.  The kids will wrap up their school years this week and it is already shaping up to be quite field trip heavy.