Shifting Gears

The school year is winding down and Amy and I were able to have a picnic lunch with the younger two at their School.  We are in the final week of classes now and almost ready to take on Summer full time.  We spent the weekend in Madison for Sophia's soccer tournament and we plied ourselves with sunscreen for the first time this year.  Plenty of sun and heat.  Ella had her last jazz concert of the year, after a year of early morning practices to impress us with what she learned.  The played a great Star Wars piece.  Merrick and I had to run to see it but we made it in time having left his Soccer practice a little early.  That is our lives mostly, running to and from kid activities, but we fit it all in.  Grace usually goes to her Guitar practice fully dressed for the soccer practice.  We had some rare days without plans and found time to entertain and be entertained by Munkle Arky.  There was kubb to be played and campfires to sit around.  We even found time to plant the gardens...finding time to weed them might be a different story.  Merrick was able to build his hydraulic catapult which shoots a clay ball about 8 feet.

Camping time!!

We headed south and hit the lakeshore to spend Mother's Day in the camper.  It was the first outing of the year. The weather wasn't too bad.  We headed into town and it was actually hot although it was cooler in camp with a breeze coming off the 40 degree lake water.  The camp site was perfect and no bugs (minus a single tick) with an open wooded area with plenty of downed trees to form forts for the kids to play in all weekend.  It was a large group and multiple kids.  We did sneak out to look for some morels, but the area was way too dry and not really the right environment but it was still a fun excuse to walk in the woods.  Amy finally got her Mother's day mug that the kids all made so many weeks ago during spring break and it was the perfect gift.  We have a couple more camping trips planned already, some with the camper, some with backpacks, some with canoes....even a big one that only has day hiking and plenty of hotels.

Summerish.....

Summerish.....only because the sports are summer but the weather is just cold.  The spring has been slow to come and makes only brief appearances and not usually during any of the sporting events.  Ella is running with cold legs but otherwise enjoying the sport.  Sophia played in a tournament and her team took second place getting some hardware for her efforts.

Ella and Easter

The spring has been a little cool but not too cool for an Easter rabbit, the eggs were dyed with the help of some friends and the furry dude hid plenty of candy for all.  The cool weather hasn't slowed the sports scene at all.  Sophia's soccer is practicing in some cold rains and Ella is battling through the low temps on the track team.  After changing our hotel plans we headed to the Dells for a volleyball tournament.  Ella played three games in the super Dome, battle at the Dells tournament.  The place is crazy loud.

'Tis Birthday Season!

 
 
Spring around here means Birthday season.  We have a full week of cake, it is all we eat for a full week.  Merrick's comes first and barely beats the day of pranks and is quickly followed by Grace's and mine in quick succession to hers.  Grace had her party with several school friends at a pottery shop in town and they all painted wonderful pictures of butterflys to take with them.  Merrick's was at rubber-walled bouncy house....so their personalities are starting to take hold.  We also had the extended families up for a nice patio party for the kids and the weather cooperated for a very enjoyable afternoon with plenty of kids running around.  Grace had her first guitar recital at the Museum and performed three songs that she has been working on.  She did a wonderful job and played beautifully.

Spring break!!!

This year my spring break lined up with the kids' break so we filled the day with library trips and laser tag.  We also headed to a local pottery store to craft a Mother's day coffee mug for Amy.  I am writing this from memory and I know that was a very busy week with little down time but with so few pictures to go on I am forgetting all that we did.  I know the Merrick and I sneaked out for a little target practice and he handled the big guns very well for the yardage.  Grace had a 3 on 3 tournament in Manitowoc and scored a bunch of baskets in the first game and ran about 3x faster after....like a bolt of lightening.  She was super pumped.

Cool temps and warm hearts

The original purpose of the blog was to chronicle our outdoor travels but it is good to reflect on the warmth we find indoors as well.  The kitchen sees plenty of attention and we do our best to include the kids in the quotidian activities as we raise not children but work to raise adults.  It is an active and busy house with plenty of work to do and hugs and smiles to make the work load easy.  Grace is on a three on three tournament basketball team.  With spring break approaching and gymnasiums hard to find it was decided to hold practices in the neighborhood at a house that has a court painted on their driveway.  It was really awesome to have a neighborhood team practicing in the neighborhood.  It was plenty cold and you had to take the wind into account with the shots but it was a pretty neat experience to see.