Summer fun...

Summer 2008 I

I guess I need to have some generic posts so I put a few different nights/weekends in here. I think the bottom pics are of this weekend, which was Bruce's (Sanborn) sixth birthday party. We started at the pool and then continued at the park for cake, presents and a pinata. I believe the party then progressed to Casa Sanborn but we didn't make it. :( (Hope you guys had fun!! I know I did Friday night!!) Today we went to the fountain at Irvine Park...had great fun until Cailey biffed it and we had to pack up and go home. Oh well. So far this summer has been amazing and I am so glad there's more to come!! I hope this weather holds out since we had to wait so long for it. More camping to come this weekend. This time we're going to O'neil Creek in Chippewa. Should be fun and kid-friendly so we're excited. The first thing Cailey said to me this morning was "Mommy, I want to go camping"!! They love it!

Millie...just had to include this because she looks so crazy.
Kevin putting together his first airplane. He's on plane #2 already!!
Getting ready for takeoff...
My sister in their new boat! Bad pic, but had to include it! R.I.P. Ralphie!
No one could stay on this thing...
Backyard party at Aunties...
Caleb and his bugs...

Best cousins! Miranda was running around with her friend somewhere. Caleb's on the left and then there's Austin, Lilly and Cailey.
Chowin' on some watermelon...

This is where my sister and Kev are getting married 07/04/2009. Can't wait guys! Love you!
Holly setting up the candles on Bruce's Spidey cake

Spidey shirt, Spidey cake, Spidey plates and napkins...

Crabby Cailey...she yelled at me after I took this pic.
Spidey pinata...


Spidey's candy guts...

Checking out the river
Fountain fun
Looks like he has to pee

Probably looking for bugs
She doesn't do much there... :)
Finally getting into it...

That's all, folks!

Monster Hall Campground

Monster Hall Campground, July 18-20

This weekend we camped at Monster Hall Campground in Unity, Wi...Dan's hometown. We got off to a rocky start again...as I was packing up I went downstairs and found a flood in my basement. I was by myself and the water was spraying everywhere. It was awful. I called Dan, told him to get his butt home, and then called the plumbing company that did the house when we built it. They sent out a guy and it got taken care of, but we had quite the mess to clean up. Apparently some metal thing broke so the manufacturer is taking care of the expense, but we still had to deal with the water. Not fun. At least it didn't happen while we were gone!! We got to the campground around 6ish and found our site. I took the kids to the "beach" while Dan got things set up. The "beach" is a small area of sand on the edge of a 36-acre pond/lake. Everything was fine and dandy until Caleb found what I thought was a leach(due to the sucker on its underside). Later we decided it was a baby bullhead due to its whiskers...either way, I was outta there. Gross. I quickly found out that despite growing up in the Island City, I am no longer a lake girl. Give me concrete and chlorine and I'm happy. We headed back to camp and started a fire and made some "pudgie pies" as the Michlig's call it. Instead of pizza pudgie pies, we did grilled cheese and it was YUMMY. You'll just have to camp with us to find out what a pudgie pie is!! :) Anyway, so Grandpa Jerry and Uncle Brian showed up later and we had some drinks and good conversation, as always. After they headed home, Dan and I sat by the fire and talked and just enjoyed the night. Saturday was beautiful and was spent mostly at the pool, as you'll see in the photos. Caleb must've gone down that waterslide 200 times. I had to tell him to sit down and take a break because he could barely get to the steps of the pool he was so tuckered out. We went into Unity for supper and of course, had to have a storm come in while we were gone. We waited out the storm at Jerry's and headed back to our wet camp. Everything was wet. It really put a "damper" on things. We started another fire but the chairs were soaked the kids and I headed inside the camper. I made some Jiffy Pop and the kids colored. Very low key. Sunday was muggy and hot and it had rained again that night so things were still wet so we decided to pack up and head home early. It was a good trip, minus the rain, and I miss it already. We have a birthday party this weekend so no camping. We have plenty of things to do around here, so it's probably a good thing!! Anyway, here's some pics. Take care everyone and I'll be back soon!

Chillin' in the morning...

The waterslide from our campsite. We were really close!! :)
The "beach"
Caleb watersliding...



Cailey hung out with Mommy and got some sun.
Caleb taking his mandatory break.
Daddy and Cailey lounging
Jiffy Pop and colors
First bath in the camper!!!

Camping in Holcombe

Pine Point State Park, Holcombe, WI
This trip got off to a rough start…but as I sit here on Sunday morning in my bedroom smelling the remnants of our fellow campers’ campfires, I savor the last few hours left of our family trip to Pine Point State Park. I decided to write a list of my favorite and least favorite parts about the weekend. Here goes…

Least favorite things:
1. Getting a call from the neighbor because we left our garage door open and they went to shut it and in the process set off the security alarm. Not that big of a deal, I just felt bad for them because they were a little freaked out. 2. Getting to the campsite and finding out that there’s no water hookups. And we didn’t fill up the holding tank because we thought there would be water hookups. AND we figured all of this out after Dan unhooked the camper and leveled and stabilized it. SO…Dan made a few trips to the fresh water faucet with garbage cans(clean ones) and filled the tank 1/3 full. So we had water for the toilet and I even washed my hair(see photos). Good enough! Unfortunately that set the stage for the rest of the night. 3. The blackout. At about 9 pm I tried to plug in the bug zapper and blew out the whole works. No air (and it was HOT and humid), no fridge, lights were on battery(which would last for about 12 minutes), it was dark, the kids were crabby, I was stressed and it just was not fun. Dan found the caretaker guy and he helped us get back up and running. I was very scared there for a bit, though. It was really hot. 4. The weather. It started with amazing wind. Like something you see in a movie. You just stand there and brace yourself because otherwise you’ll blow over. Then came the rain, the thunder and lightening. And I had the damn radio on 104.1 (static) instead of 104.5 so I couldn’t even hear if there was a tornado coming. It was driving me nuts that I couldn’t get the radio station to come in and I found out the next day that it was the wrong station. Anyway, via the cell phone, Mom updated us on the weather. There didn’t seem to be anything significant coming our way so we went to bed. It was a long night of no sleeping. 5. Not having friends/family here. We’d originally planned to camp with the Sanborn family and then with my sister and Kevin & the kids and neither worked out so we flew solo. 6. Sand. I’ve come to hate sand. We went to the beach and swam with the white caps(see photos). After that the kids played in the sand and as we were getting ready to leave I came to the realization that everything was covered in sand and there was no escaping. There was sand in our hair, on all the clothes, towels, drinks, mouths, eyes, noses…and the more I tried to wash it off, the more sand stuck to what I was washing. I gave up. We survived but I have a newfound fear of sand.

Favorite things:
1. THE ENTIRE WEEKEND…yes, even Friday, as it was a learning experience. This camping thing is awesome. I had no idea what we were missing! 2. Camping with just us. This one was sort of bittersweet so I’m mentioning it on both lists. We missed the company of other people but did lots of fun stuff with just us so that was nice too. And we drank substantially less than we would’ve had there been other people here so that’s a plus. 3. Not having to walk to the outdoor “toilet” every time we had to go. One of the many simple pleasures the camper brings. 4. Sitting around the fire…one of my favorite things to do. Complete peace and beauty. 5. Roasting hot dogs on the fire. Yummy. 6. The dogs being on a portable shock thing so they didn’t need to be on a leash. That was perfect. 7. Sleeping nice and dry…and safe, during the storm, in our camper. I felt so bad for the tenters. 8. Swimming at the beach. Despite the sand I still love playing with my kids. And Maggie(our lab) LOVES the water(see photos). She’s such a good dog. Millie hid in the camper all weekend. She's still getting the hang of this camping thing. 9. Coffee in the morning. I love waking up and being able to just make coffee. And I don't even really like coffee. I love this camper. I’m so glad we got it. It makes everything so much easier and more enjoyable. Uh ohhhhh…Caleb just broke the screen door. Guess I’ll have to add that to the list above. :) 10. No bugs. Ok there were a few, but not nearly as many as there would’ve been had there not been 90 mph winds. 11. Caleb catching a “pet” dragonfly that was so “tame” (it was nearly dead) that it even sat on his nose! (see photos) We gave him a proper funeral 10 minutes later. 12. Crab legs. We found a restaurant that had all you can eat crab legs…the kids and I were in Heaven. Dan, not so much, but he was starving so it was all good. 13. Napping in the camper. If any of you know me, you know I’m a napper so being able to sleep where it’s cool, dry and virtually sound proof makes these experiences so much more enjoyable…for everyone.

So that was a summation of our experience here in Holcombe, so far anyway. (The weekend’s not over yet!) We’re planning another excursion this coming weekend…at a campground that provides water hookups. We're going to Monster Hall campground in Unity and hoping that maybe we'll have a friend or family member come visit!

Checking out the beach

Maggie fetching in the water...she would do it all weekend if we let her!

Caleb getting firewood...





Caleb and his pet dragonfly. Notice the dragonfly tattoo on his forehead that he put on before we even left for the weekend. Coincidence??
Our camp!


Caleb "helping" Daddy put together the grill

He always crosses his legs!
Caleb making some effort in the sand...
Now that's more like it! She actually broke her sand toys!
More effort!!!
White caps. It was SO windy!!!!!

Millie waiting for Cailey to wake up. I think we all were, this was the nap before crab legs and we were HUNGRY!!!!
After washing my hair...didn't have enough water for a shower but that felt great anyway...
Morning in the camper

This was Cailey an hour after we got home. She was exhausted!

...Til next time!!!!