Lumberjack Show

10 years ago, at about this time, I was howling like a monkey in front of 200 of our closest family and friends, toasting our marriage and thanking all of those who surrounded us with love.  The Fred Scheers Lumberjack Show wasn't exactly how I pictured celebrating my 10 year wedding anniversary, but one thing was perfect: we were still surrounded by our loved ones.  Although nobody was making animal noises to request a kiss, (thank goodness cuz that would have been weird) there was plenty of hooting going on.  One of the more obnoxious exciting parts of the show, was that the audience cheered for their lumberjack by yelling, "Yo ho!"

Our lumberjacks won the overall competition which included thinks like pole climbing, chopping, using a chainsaw, jousting in a canoe, and log rolling.

There also was some typical, light-hearted lumberjack comedy.

After the show, the kids went down to the stage to have a piece of timber signed by their favorite lumberjack.  Too bad it wasn't our 5 year anniversary.

Mia decided that even Paul Bunyan couldn't top her favorite northwoodsman.

On the way out, Fred Scheers himself signed the boys' lumber.  When I told him we were celebrating our 10 year anniversary, he replied, "Not what I would have done, but OK."  Yeah, Fred.  Sometimes you just have to make the best of things.  It could have been worse.  We could have had dinner at Culvers.  Uh, wait... oh yeah.  We did.

*Don't worry.  A plan is in the works for a more appropriate 10 year celebration.

Franklin to Ourselves

 Summer days up north.  Feeling the tickle of Indian Paintbrush and tallgrasses on your palm.

 Gathering all you can carry and heading to the beach.

On the way to Franklin, Evan found the perfect walking stick.

 As soon as we arrived, the boys set straight to work building a river.

 Mia learned about burying your feet in the sand.

 She loves to sit in the boys' lawn chairs.  She was a little more leery about the water today.  The water was chilly, but only for a second.  Then it called you back for more.

 Connie, Jim and the boys like to run right in.

 I'm more of a wader.  I eventually got Mia a little ways in.  Lake Franklin is completely clear with a soft sandy bottom.  Snails little the floor.  If you pick them up quickly, you can catch a glimpse before they suck themselves back into their shells.  All the kids took turns investigating this new phenomenon.

Then back to Grandma's lap to sit amongst the paintbrush again.

Learning to Paddle

 Nature is the best free entertainment there is.  And when it's right out your backdoor, you can constantly take advantage of it.  After Mia's nap tonight, we decided to put the kayaks in and go for a spin with the kids.

Jim towed Owen.  At first Owen did some paddling, but it wasn't long before he was sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the sites.

 

Mia came with me.  She was quite surly and did not like it when I stopped to take photos.  She wanted to go fast or jump out.  After our incident the other day, I tried to keep things moving.

 

 Connie took Evan.  He's picking up on things very quickly.  Connie and Neil's lake is often very windy, so it's hard to take videos, but you get the gist.  There are some channels across the lake that would be perfect for learning to paddle, but we had something else in mind.

 Down around the bend, away from all the cabins, there are some trumpeter swans who we think might be nesting on the lake.  Thanks to zoom, it looks like I got close.  I actually floated closer to them than I wanted to, but was still much farther away than this photo appears.  None the less, Mia was able to see them.  She kept saying, "Honk, honk," the sound she makes when she sees geese.

 Jim shot this lovely photo on the way back.  I have to say that I did not alter it at all.  Don't you think he should start taking more still photos?

After the kayak trip, we had dinner by the campfire per request of these three little dolls.  At 8:25 we all hopped in the van to go looking for wildlife.  We were not even a mile down the road when we spotted a bear down a driveway.  No kidding!  Evan spotted a fawn.  We saw several other deer and the biggest bullfrog I've seen in my life.  It was easily as big as both of my hands laid out flat.  We were quite the Lucky Lettses today.

Into the Woods

Whenever we get to Eagle River, I can hardly wait until we get the chance to go walk in the woods.

This year is especially fun since Mia can now begin to discover nature.

The boys are at a stage where they enjoy stretching their limits.

My little pyro also loves to climb.  He's so much like his Dad.

He was the only one who made it up the incline, through the split and down the other side.

There are so many amazing things to discover in the forest.  It's constantly changing.  Nothing stays the same.  I love watching the breakdown of plants through the work of fungi and borrowing bugs.

But I also love looking up through the unattainably high branches that whisper in the wind old secrets from decades back.

 

Ah, the forest.  Get use to it kids.  We'll be back often.

Time With Each

 

 With three kids it is very hard to find one on one time.  It's even harder to find time where both parents can focus on just one child.  I remember when Owen was little, Jim and I would sit on the couch each night before bed and take turns reading him stories.  We'd read at least half a dozen stories.  That has not happened in a long, long time.  

Hillary Clinton wrote "It takes a village to raise a child."  An idea she pointedly did not come up with on her own.  The sentiment comes from an African proverb; the land of villages.  I think about this idea almost everyday and today Jim and I were very blessed to have it ring true for us.

Spending time with grandparents means that all of the kids will have many opportunities for one on one attention.  Usually that one on one attention comes from the grandparents, but today Jim and I took a walk down the road with just Owen.  It was short, but splendid.  As we walked, I breathed in the air and thought how grateful I am for this place, these woods and all who care for it - from the local neighbors to the foresters to the animals that live there.  I'm getting mushy, I know.  I just love the woods.

I'm less of a water person, but Jim, his mom and my kids all love it, so I try.
  Luckily, both of our families have taken to kayaking.  A way for me to be in the water without actually being in the water.  Connie has collected enough kayaks now so that we can each take or tow a child.  It's not the easiest lake to paddle as it's often wavy, but the kids don't seem to get discouraged.

Although Mia hasn't learned to love kayaking yet.  You can't really blame her.  Those infant life jackets with the big neck pads must be uncomfortable.  Too bad she'll be wearing one any time she's within a mile of water for the next 12 years thanks to yesterday's incident.  You can't really see her puffy lip in this picture, but believe me, it's there.

 

Thanks Connie & Neil for giving us a chance to hang out with each of our wonderful kids.

Welcome to Manitowish Water

Owen got to go with Bumpa and Daddy to take the new boat over to the property today.  While Mia napped, Evan helped Ya-ya build a fire.  Evan loves fires and is especially fascinated by the process of adding oxygen to make a fire bigger.

The weather was perfect for swimming.  The fire was abandoned and Mia made her most frequent and favorite request, "I swimsuit."  Watching her toddle on the dock, it's like she has spent years at the lake.  The girl loves water.

 

Owen and Evan concurred the extremely dangerous naiad (a.k.a. dragonfly larva carcass) with much bravado before attempting their premier submersion in Alder Lake.

Owen testing the waters slowly like his mother.  Consensus?  Cold at first, but then, soon, like a bath.

Mia was by no means tentative.  She had been repeating, "I swim," over and over for an hour before Jim got back.  I was distracting her the best I could until he returned.  I'm not fond of swimming in lakes unless it is over 90 degrees outside.  Anyway, Jim is never one to do anything quickly and Mia almost couldn't handle the anticipation of getting in that water.  He barely turned around before she jumped off the dock.  She jumped!  It took the boys until they were 4 to jump into the water.

Swimming can be exhausting.  Mia found my old platypus stuffed animal (which she called "Whoo, whoo - meaning an owl) and snuggled up into Bumpa's lap.  It would have been good to call it a night right then and there, but no.  The boys needed to do some fishing off the dock.
 
All Evan wanted to do since we arrived the night before was go fishing, so they did.  Both boys practiced casting on their own.   The boys went up into the yard to ride their bikes with Jim while my dad put things away. It was such a beautiful night that Mia and stayed on the dock to enjoy a few more moments before bed. Then something terrible happened that trumped my previous worse moment in parenting.

 Mia and I were left alone on the dock.  As we walked back towards the yard, Mia turned towards the shore station to grab the wheel for the lift*.  As she stepped towards it, one of her feet stepped off the dock.  Her hand slipped from mine as she fell into the water between the boat and the dock hitting her head and her mouth on the way into the water.  I screamed and yelled, "HELP!" as loud as I could as I dropped to the ground.  Laying flat I reached as far as I could into the water, but she sunk all the way to the bottom.  I was too big to fit between the boat and the dock.  Over my screams I heard a "glub glub" as I imagined her swallowing water, trying to yell for me.  In the next second one of her arms flailed upwards and I grabbed it.  I pulled her by one arm out of the water with her feety jammies sticking to her body and hugged her so close to my body as if I could make it all disappear if I just wicked the water away. 

The whole thing lasted about 5 seconds, but it felt like minutes.  I looked up and saw Jim coming towards me on the dock.  I had no idea what I sounded like.  I felt like I was frantic and loud, but Jim looked so calm.  Could be his training.  lol  I wrapped Mia in a towel and took her inside.  Once inside, I collapsed onto the floor rocking her.  I couldn't go any further.  The weight of the thought of losing her was too much for me.  I just rocked her, dabbing her bloody lip with the towel, trying to talk to her in a calm and reassuring voice.  I said, "Did you fall?"  She said, "Yeah.  Wa wa."  I said, "Did you fall in the water?"  She said, "Yes," through burps brought up from the water she must have gulped down.  We went through this account of events for about five minutes with me telling that she was OK now.  I think the event will stick with me longer than her, my fearless little girl.  Later, after she was in bed, I allowed myself to sob.  Relieved, I told my mom, "I was holding her hand."  My mom just replied, "You can't hold her hand forever." 

*I'm not a boater, so be forewarned that my terminology is not that it should be.
** I'm playing around with a new photo editing site.  Let me know what you think.

Jackson's Superhero Party

Our good friends, The Aroras, are moving to Chicago.  It is a big, big bummer.  Before they left, they threw one last birthday party for Jackson.  The Aroras go all out for parties.  I'm really going to miss that.  

This year Jackson wanted a superhero theme.  They hired a Spiderman and Batman entertainers.  The Spiderman was amazing.  He ran all over the yard, with the kids in chase, doing flips in the air and tumbling on the ground.  He was truly the all-amazing Spiderman.  Owen gave way to the chase, while Mia & Evan watched on in astonishment.  I'm not sure why Evan wore a cowboy hat to the party.  Maybe he was a year behind.  Last year's theme was Toy Story, but, sadly, we were out of town during the party.

Once again the Galactic Pizza guy was barely noticed with all the other excitement going on.  Luckily, I caught him as he shirked away, slightly miffed.  He posed for one valiant photo before he went off saving middle class Minnesotans from pizza deprivation across the city.

They had the bounce house again.

Mia loved it!

There was an Iron Man cake.

Owen and I wore our superhero shirts.

Owen was so excited to give Jackson the gift he picked out.  He's like his mother in that way.  I love picking out something thoughtful and then watching the recipient open it.  It's way better than opening your own presents, in my opinion.

 

It was a little cold for the slidescraper,  Owen and Mia braved the water for a little while.  As we were leaving, I had Jim snap this shot of me and Deb with her Weebo and my Mimi.  We love talking about how different these little girls are than their brothers.  Just look at this photo.  They are deep in "conversation" about fashion.  Guess we'll just have to start making more frequent trips to Chicago.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON!!!

Kicking off Summer

Summer is busy and there are so many fun days that seem to get forgotten amongst big events.  Right before leaving for Chicago, the kids and I went to Menards to get Jim's Fathers Day present.  It sat wrapped, all weekend on the piano, waiting to be opened.  Sometimes when you don't have a great gift, you have to build it up with packaging and other suspense.  This year for Fathers Day Jim received (drum roll) a much needed and very manly leaf blower.  The following week he used it to blow all of the "helicopters" out of our gutters from my Nemisis Silver Maple Tree.  The helicopters had grown a bit slimy and as they came down, they stuck to the house, the deck, the windows, door, driveway, etc..  That's not the worst of it.  The worst part is they smell. 

But we were not going to let stinky helicopters ruin the fun we are having discovering our new yard.  One day as I was walking to get the mail and a dragonfly landed on my knee.  He rode on my knee across the street and back.  Then he allowed me to transfer him to my hand and eventually to a plant.  Mia was fascinated by him.  

Mia's favorite part about the warm weather is wearing her swim suit.  Her most frequent requests are "swim suit" and "outside."  She will repeat the words until someone acknowledges her at which time she will reply, "OK!" like it was your idea all along.  Once this has happened, there's no turning back; no distracting her.  This little girl knows what she wants.
 
Mia also loves to sing.  At the start of each music class we sing "Hello Everybody."  She requests this song every time we're in the car and sings it throughout the day.  At night, after reading books, we sing her a song.  She is only 21 months old, but she is already making requests.  I will say something like, "Do you want me to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle?"  And she will casually answer no with each suggestion until I hit the right one, to which she'll give an emphatic and happy, "Yes!"

Another part of our summer kick off is new swim lessons.  Evan has been bumped up to Owen's level.  At first Owen was not happy about this, but once they were in the pool together, I think they liked having somebody familiar close by.

Swimming lessons are during dinner time so we often go out to eat afterwards.  McDonald's is the most requested, but Snuffy's Malt Shop is the family favorite.  Evan will eat nothing on the menu, so he ends up getting ice cream for dinner.  Knowing this, I usually load him up on healthy snacks before swimming. 

 The boys are also taking tennis this summer.  Evan was a little reluctant at first, but by the third lesson he loosened up and Owen was actually hitting balls over the net regularly.

What would summer be without an occasional pool playdate.  We are so lucky to have an outside hot water tap, so our kiddie pool is refreshing, but not freezing.  On this particular day we were joined by The Smiths and The McKoys.  Three families. 10 kids.  Loads of fun.

 

This really has nothing to do with summer, but Evan was so excited that I finally bought some purple nail polish to paint his toenails.  He loved it so much, he asked if I'd do his fingernails, too.  Despite Jim's protests, I painted them.  I wish I had done it a year ago.  He loves them!