Wa Du Shuda Days

Aha! I held a wet and squirmy Collin to grab some photos of Kate during her lesson last week:) Collin is doing well too, we are not pushing too much, just trying to do the beginner stuff and if he doesn't want to, we just splash and bounce in the water. The hardest part is him once he is out of the pool. I wish he was happy to just sit in one of the floaty things like last year! So easy:)

Practicing front float with Stephanie

Getting ready to jump

Having fun!

Here is just a little clip of her in the water. 

We have a very busy month coming up and our weekends are taking us away for the most part. This past weekend we were going to be home and Dave' wasn't on call! Hooray! We were hoping to make the most of it. Of course, I made my long to-do list and Dave had a yard that needed mowing staring at him, but we ended up doing mostly fun things..oh well!  (at press time: the lawn did get mowed:) 

Saturday morning we were invited over to Ryan and Angie's house for breakfast and then some berry picking in their woods! Sounds like a perfect way to start any day:) We had a nice time inside where Ryan made baked french toast with berries:) and bacon. Yum.

Clara, Kate & Harper. The girls!

It was very overcast and very humid in the morning and since we were trekking into the woods, we were wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts:) On top of the length of the hike, I think we lost a few pounds! Angie and Ryan pick berries very frequently and they had some cool harnesses for the buckets to free up your hands. Dave was brave and had Collin in the backpack the whole two hours, very impressive! Clara and Kate were free to roam and pick and Harper was in the stroller. They have mostly black raspberries and we would all get excited when we spotted a patch of red raspberries. I found the picking kind of addictive, you wanted to just keep going and get more or reach those just beyond. The lovely thorns kept us on our toes. Clara ate all of her find:) and Kate ate quite a bit but had some left in her bucket at the end of the hike. Those two also had lots of fun doing "trail maintenance" and throwing sticks as far as they could. Collin was such a trooper, he missed his morning nap, but was completely content in the backpack. 

This was Dave's workout for the day:)

The girls pickin'

This is what she came out of the woods with....not bad, considering:)

We hiked for a long time, such a beautiful place (south of Mauston, in the hills) and when we returned, we just hung out on their wraparound deck and let the kids run around. I think we could have stayed there all day but it was getting to be lunch time and I was dying to go see Wa Du Shuda Days in New Lisbon. 

Wa Du Shuda Days (Wah Duh Shooda apparently means "rest your canoe here" in some Native American language)! We have never been able to attend our local town fest but this year we were here! I was excited to go, Dave and I like to go "festing" though I know Dave was very conflicted and wanted to be on the boat:) Well, by the time we arrived in New Lisbon, it was raining, so that helped him shift a bit. We braved the rain with some umbrellas (and just plain let it rain on us, felt good!) and walked around Riverside Park. The rain foiled some plans (flea market, rides) but we got some cheese curds (how can you not?) watched the canoe race (I am doing that some year!), Dave chipped some golf balls into the lake, Kate got some balloon art and ran around with her friends. 

My cheese curds in a canoe:) 

At first, she was trying to stay dry...

Later, she did not care:)

Side note: Kate is our social director. She has gone to Leap of Faith preschool/daycare for awhile and then summer school at NL Elementary and knows all the kids and recognizes the parents that pick them up. Dave and I are getting there, knowing more people and actually running into people we know more often, but Kate is always shouting out and naming people everywhere we go!

After we were good and soaked, we headed home and decided to have an easy evening. It had started to really pour and so we thought pizza and movie sounded perfect. I am so lazy. We watched The Lego Movie and picked up some Pizza Hut and listened to the rain. Early bedtimes for tired kiddos and that is an amazing Saturday. 

On Sunday, my plan was to see the parade but we woke up to sunshine and Dave said before he even opened his eyes, "Breakfast on the boat?"  :) Okay, so we got dressed quick and headed out on the water. It clouded up quick and I was only slightly nervous about rain but the sun came out and we enjoyed a nice buffet breakfast outside watching boats on the lake. We then looked at the clock and had to race back to catch the parade! 

I was nervous about finding parking spot and knowing were to go but as Dave often tells me, there is no need to worry! We found a nice spot to park by the bridge and an easy spot to sit and watch the parade. By then, the sun was really out and we were enjoying just laying on the blanket and watching the cars/trucks/motorcycles go by. After a late start (and we were near the end of the route) we finally saw and heard the fire truck leading the way. Kate inherited my gene of not liking loud things (see 4th of July fireworks) so the sirens are always a bit much for us, but Collin loved it:) 

Waiting and waiting for the parade to start...

Here they come!

Collin liked almost everything:)

It was a good parade! We were near the end, so there were plenty of floats/cars that didn't have any candy left. And then there were the ones that had a lot left and we got tons! We didn't bring a bag for the candy, but of course some political person gave us one (brown sandwich sack) and it was completely full at the end. One memorable moment - Kate looks down the road and sees a big truck with some soldiers in uniform on it and walking around it. She shouted, "Look Mom, Americans!" The people near us started laughing and thought she said, "American" in reference to the cool, old restored Ford truck that was in front of it. Oh well. She struggles with what to call some of the military, it might make more sense if I just said they are all Marines, maybe. We have a big air field near us and we see a lot of soldiers and airmen around, but I don't think she grasped the different branches of the military yet:) And honestly, she knows Tony is a Marine but hasn't seen him in uniform besides the wedding and I'm working on explaining what they do without scaring her (was trying to explain the tank that sits outside the Legion Hall) She often says "they save us" or "they protect us" but it's not like we've gone into what they are protecting us from. Oh, and when she sees  4th of July decorations or flags, she always refers to them as "July" things. Like she wants to wear her "July shirt" or look at that "July candy" (tootsie rolls in a flag wrapper). So, we are also working on the American flag and understanding it is not just a decoration at this time of year! (we have one on our house!)

But I digress....after the parade, we just walked down to the park to watch the UW Marching Band (a portion of it) perform. We were able to get seats right in front and first they had Miss Wisconsin come out and say a few words and then the band came out. They were in shorts and t-shirts and played probably a half dozen songs, but they were SO fun. They were dancing around and being silly, playing to the crowd. Kate clapped along and enjoyed it. Collin clapped too, but he was getting blocked by a huge guy taking pictures, grrr. It basically made me want to be young again and play in a band like that. They said that the band played in 6 or 7 places last weekend for the 4th and I'm guessing they do so all summer. In the heat, all over the state....what troopers, they had the best attitude. Of course, they played On Wisconsin and Varsity, which all the UW alum (everyone?) knew and there were moments that I was really wishing it was the UI marching band:) but oh well. I want to keep exposing Kate and Collin to all of this. I hope they play an instrument and would be overjoyed if they were talented and dedicated enough to do what these kids are doing. 

 Check out the bass drum player! Played the whole song that way.

Meeting Miss Wisconsin!

They announced that you could get your picture taken with Miss Wisconsin and I asked Kate if she wanted to. She said no. That is what I figured. Miss W (I don't know her name) was super nice and very put together. I was impressed. Well, after Kate received a flag from one of her 4K teachers we ran into, all of a sudden she wanted to go over where Miss W was. I asked if she wanted to talk to her and told her to say, "Nice to meet you." She was very intent on, "I want to show her my flag!" There was a tv crew and photographer there to speak with her and they moved her right as we came up. Then Gracie (a future classmate of Kate's) snuck in and met Miss W first. Kate was patient and though it looked like Miss W was about done with her day, she was so sweet with Kate (and Gracie). She knelt down and had very long conversations with them. She seemed very genuine and kind. I am definitely rooting for her in the Miss America pageant! 

And lastly, we have quite the raspberry patch growing along our property line and we picked more today, so there is currently another berry cobbler in the oven...we love the fruit but are probably not going to love the change in our waistlines! Oh, there are also a TON of wild grapes growing in among them. I've never done anything with grapes...is there anything we can do? The garden is doing pretty well, we are losing a couple plants, but we will be producing quite a bit of tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, carrots, jalapenos; a little bit of lettuce and parsley, and lots of cilantro! On top of gathering lots of berries, that sounds like enough/plenty to me! At least for our first year attempting it in Wisconsin. 

******you may note, as I did last night, I took lots of pictures of our super fun weekend; however, I appear in exactly zero of the pictures. Argh. *******