Labor Day Weekend

Well, we hadn't really planned out a deliberate Labor Day weekend, but we ended up having a phenomenal holiday!

First of all, I should mention Thursday. It was a rainy day and I was quite busy with a trip to Madison with both kids to take my van into the Toyota down there. Collin didn't sleep on the way down (as was my grand plan) and we didn't have much time to do anything else (just a brief trip to a park) before we had to get to Kate's open house at the school in the evening. It was pouring rain by then and I was sort of waiting around for Dave to join us, but he was of course stuck at work and eventually said we should just go, he wouldn't make it. So, we headed over and saw her classroom and where all her stuff needed to go, I very much enjoyed it and asked the many questions I had (I feel like they have told us nothing, how am I supposed to know this stuff?!) At the end, Dave was leaving the hospital, so we stuck around and he saw her room and where her things needed to go as well. We headed home and thank goodness I had made bread and soup already, it was the perfect meal to warm us up and chill us out (very hectic, full days for us both!) While I was driving Kate home, she said, "That open house was not very fun. It was not like a party at all." I think she thought all her friends would be there or they could play, she was definitely disappointed! 

Dave was able to come home early on Friday and he took Kate out on the boat to swim at a beach while Collin napped at home with me. Well, Collin ended up refusing the nap (in his crib and happy, but doesn't sleep) and so they came back and he took both kids to the pool to swim so I could have a quiet house to relax in tackle my to-do list. After swimming we grilled some yummy pork chops and then decided to go to town for ice cream (Culver's). 

I was nervous that the two kids would be a lot to handle for Dave at the pool, assuming that Collin would just want to run around on the concrete while Kate wanted his attention in the water; but his report was that Collin floated by himself for the first time! (in a life jacket). I was stunned. He didn't love the life jacket and so we had been just holding him in the water. But Dave had him in a puddle jumper and he just floated and loved it! Very cool. He does have less fear of the water in general, compared to Kate, so I guess maybe we should have expected it, but after convincing Kate to love and do this stuff, it is always surprising when Collin just goes for it. 

This is from the next day - Dave was right there:)

On Saturday, the Swoboda's drove over to see us!! We have missed them so much since they moved to West Des Moines in the spring and they came to Mason City on Friday and then drove over for a one-night visit with us before stopping back in MC on their way back to WDM. Derek had an engagement in Madison and thus the trip was killing two birds with one stone; however, on the ride over, we were informed he was just going to stay with us the whole day, sweet! Somehow, this was also the first day of college football (that snuck up on me!) and so it was kind of a perfect day of visiting, playing and watching our favorite teams (thankfully not against each other:) The Hawks survived and the poor Badgers kept us up WAY too late for that sad finale. But, we had a wonderful time catching up and even got the kids over to the pool for a bit in between games. Aniyah is two years younger than Kate and they love playing together. They are also both tall and love to be active, It is pretty amazing to watch our girls together. And Collin just kind of played by himself (mostly) and was silly and happy with his toys. 

Everyone playing in the pool!

Cuties:)

Running off some energy!

On Sunday, we bid farewell to our friends and then after naps (for everyone but me!) Dave and the kids hit the beach while I cleaned the house a bit. I was then convinced to take the boat out for supper (it is nearing the end of the season, Dave suggests this plan only once or twice a day...) and I acquiesced:) It was still rather busy being Labor Day Weekend and I was worried it would not be a quick endeavor and we already started late (for early birds like us and the senior citizens) but we found a table inside at Shipwreck and sat by the window so they kids could still see the many boats, people, volleyball games, etc. The boat ride home was very warm and beautiful, calm water and I enjoyed snuggling and playing with them on the boat. Kate does not enjoy the "putzing" back we do after dinner, always wants to go fast:) Collin was pretty good, but is very busy on the boat, so we are on our toes! 

Fun in the pond

On Monday, we slept in and then made a dessert to bring to Plamann's for a somewhat impromptu early supper/late lunch. Kate and I made jello cake:) and we headed over to their beautiful home. We caught up and played and they made a fantastic meal for us, Collin loved everything! He was eating lettuce salad, grilled eggplant, watermelon, chicken, tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and basil...that was fun! We tried to eat outside, but of course, at that particular moment a cloud dumped rain. It was pretty random and kind of funny to watch us get everything and everyone outside and then all go running back in:) Dave shot the two different bows that Ryan has (for hunting) and then Dave had to go as he was heading to Grundy Center, Iowa to work for the next few days. We had to say goodbye and after a little longer visiting, the kids and I left as well. 

So many helpers:) (Clara and Kate)

At one point, everyone in the kitchen had a child in their arms!

It was early bedtimes for the kids as we had Kate's first day of school in the morning and the night went perfectly, which I very much appreciated. I guess Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer and as I said before, I am pretty much okay with that. I always welcome the changing seasons. I will say that we have had a very fun summer and I will cherish the memories, but I just love fall:) Bring on the fall fun and memories!

A Quick Brown Family Lake Weekend!

I am so grateful that in our busy schedules and complicated lives we were able to carve out a day or two to get (almost) everyone together again before our girls head back over the ocean to Okinawa. Dave wasn't on call, though did work later on Friday, Dad could only come up later on Friday night and leave Saturday as he had a flight to San Fransisco early Sunday morning for work (yes! The earthquake happened the morning he flew out there!) and of course, Tony is in Japan. We were able to Face Time with him Saturday night while he was out in the field, very cool to see him out there!

Anyway...Andrew, Kylie, Tara, Quinn and Mom all came up (in Andy's truck!) on Friday morning and made a pit stop at the house on the way to the Dells to do some shopping. After finishing up some cleaning and feeding of the kids, we joined them on the very hot and humid day (not my kind of weather). How fun to get together to soak up little (but growing!) Quinn and check out the rock on Kylie's finger! So many fun things happening with us all right now. 

We are finally ready to go join the shoppers! Collin saying, "Cheese!" :)

After sweating off a few pounds shopping, we decided to add them back on and go eat at Moosejaw:) We were miraculously able to sit immediately on a Friday night (early bird gets the worm) and Dave drove down after work to join us. A good meal (I think I ate something off almost everyone's plate...kind of a talent of mine lately) and then we were ready to go home and put the kids to bed! 

You gotta love Moosejaw:)

I'll state the obvious here, it was so fun to have Quinn around and freely take her from someone and hold her or try to get her to sleep:) Dave and I were eating it up and Dave wouldn't stop smiling and gushing about it, someone is getting geared up for another newborn! He also swaddled her up and sat in the rocking chair at bedtime and pretended he couldn't help with our own rambunctious kiddos bath/bedtime. I'm on to you, Lenninger. I guess the payback will be all the times I'm nursing and he will have to take care of that fun/trying/sweet/exhausting time of day.  :) 

Saturday morning was very foggy! But despite the weather, Dave took a full boat out to play and ski on the calm water. Tara and I stayed home with the two youngest and I'm so glad we did. It was wonderful sis-in-law time. The crew arrived back around lunchtime and we also had my aunt and uncle drive over from the Cities to drop off a crib they came across for free. We have tried to arrange a time for them to see our house and it has never worked, so we were happy they would make the drive and quick stop. We showed them around, had lunch together and they were here when Kate caught her first fish! Daddy made the cast and handed her her reel and soon she said, "I think I have a fish"...and sure enough she did! I think that was the only catch made for the weekend. :) 

Collin wanted to hold Quinn:)

Gpa holding his grand kids before he had to leave:)

Check out her fish! (in the pond out back)

Some people were able to paddle board and kayak, go for their walks/runs, etc. We played Shanghai (after giving Mom lots of crap about not wanting to play) and it was kind of a musical chairs card game with various parents ducking out at times. I won't mention who won:) but if you play with us frequently, you might have a guess, she was the scorekeeper and had to doodle a lot of fancy things around her winning score. 

Sunday morning we went for a group walk (three strollers!) and got ready to go on the boat once again. It was cloudy and we were a little bummed but we just went across the water to the Buckhorn State Park beach and did a little playing in the water. Soon it was time to head back and for our crew to head home. I had a lovely time holding Quinn in the sun room with Dave, Kate and Collin playing while the rest packed up their stuff. 

Ready to relax...

The happy couple! and Collin...

Love this sunbathing beauty!

The sun peeked out for us. A little.

After the Iowa contingent successfully left, Dave convinced me (didn't take too much) to go back on the boat and out to supper. So, we went back out and by then, the sky had cleared and it was absolutely gorgeous. We have really lucked out and our evening boat rides have had the most beautiful sunsets. We had a nice supper and got home in time for a pretty normal bedtime:) A great, relaxing weekend!

Catching Up...

I have enjoyed the fact that our summer seemed to slow down a bit, mostly in that we weren't traveling for a change! And we also had some cooler weather, which I am fine with but Dave always mourns much harder. He never wants to give up summer (and the boat) and I am always ready for fall and football way before him:) 

Our first weekend back at home, we hosted the Peterson's! My best friend and her family came up to us as it had been WAY too long since we had been together. We are all feeling the distance and schedules more this year and I would say we are not taking it that well. The sad thing is it will just get harder as the kids grow, but I know we will just continue to make it work! 

The big kids

The little boys

Waylon and Kate are 8 months apart (Kate older) and Collin and Lawson are 2 months apart (Collin older) so we parents get to talk a lot about our kiddos and it is fun to have them so close in age/stages/development. We also had a nice campfire outside after kiddo bedtime which was super fun. So much to catch up on, it is honestly overwhelming when Cass and I have phone dates. In person is so much better:) 

We were able to enjoy the nice weather on the back beach, at a park in town and in the front driveway riding bikes, etc. We have plans to all be together for our 10 year Luther reunion (what?!) in the beginning of October, so we will see them again then, if not sooner!

Just a little dirty from the beach:)

At the park after some ice cream

Our sweeties!

I guess we had a pretty full week after the Peterson's left. On that beautiful Sunday, we got the urge to take apart and re-organize the garage. This (as I expected) turned into a huge undertaking and it took most of Monday as well. It was messy but worth it, and I have to say that Dave did it all. I was manning children, though they were able to play out there and "help" more than ever before. We still have a ways to go with installing some storage structure, but it is better now! Wish we would have done that before we had our guests and spent so much time in the garage/driveway with toys:) 

On Thursday night, we unexpectedly hit the Juneau County Fair. I'm not sure Kate had really been to a fair before and it was fun to see her reaction. I am not stretching the truth in any way to say that the rides looked like the exact. same. rides. that Dave or I would have ridden on 25 years ago. It didn't look like they had even been repaired or washed. Awesome. We successfully avoided them all until very late at night when we were leaving and then all of a sudden Kate wanted to ride one. What?! No. 

Ready for the fair!

We had supper at the 4-H stand (ahh, memories!!) and then walked through the various animal barns. Fun and impressive. Then we walked through the 4-H building (ahhh, memories!) I loved it and again just felt like I walked back in time. We also saw all the entries for various food, plant, homemade stuff, etc. Since I am making more and more of that stuff, I told Dave I was going to give some of the ladies a run for their money some year:) We'll see. 

Our cukes look just as good!

Check out the corn the 4-Hers grew!

I think we then had some FFA shakes (Dave was all for us enjoying every aspect of the fair:) well, I think I had one sip of mine, Kate managed to steal almost all of my treats. There's a talent. There was also a new dairy barn dedicated at the fairgrounds and it was very nice. We went through and ran into some of Kate's dance friends. They had cattle there and we got to talk to them and see their calves, Elsa and Abacus:) 

Meeting Elsa (not in the picture) and Abacus

We then wandered over to the grandstands to check out the rodeo. It was 7:30 p.m and I wasn't too keen on paying the money to go in, assuming our children would start to show their need for sleep. And after a beautiful sunset, it was actually quite cool! We weren't exactly prepared for an evening outside. But, as usual, Dave convinced me it would be fine:) We saw some friends right inside the entrance and we ended up just staying right there, sitting on/standing by this tall divider thing. Kate could see and weren't stuck up in the grandstands. We also got to see the cattle and horses and cowboys on the side. She definitely warmed up as time went on and eventually was climbing up the fence and talking to the referee guy on his horse (with another girl her age)! Fun to see. She didn't want to leave, but Mr. Collin sounded the alarm. After more fair food on the way out of the fair(!), we finally got home and had a late bedtime. (sad sidenote: not sure if I had a regular 24 flu bug or ate something questionable at the fair, but I was definitely ill that night and the next day:) Thank the Lord I was better on Saturday and so far no one else has suffered. 

Time for the rodeo

A new fave spot for Collin

We didn't have plans Saturday. We were home. With no plans.  What?) And it was nice, well it was hot and humid, but it is August! I got up before the others and did some yoga and went for a walk (isn't it amazing how you feel after you've been sick? I felt so good and just wanted to do everything!) Collin took a long nap and Dave decided to powerwash the house and all kinds of things outside. It took awhile, but it was well worth it! The house looks great, it is amazing how dirty things get out here in the woods. Blah. 

After we did some work, we wanted to have some fun! I threw some chicken in the crockpot, made some cucumber dill hummus (cucumber and dill from our garden) and we hit the boat to go swim somewhere. After taking awhile to find the right place (and a new one, a beach over at the Buckhorn State Park) we enjoyed some time in the evening sun. Kate was having a blast and the weather was perfect, but again, our little timer Collin let us know it was time to go. He is really struggling with his naps lately, sometimes we get two a day, sometimes one, sometimes they are long, sometimes short. I have no idea what each day will bring and our busy plans don't help much:) That day, he didn't get his afternoon nap and at suppertime, he was not happy! So, we made a quick journey back and had supper. The little man ate like he had never been fed in his life! He is my picky eater and he had nearly a whole chicken breast and some wild rice. I was so happy:) 

Hanging at a beach at Buckhorn State Park (across the water from our neighborhood)

It was a beautiful evening...

And to cap off the day, Kate and Daddy had a campout in the backyard. I have been dying to go somewhere and camp, to explore a bit of Wisconsin, but it just hasn't worked out yet (and may not this summer, I guess!) So, I begged for at least a backyard campout. We decided Collin would stay inside and I would stay with him in case he woke up and Dave would go out with Kate (Dave's choice). We made a fire and Kate was very much enjoying the alone time with Mom and Dad and staying up late. Unfortunately, we had a very brief but steady rain that forced us prematurely into the tent. It did stop, but by then, it was probably time to just go to bed. So, I left them out there and went inside. 

She couldn't keep her eyes open for my flash

Goodnight, my campers!

I brought Dave some coffee in the morning and woke them up for church and I could tell instantly that Dave had not slept well:) It was just a little hard to tell him that Collin didn't make a peep the whole night! As I unzipped the tent to come in, I heard Kate say, "Mama!" She was on her cot and was beaming at me - I guess her night went well! (she has a nice cot, Dave and I....not so much)

And in very exciting family news, on Friday morning, I was informed of my brother's engagement to his long-time girlfriend, Kylie Kruse! Woo hoo! We have thought of her as family (and her family:) for awhile, but it is just so exciting to have it all official and to celebrate this couple. The fam is coming up this weekend for our annual summer vacation and what a wonderful time to be together. Love you guys! That's the next post! 

The happy couple! (at Collin's 1st birthday)

Hello Baby Quinn!

I will have to admit that I found it hard not to be able to see Tony, Tara & Quinn when they first arrived back in the states. And that we were going to miss Quinn's baptism. But, timing is not something you can have a whole lot of control over sometimes and after being emotional for a couple days, I was fine:) 

We finally were able to get down and see them Monday, Aug. 4. Yes, we drove straight back from Missouri on Sunday, Aug. 3 and arrived late at night (though we had a great trip back and made good time!) Dave had to get to work Monday morning and I turned us around and drove with the kids back to Iowa. I actually didn't even unpack, just did a little rearranging and put the bags back in the car. And it did feel good to be home for even 12 hours! We arrived at Mom and Dad's in the afternoon and Dave made a quick trip after he was done with work. He could only stay a few hours, but we appreciated that he did it so we could have the whole family together for at least those few hours! 

(Great) Grandma Oehlke made the trip down on Monday as well to see Quinn, so that was nice to have time with her as well. We also were able to do quite a few fun things even though we were only there for a short time. Monday night was our brief family time together, we had pizza and played cards. Tuesday we went down to Decorah and grabbed some yummy food at the Oneota Coop and had fun out at Phelps Park. 

I think these were the reason she wanted to come here so bad

Quinn also loved it:)

Collin had a great time!

Always trying to get a good pic of them together:)

Big girl

Loved getting splashed:)

Later that night, we all went out to Kruse's and had fun running around outside and getting a special ride on the tractor from Uncle Andy! (well, the little ones and Amanda!)

Playing outside at the farm

I think we all love it when these kids get together:)

Some new pals! Ivy and Collin liked hanging out together

Sweet Quinn enjoying the outdoors:)

They are not silly at all:)

Waiting patiently for their turn to ride

Wednesday we relaxed at home and said goodbye to Tony, who was heading back to Japan the next day. Tara and Quinn were joining him in the Twin Cities that night before his early flight. So it was time to soak them all up!

She's getting so big already!

Kate took this:)

The grandkids

After they left, we played outside in the nice weather and then the kids and I stopped by Wellington to see (Great) Grandma on our way home. She was sitting ready for supper about 45 minutes before they serve:) and it was rather tricky keeping Collin near us. I kept running after him and didn't get to chat that much with Grandma! Then Kylie walked by (she works there!) and she took Kate to go help get supper ready, which she thoroughly enjoyed. So, it was a short visit, but always a good one. Grandma always says how she doesn't see us enough, so I need to try and get there more often! 

She loves seeing the kids:) Always asks me to bring them more