Wisconsin

What can I say about our Wisconsin trip? To say that everyone had a great time is an understatement. Lilly loved, absolutely loved, staying in the little cabin with open access to everyone and everyone's room. We caught 404 crappie. Kristy caught her first walleye...and her first northern. Lilly served tea every day. Shuffleboard is our new favorite sport. Lilly is getting a sandbox. Wes and Bryan grew mustaches that any 14 year old boy would be proud of. It rained almost everyday. And we ate. And ate. And ate.

Daily tea service. We all drank so much 'tea'. Lilly loves her new teapot and dances whenever she hits the button to play the little song. She also pours 'tea' into any container and stands there, expecting you to drink it so she can pour you more.

Boat ride. The life vest wasn't her favorite thing, but we all thought it was cute.

Pretty baby. I have nothing to say about this. I just really like this picture.

Just chillin with Uncle Wes in her new bag chair.

The sandbox was a huge hit. Whenever she got near it she would point and say 'uh uh' (which is Lilly speak for 'take me to the sandbox'. She would also cry when removed from the sandbox...no matter how many hours she had spent there. Construction is still in the planning stages for her own sandbox, but we will probably see one by the end of the month.

Trolling for walleye on the nightly cruise.

Success!! Kristy's first walleye...and it was a nice one. 4.7 lbs and about 24 inches.

Kristy with her fishing guides. The guy on the left is actually Wes (you may not recognize him because of his mustache).

Minnow Girl in training. My grandpa would be so proud. I was always the 'minnow girl', handing out bait to everyone on the boat. Lilly shows real promise for taking over, boldly reaching her hand into the minnow bucket and pulling them out. She could quite catch the live ones, but when we gave her one and it was flipping in her hand she was all smiles and excitement.

On her way to the sandbox. There were plenty of toys already there to play with, but Lilly preferred to take her own, pulling them in her wagon.

We discovered how fun shuffleboard is...on the last day. I've already started making brackets for next year's shuffleboard tournament.

We spent a good portion of our playground time on the teeter totter. She loved it, the more violent the teeter and more dangerous the totter the better.

Sliding with the Daddy Guy.

We cleaned 404 crappie last week. There is really nothing else to say about that.

We eventually developed a fish cleaning system, everyone had a specific job. Fileters, boners, skinners, washing and bagging...and mom watched the baby. We argued all week about who had the most important job and who was being promoted too fast and who had been demoted...but it all worked out.

We took advantage of the fish scale to weigh Lilly. She was by far the biggest catch.

Lilly and Papaw waving bye bye as we 'kids' pull away on the boat for a cruise around the lake.

On said cruise...Kristy had another first. This time she caught a northern. She is responsible for catching the biggest and second biggest fish of the trip.

Nonnie and Lilly welcoming us back. Mom said the whole time we were gone they sat on this blanket waving at boats that were coming and going. Eventually Lilly learned to make a 'boat noise'....which she practiced on the way home in the car...for several hours.

Evidently laying on the blanket is an open invitation for attack.

Fishin' in the Dark

O.K. so it wasn't exactly dark...but the sky started getting kind of cloudy towards the end of the afternoon on Saturday.

Anyway, Lilly and Avery enjoyed quite a bit of quality time with their dads this weekend. Tania and I enjoyed this too...probably more than Lilly and Avery, in fact. We went to dinner and movie on Friday night while the guys (and I say 'guys' instead of 'dads' because John stopped by to help out, thanks John) and the girls had a little cookout at our house. I don't know any more than that. When Tania and I got home the girls were fed and sleeping soundly so we didn't ask a lot of questions beyond that. But wow, you should have seen the mess! Again, the girls were safe and asleep so we didn't ask....but wow.

Then on Saturday we headed out to my parents' house to do a little fishing. The guys seemed to enjoy the actual fishing more than the girls, but throwing fish food into the lake was a super fun time. And then they feigned mild interest when John caught a catfish, but that didn't last either. Avery even held a fishing pole! But, that novelty passed too when she realized that Nathan wasn't planning to let go of it. However, both girls showed a real interest in the night crawlers...and a small (and terrified) toad, but I ruined that when it crawled up my arm and I shrieked a little...startling Avery and probably making her permanently afraid of toads. Sorry Tania. After all the excitement the sky started to turn grey and the girls had reached their limit on 'dock safety' so we headed home and vowed to do it again another day.

It was a great day for fishing. John caught three catfish, Bryan caught a bluegill and a bass, but the rest of us didn't even get a bite. This picture shows the teamwork that went into landing John's first catch.

Nathan showing Avery a thing or two about angling. Yes, he knows that the pole is upside down...Nathan is left handed.

Lilly is checking the durability of Bryan's pliers before receiving a tutorial about removing a fish from the line.

This has nothing to do with fishing or 'daddy daughter time', but I thought it was too cute not to share. They both kept getting in and out of the car, trading places. It eventually turned to pushing, but even that was kind of cute too. Lilly put her hand on Avery's chest and tried to keep her from getting in the car, Avery looked up at Tania and I and said "push, push" and pointed at Lilly.

Lilly and Avery eventually lost interest in the whole fishing thing. Running in the grass was way more fun.

Appalachian Extravaganza

At the end of June our little family embarked on yet another adventure. Along with ten other members of my family, Bryan, Lilly and I packed up our car and headed to wild wonderful West Virginia to relax and visit some relatives. We all had a great time. The boys golfed at Stonewall Jackson Resort (where we stayed), we laid by the pool and of course enjoyed happy hour before heading to my cousin's for dinner. We also did our own little driving tour, led by my Uncle Chris. He showed us 'kids' (as he calls me, Wes and Brecquelyn) the farm where my grandpa grew up, my grandma's childhood home and also the Weston State Mental Hospital. Now the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, it evidently thrived while my mother was a kid and her and my uncle remember playing near it and even some of its most famous residents.

Lilly taking time to smell the flowers at Stonewall Jackson Resort in Roanoke West Virginia.

Lilly and her new best friend, Jordan, she is Lilly's 6th cousin. They became soul mates when Lilly realized that Jordan would help her collect rocks, sort them and then toss them back into the bucket...over and over and over again. Thanks Jordan!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. It was taken at my cousin Bridgett Ann's farm. See the cow at the very back of the field? Lilly wanted to get a better look and she decided Everett (her future cousin) was the guy to take her there. She just reached up and grabbed his hand like, "You. Take me to the cow." And he did.

Here we are in front of the Weston State Hospital. It was an enormous building, this picture is only of the front entrance, and it housed people from before the civil war until 1994. Very interesting tour.

Visiting at Aunt Pauline's. She has a bunny named 'Buttons'. When Lilly saw him she pointed and said "gie?". As if to say, "Hey, what in the heck is that...some kind of dog?"

Lilly and I on the front porch of the resort after the driving tour. She had had enough for the day. She just couldn't keep up.

'The Kids', we may all be 30, but Wes, Brecquelyn and I, along with whoever we bring in will always be 'the kids' to our parents.

A (really) happy hour at the resort. Brecquelyn and Everett are getting married on October 10 of this year. And...Wes and Kristy got engaged while we were in West Virginia.

Lilly and her Daddy Guy going dangerously fast on the slide. Everyone left on Sunday except for Bryan, Lilly and I and my parents. We used that time to just hang out and enjoy what the resort had to offer. Later that night Bryan, Lilly and I met up with our good friends Tiffany, Derrick and Dougie. You may remember them from the birthday blog.

Taking a walk on Sunday.

Enjoying the pool.

Just lounging. I thought this picture was too cute not to post.

After leaving West Virginia the three of us headed to Kentucky to visit Bryan's family, his sister was in from Germany for a few weeks. We cooked out and took some time to get caught up with Cammie and her kids. Lilly had to be reintroduced to her aunt and cousins, but quickly warmed up and had a great time with her new playmates.

Bryan, his dad and Lilly playing corn hole. Well...trying to play corn hole.

Bryan and his niece riding horses at Travis and Danielle's. Thanks guys we had a great time.

*Please Note* Matthew and I also went on a ride...unfortunately Bryan failed to take any pictures of us. Sadness.

Lilly got in on the action. Maybe next time she can go solo. Or maybe not.

Relay for Life

First of all...I am so behind on my blogs. I'm so sorry.

Anyway,

Relay for Life was a huge success, despite being rained out (or rather, stormed out). We had to tear down our booth and evacuate the ball park at about 10pm because of lightening and a thunder storm that was quickly encroaching on us.

But, non the less, our team was able to raise $301.01 at the relay event to bring our total to almost $3,000. Thank you to everyone who donated or helped out and I hope I can count on you for next year. I will sign up our team at the end of August!

This was our booth. We had a small moon bounce for kids to jump on and also sold baked goods, popcorn and energy drinks. We also won an award for best campsite. However, we didn't have a campsite so I think it was for our booth. We definitely had the best signs (thanks Debbie).

Some kids enjoying the moon bounce.

Wes and Lilly manning the booth.

Lilly loving the moon bounce. Obviously she didn't have to pay.

General Silliness

We haven't had a whole lot going on this past week, other than a garage sale and gearing up for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life fundraiser (which by the way it is not too late to donate). So I thought I would post some pictures that reflect our day to day lives, and the way Lilly makes them eventful.
Silliness with a purse. Lilly has discovered the joy of purses and bags. It really was only a matter of time and I'm proud to say that her favorite purse to play with at home is one of my smaller Coach bags. Since my collection of bags is going to be handed down to Lilly sooner than I thought, I think I am entitled to go out and get new ones for my collection.
Silliness with a shopping cart. Here she is doing her other favorite hobby...shopping. Look how she already knows to hang her bag on the cart so that her hands are free to browse and to place the bigger items (like barns for example) on the bottom to save room up top for smaller, breakable purchases. What a pro!

Silliness in the morning. Lilly has a fun new play area...her dirty cloths hamper. Yesterday she approached me with this shirt on her head. I snapped this picture and then turned to put my camera down. In the time that I had my back turned she had taken off running, causing the shirt to fall over her eyes. That's when I turned around...just in time to see her plow, full steam, into the corner of the bookcase. I couldn't help but laugh. Don't worry she wasn't hurt.

No silliness at all. Poor Hank, with Kentucky's losing basketball season still haunting him he just hasn't felt up for any silliness lately. I think he's worried about the new coach.

Silliness with a friend. Morgan and her dad stopped by last night to drop something off for Relay for Life (again, its not too late to donate) and Lilly was able to engage her in a little silliness as well.

More clothes hamper silliness. She was in there, I mean totally in the hamper, playing this morning, but by the time I got back with the camera she was climbing out.
Silliness in a rocking chair. I know, I know, this doesn't seem like the safest place for silliness. But, not to worry, after being reminded several times to 'sit on your bottom' she gave up on the complicated mechanics of sitting in a chair at all and moved onto other silliness.

The Zoo

Bryan's parents joined us this weekend for our maiden voyage to the zoo. Bryan, Lilly and I have been looking forward to a zoo trip for quite some time. We are huge fans of the zoo anyway, and now we actually have a kid to take with us, which makes it even better.

It turned out to be a really fun day and Lilly got to see a lot of new things; a lion habitat, a bear enclosure, a place where tigers could swim and bath and a vast assortment of fenced areas that were probably housing animals.

We were a little disappointed about how hard it was to spot the animals at first, but undaunted we moved along into the "animal encounters" area. We were more successful at spotting animals here. Probably because they were domestic animals that were housed in small pens with no trees, rocks or bushes to hide behind. But, it didn't matter to Lilly that she could see many of these animals at any random farm around Indiana. She still wanted to pet the donkey, stare at the West Highland Cow (just like a yak, only with a kilt) and try to say "pony". After the farm animal exhibit things started to get better. In the plains area all of the animals were out and we able to capture them on film. However, there is one picture that is quite rare indeed. It is of me. Yes, that's right, I was finally able to escape from behind the camera and get in front of it. This rare photo is featured below.

We had a great day at the zoo. And Lilly was able to see a lot of different animals. Although, she did point at each and said "gie", which is her way of saying "doggie". She was probably thinking, 'wow, I didn't know there were this many different types of doggies!'

The ever elusive photo of Lilly and her mom.

Yeah monkeys!!

Lilly watched the penguins and said "whoa whoa". She did the same with the walrus, he was probably her favorite.

This wasn't at the zoo. I took it at Mulberry Flowage the next day, but I thought it was so cute that I had to include it.

Wet N' Wild Weekend

We had a great 'no plans' weekend. In the summer weekends fill up so fast that it is sometimes nice just to be home with nothing to do. That's not to say that we didn't enjoy race weekend and that we weren't looking very forward to Courtney and Aiden staying with us at the the beginning of the week, but as far as the weekend went...no plans.

We took advantage of the unscheduled time to make some plans.

On Friday night planned a big night. Big BIG night. All three of us went to dinner, Cosco and Target. I know what it sounds like, but really its a good time. We were looking forward to it all week and Bryan even came home from work a little early. We were home before 10pm and absolutely exhausted. My how life changes. Sorry, no pictures from our Big Night Out.

On Saturday we all slept in... with Lilly waking us up at 7:24am, did a few things around the house, debated going to the zoo and then headed to the pool. Lilly was not a huge fan of swimming in the actual pool, however she did enjoy playing in the water in the baby pool that my mom got for her. Smart thinking Mom. She didn't want to be held in the pool, she didn't want to ride in her raft in the pool, she didn't even want to play on the steps. But, the baby pool was a big hit. Now, mind you, she didn't get in the baby pool and evidently she didn't want any water in it either. Because she spent most of her time bailing water from the baby pool onto the pool deck. Oh well, she had fun and looked super cute in her swimsuits. Yes, that's right she wore two swimsuits in one day.

Lilly took over Kristy's lounge chair and sunglasses to bask in the sun by the pool. Everyone pretty much lets her do whatever she wants.

(Deep Breath) Now on to Sunday. Again, we all slept in...until about 7:13am. I think Lilly may have been switched at birth because there is no way that a child of mine would ever want to get up that early on a Saturday or Sunday. Anyway...Sunday. We spent the morning permanently installing our fire pit in the back yard. Bryan buried half of it in the yard and we filled the inside with concrete to make it easier to clean. We got two 60lb bags of sack crete at the hardware store, came home and mixed it and then proudly poured it into the base of the fire pit...only to discover that two 60lb bags of sack crete don't even begin to cover the bottom of a three foot ring. So back to the hardware store I went for four more bags. That did it. I carved our names and the date in the concrete and move onto our impromptu cookout. (Only the next day did we learn that concrete, when heated to a certain temperature will crack, pop and fracture, sending shards of flaming hot concrete into the air, possibly impaling bystanders. But, don't worry we have a solution to this problem. Please don't be afraid to come and sit around our fire.)

Lilly is a big help when you are working in the yard. She loves walking through the mud.

O.k. back to the cookout. My friend Courtney and her son Aiden came in town and stayed with us for a couple of days. So Nathan, Tania and Avery joined us for some hot dogs before heading to Mulberry Park to play in the water.

Someone must have sprayed Lilly with water...don't know who it was. Maybe we should ask her father who did it.

Aiden playing in Mulberry Flowage.

I had to post this picture...its the longest Avery has ever been still. Granted she is strapped into a swing, but she didn't try to escape or anything.

Lilly and Avery in the race car at the park. There was a little argument over who would drive, but seeing as how Avery will get her actual drivers license five months earlier she let Lilly drive...this time.

Busted, no license so we locked her up.

I swear he isn't going nearly as fast as it looks...the slide isn't that steep either.

We had a great time at the park, but had to leave when your typical playground bullies showed up.