Wisconsin

This year we decided to camp for a couple of nights on our way up to Dad and Kathie's place in Wisconsin. We found a campsite at Mirror Lake State Park near Baraboo and headed up there on Thursday. The weather started looking pretty bad and the radar spooked us (okay, maybe we're easily spooked) so we ended up bailing on our first night and stayed at a water park in the Dells for the first night instead. I talked us into a pretty cheap rate and the kids had a blast, so it was worth it...even though it ended up not raining a whole lot and not really storming at all. Oh well. We got to the campground pretty early the next day and had our hotdogs for lunch. (Our sandwiches that were supposed to be lunch had ended up as dinner in the hotel the night before.) 

 We also made banana boats that we hadn't gotten to make the night before. It started to rain on us, so we rushed to throw our things in the tent and van and ate our treats inside.

 Frederick found the tent pretty fun.

 There were some nice trails down to a little beach and a dock/boat rental area. So we did some exploring and playing.

 We got rained on again at the beach, and there was a bit of thunder as well, so we hid out under a picnic shelter. Clara was pretty sandy, so she did a little rain dance to wash off.

 There was another family group there. Henry and Clara made friends with a boy who had been very busy catching frogs.

 That night we made foil packet dinners with some ground beef and veggies.

 We were happy to have the pack and play along, because it gave Frederick a place to hang out without being strapped into his stroller.

 Pete and I tried to take a selfie, but it was very sunny.

 We had to do s'mores, of course. Everyone ended up with a little marshmallow on their face...including Frederick.

 Friday night in the tent was pretty chilly, but Frederick kept me warm by sharing my sleeping bag. We put all of our warm clothes on the next morning and Pete and I really wished we had remembered something to boil water so we could have a little hot coffee. We did have some nice scrambled eggs and cinnamon biscuits, though. Then we drove the rest of the way up to Winter to spend time with Dad and Kathie. It was chilly there too!

 Monday turned out to be pretty nice and we ended up renting a pontoon boat and spending several hours on the water. Frederick didn't love his life jacket. The kids did some serious fishing, and ultimately ended up catching quite a few bluegill. When we stopped close to an island for a while we let Fritz relax with his jacket off.

 Everybody caught something!

 There were lots and lots of loons out that day too! I've never seen so many in one day. This one was hanging out close to our good fishing spot.

 There was also plenty of just plain relaxing while we were up there. The kids played pinball, colored, played with Grandpa's train...

 This is the great view Pete and I get from our guest bedroom. A pretty nice sight to wake to.

By the time we headed for home the kids were worn out. 

 Not that it's all calm and relaxation at home....we've had library and pool time to catch up on. And now Northbrook Days has started! Oh boy! Frederick also had his first sweet corn last night. Had to fully document that.

We've already spent a couple of nights at Northbrook Days. I'm sure there will be more photos of that excitement to come...

"The Big Trip" (post by Henry)

On July 12th, my Grandpa and I went on a trip down to Chattanooga, Tennessee. This is me next to a bat near the Slugger museum. 

 This is called The Big Bat. It's a recreation of the bat that Babe Ruth had made in his honor. It leans against the Slugger museum.

 Here is Grandpa standing next to a statue of Derek Jeter, a Yankees player. At one part of the museum I got to hold Mickey Mantle's very own bat.

 At the Slugger museum we got a personalized bat that had my name on it.

 This is a picture of us at Mammoth Cave, outside, waiting for the tour to begin.

 This is inside Mammoth Cave, where the tour guide was showing us some parts where people dug for stuff to use to make things to live. It was completely dark, and it's so big that explorers have still not found an ending to the cave.

 Here is an old locomotive that we rode one day all the way from Chattanooga to Summerville, Georgia and back.

 They did a runway and I got quite a few good pictures.

 Here is Grandpa on the train. He looks kind of funny.

 Here is a cannon in front of a civil war museum. I hope it doesn't blast me!

 This is over Lookout Mountain, and I got a really good view. The river in the picture is the Tennessee River that goes right near Chattanooga.

 This is me and Grandpa next to a cannon that was over Lookout Mountain. I told Grandpa not to get right in front of the hole, 'cuz then he would fall off Lookout Mountain.

 Here is a gravestone of the Great Train Chase at the National Cemetery in Chattanooga.

 Here is on the Southern Belle, which we had a river cruise and had dinner on.

 Here is Grandpa in front of a fountain in front of the Tennessee Aquarium.

 Here is a macaw (I think, but I'm not sure) in the Tennessee Aquarium.

 Here is a butterfly in an exhibit at the aquarium.

 Here is a penguin that swam right by me.

 Here I am in a shark tank, completely oblivious to the shark coming up behind me.

 Here is a shark that was swimming right above me.

 Here are some crabs that were right inside this little tube and one was coming right at me.

 Here is a fish that I thought was pretty cool because it was pretty much all black except for the fish that was completely standing out.

 Here are some turtles that I found sitting right next to each other. One of them was looking at me. The other was trying to crawl away.

 Here is our hotel room with me on the bed. It was an old train car. We were in Chattanooga because we were going to see a Lionel train convention. The hotel had its own train set, which was smaller, well, the train gauge was smaller, but the whole set was still very very big.

 After our whole trip Grandpa got me a Penn Flyer, a model train set, that I am sitting next to here. It is an old locomotive that goes around in an oval. It has a billboard, and some telephone poles to go with it.

That was the greatest trip ever! I feel so happy and I'm going to say thank you to Grandpa about a million times the next time I see him!