Wyalusing...you make our hearts sing!

While Daddy was away the Girls went out to play! 

Actually, what happened is this...I needed to keep the girls happily active the week Daddy was gone on a business trip so that this Mommy didn't go insane crazy.  I'm sure you can guess why I would go crazy.  I'll give you two guesses!  That meant going on play dates, visiting museums and state parks and doing anything else that sounded like fun.

Hence our trip to Wyalusing State Park.  It's a very pretty park about 45 minutes north of us...and it was loaded with MOSQUITOES!  

Egads!  Enough with the mosquitoes already!  

So after a packed lunch and play time on the park's playground we went a couple of easy hikes.  I bribed the girls with ice cream if they hiked with me without whining.  Guess what?  It actually worked!  (and we had some lovely ice cream later on that day.... Isn't it so nice when the kids actually listen?!?)

Overlooking Prairie du Chien (you can see the Wisconsin directly below and the Mississippi River to the left)

First hike- Treasure Cave.  It's a fairly steep walk to get to this little cave.

I did mention that it was steep, right?

Now do you believe me when I say this was steep little walk?

(Annika didn't have any trouble with those stairs but Ava...Ava...Ava....didn't like them at all!)

Hike #2:

Small hike to Little Sand Cave.

Of course the girls wanted to play in the sand.

Annika posing next to the little waterfall near the Sand Cave.

Happily after this hike we headed into Prairie du Chien for some yummy ice cream.  Although next time please remind me to just buy the ice cream in the park, okay?  Lots cheaper and the ice cream is already in a child-size portion unlike the gargantuan portions they wanted to serve us at the ice cream shop.  Then home, with a car full of snoozing girls.  Ah....nice, quiet drive home!

Read more...

Ack! Aliens have invaded our house!

What do you do when Aliens invade your house?  

We seem to have lots of 'em visiting us lately...wonder if has to do with all those old Dr. Who shows we've been watching lately. We're watching the episodes with Tom Baker as Dr. Who- a blast from the 70s!  (okay....and now I've just admitted that we do watch TV- or more accurately- borrow DVDs from Netflix.)

Here's little Ava with her Alien.  Ava draws great faces!

And here's Annika with her elaborate, many-armed Alien.

Read more...

Prettiest Tea I've Ever Seen

I just had to show you this interesting tea that Mark brought home from his recent trip to Russia.  On his way to Russia he got to try some interesting tea in the Beijing Airport.   He thought that I'd love to try some interesting Chinese tea so on his way back home from Russia (another stop-over in Beijing) he picked some up for me.  What a nice guy!  It's probably the most expensive tea I've ever had but just take a look at this amazing tea:

Glass full of hot water and the tea pill or tea puck or whatever you call it:

My little helper plopping the tea puck into the glass. (she really wanted to participate!)

And in about ten minutes that little tea puck opened up into this beautiful flower!

Pretty amazing!

Of course, drinking the tea proved a little challenging!  I think it's a jasmine tea but I honestly have no idea...I can't read Chinese.  (can you?)

Read more...

Apple-y Ever After

It's Apple Season here in Southwest Wisconsin!

Hooray!

And that means heading to our favorite apple orchards in Gays Mills (about a 1-1/2 hour drive north) for a big bag of the bestest apples known to mankind- Honeycrisp apples.  The first time we had a Honeycrisp apple I was just blown away by it- it's sweet and tart and crisp and juicy and just plain ol' perfect.  Seriously.  Even though they're $18 for a peck of 'em (and don't ask me what a peck actually is) they're sooooooo worth it!  We always make a stop at Kickapoo Orchard for our fill of Honeycrisp apples and a gallon of apple cider.

Then another stop at another orchard to pick up apple cider donuts.  They're fat-free and calorie-free, right?  LOL!  They ARE tasty!

And the trip to Gays Mills wouldn't be complete without a stop at Starry Ridge Apple Orchard for some apple picking.  

I'm thankful that my girls are growing up knowing where food comes from- it's not just something that magically appears on the shelves in the grocery store. 

This year we picked both Spartan and Cortland varieties...these will get turned into lots of apple pies and applesauce!

Daddy helping Annika man the pole apple picker thingy.

Naturally you have try the apples!  (Annika has a very loose front tooth...can you tell?)

My bunch of apple pickers!

It seriously took less than thirty minutes to pick our bushel of apples.

Now I've got tons of apples to turn into yummy apple pies and applesauce.  What a great problem to have!
(I tried making some mini apple pies...they turned out so well that I think I'll have to make more to freeze ...and write a post about them!)

What are your favorite apple dishes? 

Read more...

Trash Bag Fashion

So while Daddy went and visited Russia and got to see the Great Wall of China the girlies and I decided to make ice cream.

Brilliant idea!

I'd just bought some super yummy, ready-to-eat cantaloupe from a roadside produce stand.  We had more cantaloupe than we could eat so we tried making ice cream with it using this recipe.

Great idea....

Right?

Ummmm....that would be a big NO!

Daddy is the one that knows how to put together the ice cream maker.  Even with my best efforts I couldn't put it together correctly (there was a metal tab that got in the way and I just could NOT get the top bar to slide into place).  I thought it was functional as I was able to turn the crank (we've got the hand-crank ice cream maker....you get a work-out before you eat your fill of ice cream!).  I cranked that puppy for about 45 minutes.  The girlies took turns turning the crank too.  I thought it felt like it was getting stiffer.  And I was getting pretty darn grumpy about still having to crank it.  

I just couldn't take it anymore!  

I opened it up...and what did we have? 

*Cantaloupe ice milk*

sigh....

(tasted okay but not worthy of a repeat).

But the girls had fun with a small, white trash bag.  Annika decided to make a costume out of it.  She wanted it to resemble an outfit she'd seen on one of the old Dr. Who episodes (the ones with Tom Baker as Dr. Who).  

Ava modeled this interesting ensemble...first with a head scarf

then with a lovely shawl.

Annika cranking away on the ice cream maker!

Any suggestions for ice cream recipes to try?  I know fall is on its way but I'm still not ready to put away the ice cream maker for the year.  

Read more...

Ava's First Day of Preschool!

First day of Preschool!

Ava doesn't look excited, does she?!?

Oh wait....YES SHE DOES!

(I carried her backpack into her classroom since it was loaded down with school supplies).

Ava and her very cute & lovely new backpack (Thanks, Oma!)

She even gets her very own locker to store stuff:

I didn't get a locker until I was in the 7th grade!

After a brief hugs and kisses she ran over to this sensory table surrounded by her good friends.  All she could manage was barely turning around to say bye to me!

Ava really enjoyed her first day of school.  She told me all about her day...and that they got a chocolate bar as part of a snack.  Hmm...I think that had better change!  I don't think candy makes for a good snack.  

The preschool, also called 4K at the school, meets only on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings for three hours.  So, enough time to get a lot of playing done by Ava and a few things done by me (like going exercising at the gym....our gym card is covered in cobwebs from all the summer neglect).

And here's Annika...on her Second day of Second grade.  Seems special to me!

Annika whined at me that the school day wasn't long enough when I picked her up after school.  I hope she continues like school throughout the entire year!

Read more...

Happy First Day of Second Grade!

September 1st:  Can you believe it?  We've got a SECOND grader in our house! (where did our baby Annika go?)

Annika got dressed for school the night before so she was ready to go early!

Ava was quite envious that it wasn't her first day of school. She really wanted to have her photo taken...in her pjs with her pretty new backpack.   She does start preschool this fall but she doesn't have school on Wednesdays.

Annika in her new classroom with her new teacher.  She's in the Multi-Age class (our school has a combined 2nd and 3rd grade class).

Here's to an Awesome Year!  Hoping that it's full of challenges and new adventures!

Read more...