June Deliveries

After Madeline experienced a disappointing birthday last year, in which I put in lots of work, Ryan and gave Madeline a list of 5 ways we could celebrate her birthday.   We are trying to instill in our children a love of nature, and a connection to the earth on which they live and from which we subsist.   By virtue of these priorities, and also the logistics keeping safe Wild Man Sam and his co-conspirator, the new Chuckie Cheese was out.

I was very pleased with our solution, 5 outdoor options that included either a picnic or homemade ice cream, all of them manageable from my point of view.  She decided she wanted to go fishing and have a picnic at our near-by state park.

Sam and Max learned from our recent camping trips how to wield sticks as guns and battle each others, and they had plenty of ammunition.  Between throwing rocks in the water and yelling, they scared all the fish away.  I finally took them to the sandy swim area, and they waded in the water, while Ryan taught Madeline and Ella the basics of fishing.  Even with us gone, they managed to not hook a single fish. 

We all enjoyed walking on the trails, crossing the creeks, looking through the woods for new birds to put on our bird list, and picking wildflower bouquets.

We brought cotton candy, smores and hotdogs to grill after we fished.  We also brought rocket balloons, which provided endless satisfaction for all the kids.  We hated to go home because everything was purely satisfactory:  the weather, the peace of the outdoors, the kids, the companionship. Nothing necessitated us leaving: temper tantrums, poopy underwear accidents, rain or cold, other commitments. 

We told Madeline about the famous car chase that happened to happen in Heber the one day she was born, and that happened to shut down the one road that went to the hospital, and how the Corolla almost became a windowless car, as I thought about kicking out the windows as we tried to get to the hospital.  What a pleasure it has been to have her in our lives for 8 years.  

She enjoyed her birthday celebration even though she didn't catch any fish and even though we didn't have a friends party (which she likes because she gets more birthday presents).  She really liked her yo-yo and the money that she received for her birthday, which enabled her to go to a horse camp.

We finally made it to Madeline Island with Madeline Swapp(along with all the other Swapp children).

Dotting the Wisconsin coastline of Lake Superior are 22 various sized Islands that encompass the Apostle Islands.  Madeline Island is the largest and easiest to access, with a 25 minute ferry ride from Bayfield, WI.  We mounted all insurmountable obstacles to have a mostly splendid time (vacations are for people without young children).

It was so cold, we didn't wash faces or come into contact with the water unless it was to drink.  Remnants of dinner remained with us all. We slept with gloves, hats and winter coats over two layers of clothing.  The first morning, we awoke to rain in the wee hours, and spent 3 hours entertaining each other waiting for the rain to at least slow down so we could leave the tent.  We colored, read books, wrestled, played sudoku, and ate sugar cereal.

Our friends didn't make it the first night, and we didn't tell them they should be glad they missed the coldest day and night.

Hehehe.  Sam had eyes only for the fence that lead to the sudden drop off into the lake.  We went on several hikes and bike rides, Ella on the tagalong, Max and Sam in the trailer, and Madeline on her bike.  Sam and Max appreciated the ability to roam and explore an immense amount of space, and the cliff areas were no exception.

Madeline and her friend Tessa spend time around the campsite playing Sudoku.  

Ella and Abel played with Adelaide.  We enjoyed the company of our friends again, we went camping with them more than a year ago, visiting the North shoreline of MN, and we had a system down for managing the chaos.  Our menu planning enabled us to all eat well and also happily, which doesn't always go hand in hand.  There were just enough treats and snacks to keep the complaining at bay.  

We spent a lot of time by the beach, as we had expected.  We saw kayakers come in from exploring the surrounding sea caves.  Sail boats also came near as they visited many of the surrounding islands.  The water was frigid, but it didn't stop the kids from throwing and skipping rocks, and daring the water to lap their feet.  Every time we went to the beach, several of the kids came home wet.  We exhausted our clothes supply several times.  The last day, everyone wore pajamas.

The highlight of the trip for me was the last night we were there.  We had safely committed our children to sleep with a half of a melatonin, and then Ryan build a campfire and the two of us sat by the fire for what seemed like forever.  It was blissfully quiet, just the sound of others in the near vicinity stoking their fires and quietly talking.  We likely would have stayed until late into the night, but a gigantic storm flew in and we ran for our lives into the tent.

We awoke to torrential rain, and loaded the kids in the car while we took everything down and packed it in the car.  It was a wet ride home.

On our way out of town, Madeline decided she wanted to buy a Madeline Island tee-shirt.  After doing a quick mental analysis of her financial state, she knew how much money she could spent and we ran in the gift shop, while Ryan waited in the line to get on the ferry.  The storekeepers gave her a "Madeline" discount, which she appreciated.  Then we ran to catch Ryan as he drove on the ferry.

Our trip home was delightful, we knew in a few hours we would be warm and have a roof over our heads.  Everyone peacefully listened to "Little House on the Prairie", as we drove home along the Laura Ingles Wilder highway, the very trail her family took so long ago.  We had to stop once to clean up vomit from Max (car sickness), but we are now pro's at that, it didn't faze us a bit.

The Beauty of May Birthdays

There are not many months with so much fruit in plentiful harvest.  A White Chocolate Fruit Tart is a perfect way to celebrate my birthday in May.  Lucky for me, Ryan enjoys creating this masterpiece.

Ella- Kindergarten program

The Kindergarten class invited us to come listen to as the kids sang, and then enjoy cookies and punch afterwards.  Boldly and Bravely, I arrived 5 minutes beforehand with both boys in tow.  I combed their hair and made sure they were wearing shoes and matching clothes so that they would appear to be well cared for, even if we had to walk out 3 minutes into it due to their acrobatics.

The more kids you add, the more out of control you can appear when in public, and some kids exploit this  desire to appear in control.

We found two open seats on the front row.  Max had one and Sam was on my lap.  We stayed for the whole program.  Sam tried to outdo me a number of times.  He took many videos of my skirt, and tried to kick my neighbor while he was taking pictures.  He was excited to see Ella, as you can hear in the first video.  But I persevered, and we made it through the 30 minute program. Max was polite and engaged in the songs.

Aahh Satisfaction...

I"m glad I caught a video of this.  For several days, ever since Sam learned how to stay on this bike and catch speed going downhill, he has been rewarding the world with one long drawn out "wheeeeee".  It's really so lovely.  He's not big enough to fit back on the seat, so he's found riding on the bar to be more successful.  A diaper provides needed cushioning.

Max and Sam spend lots of time outside every day riding the myriad of bikes down the hill and trying to ride down in the culde-sac.

Me Month

It's always interesting to see hints of my children's' views of me.  Like the page I found in someone's notebook a couple of days ago titled:  Secrets I'll never tell mom.  1.  Mom is really, really mean and bossy. 2.  and, she can be kind of nice sometimes too.

Mothers day and my birthday allotted a few opportunities to hear from my children about me.  Ryan asked them around Mother's Day dinner to think of one thing they really like about me.  Ella said she really appreciated that I cooked such wonderful meals for our family.  This in itself was interesting because from breakfast through dinner I hear rapid fire complaints from Ella about how she hates everything I cook, and she'll just have a white cheese Quesadilla or white bread with PBJ, thank you very much, and what are we having for dessert.  Madeline said she liked me because I was her mom.  I was a little confused about what exactly she liked about me, whether it was because I was privileged enough to parent her, or if there was something I was missing.  I asked what she meant by that, and she said she didn't know, she had just thought of it.  Max said he liked me because Madeline liked me. Hence it appears that none of my children recognize anything that they really appreciate about me.

 I did get a poem from Madeline with the header:  Don't Throw me away:

  Winter, Summer, Spring, Fall

              All the Seasons sing, sing, sing

  To my Mother high above

              Higher than me and the dove

 Madeline and Ella both bought Mother's day gifts at school.  Last year I gave Madeline $5.00 and she spend $1.00 on my present, so this year I told them to bring home whatever they didn't spend.  Madeline brought home the big bag that wrapped the present, so very excited.  The first thing she said was:  it has coffee in it, but don't worry, you can give that away to someone.  She had chosen a relax themed basket, mainly she thought I would really like the heart shaped basket it came in.  Ella choose a sewing kit, because she said she knew I loved sewing.  Perhaps this will prompt me to start sewing.

For my birthday, we went on a hike at a near-by state park.  The best part was that Ryan organized everything.  He got the kids ready and in the car on time, he planned the food and prepared it (and it was tasty), he planned where we were going and how long we would need.  I was able to enjoy the time without thinking about all coming steps.

Here are some pictures from the hike: