Blueberries and Trains

Annual blueberry picking trip today. Colby was at home doing manual labor with dad, so Quinn, Reagan and I filled our stomachs buckets.   On the way home, we saw that the railroad museum was giving steam-train rides, so we decided to stop!  Reagan is big into transportation of any sort (planes and trains are high on the list) and was THRILLED to go for a train ride!

Little girl dressed herself today.  Don't judge me.  She at least got the right style of clothes for the temperature. 

Homemade Bouncy Balls

Science experiment of the day... homemade bouncy balls. An interesting experiment, but they didn't bounce quite as much as we'd hoped. Quinn was disappointed, but I told him that we learn something from EVERY experiment, even the ones that fail. Which led to a discussion of what we could've done differently. So not a total fail.

EAA Airventure 2012 - Osh Kosh, Wisconsin

Dad and Reagan.  Two people with aviation on the brain a whole lot.

Cheap Dates

Daddy and Reagan are on a Daddy/Daughter trip to Osh Kosh, WI to see some airplanes.  There will be many more pictures to follow once they get home, I have not the slightest doubt.

That left the boys and I to hold down the fort.  We did a little sweeping/mopping/dishes, and very minimal laundry, but then....we decided to have a little date night of our own.  Because I just don't FEEL like doing housework.  SO UNMOTIVATED to clean this pit!!   When I asked Colby if he wanted to go out on a date, he told me "MOM!  I don't like girls!  And I'm not old enough to go on a date!"  Good answer, son.  Good answer.  You can date your mom, though, no matter what your age.  I expect dates from ages 8 to 98, my boy.

 After swim team practice, we went to a bookstore to pick out a few books (they had gift certificates from their birthday), then to the park where the boys got thoroughly coated in mud because it had just rained.  After running through a sprinkler to clean off,  we went to dinner (I had a gift certificate from my birthday) and then to a movie (free).  Total cost for the evening $0.  Spending time with my boys... priceless. :)

Grandpa and White City

We enjoyed ourselves so much at White City last week that we decided to do it again.  This time, we brought grandpa with us.  SO beautiful out there, despite Lake Superior's temperment that swamped the boat more than a few times.   As Quinn said...

"I think we're going to survive, because we survived when we came out here last week." 

Reassuring, that.  And he was right.  We did survive, and enjoyed ourselves immensely, once we were finally beached!

Family Fun Day - Summertime Edition

Summer seems like "Family Fun SEASON" around these parts, wherein the laundry never gets done, and the house is perpetually a pig-sty, because it's much easier to just ignore it and go outside to play.  Today, though, we utilized bribery good parenting to encourage Reagan to participate in her first dance class, and it kind of turned into a day-long deal.  See, we offered Reagan lunch (by which  we meant a happy meal at  McDonald's) if she would participate in her class.  She chose, at the prompting of her brothers, to have lunch at the Rock House Grill instead, which just happens to be attached to a bowling alley and arcade.  To which Mom just happened to have free bowling and arcade passes.  So the quick run through McDonalds that we were anticipating turned into an afternoon-long adventure.  Because goodness knows we just don't play enough around here. 

We had the bowling alley all to ourselves, because most people apparently don't spend their time indoors bowling on a beautiful summer day.  I'll tell you one thing, though... Daddy was on FIE-YAH bowling.  Reagan actually ended up winning the first game (thank you bumpers), but Rob kicked it into gear by the second game, and bowled 5 or 6 consecutive frames of strikes and spares.  Impressive.  It's nice to know that there's the potential for a career in the PBA if this engineering thing doesn't pan out for Rob.  Options options options. 

So after ballet class, running some errands, lunch out, arcade games, and bowling, we came home and vegged for a bit, then headed to the beach and park to round out the day.  It's GORGEOUS today.  Just a perfect, bug-minimal (no such thing as bug-free here), idyllic summer day.  The boys talked me into letting them sleep outside on the yard-swing. Quinn made me check the weather forecast first, to ensure that we would't be having another raging electrical storm like last night. Good thinking, son. Way to be prepared. .  Last year, sleeping outside didn't go so well.  THIS year, I'm sitting on the porch staring at them until they fall asleep, so we won't have a repeat of that debacle.    Reagan, given her history of wandering, was relegated to the indoors, but at 10 pm she wore me down, as she was just.so.desperate.  The two hours of crying on her inside bed exhuasted her enough that she fell instantly asleep out there, nestled firmly in her Hello Kitty sleeping bag.

It is now 10:15 pm.  We'll see how long the three of them stay out there!  This maybe be the first successful tri-kid campout!

Reagan Ballerina

Little Miss has been in tag-along mode her entire life. We've been feeling a little bad about that, both Rob and I, whenever we have a second to actually sit and THINK about it. So, when we heard about a dance class for three year olds through our local university, we took the plunge and signed her up.

Neither I nor my sisters were ever involved in dance, as it was forbidden in our household growing up. Our father didn't want to sit through dance recitals. Softball, soccer, basketball, piano, track, tennis, band... sure. Dance? Not on your life. When I told Grandpa Jim that Reagan was starting ballet, he just said "Ballet has no socially redeeming value". Allright then.

At first, Reagan attached herself to me, and refused - adamantly and loudly - to participate in the class.  I tried leaving the room, but then she firmly attached herself to Rob.  Finally, we both decided to reattach Reagan to the instructor, and LEAVE.  We spent the entire class peeking in at her through the windows, and about 30 minutes into the 45 minute class, she actually detached herself from the instructor's hand.  We have participation!!  WOO HOO! 

SO CUTE to see all those little girls in their tutus, prancing around.  It unfortunately made me realize that soon Reagan will be starting school,  and that has me all kinds of choked up.  Sniff sniff.  She's growing up too fast!