What I did on my summer vacation

Hi,

I had the last full week of August off from work, and I had the best damn time being at home with my kids.  Reminded me about those good old days of being a stay at home mom.  Lazy mornings.  Open schedules.  Having the time to read the daily paper.  Sitting in a hot house and not wanting to turn on the a/c.  Noticing how much my children bicker with each other.  Continually picking up after them.  Making breakfast, then snack, then lunch, then snack, then hearing "I'm hungry, what's for dinner?" and then having them not eat it because "it's too hot/cold/healthy/colorful".  Hearing the sound of the tv for way more time than it should be on.  Oh, wait a minute.  I guess there are some benefits to working outside of the home.  

One thing I did do that week was take some pictures.  I have been a very negligent photographer this summer.  

We went to Babcock Hall to get ice cream.  My kids loved that name and chortled about it all afternoon.  

We then went to Picnic Point with our friends.  Kids climbed trees and played in the sand while one of my dearest mama friends and I chatted. 

 Love.  

I decided to attempt for a Christmas card photo.  What do you think?

Oh, this renegade photo is from Two's ninth birthday.  More on that in another post.  

On another day, we took a field trip to Ian's pizza for lunch and the state capital for a mini civics lesson.   We sang with the solidarity singers and risked arrest.  Afterwards, we assembled...

... and enjoyed the beautiful view.

We took two trips to Devil's Lake.  This last week of school is filled with all sorts of school obligations, such as registering children and paying gobs of fees and picking out band instruments and meeting teachers for "Ready Set Goal!" conferences and the like.  Our first trip was super short - sandwiched between some of this school stuff.  Our second trip was simply lovely.  Three did one of his favorite things and built a stone sculpture.

Decorated with an army guy he found on the beach.  

Double love.

I had decided to take the children on a mystery field trip.  It was a mystery only to the children, and simply because I didn't want to hear them complain about how awwfulllll and borrrrrrringgggggg it would be before heading there.  The only hints I gave them was that we were heading to a state we hadn't visited before, we were not staying overnight, and (best of all) it was free.

Any guesses?

Here's a hint...

Here's another one...

We drove to Dyersville, IL and went to Field of Dreams!  So fun!  So peaceful!

Except for this sick boy.  Did I mention that One was sick all week?  I had more ideas planned for the week, but we scrapped some of them.  He rallied for the mystery field trip, but ended up on the outfield in the prone position for a while.

 Another potential christmas card photo?

This one is better.

There's not much to do there, and that is certainly part of the charm.  We brought our bat, a rubber red ball that, turns out, was Dash the Dog's ball and, turns out, SQUEAKED every time we hit it (ha! dork alert!), and gloves, and we played a couple of innings in the outfield with our shoes as bases (dork alert number 2!) (other, more organized and serious groups were using the actual field).  It was really fun, and I was reminded at how much the kids enjoy the simple pleasures of their parents playing with them.  

Kids ran through the cornfields. 

And then we just laid in the grass, enjoying the peaceful vibe.  The grass was luscious.  It was simple and perfect.  Simply perfect.

On the drive home, we stopped in downtown Dubuque, Iowa along the Mississippi river.  We walked along the Riverwalk and sat and watched the river.  

There were many trains traveling on the Wisconsin side of the river.  There were wedding parties taking pictures.  Beautiful, potted flowers.  Big rocks to climb up and down.  There was a steep hill on the walk back to the parking lot, which the kids rolled down over and over.  Something came over me, and I rolled down the hill once too.  The kids laughed. I almost threw up, but it was worth it.  

Love.

We got home by sunset and watched Field of Dreams, which I had rented from the library.  It was the perfect end to a lovely day.  

We also said goodbye to the Goodman Pool for the season (so sad!) and went to Mt Olympus water park for an afternoon (so overwhelming!).  No pictures of that.  And no need to return any time soon.

We are week #2 into the school year, and re-entry has been relatively smooth.  Middle school is so far, so good.  Fingers crossed.  4th grade is great, but we knew that.  1st grade is going well too.  We seem to have once again hit the lottery with teachers, for which I am thankful.  

I will sign off.  It's my (new) typical Monday schedule, and I worked 12 hours today.  Will work 8 tomorrow.  Off to bed to recharge for morning.