On our many travels this summer we got to do some pretty fun things. After staying two weeks in central Utah the kids and I made our way north toward Idaho and we bid farewell to Mitch as he drove first to Colorado Springs, then on to San Antonio and Fort Sam Houston.We made a few stops along the way to Caldwell and Thanksgiving Point was our first. The greatest part is we got in for FREE, yes that's right, all of you Milwaukeeans, your Discovery World pass will get you into the Dinosaur exhibit!! Ok, so the kids had a blast and it broke up the drive a little bit. They have all sorts of interactive things for the kiddos to do including, a small cave to climb into, dinosaurs to play with, wings to unfold and flap about like a giant insect, a water table where you can bury your dinosaurs, flood them out of existence or just get messy,they also have a dino dig where the kids dug up prehistoric bones. Addie and Wesley are starting to be really good friends and they played really well together as we walked through the museum, well they ran around like wild children, but they were having fun, and they didn't steal any bones from the dinosaurs, so it was totally ok with me.

"I'm Bored" Fixes 1. Have a pajama day, make breakfast, watch cartoons etc. 2. Have a treasure hunt "x" marks the spot 3. Grow a garden 4. Hold a family reading competition for the summer or for a week or two, have a prize if goals are accomplished 5. Make a summer to do list and hang where everyone can see it 6. Learn a new skill 7. Create crafts crafts.kaboose.com 8. Sly a kite 9. Knit bandages for leprosy victims leprosybandages.blogspot.com 10. Go to the library 11. Make some frozen treats 12. Grow a sunflower 13. Start a journal 14. Be chef for a day 15. Host an olympics 16. Grow butterflies insectlore.com 17. Make an anything goes lunch 18. Play with bubbles 19. Hold a no electricity day 20. Enjoy fresh fruit 21. Use work books 22. Attend a concert in the park 23. Go fishing 24. Live outside for a day 25. Hold a family science fair 26. Go ice skating 27. Have a cupcake day 28. Start a collection 29. Organize a block party 30. Service 31. Have a garage sale 32. Stargaze 33. Have a photography contest 34. Go on a scavenger hunt 35. Participate in a race 36. Make pinatas 37. River wade 38. Paint 39. Read aloud 40. Attend a festival 41. Have a talent show 42. Make razzle dazzle shirts 43. Go to the zoo 44. Host a game show 45. Go horseback riding 46. Go indoor camping 47. Go to a farmers market 48. Make seashell critters 49. Take a day trip 50. Tell some tales 51. Make salsa 52. Make homemade lemonade 53. Have an archeology dig 54. Volunteer at an animal shelter 55. Attend the county fair 56. Have a theme picnic 57. Play uno 58. Scrapbook 59. Play night games 60. Make a fort 61. Show and tell 62. Create a homemade waterpark

After church today I was putting together some hamburger patties to put in the fridge to marinate a little bit before I cooked them. Addie was watching me create the circular patties and when I was almost finished asked if she could make one. I gave her a little ball of meat and watched as she made a decently round pattie. The following conversation is what we said as we made patties.

Addie: "What are you making?"
Momma: "I'm making hamburger patties."
Addie: "Can I make one?"
Momma: "Sure"
Addie: as she makes a circle "I"m going to make an Addie Pattie."

I'm pretty sure she wanted to say "make an addie size pattie, because we often make things her size, but the "size" part was missed and the resulting "Addie Paddie" put me into hysterical laughter. I recounted the tale to Mitch who laughed then I started laughing again and Addie looking at both of us with the pattie still in her hand laughed at herself too, proud of her ability to make her parents laugh, even if she wasn't sure why. I'm really not sure why either for that matter other than "Addie Pattie" struck me as particularly funny and cute at that moment.

Lately I've been reading to the kids as night while they lay in bed. I do this not only to calm them down by a soothing, familiar voice, but because exposure to literature and words is, I think important, and also because it gives mommy time to relax too, I know selfish right. lately I've been switching between "Anne of Green Gables" and "Matilda" but on Sunday this week I decided to read the Gospel Principles manual instead. I sat down and started to read about the eternal and omnipotent nature of God and Addie says:

Addie: " Let's read Anne."
Mandy: " Well I thought we'd read about Heavenly Father tonight."
Addie: " I don't like to read Heavenly Father."

Perhaps my literary choices should have started with the gospel and then ended with Anne girl.

Happy Halloween! This Halloween was a lot of fun for our family. We carved pumpkins that we got from the pumpkin patch. Addie was very proud that she drew her own face on her pumpkin, although she wanted to do the cutting too. Wesley liked eating the pumpkin seeds, right out of the yucky pumpkin guts. He didn't much mind the yucky parts, it was just an interesting sensation I suppose. Addie was a fairy princess although she only wore her wings for these pictures, then Mitch wore them the rest of the night as we went to Boo at the Zoo. He got a compliment for them, that handsome guy! Wesley was a little scarecrow with a hat that he hated to have on. The Medical College had a trick or treat too, that I took the kids to. Addie was unusually shy and would not say trick or treat, or go into any of the rooms without me to get a treat. This was very unusual for her, although it annoyed me a little at the time, I'm glad she had some more stranger danger awareness. She was so funny picking out the candies too. I have such a sweet tooth that I would have gone for the Almond Joy's and the Snickers and the so called "Good" candy. But Addie was very meticulous about her choices. She picked out suckers and the smallest pieces of candy. One of the ladies even commented on how careful she was in choosing and putting her candy in her trick or treat bag. Wesley got an orange balloon with a Jack O Lantern on it that he bounced around back and forth until it got lost in the melee of costumed trick or treaters in the halls. It was fun to have a kid old enough to actually understand what's going on, even if her choices of candy were not the ones I would have made, at least she had fun and can look forward to it next year.

Some pictures of the kiddos apple picking, corn maze, and fall pictures.

So I've been very inattentive to taking pictures of Wesley and don't have near as many of him as of Addie at this age, but here are a few cutie ones.The first few are on a little walk that we took to the park and the last two were a funny happenstance. I got out my curlers for him to play with and when I came to check on him he had sat on one, and then I couldn't resist putting some more on!

Me and the kiddos took a little day trip out to Old World Wisconsin. It just happened to be the hottest day during a very mild week, so the kiddos and I were a little tired by the end of the day after walking around to see all the old villages. The kids had fun looking at the animals there and I loved the heritage that I got to learn about. Addie loved playing a game called Graces where you take two sticks, put a hoop around them in your hand, cross the sticks and then pull them apart so the hoop soars into the air. The other player tries to catch the hoop on their two sticks. Wesley just liked hitting his sticks on everything that made a noise.Addie also got to draw on a real slate with a slate pencil at a Norwegian schoolhouse.

I showed Addie a picture of Del Parson's "Jesus at the Door" to Addie and asked, "Who is in this picture?"

Addie: "That's Jesus."
Mama: "What is he doing?"
Addie: "He's knocking on the door to see if Heavenly Father will answer."

I was going through some papers and found these little things I written down that Addie had said. This was back in October of 2010.

Mandy: " Are you a baby, huh? is that why you want to be held all the time?"
Addie: " No, I'm a sister, I'm a girl."


Papa: " where do Grandma and Grandpa live Addie?"
Addie: "in Utah."
Mama: " That's right, where does Addie live?"
Addie: "Um, I'm lived in heaven."

I was nuking a potato for Mitch and while in the microwave it let out some steam and made a PHHHT sound.
Addie said, "Papa, did you toot?"
Mitch said "no it was the potato."

Later as we were sitting at the table Momma tooted.

Mandy said," Excuse me for tooting."
Addie said, "That wasn't you, that was the potato."

We had a lot of fun at our last Wauwatosa 4th of July Parade. Addie and Papa sat over on the street so they had prime candy territory. She was joined by her friend Esther and they had a great time dancing around. This parade has been a Milwaukee tradition for the past 3 years and it's been a great one. The last picture is of some of our Milwaukee friends whom we watch the parade with every year. Thanks to Brad and Meghan Schow and Lance and Chemene Jacobson for always allowing us to camp out and watch the parade on their lawn!

We went with our friends the Browns to Devil's Lake during the week that Mitch had off for 4th of July. They brought their rock climbing equipment so we got to give it a try. Addie especially loved her little climb and swinging on the rope. This was supposed to be an easier climb but once you got to the overhang there were no hand holds and it was really tough. Mitch and Wesley just relaxed while we climbed, which didn't bug Mitch because he just wanted to sit down anyway.
The second day we went to the lake but we didn't get any pictures. Addie went in a canoe, caught minnows, built sand castles and didn't want to leave when it was time to go. We had a lot of fun!

Back story:Addie and Mitch play a game on his IPOD called Fruit Ninja in which you swipe your fingers or thumbs across the touch screen and slice fruit as it floats up, while trying not to slice the bombs and lose. Addie loves playing this game with Papa.

Addie: "momma, I have little hands."
Mandy: "yes you do have little hands."
Addie : "I have little thumbs." (holding up her thumbs)
Mandy: "Yes you do have little thumbs."
Addie: "Yeah, to play Fruit Ninja."

Mitch had an away rotation in Appleton during the past week, so we went up to spend Friday and Saturday with him. Here is some of our fun.
We visited the Air museum in Oshkosh which was a lot of fun. Addie loved getting into the airplanes and pushing the buttons. She even was patient with momma as I went slowly through all the displays and read things about them. Here is Wes and Addie as pilots.


this was in the Eagle Hanger which was dedicated to World War II. A lot of aeronautical things have the same name as Mitch and this plane is one of them the B-25 Mitchell bomber.




In Appleton we also visited Plamann Park which was fun. They had a kid's farm there with baby animals and also had many trails to hike on.


At our hotel they didn't have a crib for Wesley so we put him in the dresser drawer. Amazingly he only woke up once the whole night! Mitch was also put into the dresser drawer to sleep when he was a baby. You do what you have to do! And it's just to cute.

On one of our hikes we took the bug catchers and went on an "explortation". Addie and Mitch caught a may fly and a mosquito. It was fun to go on an adventure, and when your family are your exploration companions it's always a grand trip!