Mallards, Petenwell, and Alex, OH MY!

I've tried updated this blog from my laptop about 50 times now, no joke. It is like a bad case of the movie Groundhogs Day. Usda. Well I've gotten this far, we'll see how far we get! July was filled as I'm sure you can imagine. Heather, who had been watching the kids, started looking ahead at the beginning of summer. She realized that come fall, she would need to find something different, since the kids would both be in school full time. She put her feelers out and found something right away. So we decided to make it through the summer between sitters. Between Kelly, Hannah, my mom, Dan's mom, and us parents, we have had quite the schedule from one day until the next!

We haven't been playing volleyball this summer, instead we've been going fishing, and just spending time just the two of us most Wednesdays. Jenny Hendricks has still been coming over on Wed. nights to watch the kiddels.

In late July, Alex came for a visit. His first "Lone Visit!" Tuesday night we went to the Mallards game in Madison (A BLAST, by the way). Alex chose to sit in the furthest front seats we could and after I left to go get some drinks, I came back and here everyone had drinks already. We had our own staff person, catering to our every whim and need! After the game, Dan got each of the kids a ball and they had the team sign. At the very end, there was a really fine young man who must have a soft spot for kids whose mom's embarrass them by making them take pictures with baseball players!!

Whew. What a nice boy! The next morning, we headed out for Lake Petenwell. A place that we wanted to get a permenant camping sight earlier in the year, but Uncle Sam did not allow it.

We had a great time, but only ended up staying one night. The lake was absolutely disgusting. It had layers of algae, bright green, that looked like it was toxic. We thought maybe we could boat to a better place on the lake, but no such luck. Despite that, we did have a fun time, and it was Alexs' first time truly camping.

Pudgy pies, cooking over the campfire, and 4 minute showers! Ahhh, nature at it's best. Well...other than the smell of dead fish and toxic lake!

I've edited this about 10 times now again, so I'm going to put my patience at rest by adding one other memorable event about our trip camping...

LOOK MOM! NO TRAINING WHEELS!!

(and that's the third try for that, so that's all for now!!)