Watering the Garden

Michael took his first shot at watering the garden tonight.  Anything to do with water is always a fun time for him.

First Boat Ride

Michael experienced his first boat ride yesterday on a local lake near our house.  He actually did great and wasn't scared to be in the boat.  He didn't want to sit by me in the front of the boat, and he clung on to Russell's leg the whole time.  We just took a ride around the lake and headed back to the dock.  Maybe we'll try fishing next time with Michael.

Splash Pad

It's been pretty hot and humid here this week.  I found out the bigger city we live by had a splash pad park for kids, so we went and checked it out yesterday.  And as usual, Michael had lots of fun.

He ran and ran and ran through the sprinklers....

...but liked this one most of all, even though he wouldn't let the bucket of water dump directly on him.

And then he was relentless about asking me if we could ride this train around the splash pad area.  I kept telling him no since we were there to swim, but finally I gave in to his longing to ride the train.  How could a mom not give in to this happy little boy smiling below?!

Black Beauty

Michael and I spotted this beautiful black squirrel on our bird feeders today, and fortunately I had enough time to get my telephoto lens on to capture these great shots.  It's my understanding that they are not as rare as we think they are, but this is the first one I've ever seen in Wisconsin.

What an awesome bushy tail!

Swimming Pool?????

What's a mother to do when she finds her son swimming here after a huge thunderstorm that dropped inches of rain?

Summertime Fun

Playing in the dirt with his bulldozer....

Playing with crawfish that Dad caught in his minnow trap down by the ponds....

Playing in the shallow streams near the ponds.....

Rock climbing at its best by the ponds...

Looking for frogs, fish, mussels, and crawfish....

And the latest fun is this swing we hung from a tree in our front yard....

Eating local homegrown and handpicked strawberries....

And posing for a photo in the rain with Dad and his 17" smallmouth bass he caught at a local lake today....

Dells of the Eau Claire

Last weekend we took an afternoon trip to a county park called the Dells of the Eau Claire.  This park sits on the Eau Claire River, and is pretty impressive with its rock formations.   We had a picnic lunch, and then headed out to the Dells to see the rocks.  This park is not to be confused with the Wisconsin Dells.

Michael loved climbing the rocks.  He is not scared at all, yet he is very careful, and if he does sense danger, he's pretty good about stopping and letting me know he's decided not to go any further.  But it was still nerve-wracking for me, and we both had to watch him like a hawk to make sure he didn't accidentally fall in the water.

I think this would be a great park to visit when the fall colors have arrived.

Attached at the Hip

My parents and my 12-year old nephew Jacob (Bill & Bridgett's son) came to spend the weekend with us.  Michael was ecstatic that we were getting visitors. Jacob provided all the attention for Michael, and quickly Russell and I (and my parents) were just an afterthought in Michael's mind.  


Michael was attached to Jacob's hip (I mean literally attached)...the entire weekend.

They enjoyed the cold water at the beach in the local state park.

They rode the lawnmower together to get the mail.

They had a blast with water guns and water fights.

They roasted marshmallows over a bonfire together.

And when the days were all said and done, Michael would crawl up in Jacob's lap for the evening instead of mine!!!

Thanks Jacob for the great weekend of entertainment for Michael!

The Attractions of an Orange

I cut an orange in half and placed it in the flat wooden bird feeder in hopes of attracting a beautiful Baltimore Oriole.  I didn't attract an Oriole, but I did attract a rose breasted woodpecker who had a feast day on this succulent orange for several days.

Not only did we attract this beautiful woodpecker, but we attracted this character this morning at breakfast time....

After checking out the orange....

...he walked away not the least bit interested (and I later found out why because all of the orange pulp was eaten out by the woodpecker and only the peel was left)

He nosed around all over the yard clearly looking for something to eat.  He walked around the house to the back yard, and came up on the deck to the back door just smelling away.  He saw us looking at him from the windows but didn't retreat at all.  This was a small bear, probably a cub from last year.

Pretty exciting!

Dad's Garden Helper