Kyle's Broken Arm

On Wednesday September 27th we were going to bike to the beach from Barbara's house in Hobe Sound, FL. We had Kyle in a child seat and I was handing the bike to Tommy. Tommy grabbed the handle bars and with Kyle's weight in the back the bike fell over. It all happened so quickly, and I couldn't catch the bike before it fell over. Kyle outstretched his left arm to break the fall. It was too much for his little arm and the bone broke right above his elbow.

He had surgery in Florida on Friday September 29th. The surgery went really smoothly. We were very lucky and had an excellent orthopaedic surgeon. He put two titanium pins in Kyle's elbow to keep the bone in place. The following Wednesday he had a follow-up exam and x-ray. The bone was setting nicely and the break was barely noticeable. Kyle was such a trooper through the whole ordeal. He loved swimming in the pool, so that was the hardest part... watching Reeve learn how to swim without a life jacket. He was down for a day or so, and had some pretty major meltdowns. Mainly because I didn't want to baby him and he wanted me to carry him around everywhere. I had to explain to him that he didn't break his legs!

Now he's in very good spirits and really looking forward to getting the cast off. We met with an Orthopaedic doctor here in Wisconsin. He is a very nice doctor and really did a good job with Kyle. He had to cut Kyle's old cast off which was a bit traumatic for Kyle. The cutter was attached to a large noisy vacuum which made Kyle nervous. Kyle also saw for the first time the pins sticking out of his arm. When Kyle saw the pins he said, "Oh no, this is not good. This is just not a good day. Please don't take them out. Don't take them out!" Then the doctor said the pins looked good and that there was no infection. He put some padding under the pins and then put a new cast on his arm. Kyle chose the purple.

Reeve was fascinated by the whole procedure, as you can see from the above picture.
Kyle's cast comes off and the pins will be removed on November 9th.

Pumpkin Harvest

Last weekend we harvested most of the pumpkins from our garden. The pumpkins on the left are pie pumpkins, in the middle are the buttercup squash, and on the right are the first two jack-o-lantern pumpkins to rippen. There are more of the jack-o-lantern pumpkins in the garden, and we'll probably harvest those this weekend. I also plan to clean up the garden... remove the tomatoes, cabbage, etc., salvage what's left of the basil, and plant garlic.

My favorites from our garden this year are the garlic, red russian kale, basil, and spinach. Next year I'll plant regular cucumbers vs. the pickling cucumbers. The pickling cukes seemed a bit on the bitter side. I'll also stake the tomatoes next year. It's just too messy the way we've been doing it. I also think they'll get their own row, maybe out by the raspberries. I'll probably get more ideas this weekend, and then I have all winter to plan :-).

Marc Chabot's Wedding and FlintlockCampground, Boone, North Carolina

We recently traveled to North Carolina to attend Marc Chabot's wedding. Marc and Tommy have been friends since Jr. High School. It was great to see and visit with friends and meet new friends. A reminder that we're blessed to know some truly remarkable people. Who knows why we didn't take more pics at the wedding???? I'm very bummed that we ended up with only one picture that Tommy took. It's a beautiful picture and shows the picturesque setting for their ceremony and reception.

The wedding took place in an outdoor open half-walled chappel. During the ceremony there was a brief sun shower that was on one side (the bride's side) of the chappel. The temperature was perfect the whole day. The food was delicious and the company was superb. Reeve and Kyle hung out with a cutie pie 3yr old named Max. They also fished on the pier and Tommy took them for a ride in a paddle boat.


This is the gift I stitched for their wedding.


We thought it would be fun to camp in NC before and after the wedding. It seemed like we had just enough dry weather to set up the camp, get ready for the wedding, then take down the camp. At all other times there was a constant steady drizzle. We learned that our new tent is too big, not suited for cooler weather, and not well suited to rainy weahter. Also the screen tent we bought for the picnic table was not meant for rainy weather. The water pools on the top and then down pours right onto the picnic table. Despite the wetness we had a lot of fun and are looking forward to camping in this area again.

We had a beautiful camp spot right in the Appalachian mountains. Our campsite was right next to Laurel Creek.


The driving there was really different. A lot of the roads we took were extremely curvy and our top speed was about 30mph with me constantly applying my imagniary passenger side breaks. As many of you know my navigational skills are not the greatest and I ended up steering us onto the scenic route out of the Appalachians. We could only drive about 30mph the whole way down and I was extremely woozy when we finally made it out of the mountains. What was suppossed to take us 2-3 hours according to map quest took us about 6hours!

Devils Lake Wisconsin State Park

While my parents were visiting in the Dells we decided to take a day trip to the nearby Devils Lake State Park. I was hoping to find out why they call it Devils Lake, but didn't get that info on this little trip. However I did find an answer on their web page. They're not certain how the name came to be, but believe it was a "white man's name and that it is a misnomer" from the American Indian names for the lake which range from "Sacred Lake," "Holy Lake," "Spirit Lake," to "Evil Spirit Lake." It was an extremely popular spot for the elite in the late 1800's. The pictures there were fascinating.


There was a long board walk behind where Mom&Dad and kids are standing. There was also a huge slide into the water.

It was extremely beautiful there and definitely a spot where we'll want to camp and hang out for a couple of days. There is lots to do on the lake and surrounding bluffs.


The day started out quite nice... a little breezy, but still warm. We drove into the park and saw a sign for the Ice Age Trail. It's a trail that covers 1000 miles in the state of Wisconsin. It follows the path of the glacier that once flowed through parts of Wisconsin during the Ice Age.

There was also a hands on Nature Center that we all enjoyed exploring. It was good that we went on this day because the weather turned nippy cold the next day. Mom and I experienced that fun in an outdoor shopping outlet mall in Wisconsin. From the exterior it has a cozy log cabin design, but the interior was entirely exposed to the elements. Not very wise for a Wisconsin Mall. We managed to have fun, but it took me awhile to warm up to the idea of shopping. I hadn't been retail clothes shopping in years! By the end of the mall we had found some really good deals. Thanks Mom & Dad :-) for a great visit.

Christmas Mountain Village, Wisconsin Dells

Three weeks ago (Don't ya love how speedy I am at this) my folks came to visit us and the kids and I stayed with them in their cabin at Christmas Mountain Village in the Wisconsin Dells.


The kids had a blast just seeing my Mom & Dad (aka Nana & Bee). The weather turned cold on us after the first day. There was a park across the street from their cabin.
Reeve and Kyle had fun hanging out there.


I'm not very good with camera lately. I miss a lot of good pictures and the ones I do take are either too dark or too far away. We're looking for a digital camera with more megapixels (ours has 2 megapixels). Any reccomendations would be greatly apprecieated :-).

Nana and Bee had a couple of early birthday presents for Kyle. In the picture below Kyle is putting on a finger puppet show for Reeve. Those boys LOVE to act and create stories, so this was perfect for them both.


They also both received two very cool 3-D kites. Living up on the ridge we do get a lot of wind, so I'm sure now that we're back from our trip those kites will be flying. One is a pirate ship and the other is a really cute turtle.

More to come. If I only had more hours in the day! I have a lot to post about, but just a small window of time in the morning. I'll do my best to try to get caught up this week!