GJ/Jess Visit First Full Day

Hard to believe it was a month ago! We had a super fun time with GJ & Jess while there were here...first time ever to Wisconsin for both of them.

The first full day they were here we really packed a lot in. We started off by going down to the Wisconsin Dells and taking the Duck tour over land & water...

it was super cold, but Jess kept little Stella warm. Look they have the same expression on their face...priceless :-)




Kyle & Reeve got to drive the duck on Lake Delton.


We ate lunch at the Cheese Factory Restaurant (100% Vegetarian). We all had the grilled cheese because Rachel Ray said it was the top 5 best grilled cheese in the country. We burned off our lunch by hiking around Devil's Lake...well we made it a quarter of the way around...the hardest part. We climbed up to the highest bluff to have amazing views of the lake...Kyle got a new name: "KKKKKK" I was a bit nervous with my enthusiastic kid getting waaaayyyy tooo close to the edge. We compared it a lot to the hike up Stone Mountain in Georgia, but I think Stone Mountain is safer.









We came home then went out to eat in Hustler at the Hooterbowl. The restaurant & bowling alley is in the old Hustler Elementary school...you get to eat in a classroom and they put the menu & specials up on the green chalk board. We were the only ones bowling...they put the gutter rail up for Reeve and Kyle. It was their first time ever bowling! So sheltered!

Undiapering Method Hard at Work

Well while GJ & Jess were here Stella did go on the toilet 3 times, so at least they can vouch for me. It does take a lot of time, and I've slacked off on it a bit...as evidenced here:

She gets it though and she's so happy when we get it right and pick up on her signals.
We have tons of apples on our trees. This one is our honeycrisp tree:

Has this ever happened to anyone else?
The UPS driver (his name is Hammer) gets really excited when he sees me in Elroy and he has a package for me. It's happened three times now and each time it's like I'm giving him a package. He's just thrilled he doesn't have to drive out to my house nestled far away in the hills between Hustler and Elroy. He told me at our last meeting that he searches for my car in Elroy just hoping he'll find me there. I told him to look in the library parking lot, and he said, "I do, I do, I look for you everywhere." Maybe that'll give you an idea of how out in the middle of nowhere we are :-)

Stella Update...Reeve Update...Tom Update

Stella went to the doctor on Wednesday for her 3 month check-up. She's very healthy and in the 95% for height (25"...I think???) and weight 14lbs 13oz.

Reeve and Kyle went to the free movie at the Elroy theater yesterday and it was a full house...kids from Wonewoc, Hillsboro, & Elroy. It was announced the Reeve logged in the MOST reading hours for the 1st & 2nd Grade level. He won a plane ride (local I think) or a ride in a motor cycle side car. He hasn't made up his mind which one to choose.

Tom's on Twitter now and has made 8 tweets. You can get to his twitter page by clicking the link I put on this page in the left column...above Raye's links.

I have pics to post, but I just wanted to make this a short update.

Last of June Pics

I'm trying to get caught up!
Here are some pics from our camera from June!
Last year I posted pics of our country jacuzzi...here are some from this year.

It's a HOT tub heated 100% by the sun, and believe me it gets HOT...over 105F on a sunny day (which we haven't had too many of this year!). When they are not in it it has tubes inside it that are heated by our solar hot water panels.

Kyle givin' the ole thumbs up for temperature...it wasn't too hot for Stella.

Stella's giving Tommy one of her Elvis lip curls in the pic above.
It's been one of the coolest summers I can remember, but I'm not complaining. They had to cancel swimming lessons twice b/c temps were in the low 60s.

She loves her Papa!

Stella hanging out in her swing...waiting to grow up so she can help save the planet :-). Reeve and Kyle can hardly wait to help Tom install solar electric and solar hot water panels.
Tom helped finish the remodeling for a new B&B in Hustler, WI. The Innkeeper Barb is holding little Stella in the pic below...

When this was an assisted living home my Grandma Corky lived in this room. It's been widened and a bathroom added. Now it's called the Vincent Van Gogh room. Each of the 8 rooms at the Fountain Chateau has a different theme.

Before the Fountain Chateau was an Assisted Living home called the Fountain Mission Home it was a hotel in 1923. They refinished the original front desk in the pic below.

And here is a picture of the fountain at the Fountain Chateau.

On the first and third Sundays of the month there is a jazz brunch. This pic was taken at a different time but Simply JP heads the jazz music. Kyle had fun playing the piano with her.

Where does the time go?

I've been meaning to post pics for awhile now. The kids have had swimming and tennis lessons for the past couple of weeks, but yesterday and today the swimming lessons were canceled b/c it is too cold! Last week we had temps in the 90's with heat index 95-100, last night when we went out it was 56F and falling.
First off: Some cute Stella pics



Stella IS a wonderful baby. Her latest lesson for us was brought to light by a friend we hung out with at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair that we went to in Custer, WI (a 2 hr drive) over Father's Day Weekend. Anyway she saw me holding Stella and noticed that Stella was cueing me that she had to go to the bathroom. I said "What????," and she proceeded to tell me about the undiapering method. It was fascinating and it really works. I stopped counting, but since we've been home Stella has peed/pooped in the toilet over 30 times! We only do this at home, but she is oh so happy when we read her signals correctly! She just looks deep into our eyes and wiggles and giggles around...looks like she's trying to fly off the bed. I ask her if she needs to go potty and she smiles real big. I take her dry diaper off and we go to the bathroom. We have a child seat insert for the toilet and I just stand her on that and she goes! It is the coolest thing ever. She is just so happy with us when we get it right. We discovered this was the major source of her frustration at night. Seriously...she was getting super duper cranky right before bed AND she kept getting a wet diaper. I swear she likes to go a lot before bedtime b/c most of the time she stays dry until 4 or 5 am if we get to bed by 11pm. Well now when she starts to get fussy we take her to the bathroom. Okay I'm going on and on about this, but for me it's pretty exciting stuff. Ask my folks, I think I called them after every time she went for the first 3 days.
I had posted these pics and then had to go take care of something else...the post continues. Tim did a great job summarizing the pics, thanks :-). Can't wait to get down to FL and spend some time with you...maybe this winter!
Every year the MREA (Midwest Renewable Energy Association) puts on a huge Energy Fair

we love to go and camp at the fair in a little pine forest.

The kids love to play with the "human" power demos.

Stella did very good for her first camping trip.

She was the first one up after Tom left to go volunteer.




We saw Michelle Shocked!




Reeve and Kyle had fun dancing to her song Anchorage.

Stella was sporting her recycling onsie from Lauren & Jess in Georgia.

Tom's sporting his new work shirts.

Reeve and Kyle are taking free tennis lessons in Elroy every Monday.