A Beautiful Day

We finally had some warmer weather, so we took advantage of it by enjoying some outdoor activities. We spent a little bit of time at the new community playground in St. Germain.

As always, Elijah loved the swing.

He also checked out a wiggly seat.

Isabella made it across the lily pads.

We also checked out Crystal Lake which has a great beach and crystal clear water.

The lake is small enough to walk all the way around it, so I took a walk while Dada played in the water with the kiddos. Grandma, Papa, Dada and the girls went in search of frogs and walked all the way around the lake earlier.

When we got back to the cottage, we went for a boat ride so that Isabella and Dada could swim in the middle of the lake. Isabella took a turn driving the boat!

Elijah promptly fell asleep on our boat ride.

The deep water was really cold, so Isabella and Dada got in and out quickly.

It was still warm enough to soak up some sun on the dock in the late afternoon.

Papa relaxed with Elijah.

The girls had fun splashing around in the lake.

We ended the day with a beautiful sunset over the lake.

There was a clear view of the moon, too!

Fishing

The girls did some fishing with Dada and Papa off of the dock.

Isabella got a bite!

She reeled it in all by herself! See the fish in the bottom right corner of the picture?

Isabella caught a sunfish.

Dada tried to get Isabella to kiss the fish before Papa threw it back in the lake.

Waiting patiently for another bite... This is why I don't like to fish.

Sienna reeled in a sunfish, too!

Elmer's Fun Park

The weather has been a bit too cold to swim or go in the boat, so we decided to spend some time at Elmer's Fun Park. Papa and Sienna had fun racing Dada and Isabella in the go-karts!

Sienna seemed to be holding on for dear life! Two hands on the wheel, Papa!!
Papa and Sienna are in the lead, but Dada and Isabella are hot on their trail.

Dada and Isabella

That woman doesn't even know that she's racing them! Who is having more fun, Dada or Isabella?!?

Papa is laughing at Mike who "accidentally" took another lap because he apparently "thought" that the checkered flag meant one more lap. Never mind that every other person pulled right in! Last, but not least...

We did a half hour trail ride with Grandma and the girls while Papa kept Elijah busy. Sienna and I rode Cuatro the Rock Star, and Dada and Isabella rode Maverick. Our horse's name was so appropriate since Sienna is four (cuatro) years old and she likes to pretend to be a rock star.

Sienna said good-bye to Cuatro.

Elijah liked the horses, too, but he was too small to go for a ride.

Fun in Northern Wisconsin

We just started our two week vacation in Wisconsin! We were supposed to make this same trip last summer, but Elijah's surgery put a bit of a kink in our plans. We are so happy to finally be here! We are spending the first week with Mike's parents at my parents' cottage in Northern Wisconsin.

The girls love to feed peanuts to the chipmunks (aka the "chippies"). My dad left each of the girls their own can of peanuts.
We're going to have some happy chippies!!
Grandma and Papa enjoy the campfire with us!

Roasting marshmallows!

The first s'more of the season! Yum!!

Grandma trying to contain a wiggly Elijah!

Isabella helped Dada haul more wood to the firepit.

Isabella had a hard time biting into her s'more with her very wiggly tooth. She stuck to just marshmallows and chocolate after that!

Papa and Elijah

Snuggling by the fire

Ah ah choo!!

Sometimes I put a hat (or a toy) on my head and pretend to sneeze and make it fall off. Elijah has learned this trick! It's cute when he's playing but not when we actually need him to keep his hat on his head!!

Mike went to check on Elijah the other night, and he was saying, "Ah ah choo," in his sleep!!!! He talks in his sleep just like Mike and I do!!!

So sweet!

Since I'm such a procrastinator, it's no surprise that I'm way behind on my blog again. I have a ton of pictures to post from my weekend trip to DC with my mom and my sister, the rest of Sienna's birthday celebration, Sienna's last day of preschool, Isabella's birthday and last day of Kindergarten, the girls' joint birthday party, and Trevor and Sydney's visit. I edited a bunch of pictures yesterday, but Mike is on a business trip today and he took the laptop with him.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a sweet e-mail that I got from my friend, Liz. She and her family moved to France back in December, and we really miss them. It's hard to believe that Chloe will be 8 in a few days and Andre is 5 1/2 and just lost his first tooth! We still keep up with them through e-mails, Facebook, our blogs and Skype. I really appreciated this e-mail that Liz sent me a few weeks ago.

Hi Liz

just saw your post on your blog - happy b-day Sienna! You're right; the girls look so big ... we miss you guys so much ...

Anyway, Chloe and I were talking about you tonite (were your ears buzzing???)...

She has a friend here whose parents are going thru an ugly divorce, and she comes home with stories that poor Floriane told her of screaming arguments, flying dishes and bad words. It's the first real experience Chloe's had with divorce so obviously it's brought up lots of deep discussions. Tonight we were talking about how Ben & I love each other very much and won't be getting divorced .... out of the blue she piped up and said, "I know another family full of love - Isabella's mom & dad in America!!"

It made me smile ... your beautiful family has made an impression on my daughter :)

love
-l

How sweet is that? That totally made my day!!!! Thanks, Chloe! :)

Happy 4th Birthday, Sienna Rose!!!

I can hardly believe that Sienna is 4 years old today! Didn't we just celebrate her 3rd birthday? In fact, she burst in to our room at 6:00 AM and declared, "I'm 4!!!" Isabella helped me decorate Sienna's room last night after Sienna fell asleep. Mike is out of town until tonight, so I'm planning on taking the kiddos to the Science Museum today since Isabella doesn't have school and then we'll go to Friendly's for dinner per Sienna's request. We'll celebrate some more tomorrow when Mike gets home. Sienna even agreed to save some presents for tomorrow, too!

Here are some pictures from our early morning celebration!

Sienna is having a frog birthday party, so we were excited to find this little frog rug. Sienna also woke up under a new frog fleece blanket that I made.

Reading Isabella's card

New frog accessories from Aunt Katy and Uncle Nathan

The helpful little brother

Four one dollar coins from Aunt Katy and Uncle Nathan for the new 4 year old!

Is it just me, or are the girls really looking older?!

Frogs, frogs and more frogs!

Sienna had a breakfast picnic in her room!

We also want to wish a very Happy 1st Birthday to our little second cousin, Emma Kate!!!