Crystal Lake

We spent another beautiful day at Crystal Lake!

Wild(life) Ride

We headed back up to the cottage with my parents yesterday for the second half of our vacation. My dad took us on a boat ride to check out the wildlife on the lake. Elijah liked to help Bobu steer the boat. He would have driven it by himself if we let him!

My parents like to keep track of the loon families on the lake each year. We found an adult loon with its baby, and we were able to get a pretty close look at them. The adult is on the left with the black head, and the baby is brown and fuzzier (even though this one is close to full-grown).

The girls were good at spotting eagles and ospreys flying overhead. We saw an eagle circle and then swoop down to catch a fish out of the lake, but the fish was too heavy and the eagle had to drop it.

Sienna took a turn driving the boat, too!

We also found an eagle's nest with a set of parents standing guard over their eaglet. If you click on the picture, you can see an adult eagle in front of the nest with a baby in the nest with another adult. We made good use of my parents' binoculars. On the way back to the cottage, we saw two duck families swimming along, too.

Serious boaters!

We enjoyed a great boatride with lots of wildlife sightings.

Isabella lost her first tooth!!!!!

Isabella has been desperately waiting to lose a tooth since Christmas. Last summer the dental hygienist told Isabella that her first tooth would probably fall out when she was five and a half. Isabella was convinced that her tooth would fall out on Christmas Day. Needless to say, that didn't happen! Within the last few weeks, one of her bottom teeth finally got much more wiggly. We thought that she would lose her tooth by her sixth birthday, but still no luck! Over this past weekend, Isabella's first grown-up tooth started to peek through, and the tooth seemed to be hanging on by a thread. We're in Wisconsin now for vacation, but, unfortunately, Mike had to head back home on Sunday. He hoped that Isabella wouldn't lose her tooth when he was gone, but she pulled it out on Monday night! Isabella wrote the Tooth Fairy a note since she wanted to know what her name is and her favorite color. She also wondered if the Tooth Fairy is friends with the Easter Bunny and Santa (as the Easter Bunny told her in a note) and if the Tooth Fairy had lost any teeth. Thankfully, I remembered to bring my Tooth Fairy pillow from when I was little.The next morning, Isabella was thrilled to find $2 (since it was her first lost tooth!) along with a letter from the Tooth Fairy. Did you know that the Tooth Fairy's name is Petunia, that her favorite color is periwinkle, that she is friends with the Easter Bunny and Santa, and that she lost all of her baby teeth when she was a little girl? Well, now you know!!

Milwaukee County Zoo

We spent a beautiful sunny day at the Milwaukee County Zoo.

After checking out my favorite animal, the gorilla, we had fun watching the baby orangutan, Mahal, swing all around his enclosure. Mahal was brought to the Milwaukee County Zoo to be paired with a surrogate mother since his mother was too young to care for him properly. He and MJ, his surrogate mother, clearly have a strong bond, and it was fun to watch the playful orangutan.

We met up with my cousin, Liz, her kids, Jack and Emma, and Liz's mother-in-law! It was great to spend some time with them!

I like to see the polar bear, but I can't imagine that he's very comfortable in 80 degree heat!

Isabella, Jack and Sienna posed on the wiggly chairs.

We actually watched an alpaca give birth! In this picture, you can see the head and front legs coming out, but they're still encased in the amniotic sac. A veterinarian came and broke the sac and helped to pull out the baby alpaca. It was quite a sight!

As you can see, we were able to get up close and personal with the lions! Very cool!

The male lion was roaring!

A trip to the zoo wouldn't be complete without a ride on the Safari Train!

The girls had fun feeding the goats. I have distinct memories of walking through this very area when I was little with my arms over my head. The goats seemed to be more aggressive then.

Here I am when I was four years old. Maybe the sheep were more aggressive. Isn't my outfit lovely?!?The girls weren't scared at all. In fact, Sienna said, "Pretend that I'm the owner."

Isabella liked feeding the goats, too.

The zoo clearly wore Elijah right out! He took a nice snooze in his stroller.

Visit With Noah and Caden

Mike and his parents left this morning, so we spent the afternoon with my friend, Sarah, and her boys, Noah and Caden. The girls and Elijah had so much fun at this great wooden playground with their friends that we only get to see once or twice a year. We're hoping that they'll be able to make a trip out to visit us one of these years. Sarah used to visit me every year when I was in college and a couple of years after that, but traveling is a bit more challenging (and expensive!) with two kids!

Sienna and Caden on the slide
Sienna giving Caden a hand

Isabella and Noah

Elijah ready to slide

Sienna, Caden, Elijah, Isabella & Noah

Turkeys

After growing up in Wisconsin and then going to college in Boston, lots of people asked me if I lived on a farm. I actually grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee and did not live on a farm (and I don't, nor did I ever, own a silly cheesehead), but my parents have since moved further west to where there are more farms and more wildlife. They still don't live on a farm, but there are a few down the street including a dairy farm. My parents do get deer and turkeys that pass through their yard. This morning we saw a pair of turkeys with 12 babies in my parents' backyard. I just Googled "baby turkey" and found out that they are called poults. Who knew?!?

I think that I can count 10 of the babies in this picture. That's quite a brood!

They are heading into the neighbor's yard.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!

Elijah says, "Happy Birthday, Grandma and Aunt Katy!" Grandma opened her birthday presents before we headed back to the Milwaukee area for some fireworks.

We helped Grandma celebrate her birthday with dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.

A birthday wouldn't be complete without balloons and a special treat!

Isabella and Sienna eyed Grandma's hot fudge sundae. Of course, Grandma was nice enough to share with the girls.

After dinner we headed over to Pewaukee Lake for some 4th of July activities. We missed the water ski show, but we enjoyed the live band and found a great spot along the lake to watch the fireworks. (Thanks for the recommendation, Sarah!)

Mike looked at this picture and said, "We look old!" News flash...we are getting old!

Mike walked Elijah around in his stroller until he fell asleep. He slept through the fireworks until the grand finale woke him up!
We enjoyed a great 4th of July!