Holiday lights

One of the highlights of the season for us is walking through the Rotary Gardens holiday light display.  Even though there was no snow on the ground this year (Tea asked me today if it will ever snow again, EVER?), the lights still made it feel festive.  This year there were roaming reindeer that the boys were reluctant to stand near, and a sleigh we all piled in to attempt a group picture.

Terrified of the reindeer, my boys were of *course* beyond upset 5 minutes later when it was mobbed by other children that they hadn’t pet the stupid thing.

If you could see under Pea’s coat, he’s dressed *all* in red – his current obsession.  Santa related?  We’re not sure.

The garden paths were lined with luminaries and we walked under lighted arches.  The garden was supposedly lit with 300,000 lights, but I’m sure I didn’t see more than 259,840 – someone owes me 60 cents.   😉

As pretty as the lights were, I didn’t have a tripod, so I quickly tired of trying to get traditional shots.  If you can’t beat the blur, embrace it, right?  I started swinging my camera around randomly as I hit the shutter, claiming, “I totally meant this shot to look just like that.”  Luckily for my family, my fingers got too numb to keep at it for long.  But I still said, “Just one more” enough to earn myself a time-out if Tea’d had his way.

I’ll spare you from looking at the other 42 shots.  Kyle was not so lucky.

We never did get holiday cards out this year, so would you kindly pretend that picture of us sitting in the sleigh was delivered to you by your post-carrier?  Thank you very much, and Happy Holidays.  We wish you a very bright new year.

Leaf hike

I know I said we don’t really do birthday presents, but I received some money and instructions to get myself something special, so I decided on a new (well, refurbished) zoom lens for my camera.  Yesterday afternoon it arrived in the mail.  Instead of ripping open the package immediately, I made an apple pie.  I rolled the crust while the sun sank lower and lower in the sky.  I chopped apples instead of taking pictures of everything that was lit by this golden, perfect light.  Only love for my boys (and for pie) could give me the strength to leave the lens sealed up in its box until it was dark outside.

But I can only be strong for so long.  This morning we headed out to a local trail under the pretense of a leaf hike so I could play with my new toy.  It should go without saying that I’ve included way too many pictures in this post.  Kyle warned that They might take away my blogging licence.  I’m going to risk it.

We encouraged the boys to look for different shapes, colors, and textures of leaves and seeds.  They got into it right away by shoveling handfuls of brown oak leaves into their bags, but then they started to be more selective.

It was a gorgeous, warm morning, and it wasn’t long before the boys shed their jackets.

Eventually the leaf collecting was abandoned in favor of shenanigans with Kyle.

Back at home, Tea had to decide which pieces of his collection should go into the nature bowl for our centerpiece.  And I had to decide which of 313 pictures to share.

Shared obsession

I’m not the only one  enthralled with bugs right now.   I like to photograph them and he likes to carry them around.  A hard freeze can’t be too far off so we’re probably safe from him smuggling any inside.

holding a beetle on a blade of grass

 

 

 

I fear the winter

The kids enjoyed getting together with their friend one last time at our favorite pumpkin patch before they close for the season.

all 3 heads in one shot. 4,000 tries but without photoshop. a miracle.

Where will we play now?  So much energy, so little space in my house…  I’m in denial that the cold is coming, but posts from friends have started to frighten me.

“Thank you for this messy idea”

We spent today playing outside with friends.  It was such a perfect morning, we postponed breaking for lunch until late.  That meant that none of us were very hungry once we finally got home and dinner time rolled around.  I knew there was one lone chocolate bar I’d hidden in the back of the freezer, so I talked Kyle into an ultra-healthy dinner of s’mores.

Tea, who has been requesting a campfire for months, was beyond thrilled.  He spent an hour carrying more wood than we could burn in a month over to the fire.   Tea knows I don’t generally choose supremely sticky activities.  Between bites of marshmallow that threatened to glue his mouth shut, he said, “Thank you for this messy idea!”

Kyle's roasting technique is a little rusty

One of the best things about an autumn campfire is that the boys thought they were getting the treat of a late bedtime because they were enjoying the fire in the dark.  I’m not in a huge hurry to teach them to tell time – they were still tucked into bed by7pm, smelling smokey, sticky smiles on their faces.

Insert “time flying” cliche here

Courtney had the fun idea of getting a picture of our kids together in the same spot every year.  I think the idea is to marvel in their rapid growth, but, as we missed 2 full years, it actually had the effect of making my heart stop beating for a moment.  How did they get so old?

Look out, Pia

The boys are training hard!

I’m glad it doesn’t rain every day

The cuteness of their boots and raincoats is nearly unbearable.

Note to self: Tea is growing. Get bigger raincoat.

Take a hike

While I’m sure everyone is on the edge of their seat to see more pictures from the Sheep and Wool Festival, I thought I’d build some suspense and post about our hike on Sunday first.  We took the boys around the Scuppernong Springs nature trail, a 1.5 mile loop in the beautiful southern Kettle Moraine state forest.

We hiked this trail once before when we camped nearby with Courtney, Jim and Pia, about 47 years ago when the kids were younger.  I seem to remember that Tea was still in diapers, so it must have been 2009?  Is that possible?  Help me out Courtney.  Clearly we don’t go camping enough.

The boys loved their walking sticks and stuffed their pockets full of nuts and leaves they found along the way.  I was more interested in the bugs.  Why do I seem to have a bug fascination this summer?  I have no idea.

What are those guys?

The best part of the hike were the multiple springs where we watched ice-cold water bubble up through the sand.  At first, the boys were content to observe from a distance.

But then, not thinking, I told Tea that he’d dabbled his feet in a spring here when he was a baby.  That was the beginning of the end.

It wasn’t long before they were up to their knees in the ice cold water.  It was a warm day, and they didn’t seem to mind the water temperature.

Of course, Tea tripped and ended up completely immersed.   After the shock wore off, he decided that he liked the frigid swimming, but we couldn’t let him get hypothermia, so we pulled them out, stripped off some of their clothes, and hiked back to the car.  Pea got a ride for the last quarter mile since he was down to diapers and had already walked his limit.

Soggy, happy hikers

It was a beautiful little hike.  You should check it out if you’re in Southern Wisconsin.  What are your favorite places to go hiking?

Thresheree in pictures

steam tractors

steam threshing looks like hard work

The highlight of the Thresheree for Tea and Pea was riding the Rock River Cannon Ball steam engine train

Tea's ticket said shooting buffaloes from the train was prohibited

Shoveling coal on the train, or, Why our faces were full of soot after the train ride

soot on Tea's face from the train ride

A few of the ninety zillion tractors on display

Making sorghum syrup

An oil drum train for the wee ones

Tea and Pea enjoyed their ride

Tea loved pulling Pea along the kiddie track with the rope

Steam tractor