109

Today was a hot day. The first thing we needed to do after I got done with my meetings was to head outside. Since it rained a bunch yesterday, this thing was still loaded with water.

He liked playing with this for a while...then he decided he wanted me to empty out the water. We played with the sand a little bit.

After that, we went for a bike ride to read our "Cul de Sac" comics. I decided instead of a selfie this time, I would take a picture of the tree we read under. It is really a nice location.

we ditch the bike, get out and read

The afternoon drive was to Cross Plains on the newly resurfaced road and back. The best part is the blooming tiger lilies near our house.

next to the horse farm

The fun part about having birds on our front wreath is to see them getting ready to depart. Every day they flap their wings like they are exercising and practicing flight. I have never seen it up this close. I'll put up with the bird poop. It's been fun to watch them grow.

you can kind of see the silhouette of their wings from this photo

Lastly, the craft of the day was to make a castle with a box and paper towel tubes. It has a drawbridge and everything. He stuffed all his LEGO animals inside.

108

Today did not seem like a good day for the blog...work in the morning and then a lot of rain in the early afternoon....some pea-size hail. Yikes.

knocked over our tomato plant too

Mommy and Kai went out for a midday lunch in the car, when they kind of got trapped in the car, so they got to see all the rain.

When they got back, I was ready to play.

Here he is hiding ....I don't see him either.

Then we got to take the craft from a few days ago and put it on a board for display outside....

Drilling....

Tightening the screws...

The final product...

he enjoyed drilling the holes with me, and tightening the screws

Then we went out side for some fun. He liked the ball....much better to play with it outside.

Finally, the birds on the front door are getting a bit big for the nest. We'll see when they leave...I'm guessing they'll be gone by July 4.

107

Today is birthday celebration, part 1. If your birthday is stuck in the middle of the week, you kind of get two birthday's, right?

His birthday is Wednesday this year, so Gammie and Auntie Dawn are coming over for a visit.

Before they get here, we have to get out of the house and visit the "clubhouse" that is being built at the home that abuts the top of the hill.

pretty sure there will be 2 TVs

Next up, here they are....we had a good day. He got to open his presents and cards from Gammie and Auntie Dawn. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures since most everyone else is capturing the day.

Here is the "big" present of the day. A play in water/sand slide thing. I can't remember the name, but he was playing so hard he didn't really talk much....just play, play, play.

Then the birthday cake...we actually had his birthday cake and a rhubarb pie.

And then a selfie to go...

Got out of the house around 4:30 today for a drive. We saw a deer and some interesting mailbox landscaping.

That's all for Sunday.

106

It wouldn't be a Saturday without scones outside somewhere. It was back to Pope Farms early in the morning. I was really surprised how few people there were.

selfie

looking at Mommy

In the early afternoon, we went to Target...a little faster this time with the delivery.

On the drive, we like this house that is being built. The location isn't the absolute best, but the house is quite interesting.

By the afternoon, clearly a nap was not happening, so we went to visit the Monona Terrace to see if we could find any butterflies....we did not, but it was fun anyway.

there are lots of boats up

he likes us to take his picture

And yeah, there used to be a statue here about a week ago. Our country is somewhat anti-statue, pro-pedestal now.

105

One of the best timed rainy days in a while. In the morning, some quick pruning of the lilac tree was done. Stuff has really grown well this spring.

I highlight this, since kids used to be able to run through this gap....no more!

While it was raining, we did this craft. I'm not sure if we did it right, but the plan is that you put food color in water, then some soap, then use a straw to create bubbles, then put the butterfly cut out on top to create an interesting pattern. The diagnosis, interesting concept, but it didn't really work well for us as we got subtle colors, but nothing amazing.

mixing the color

trying to apply the color

While it was still raining, but looked like it would taper off, we went to Eugster's Farm. It is one of those agri-tourism places. There was almost no one there, so the timing was absolutely perfect. Unlike real farms that get messy when it rains a lot, they had really good drainage, so we hardly got muddy.

showing off

the baby goats waiting for milk

The goats here were on the island, they were happy to take the rickety bridge to see us.

Then finally, a selfie before we left.

smile!

Then it rained again at night, but we were able to sneak in this hair cut.

tired after a long day

104

Thursday is always a good day on our daily schedule to get something done early in the day. Today, since it did not rain, we had a chance to finish up the birdhouses. This was a fun craft. He especially had fun globbing paint on top of paint on top of paint.

paint

more paint

his, hers, mine

Later in the morning, we took the bike to read the Cul de Sac cartoons under the tree. We posed with this samarra helicopter under the sugar maple.

samarra is the scientific word for it

At noon, I was able to sneak away to get the CSA. It is tricky this year because only one person is invited into the building at a time. When I got back home, I was able to take him and I for a trip to Hy-vee for our food pick up. I am always nervous when I get in the car and he starts to hiccup....that makes it tough for him to sleep. He did finally get to sleep on the way back.

In the evening, we went to the display gardens. Near the end, we visited the tractors. We had him do this model pose with sucked in cheeks.

he's supposed to look angry

Then lastly, a weigh in for the car. It says 3,780 lbs on the right side of the photo. Normally they use that for agriculture, but we have taken a use to it ourselves.

103

Another day of great morning weather and rainy afternoon weather. For the morning, we all got out to Pope Farms to enjoy some non-weekend time there. There were very few cars.

It looks like they are not planting any sunflowers this year. However, nothing is more fun than running through a row of corn.

he looks like a giant

Then there was this other fun video. The waves of the wheat.

Here is another photo showing the gardens at the farm. This is all new this year.

The afternoon drive took us on the back roads to Indian Lake and the Stone Farmstead Ruins.

she liked the red barn

the ruins

The craft of the day was supposed to be painting of bird houses outside, but it started raining and really didn't stop, so we had to wait on that one another day. Our craft then became the game I had made and wanted to try out on the family.

trekking across the USA

102

The last few days have had a lot of pictures, so I'll go a little less on today's blog.

Today was warm in the morning, and had a cool stretch with rain in the afternoon. The trip to the playground took us to Sunset Ridge Elementary. The playground has certainly been played on, but it was a good change of pace. Here he is liking the steering wheel.

he's all serious into this thing

Then we went down the roller slide...I'm not sure if that is the name for it, but it is bumpy fun.

The afternoon drive down Rocky Dell Road took us past a turkey vulture out for lunch.

they really are amazing animals, they clean up what others won't

The craft of the day was to paint our own house. Very fun to see what everyone decides is important to include.

In the evening, we walked around our West Towne Mall. We always seem to walk around places that are the lesser seen parts of the mall, like this loading dock at JC Penney.

no, I didn't find any money, but I was lookin'