When my friend mentioned doing the Madison Mud Run on October 29th, I was a bit skeptical. First of all, I have never even done a 5k, let alone a 4.6 mile course complete with time hindering (and body bruising) obstacles. However, the adventurous side of me was like “sure.” Several months later, I found myself wearing my work out gear at a park in Verona on a 36 degree October morning surrounded by people in hysterical costumes. All of us were hopping up and down in some attempt to stay warm and trying to forget that the first “obstacle” we will be subjected to after running past the starting line would be a hip high (waist for some of us) ditch full of icy cold water. Did I mention the the fact that you sank down into 1 foot of muck as soon as you stepped in?

It really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. By the time we got to the ditch, I was already warming up. While it was no relaxing bath, it wasn’t as much of a shock as I thought it would be. The hardest part was getting out (I almost couldn’t reach the board to grip). I was lucky enough not to need to push in the rear one of my other friends received to help crawl out of the muck. The next difficult task was making my now numb legs work again. While I did not necessarily feel cold at that moment, my legs were numb and it felt like someone had tied some lead weights to my ankles somewhere in that water.

At any rate, I kept moving and we came to some other obstacles. Some were easier than others. As I came up on a wooden wall with little plastic “rocks” screwed to it, I thought, “Okay, I can do this–not too bad.” I managed to haul my rear over that one. I hit the ground only to spot a second wall just up ahead. As I approached and looked for more toe holds I saw that there were none and stopped in my tracks. What? I barely managed to jump high enough to get my arms under me and a knee up (but meanwhile whacked the heck out of one knee–I have a lovely bruise to show for it). But I did it! I hauled my ass over that wall with nothing to climb and no assistance. If it had been any higher I would have needed that butt boost.

Further on my adventures included running up a soapy ramp, and climbing through a soaped up tunnel (going up hill, no less–but at least we got to slide back down on the other side). I also took an awesome slip and slide ride down a long hill, then ran wet and soapy through a bounce house in which we had to climb up and slide down (that sounds easy, but try it wet and soapy some time). There were several other things sprinkled in there, but the best was last. As I neared the end of the race, I ran up to a huge mud pit which I was meant to traverse on my hands and knees. It felt pretty gross, but I must admit, it was pretty fun.

In the end, I was battered, bruised, a little sore and hyped to do it again next time. Honestly, it was a blast. I was frozen when I started to cool down, but I am really proud that I was able to complete it. I placed 50th out of 197 in my division (Women 30-39) and 145 of 601 women over all. My over all finish was 307th, but I don’t know how many people there were total. In the end I am pretty proud because I ran (albeit slow, but still ran) nearly the whole way. I stopped and walked a few times for 15 seconds or so–just enough to catch my breath a bit. I didn’t really train for it, either, unless you count my usual gym activity (doing various classes 3-4 times a week). I really am in the best shape I have ever been in though. Hopefully I can keep that going and be in even better shape next time (that is if I can fight the vicious Halloween Candy Monster sitting on my counter….)

Who wants to do the next Mud Run in May!?

First let me re-cap our day. We were pretty busy for the most part. I got up and got everyone fed and ready so we could meet some friends on the East side of town to play at a park. The kids had fun, it was a beautiful day–warm and sunny, but still a nice breeze.

We came home and jumped on our usual routine–lunch, and then nap for the boys. (Or rather, the nap that wasn’t really a nap as both boys had slept the last 10 minutes of the ride home–thus re-energizing themselves enough that they would not sleep again). While the boys napped (er… hung out in their cribs making noise, playing and intermittently fussing), the girls and I had some fun dying play silks with Kool-Aid. (Playsilks: think silk scarves used in play–they are really quite fun and can be anything from dress up clothes, baby blankets, dancing props, picnic blankets…whatever). The girls had a blast with that project and even more fun playing with them once they were dry. They are still playing with them this morning and are very proud that they put the color on themselves (they were white to begin with). Once we got the boys up, and snack was eaten, we sunblocked up again and sat by the pool. That sound so much more glorious than it really was (well, for me anyway). The kids had a fabulous time in the kiddie pool. I had fun playing lifeguard :) After a couple hours, it was time to go in, get dry and start dinner.

Dinner was delicious–we made one of my favorite dishes: Apricot-Ginger Glazed Salmon. So simple, yet so yummy. Even the kids will eat this one–and all of them are very fussy about which meats they will eat, and how they are prepared.

After dinner we split into teams. There was much sunblock and sand to be washed off of the 4 small people in our charge. It was boys against girls- Adam bathed the boys in one bathroom, I bathed the girls in the other. The boys were done first (they don’t have all that hair to wash! Nor all the pretend play that seems to happen whenever these 2 girls get together). Once everyone had hair combed and were properly jammified, the 2 teenies went to bed, and we set the girls up with popcorn and a movie. Finally, the man and I got to relax for a while. The girls really didn’t need us much while their movie was on, but once bed time hit, I knew any relaxation would be over. The teeth were brushed, the tucking was done. A slipped out with a goodnight and wandered back downstairs (with monitor in hand because I knew they would need a little bit of “supervision”). I sat down in my chair, with a sigh, and flipped on the monitor.

Yes… Let the giggling begin.

There were no less than 10 treks made up the stairs by us (mostly me) in the next hour. There were tiffs to mediate, shushing to be done (Lidia’s room borders the boys room on one wall, and they were getting loud enough that they were waking the boys), and drinks of water to be gotten.

There was much giggling to be done, in proper little girl fashion. Of course, I expected this, and it did make me smile, fondly remembering my own sleepover days. After that hour, suddenly things became quiet and we knew that the exhaustion of the day had finally caught up with them. So they were asleep by 10:30–earlier than I had expected, really. Lidia is a master at keeping herself awake, no matter how tired she may (should) be.

I was hoping after this late night, they would sleep in–not so much luck, on Lidia’s part anyway. Lidia was up watching t.v. when I got up at 7:30 to get Liam up. Gavin slept til almost 8–Naomi, until at least 8:30 (I believe Lidia may have suck in and woke her up when I wasn’t looking).

All in all, however, it was a successful sleep over. Lidia had her usual melt down once or twice, but she is 4. What can I expect, really? She isn’t all that used to someone being here full time, getting into all her stuff (the stuff in her room that the boys aren’t allowed to touch).

Today, I’m hoping to take it a little easy and get some things done in the house (though that will be hard with the weather being so nice outside!)

I’ll leave you with a couple pictures from yesterday.

3 of the 4, enjoying the pool–Liam really preferred to splash from outside the pool…

Gavin loved being in the pool with the girls…

Liam stayed in the shade, a lot, too, so it made it hard to get any good shots of him…I guess he’s all about sun protection ;)

Awwww… BFF?

This weekend we journeyed to the pumpkin patch for a little fall fun. The Grents went with us, as did 3/4’s of the Tanck family. A great time was had by all–so much that Lidia just couldn’t handle it anymore. By the time we got home, Lidia was a total mess. This year we went to Schuster’s Playtime Farm, different than the place we had gone to the previous 2 years. They had this little barnyard area with some animals, a fort, some little sheds turned into themed play houses, slides, tires to climb on, a giant roller slide… Plenty or things to wear out the mini-people. They even have a little animal “train” (the engine looked a bit like an ATV ;) ) the kids could take a spin on. Of course, there was the traditional hayride to the pumpkin patch and the picking of the pumpkins. I genuinely enjoyed myself and I think everyone else did, too.

I’ll post a few pictures to be enjoyed here, but the rest can be found in the gallery.

This year, however, we conspired with the Wisconsin Grents and came up with the plan to spend a week in the Orlando area. Papa found a good deal on some time shares which made the whole thing much more affordable and plans were locked in place. While we weren’t too keen on trying such an adventure with just the 5 of us, 2 extra sets of hands would make it all much more enjoyable and relaxing.

Thus, Saturday the 15th of September, we packed the 7 of us and our load of luggage into the van and headed off to the airport. We received a few looks as we marched through the airport with 2 infants, a preschooler and 3 car seats. Boy, they should have seen us before we dropped off our luggage. On that note, Adam and I did manage to keep our luggage down to 2 large suitcases and one small one. That’s decent for 5 people, right? We did have some extra baby stuff that had to come with.

Anyhow, the flight was not bad at all. I really feel that having the kids strapped into their car seats made it much more familiar and comfortable for them. I nursed each of the boys once during the flight, Lidia was well behaved and we had minimal squawking and screaming. At one point, Liam was asleep and we began descending. He did some half asleep fussing on and off for about 5 minutes and then was out again. I have a feeling his ears were paining him, as mine were popping at about that time.

The hardest part came when it was time to un-buckle Lidia’s seat from the plane seat. The buckle was positioned such that it was in the middle of seat with the latch plate up against the back of her seat. I could not get the thing to let me lift it and release the buckle because there wasn’t space to lift it. I looked like a total dope. Even the pilot was like, “How’d you get it in there?” Well, you don’t have to LIFT the buckle release to buckle it, you just put it in. Finally, Adam suggested we try reclining the seat and that gave me enough room to unlatch the thing. I had bruised up/sore hand to show for it, though.

At any rate, we eventually made it here to the resort. Our “room” was essentially a small apartment with plenty of room for our family. Next door we the Grents in a identical (but mirror image) suite. Adam’s aunt joined us on Monday and it proved to be a lovely vacation.

Sunday and Monday we spent getting settled and just doing some pool lounging. Even the boys were digging the swimming. It was pretty hot, so I can’t blame them! We may have another fish on our hands in Gavin. Liam is a bit more timid, especially about water touching his face, but he still enjoyed himself.

Tuesday was spent at Magic Kingdom. Having grown up with Disney, I can’t help but have a special place in my heart for many of their stories and characters. Lidia had a fabulous time. She was in princess heaven and loved all the little rides. Even the boys enjoyed some rides. The Small World ride was like baby eye candy. They were both totally amazed, watching everything and looking everywhere. Occasionally you’d hear an amazed “Ohhh” come out of their mouths. It was quite funny. While the song was crammed into my head for the rest of the day, seeing the looks on their faces made it well worth the ride. For Lidia, I think the biggest highlight was meeting one of her favorite princesses.

Wednesday was to be spent at a water park, however, it rained for most of that day, therefore we chose not to go. Instead we bummed around the apartment for the day and went to Arabian Nights for dinner. My review on that? The food was alright–edible, but nothing fantastic. The show was a bit cheesy at times, however I still enjoyed myself and it kept me entertained. Lidia, however, had a blast! Watching how excited she was made my night. Every time there was a break in the store she would shout excitedly “What’s gonna happen next, Mama??” It was quite cute. So was so into it that she showed not the least bit of sleepiness during the show, even though we had the girl out a good 2 hours past her usual bed time. Gavin fell asleep early in the show, Liam stayed awake for most of it. He, too, seemed quite interested in watching. Over all, a good time was had by all and it was worth the trip (especially as we had discounted tickets into the show).

Thursday was another day at Magic Kingdom. We chose to do 1 park in 2 days, so as not to feel rushed or overwhelmed and I must say that turned out to be a great decision. We were able to see everything we wanted to see, and it didn’t even matter that we had to leave a tiny bit early due to a storm on Thursday. Lidia was even able to go on Splash Mountain, which my little thrill seeker loved. I would have taken her on it again had the line not been so long. I think we are going to have a roller coaster girl in her.

Friday we went to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney’s water parks. It was a nice, hot day for it. Lidia thoroughly enjoyed the kiddie area and even the boys did some splashing before they passed out for their afternoon nap. Adam and I were able to break off for a little while and spend some time together in the wave pool and on a few slides. They had quite the wave pool! This is the first of this type I have encountered. All the sudden there is a loud “BOOM” and a huge wall of water is coming at you. It knocked me back a good 20+ feet and that was even while holding on to Adam’s hand! We had fun, though. It’s been a long time since just he and I played together. Eventually we went back for Lidia and took her with us on one of those family raft slides. It was a pretty tame slide that 3 or 4 people could fit in one raft. There were water falls and such that pummel you on the way down. Lidia loved it so much that we took her on it 5 or 6 times. She would have went again if it weren’t almost time for the park to close.

Alas, Saturday came and we did a little bit of souvenir shopping before it was time to head off to the airport. The evening flight was slightly delayed due to a bit of a storm front that arrived in the area, but we eventually settled in for the trip home. Gavin fell asleep before we even boarded the plane. He stayed asleep most of the flight, but woke for a while toward the end. He was fussing a bit, just as our own ears started popping so we assume he was probably having a bit of ear pain. Liam fell asleep after take off and slept until we took him out of the seat after landing. Lidia fell asleep after the much anticipated warm chocolate chip cookie were handed out (supposedly something Midwest is “famous” for now?) I won’t complain, they were yummy cookies. After loading everyone back into the van, and making the drive back to Madison (we had flown out of Milwaukee), we arrived home just before Midnight.

So that’s vacation in a nutshell. We enjoyed ourselves and are glad we went. However, Adam could have done without the cold virus he brought home as a souvenir…and then shared with me. Liam is sleeping horribly again (while Gavin is only getting up once a night, yay!) so the combination of my being up much of the night and the cold is making vacation recovery a bit slow.

Seeing as how we had our hands full of kids or were directly involved in activities much of the time, we came home with very few pictures to show for our vacation. However, we are going to nab the Grents pictures so as soon as I get those, I will be posting some pictures in the gallery.

The last weekend in July, we headed off to see the Michigan family. We had a great time. Lidia especially enjoyed swimming in my sister’s pool with her cousins. We even got the boys in there, their first swimming experience. At first they were unsure, but after some time they relaxed. The weather was beautiful, we had a baby shower for my niece, and we even took the family out geocaching. I think it’s safe to say at least some of them are hooked! I’ll share one, but you can see more pictures in the gallery (a sub album of the Michigan Family album)…

Of course, I get a great picture of one boy and his brother’s in the background with his finger in his nose… Boys!

Also in the past few weeks, the guys have learned many new tricks! They both figured out how to put themselves into the sitting position from their belly–something that has made them quite happy. They learned this one day apart, too–first Liam, then the next day, Gavin did it. As shown in the previous videos, Liam also went from crawling backwards to crawling forward (and on all 4’s–not the army crawl). He’s a little shaky still, but he certainly gets where he is going. Gavin has also begun crawling on all 4’s, rather than his initial “army crawl”–which was quickly followed by the ability to pull himself up to his feet on the furniture! The video posted previously is only the 2nd time he managed to get to his feet. He did this as we were preparing to leave for Chicago for a family wedding. The guys are also eating mostly table foods with us now. They still eat some baby mush, but for the most part they are gumming away at our foods and loving it. Sometimes it takes a lot of energy to gum down all that food, as you can see from my Peanut Butter’s sleeping, messy face.

Last Wednesday, we went to Olbrich Gardens for their annual “Blooming Butterflies” event. We had a great time spotting the lovely butterflies and plant life, along with the various waterfalls and large pond Koi. Inside we were able to view the butterfly hatcheries and watch butterflies in chrysalises and brand new butterflies taking their first flight into the garden. Lidia remembered the “Butterfly Lady” from last year and was disappointed that the same lady was not greeting guests in her beautiful butterfly attire on this visit. We took a small stroll outside, too. I had not actually walked around the outdoor gardens before. They are breath-taking! I would love to go back some time just to enjoy the outdoor gardens.You can find an album with many pictures from our visit in the gallery.

This past weekend we took a small trip to the Chicago area to attend the wedding of Adam’s cousin, Robb. We headed down Friday night, so as not to be rushed on Saturday morning–a wise decision. We were able to do some relaxing and swimming in the hotel pool on Friday night–the boys’ 2nd swim experience. They seemed to enjoy themselves once they relaxed. Lidia–The Fish–loved it, of course.
The wedding was at a neat little church in the Ukrainian village area of Chicago. It was a lovely wedding and reception. We had a nice time! Worth the trip. My one regret was that in all the rush and such, I did not get a good picture of all 3 kids in their sweet formal attire. They were just adorable! I find that I have so many babies in my hands, there just doesn’t seem to be room for the camera, too! I did get some shots, though. I will share a couple here, but the rest can be found in–you guessed it–the Gallery!
By the way, Congratulations Robb and Theresa!! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us!

Lidia thoroughly enjoyed her first Kiddie Cocktail–and her first taste of soda (to my knowledge). She probably won’t taste it again for a long long time–but it was a special occasion, after all.

Liam was Mr. Grins all through dinner. He would get this look on his face every time I showed him pictures on the screen of the digital camera–it was quite funny.

Poor Gavin just didn’t have it in him to stay up and party past bed time. He just went to sleep instead.

As the weather was lovely and our Saturday was sliding into late afternoon, we decided some geocaching/outdoor time might be in order. We packed the family up and headed to the thriving metropolis of Beaver Dam and entered Stewart Park (Dane county’s first County Park! Established in 1935). This is a nice little park with some picnic shelters, hiking trails, a playground and a little lake. It was a fabulous place to spend a Saturday evening and best of all, the weather was perfec: warm, but not too hot, and a nice breeze. Even better–there were 2 geocaches to find within the park.

We made our way down a lovely hiking trail, stopping to examine butterflies, flowers and leaves along the way. The boys hitched a ride in their Kozy carriers (Gavin on dad’s front, and Liam on my back) and the Princess ran back and forth around us (I swear on every walk she must walk half again as much as we do!)
Lidia has taken to the sport of geocaching. She calls it treasure hunting. Her favorite part is digging through the cache to pick out that one special treasure to take home. Today she made quite the haul, for in one of the caches (conveniently placed in a very cool old stump such that *she* easily discovered the “treasure box”) contained something that every princess dreams of: accessories! Specifically, a complete set of beaded jewelry (necklace, bracelets, earrings and even a ring), sparkling in all its princess pinkness. She was in heaven, no doubt.

Whilst she reveled in her princess treasure, the little Jelly on my back enjoyed sampling the plant life. He used his Go-Go Gadget arms, and before I knew it, leaf was in hand and hand was in mouth. The sample was quickly extracted–and good thing, because judging by the expression on the boy’s face (and the “bleh” type sounds coming from him for the next 2 or 3 minutes) it did not taste as good as it looked.

We moved on to search for the next cache, which required us to go off trail and into the woodlands a bit. We found it easy enough and Lidia enjoyed partaking of the free-range organic blackberries, whilst I got poked a few times retrieving them. This is the first time she has discovered such a treat and she was quite excited to sample the berries. Of course we had to explain that not all berries outside were edible, and to check with mom and dad first–but she won’t be doing any solo hiking for a while, so that’s probably a moot point.

Anyhow, we finished our hike with some playground time. Peanut Butter and Jelly enjoyed the swings while Princess alternated between playing and freaking out over the bugs that were flying near her (that’s a whole other post).
I must say this was one of the most pleasant and relaxing evenings we have had in some time! Though, both of us were a wee bit sore the next day–my, we are out of shape…

Bonus shot: The rare photo of my husband and I together! (self portrait, as per tradition)

Since then she has endured our many a journey to that far off place known as Michigan. On average, with traffic and Lidia stops, it takes a good 7 to 8 hours to get there (or to get back). But, as half our family lives there, we make the trip frequently. She has never given us much grief about the long trip.

Enter the Teeny Twosome.

This past weekend we made what would be their 3rd trip to Michigan. Trip 1 went well, as they slept often in those days. The only catch was they were still needing to nurse around every 2 hours. Made for a long haul with all those stops. Trip 2 was a bit better. Not quite as many stops. The boys didn’t mind lazing the days away in their car seats. Trip 3? Well, as baby boys get older they become more opinionated. Our baby boys, in particular, think staying in one place for more than 10 minutes or so is just torture. (Couple this with the fact that they are not crawling yet and well, that’s just a whole ‘nother blog post that goes back to the Too Many Babies, Not Enough Mommy Theme).

Needless to say, this dislike for sitting still (specifically the action of *not* being held by someone) caused many an angry outburst from our little Peanut Butter and Jelly in the back seats, especially on our way home Sunday night. Mommy and Daddy finally worked their mojo and found the perfect combination of blankie, elephant and plug for Peanut Butter (G) and he was out like a light from Indiana to home. Jelly (L), on the other hand would have none of it. Finally (after many trips to the back seat by mom and dad–whomever was not driving at the time) somewhere in Illinois he passed out and slept the rest of the way home. *phew* Oh yea, we got home at 1am. A little bit later than we had anticipated (okay, a lot bit). In the end I guess we have just accepted that we will get there when we get there. It’s not really worth stressing. If we have to stop 50 times, we stop 50 times. It’s a long haul, but visiting the family is worth it. I think the guys will get used to it in time…

In the meantime, a couple pictures from our visit:
Here’s my sis Kim with Gavin and my adorable new Great Niece, Reese.

Here’s Liam chewing on his toes, whilst hanging out in my other sis, Roberta’s, lap.

August 12-15 we went up to Eagle River, Wisconsin for an extended weekend vacation. Adam’s parents go up there each year for a week in the summer. We stayed in an adoreable cottage (the same place they have stayed for a few years) that is right on Catfish Lake. It was a nice time, but it would have been nicer to have a longer stay. That was just not feasible with the need we will have of vacation time at the end of the year. Lidia had a good time, but was a little overwhelmed, I think.
She had a few issues with making good choices that made the last 2 days a bit difficult. (She has always had a hard time with unfamiliar places). We made it through just fine, though. Hopefully next year we will be able to take a full week!

When we came home, my family came for a little visit (my mom, my 2 sisters, my niece and 2 nephews) and they proceeded to clean my house for me and do all that yard weeding that I have not been able to do since being pregnant. I can’t say enough how thankful I am that they took the time to do this for us! What a weight off of my shoulders. It was hard to think of all the deep cleaning and stuff that I just KNEW I would not be able to do before these babies get her. Adam wasn’t going to have the time to do it, between working and taking care of Lidia in the evening when I can’t be up and around a lot. (Thank you again guys!!!!)

August 25-28 we went camping at Warren Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan. This is one of my favorite camps because of the beautiful beach! We usually go most years with my sisters families, and this year we invited the Tancks to go with us.

So somehow, (in an effort to save toll and gas money) we managed to pack 2 families worth of gear in the Tancks’ Trailblazer (don’t ask me how… but Jenny was determined).

The camp was nice, though it sprinkled on and off (mostly at meal times–so we’d get plenty of excercise taking everything out, then putting it away quickly) all weekend. We went down to the beach on Saturday and did some swimming, which was nice. The water was not too bad, for Lake Michigan and even I was in there some of the time. Lidia, of course, loved it. When we put the combination of arm floats and a swim vest on her, she was actually able to keep herself afloat. She thought she was hot stuff after that. “I fwimming!!!!”

My sis was nice enough to bring a cake along to camp, as a belated Happy Anniversary for Adam and I (Oh yah, that’s right, August 22nd was our 8th wedding anniversary!!). Well, imagine a decorated bakery cake and the nice little plastic container it comes in. Now, you know the noise that the cover makes as you take it off of the cake? Well, imagine the noise that plastic cover makes at 1:30 am, right outside your tent, as 2 excited raccoons are trying to rip it open and get their little hands on the goodies inside. It is a horendously loud noise, and not easy to identify at first. Ooops. We left the cake out on one of the picnic tables….. I of course am bolted awake by this noise. Eventually I say “what is that?” to which my groggy husband replies “it’s just rain or water off the trees.”

“What?? That is not rain, something is out there”

So the brave pregnant wife gets up to investigate (whilst the sleepy groggy husband stays in bed–nice…..). I put on my glasses and first shone the light out onto the table from the tent window. Reflected back at me are 2 sets of little green eyes reflecting in my flash light–attached, of course, to 2 chubby little ‘coons who are in HEAVEN because they have found this delicious frosted dessert just waiting for them on a picnic table. I mustered up my best threatening voice and hissed “Get out of here!” at them—right… They looked at me a sec, then kept eating. So I poked my head out the door and said it again…. the hesitated, but got down from the table. As I turned around to put my shoes on and go out to take care of the mess, both quickly ran up to take a few more bites. This time, they were not sure if I was serious. Even with me 3 feet from them, they were not about to leave their treasure. I had to pick up something nearby to whack the table and show them I meant business. Then they were gone and did not come back. Now I had to figure out what to do with the cake/garbage. Thinking back on it, I should have just dumped it out on the ground in the weeds and let them have at it… but I didn’t (sorry ‘coons). Eventually I *finally* got my husband to come out and take the cake (along with a garbage bag we’d forgotten) to the dumpsters. (No, I won’t be letting him live that down any time soon). Unfortunately, however, in the excitement I had left the tent door partially open. Quietly, a few mosquitos slipped into the tent and proceeded to feast on my daughter for the rest of the night. UGH! (Poor baby :( )
Sunday, we went to the beach after lunch, but it was a “red flag” day. This means the water and waves were rough enough that swimming was not encouraged at all. So Lidia mostly splashed a bit at the shore line, and we just enjoyed being out on the beach on a sunny breezy day. Eventually the air turned cold and we headed back to camp for dinner.

Sunday night was the kicker.

at around 1:30 or 2:30, it started to rain. Actually it was pretty much pouring most of the night. It finally slowed down around 8am, but by then we were already packing up our soggy camp. All of the tents ended up with water in some form (some worse than others!). Luckily, we only had a few small puddles of water, at the corner tent seams. Nothing to get too worried about. Eventually we managed to pack it all back up, wetness aside, and make our way home.

In summary, it was a fun trip, though. Little bit of wet and a few mosquito bites didn’t ruin the trip for us :)

August 30th we had our 25 week appointment at the “mama baby doctor” which included an ultrasound. Both babies seem to be growing well and doing just fine. We reconfirmed that baby B is still a boy, but Baby A we did not get a good look at this time around. They are both laying closer to a head down position now, so I’m secretly hoping they stay that way for good!

Mama only gained like 6 or 7 lbs time… I think that makes me needing to gain 10 or 15 more to get to the twin gain “goal”. That shouldn’t be an issue (though my tummy is getting squished these days, which is totally affecting my appetite). I had to do my Gestational Diabetes test (the infamous orange drink) this week. I haven’t heard anything back on it, so most likely it came out fine (yay!). Nothing really to report other than that. We go back on September 20th! (bumping up to every 3 weeks instead of every 4 weeks). Things are going fast!!

Yesterday, Adam’s family threw a little shower for us, which my mom, sisters and niece also came up to attend. It was so nice! We received a lot of gifts that will really help us get ready for these babies! So much less we have to buy. It has been a bit overwhelming realizing how much STUFF we need for these babies (things we didn’t need for Lidia because she was already 12 months when we brought her home). Clothes are one of the biggies as we have no teeny clothes and, well, we probably would like to avoid dressing the boys in pink after they are 12 months, too ;)

At any rate, it was a lovely day (though I was and am exhausted from it all) and it has really helped us immensely! Now it is time to buckle down and see just what else we need to prepare for these babies. Seems like we are running out of time….

We headed out on Friday night, and got off to a bit of a late start. After a very scenic and curvy drive (is this a road or a roller coaster?) we finally arrived in Blanchardville, where the instructions read to take a right on County Highway F. Well, we did this on the first F we saw and about 8 miles later (where the park *should* have been) we realized that something has gone wrong and back tracked back to Blanchardville. Apparently there are 2 F’s?? That’s not confusing at all, is it. Oh, it was the OTHER right turn on F. Yah. Anyhow, we finally made it there a little after 8 and began setting up camp. We had a great little site, but it was a little cramped with our large tents. We (The Bodettes) recently got a bigger tent, since ours needed replacing–and we opted for big since we are going to be using this tent for a long time and sleeping 5 in it! At any rate, you parked at the top of the hill, walked down a little path between some trees, and there was this beautiful little secluded campsite. It could have been just a little bigger, and it could have had some hammock trees. Other than that, it was great.

Finally camp was set up, the girls were all put into bed and Adam crashed. Meanwhile, the Tancks and I were starving, having not eaten since we thought we’d be to camp at a more decent time (apparently sleep won out over food for Adam). At 11pm Jason, our boyscout, was splitting wood so we could make a small fire and roast some Cheddarwurst. Mmmm.

While Jason is splitting wood, Jenny and I are standing, watching–holding lights and Cheddarwurst. Jenny was asking me if I wanted a bun–she would get another out for me if so. I declined, inwardly wondering where these “other” buns she was speaking of were, since I had not seen them. When we finally took the wood back to the fire, and the fire is starting, I was peering through the dark down to Jenny’s camp chair and noticed something interesting.

“Did you sit on your buns?”, I asked her. “What??”

At this point she picks up the poor little buns, which are now more like flat bread and we both start laughing hysterically. The best part is, she proceeds to peel them open and use them anyway. I nearly peed my pants. You really had to be there to appreciate it further, but at 12:30am or whatever time it was, this was quite hilarious.

Eventually, we settled down, the food warmed our tummies and around 1:30 or 2am we all retired to our tents to sleep for at least a few hours before the children woke up.

On Saturday, when we were finally all up and around (some families earlier than others), we whipped up a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. By the time we washed dishes and had everything put away, the boys ran to town for some ice (it was pretty warm–the ice was not faring well) we packed up lunch, put on swimsuits and took the boat down to the lake.

Lidia is quite the boat girl now, she was so excited that we were going for a boat ride. When we turned on the radio, she couldn’t help but do a little booty shaking…

After traversing the lake for a while, we found a spot near a bluff to throw anchor, put up a little bit of shade and have lunch. It was a fabulous little picnic! The dragon and damsel flies were quite interested in us, too.

Once lunch settled, we put on our life jackets and jumped into the water. It was refreshing on a hot day in the sun. Lidia was a bit nervous, but refused to come out of the water until she was ready. We swam for a while, then it was off to camp for nap time! Lidia, Naomi and Rachel took a nap. I took a bit of a nap, too.

Once nap was over, (since they went down late, that wasn’t until around 5) we headed to the little beach so the girls could play in the water and use up a bit more energy. They had a blast, but a sprinkling of rain put an end to that party (along with the need to head back and start dinner) and it was back to camp again. Luckily, the rain passed and we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening by the fire.

At around 2am Sunday morning, it started raining. It was still sprinkling on and off in through the morning, so we ended up having to pack up a wet camp. We ended up just letting the tents down and throwing them in the back of the boat (instead of trying to pack them away wet. Everything needs a good drying out, but all in all it was a very fun camping trip and we really enjoyed ourselves. I will post a new album with pictures from the trip sometime this week.

Friday, May 19, 2006 we spent the day at The Kalahari Water Park in Wisconsin Dells. Sara’s parents (Calebs grandparents) attend a convention there each year. Sara and Caleb usually go and since they had extra tickets with their room, they kindly invited the Tanck girls, Lidia and I to spend the day at the indoor water park with them! We did this last year when the kids were a bit smaller, but they had a total blast this year. Here is our little fish:

All the kids played so hard that they didn’t even get cranky until almost 4pm!! By then they were ready to climb into the car and pass out. I posted a few pictures from that day in a new album.

June 7, 2006 (last Wednesday evening) the Tancks called us to see if we wanted to do an evening boat ride, so we headed out on the water.

It was a beautiful night and we captured a few pictures of our little evening relaxation time. That is in another new album.

This past weekend we went to visit family in Michigan and had a nice time. We ran out to the horse farm with Roberta, Caleb and Courtney on Saturday evening and Lidia was quite excited to see the horses. She was quite the little farm hand.
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Here are some of the horses posing for a photo:
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On the way home, while driving through Illinois, we saw the strangest sunset! The clouds seemed to be coming up from the ground. They almost looked like flames!! I’ve never seen such a sunset.
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Okay, that’s it for catch up time now, enjoy the new albums!