Planes, Tractors and Swimming!

A tour of the Fox River Valley - that's what we'll call it!  :)  This past week has been another busy one, but it's all been local fun!

It started on Thursday when one of the patients at the office generously offered me his EAA wristband.  He said that he had gone to EAA that morning with his 2 year old son and wouldn't be going back, so if I wanted to use it I was welcome to it.  Andrew works until 7:30 on Thursdays so I thought we'd give EAA a try!  I had never been there before and always wondered about it, but the price is pretty steep and I didn't want to pay if the kids didn't like it.  So, the kids and I headed down to the EAA grounds after I was done with work and took a look around.  We only walked down the main aisle and I know we missed a lot, but the kids did have fun seeing the big planes and the ones in the airshow that were doing flips!

This was pretty neat - it's the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital.  Apparently the plane is equipped to perform eye surgeries right in the plane.  Pretty cool.  

Mads and the "shark plane"

Nathan is the little dude under the wing...

The Goodyear blimp flies over the FedEx plane:

Watching the air show:

Mads liked this red plane:

They both thought this little guy (a mere $95,000) was a good one:

EAA AirVenture 2012!  (Nathan didn't want any part of more pictures by this point!)

On Friday morning we were running errands and saw that the blimp had landed.  Pretty big!  But not as big as the one that came either last year or the year before.  Oh wait...  as I think about it, I believe that one was technically a zeppelin!  :)

Also on Friday, there must have been an air show featuring fighter jets.  Mads & Nathan were napping and the jets flew over and were so loud that they woke the kids up.  We went outside to see what was making so much noise and when one of the jets flew overhead again Nathan covered his ears and started crying it was so loud.  Poor dude!  

On Saturday the kids were lucky enough to be able to join Aunt Jill, Uncle Eric, Claire and Nick on their annual trip to the Symco Thresheree and Tractor Pull.  The thresheree has been a tradition with them for many years and we always hear about it, but have never experienced it.  This year the kids got to go along!  From what I hear it sounds like the kids had a blast.  Mads already told Aunt Jill that she can't wait for next year.  I guess we'll have to mark it on the calendar now!!  (These pictures are from Aunt Jill!)

Nathan enjoying a brat for lunch:

Wading in the river with Aunt Jill:

Mads and Nick fighting with sticks:

Enjoying ice cream in their matching shirts!

Watching the tractor pull:

How cute is this!  Nick & Mads - hanging out:

The whole crew:

Mads with Uncle Kevin (Uncle Eric's brother) and the tractor that he pulled with:

Nate & Uncle Kevie:

On Monday we continued our fun in the area by going to Waupaca!  I had the day off from work and so did my friend from work, Heather.  She lives in Waupaca and told me about this great swimming pond they have.  I said we were in and headed up for the afternoon.  This pond is amazing!  It's roped off and it's only as deep as Maddie's armpits at the rope.  The water is clear and there's a nice sandy beach.  The kids had an absolute blast!  Mads swam with Heather's kids and Nate found a spot in the shallow water where he could play with the bucket and shovel!  We had lots of fun in the sun for 3 hours!!

Nathan wades in:

Floating:

Mads floats over:

Practicing blowing bubbles:

Cuteness!

Floating on his back:

Mads takes a floating break:

Nathan and Hannah:

Mads and Noah:

The crew:

Nathan's spot playing with his bucket.  He made a new friend, too.  This kid came over and they played together for at least a half hour.  Wasn't life so simple when you were a kid?  :)

The crew on the beach!

So much fun - I don't want the summer to end!