Fishin' with Grandpa Jeff

The kids and I spent the majority of Memorial Day weekend in Monroe.  We were able to travel down on Friday afternoon and got to town by 4:00.  We headed right over to Grandpa Jeff's for a trip to Yellowstone Lake to catch some fish!  After we got everything loaded and ready we headed out to the lake.

We didn't do any boat fishing, we just hit the shore to try to find some crappie action there.  Nathan was super excited to use his Batman pole again!

While Mads used her trusty Dora pole:

Waiting for the first bite:

The first fish actually went to Grandpa Jeff.  He walked a little further down the shore and when he came back he had a crappie!  Grandpa put the crappie on a rope and put him back in the water since he was a keeper.  The fish would occasionally flip and splash and scare Mads, so we didn't think anything of it when she started jumping around because a fish was splashing in the rocks.  She told us she had a fish, but we didn't see any fight on her line.  Lo and behold when she reeled it in - she did have a fish!  The smallest one in the entire lake, I think!  :)

Since we weren't having much luck in our first spot on the shore, other than Grandpa's crappie and Maddie's little guy we moved to a new spot.  Mads had pretty good luck at the next spot, she brought in two more fish!  One jumped the line before we got him all the way in and the other was definitely a keeper!

Yay Mads!

We then took a break for supper. Nathan enjoyed his peanut butter and jelly sandwich to the fullest!  

After supper break was over we got back to business.  Mads was brave enough to catch the minnows out of the pail to put on the hooks.  She wasn't afraid of them at all!

The disgusted looking face in this picture isn't because she's holding the minnow - it's because I was taking too long to take the picture and she was afraid the minnow was going to jump out of her hand!  :)

Next up was Nathan's turn to catch a fish!  He was using the "big pole" - not his Batman pole and he reeled in this Nate-sized fish.  He was able to reel it in mostly by himself!

He was so excited that he did his own "I caught a fishy" dance!

One last shot of Mads holding a minnow, this time with a better look on her face!  

All in all we were able to bring three fish home.  One from Grandpa Jeff, one from Mads & one that I caught.  Mads and Nate both had little guys that weren't able to be kept and Mads also lost another off the line.  We all were able to reel in a fish and we had a great time!

Baby BINGO guesses!!

Come one, come all and enter your guesses into Baby Bingo's online baby pool!

Another swimming session in the books!

On Wednesday, May 22nd the kids finished up another round of swimming lessons.  Nathan clearly dazzled the teacher - she mentioned to Andrew many times how well Nathan does in the water and even found me after lessons were done to tell me how impressed she is by both Nathan's willingness to do the activities in the water as well as Andrew's fabulous teaching with Nathan!  Nathan gets to graduate to the next level when he takes lessons again.

Mads did a great job as well.  I was a bit worried at the beginning of the session that she might not be in the right class (I signed her up for the next level without her actually graduating from the one before - nothing ventured, nothing gained - right?)  :)  I shouldn't have been worried she was able to keep up with the other boys in the class and she had a blast every time we went to lessons.  She would count the days until she could go back again.  Her report from this session is that she is making progress, but she needs to work on her breath holding for longer and her stroke strength.  I'm sure she'll master these skills in no time!

Mads ready to hop in for lessons:

Swimming on her own with a little assistance from the float belt:

Learning how to float on her back:

Nathan had a blast swimming with his float belt and barbell:

He even practiced blowing bubbles!

Mads is always excited to get in the water and swim!  She can't sit still on the side!

After lessons were done the kids were able to use the big slide as a celebration of completing class.  Here is the crew working their way to the top:

Dad & Nate popped out first:

Then came Mads!

Fun in the water before heading home!  Mads the underwater fish!

Nathan was excited to show me his sit dive:

Here's a video of some of the skills the kids were working on this session:

Taking off the training wheels!

On Tuesday, May 21st Mads took a giant leap into Big Girl world - she had her training wheels taken off her bike!  We have been talking to her for awhile now about taking them off and she was ready for the challenge.  Andrew helped her out the whole way, trying to help her get a feel for balancing by herself.  She's not quite ready for him to let go yet, but she's working on it!

It was Maddie's idea to put on all of her elbow and knee pads while learning to ride without training wheels.  Safety First!  :)

Dad helping her balance:

Nathan followed along for tips to use in the future!

Mads got going pretty fast and Andrew had to hustle along to keep hold of her!

Vdeo of all the action.  There is a spill off a bike in the video, but interestingly enough it's Nate that takes the digger - not Mads!

Mads knows that she'll have to practice on her bike without training wheels a lot this summer, but she's up for the challenge and asks to practice at least daily - if not more!  :)

A very important doctor appointment...

This morning Baby Bingo and I had a very important doctor appointment with a very CUTE doctor...

This guy:

 Dr. Nathan!

Dr. Nathan had fabulous bedside manner and took wonderful care of Bingo and I.  

Dr. Nathan did, however, decide that Baby Bingo is not ready to come out at this time.

After the doctor appointment I swung by the salon and the stylist there looked exactly like Dr. Nathan!   What are the chances!   (The stylist insisted that I could not take a picture of him, so I don't have proof - bummer) 

 I am now have a clean bill of health and am looking gorgeous!  It has been a great morning!  :)

WARM WEATHER!

Since I started this post on April 24th to celebrate the gorgeous weather we've been having there have been more fabulous weather days and some less than fabulous weather days!  I'll just keep adding pictures to this post to document some of the fun we've had outside this "Spring"  :)

April 24th:

Mads was able to break out her roller skates that she got for her birthday.  She was so excited to try them out!

A little tricky to balance, but she's getting it!

Video of her first skating adventure:

April 29th -

Practicing for the Packers!

April 30th - The first 80 degree day of the year!!!

Mads helped me do some weed pulling in the flower garden:

Big weed root!

Nathan was super pumped to be outside:

He got his first boo-boos of the year that day.  Here he is showing off his two scraped knees.  He also had a scraped elbow and a head bump.

HOPSCOTCH TIME!

Nate even got into the action this year!

Fun on the swingset:

That same afternoon we hit up our favorite park for the first trip of the year.  We just couldn't find a reason to be inside that gorgeous day!

Look at these monkeys!

Slide races:

Nate is now able to make it up the climbing wall without help:

After the park we went and hit up Lowe's to find some flower pots.  We found these GORGEOUS gardening hats too!

May 6th:

We were able to use the flower pots we purchased at Lowe's to good use!  The kids and I got crafty and spiffed up the front porch.  We painted our house numbers on the flower pots and then planted some "cotton candy" flowers we found at Menards.  I had big helpers that day.

Mads helped me plant the flowers in the pots:

 Nate helped water them:

 Finished product!  Thumbs up!

 May 7th - another day so wonderful that we couldn't spend a minute of it inside.  We ended up meeting some friends at the Menominee Park Zoo for a stroll around to see the animals and then an hour at the park. As many times as we go to the park and see the sign that says the giant turtle is out walking around the zoo we've never run into him.  This day, though, we were lucky enough to find him.  Two thoughts on this:  1. How do they find him at night to put him in his house and 2. That dude moves WAY quicker than you would expect a giant turtle to move!

Check this guy out!

 Nate took an upclose look:

 And Mads touched his shell to see how hard it was!

May 10th -

Our church had our First Annual 5K.  After the kids' race the Mads and Nate had fun playing with bubbles:

May 14th -

Nathan decided that he wanted to meet Daddy for lunch.  When we got to Daddy's office the kids found out that we were going to go for a picnic in one of the Neenah parks.

After our lunch was done the kids had a good 45 minutes to play on the equipment.  What's better than a new playground?!  :)

This playground is space themed - and TALL!  Can you see how high up the kids are?

 Even Andrew got in on the action!  :)

We are now looking forward to getting rid of the 50 degree rainy days that have been hanging around and onto a wonderful summer full of sunshine and time outside!  :)