Super fun splash pad pictures!

Today was a much needed day off for me and the kiddos.  I've worked the last seven days in a row, one of them being an 18 hour day, so the kids were definitely missing out on Mommy time.  

Since the high temperature for today was forecasted to be 91 degrees with heat indices in the 100's we hit the park early this morning.  We were at South Park by 9:15 and played a bit on the playground before Jen, Isaac, and Isiah joined us for some splash pad fun!

Nate's a motorcycle dude!

Nate and I rode on the teeter-totter together for at least ten minutes.  So fun!  :)

 Mads is super proud of her strength accomplishments this summer.  She's mastered the swinging monkey bars as well as single bars that you go across with your hands stacked in front of one another.  (Does that make any sense?!)

 She's no longer afraid of letting go and using her leg strength as well!

 What a monkey!  Look at that determination!  :)

Then it was off to the splash pad!  Mads and Nate just LOVE the splash pad.  Running amok in spraying water- what could be more fun?

I don't even need to caption these pictures - just look at the amount of fun they're having!

 My kids are so fabulous!!  LOVE THEM TO PIECES!  

Two Months

Monday, August 19th

Two Months.  Eight weeks.  61 Days.  

Those descriptions make the time seem very short, but to me it feels like an eternity.  An eternity since my heart was broken into millions of pieces.  On some of the days it even feels as if each of those million pieces is breaking again into a million more pieces.    

I've seen Amelia in the day to day.  She shows her presence when I need it most.  Like the day I went grocery shopping and pink roses were on sale by the front door.  Or when the sky looked so beautiful, almost like an opening into Heaven.  

We went to visit our beautiful girl on her two month birthday.  We took along two pink roses and a birthday gift that Madeline chose all by herself.

Laying our birthday roses next to all of the other beautiful flowers that friends and family have brought:

Placing her gift:

Happy Two Month birthday sweet Amelia:

Mads always has kisses for her sister.

We love you so much, sweet baby girl.

~**~

This is Amelia's birthday gift.  Mads and I were shopping in one of the Downtown Oshkosh stores on a Saturday and Mads found this dress.  She told me it was super pretty and Amelia would like it.  I agreed it was pretty and that she would have liked wearing it, but then we left the store.  When we got home I was upset that I didn't let Mads purchase the dress for her sister.  So we went back later in the week to purchase the dress.  My precious Mads said that she wanted to give the dress to Amelia for her birthday and that God would come to get the gift and give it to Amelia for us.  We wrapped up the dress and left it for God to pick up.  I'm sure Amelia looks gorgeous in her new dress from her sister.

New crew members at the GCHD!

Since we got to Monroe for the picnic at Rhode's Park on Sunday, we stayed in Monroe until Monday afternoon.  Since we were in town on a weekday we were able to swing by the Green County Highway Department to see what Grandpa Jeff was up to!  (We did see some of the action in 2011 - but that was two years ago!)

Our first stop was the garage.  Grandpa showed the kids the trucks that are used as plows in the winter and work trucks in the summer.  Nate was so excited to sit in all of the big trucks!

Mads took a turn on the CB radio.  10-4 little Pickle!

We then walked over to the salt shed, or as it is known in the Wunschel family - the "Dalt Shed."  You can thank cousin Ryan for that!

The shed wasn't super full of salt, but you can see that there definitely was a lot there!

On our way over to another garage we went past some culverts.  Our little raindrops took a walk through:

Which was then followed by a race!

When Grandpa opened up the next garage door to show us the Highway Department's newest truck we were in awe.  There in the garage was an Oshkosh Corporation truck, fitted with Monroe Truck Equipment parts.  Now, how neat is that?

Look how big this beast is!

A piece of Oshkosh in Monroe!

After seeing the big Oshkosh truck we headed back to the main office.  We did stop at the Sign Shop first, which was super cool to see the guy hand making a road sign, but I didn't take any pictures.

Before we left Nate helped Grandpa with some calculations.

What a cute little stinker!

We had a fun visit at the Green County Highway Department!  Thanks Grandpa Jeff!

Hanging with the family at Rhode's Park!

We had an absolute blast on Sunday, August 18th hanging with the Wunschel clan at a location that can only be classified as a family secret - Rhode's Park.  It's a little clearing hidden along a creek in cornfields outside of Monroe.  I have so many memories of summer days spent at the park with my Grandma Selma and Grandpa Pete, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Lots of great pictures from the 80's of us at the park in our photo books!  :)

The next generation of kiddos had fun running around the park just like we used to.

The swings from the tree were a big hit!

And of course the little bridge across the creek.  I would link you to the video of me taking a digger on the bridge circa 1988, but there was no Youtube back then!  :)  So here's Nate waving on his walk across it.  (The bridge seemed so much bigger when I was little!)

Kenz, Mads, Nate & Gavin hanging out and watching the activities!

Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Marie with their stateside grandkiddos!

The tire swing was super fun, too.  Especially when the kids figured out that if the tire was going one direction and the regular swing came at them the other direction you could have some near misses that made for lots of giggles!

This picture is too awesome - the boys!  They look like they might get into some shenanigans!  :)

We had so much fun with the extended Wunschel crew!!  Maybe we can get down to the park again next year!  What do you guys think?

Camping at Long Lake

A campin' we will go!  

We headed out to Long Lake (Part of the Kettle Moraine North area) this past weekend with our friends, the Grolls.  We've never been to Long Lake before but it is a favorite, and close, location of Joe & Holly.  As soon as we pulled in and had our camper set up the kids were on their bikes!  

There was a nice paved path from the road to the bathrooms that went between our site and the Grolls'.  We could see the kids the entire way down the path so it was perfect.  I'm sure Mads and Nate put on a lot of miles going back and forth!

Mads loves riding her bike without training wheels!

Wheee!

Look at Nate go!

Fly-by shot!

Friday night we had naked tacos for dinner (Barby's recipe from our Tunnel Trail camping weekend) and made pudgie pies with the apple and cherry pie fillings straight from Door County.  YUM!

Saturday we started with a nature hike.  Mads and Nate both had their binoculars ready to go.  (Nate didn't want to be a part of this picture)

Gorgeous colors along the trail:

The hiking kids!  How adorable is this picture?!

Working our way up the hill - taking a look at the scenery below:

This picture is so precious!

Almost to the top - looking out on the hills left behind by the glaciers.

Poor Tater had some issues with mosquito bites, just like Mads and I.  Unfortunately he had some bites on his head that swelled up to golf ball size bumps.  He never even itched them!

Poor little Lumpy Head!

A picture of our campsite.  We were the general site for our meals and fires.

Look, more bike riding!

After lunch we headed to the lake for some swimming.  Nate rocked some new trunks I found on clearance for $4.  What a stud!

MUSCLES!

I love my kids so much!

The start of a splash fight:

Mads decided to make a sandcastle.

Morgan jumped in and helped as well:

Mads got as far as this and when she left to find decorations for her castle...

this is what happened.  Nate squished it down!

After the sandcastle squish the kids focused on bringing in water.    Look at strong Nate!

He decided to wash Andrew's feet:

Mads brought some water in to make a moat:

Splash!

Then it was time for a sandcastle competition.  Morgan and Mads against the boys was the original teams, but Nate wanted to help the girls and Joey didn't want to partake.  So it ended up being younger kids against Connor.

Team Youngsters final project:

The girls with their final castle!

After swimming we went into Dundee a tiny little town nearby to get some ice cream at the Hamburger Haus.  I should've taken pictures as the single scoops of ice cream were more like quadruple scoops!  (By the way, Dundee was the site of an Extreme Home Makeover in 2006!)

We took another hike when we returned to the campsite after ice cream and then had dinner.  Mads and Nate were begging us to go to bed, but we made them stay up to do sparklers.  (I'm not even kidding with that statement!)

Action shots!

Look at how fast Nate's arm is swinging!

After breakfast on Sunday we packed up and were out of the campground by 9:00.  The kids and I had to be in Monroe for a family picnic and Andrew had church things to do.  We had a super fun time camping with the Grolls - all I wish is that the kids and I weren't at such odds with the mosquitoes!  :)