Perfect Summer Days

Our 4th of July adventures included a trip up north that was shortened due to Teddy sleeping poorly the first night, lots of bugs that prevented being outside, humidity and the cousins going away on a day trip to see waterfalls. We all left the cabin a bit disappointed, but sometimes plans need to be adjusted rather than sticking them out and being crabby and tired.

Coming home a day early allowed us to visit the farmers' market and enjoy some tasty donuts, along with seeing Santa in July. I dare say that this might be the best picture with Santa we've gotten ... at least in the last few years. Teddy was intrigued rather than terrified, so that was fun.

Such a great Santa photo, at least for my boys!

Then my aunts came to visit, along with my Grandpa and one of my cousin's daughters. We had fun playing at our house before heading to a park for even more fun. It's amazing to see what Teddy can convince his great aunts to do, without even saying a word. Trust me, Teddy's rather persistent and convincing. Come to think of it, he'd be excellent and charades, as long as you can push, pull and physically direct people.

Teddy did remarkably well climbing this, chasing the older kids.

My uncle and his significant other came over later in the afternoon, so we had a fantastic supper on the deck with the kids running around the yard playing. We couldn't have asked for better weather because the humidity moved on, and there were so few bugs. It was truly a perfect summer afternoon and evening.

All the children lasted until dark to light sparklers with the torch that AJ designed and helped build, followed by three fireworks. (Dave's mom generously sent along fireworks and sparklers for AJ since he missed out on them by us leaving a day earlier than planned. She also sent enough food to feed my entire family supper. We're pretty darn lucky for a lot of reasons.)


For backyard fireworks, they were quite the show. Teddy loved the popcorn one and kept clapping his hands for it. Oh, and the kids all got to enjoy s'mores around the fire pit as well.

Teddy and sparklers = way more dangerous than any other child.

Today was even more fun at Bay Beach in Green Bay. It's a small amusement park with rides ranging from 25 cents to $1 for the Zippin' Pippin', which was one of Elvis Presley's favorite roller coasters. The little kids had the best time, and the adults tested how strong their stomachs were with the Tilt-o-Whirl, the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster. We followed up lunch with a walk through the wildlife sanctuary where the kids got to feed the ducks and geese along with a wounded deer. We also got to see a cougar, otter and foxes. We didn't get to pet or feed those, which is really a good thing. (I think Teddy wanted to ride the deer.)

It ended up being an absolutely wonderful summer weekend with great weather, family and many memories made.