Summer Fun

Whew! The past few weeks haven't left any time for blogging and frankly we have another couple of crazy weeks before things will settle down a bit. The highlights of the last few weeks have included the following,

Andrés & Lindsey's wedding: Tim and I were both fortunate to be a part of the wedding so there have been lots of showers, parties, etc leading up to the fun 3 day wedding weekend. It was a gorgeous day and Sofia was the "flower girl". I put that in quotations because the cathedral that they were married in does not allow petals to be thrown so Sofia was really a ring bearer in a flower girl dress. She was so adorable running down the aisle. Sofia also danced to her favorite song at the wedding reception in front of all the guests! It was such an amazing weekend because we spent three full days with so many different parts and generations of our family. Tim's family and mine have become closer over the past 6 years that we've been married so they were a big part of the celebration as well. A special thanks goes out to Tim's parents who helped us out with the kids so much on Friday and Saturday while we were busy with the rehearsal and wedding day/reception. On Sunday one of my aunts hosted a gift opening/lunch for our family and for the family members that flew in from different parts of the world for the wedding. My aunt has a house on Lake Nagawicka so it was fun to take everyone out on the boat. Oh, and Sofia didn't get a nap for three straight days and she handled it like a champ. The boys also missed their afternoon naps for two days and they were also troopers. The boys are used to being held by a lot of people so they didn't have any anxiety when being passed amongst all of the family that was in town.

Sofia getting a little encouragement to go down the aisle.

One quick family picture in between all of the festivities.

Now she wants a boat. Add that to the list that includes a pony.

Independence Day: We had an awesome day. We started out by watching Port Washington's parade and then heading to the lakefront for Port's 4th of July festival. We didn't last too long because it was incredibly hot and the kids were worn out from the parade and wedding festivities. While the kids took afternoon naps Tim and I hustled to pack everyone up for a camping vacation. We spent the evening at our neighborhood's 4th of July picnic at Lake Park. Our neighborhood/street gathers there every year to grill out, swim in the lake and watch fireworks. The park is on a bluff above the lake and there are steps right down to the beach. The fireworks are launched by South beach so Lake Park is an amazing place to watch them. So is our front stoop :) The kids just couldn't stay awake until 9:30 after such a busy weekend so Tim and I put them to bed and finished packing for our camping trip.

Camping in Peninsula State Park (Door County): The boys finally got to go on their first real camping trip. They did attend the fall 2011 Ruder campout at Devil's Lake but they were too little to sleep outside in that cold of weather. Sofia first went camping when she was almost 4 months old in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Anyways, we took a camping trip with Tim's parents and his brother and new wife, Susana. Tim and I got to the site first and we set up all of our gear and we let the boys explore in the dirt, I have never seen dirtier or happier babies. They absolutely loved camping. Sofia was so much fun to bring camping at this age, she loves to explore and go on hikes and bike rides but by far her favorite activity was swimming at the beach. She had a little turtle raft that she loved exploring with. She even sat on the end of a SUP (Stand Up Paddle) paddle board and let me paddle her around for a while. The biggest challenge was all of my kids missing their naps. It was way too hot in the tent for the kids to nap there during the day. So we resorted to lots of walks/hikes and let kids nap in strollers. Tim and I upgraded from our tiny two person backpacking tent to a 6 man family tent when we first took Sofia camping. I remember thinking back when we bought it that it would take years to fill it up. The joke was on us thought because that baby is now full! Our sleeping arrangements consisted of the boys in separate pack and plays and then Sofia shared a queen sized air mattress with us. Tim's parents were nice enough to stay back at the campsite with the kids for two nights so Tim, Chris, Susana and I could go see two shows at the American Folklore Theatre. It's a magical theatre that is literally in the middle of the woods. All of the shows are written by AFT and most of the shows are directly related to Wisconsin culture and it's history with lots of songs and jokes. This year we saw "Victory Farms" and "Belgians in Heaven". Both shows were great, I think Sofia will definitely be old enough to attend a show next summer. I have been going to these shows since I was a little girl so it was so wonderful to be back. After one of the shows someone in the audience was called on stage and proposed to his girlfriend, it's amazing how many people hold a special place in their heart for this theatre. We even took the kids to their first fish boil, the fish is boiled outside with salt, onions and potatoes and is served with cherry pie full of fresh cherries from Door County. The boys loved the fish and Sullivan was crazy about the cherry pie.

Even though she's standing in these pictures she did actually sit for a long time and we paddled around Nicolet Bay for a while.

"Mommy, my turn. I want to paddle."

One of the many stroller naps during camping.

Two cute guys enjoying the great outdoors.

Our fish boil dinner.

Loved the fries, not the fish.

The boys are the healthiest eaters, they loved the fish.

Ice cream after dinner.

Picture from the AFT website that shows what the theatre is like during the show. No joke, it is one of the most amazing experiences.

 Everett & Sullivan's First Birthday: Their birthday and party happened within 5 days of us returning from our camping trip so it was quite a busy week for us. Especially since Tim and I decided to storm the Bastille in the middle of the week. "Storm the Bastille" is one of my favorite fun 5ks in Milwaukee. It's a night race that kicks off the Bastille Days festival in Milwaukee. The run doesn't start until 9:30pm so we couldn't bring kids but my sister volunteered to stay at our house during the run so we could participate. We did it with my newest brother in law, Andrés. The rest of the week was busy with putting together the food and decorations for the boys' party. Their actual birthday was two days before their party so we were able to have some nice family time together. We took all three kids to Pirate's Hollow. Pirate's Hollow is the community pool in Port Washington and Tim and I remember driving by it when we were looking at houses thinking what an awesome bonus the pool was. We had no idea how awesome the pool actually is until we went with the kids. There is a beautiful kids area, high dives, water slide, lap area, etc. It is definitely challenging bringing three little ones to a pool but we had a ton of fun. Sofia and Everett both went down the water slide on our laps. After long naps we celebrated with a simple dinner and we sang to the boys and gave them each a slice of cherry pie from Door County with a candle. They devoured it! I feel like the luckiest woman alive when I sit at the dinner table and look at each sweet little face around me. The party was a ton of fun as well, I'll let that be a separate post though.

Cherry pie

This weekend we are heading out of town yet again for another wedding! We will stop in Madison on our way for the boys' 1 year pictures and then it's up to Tim's parents' house for Christopher's wedding reception. A proper post for the boys birthday will be coming in the next week or so. And hopefully I'll finally find some time to blog about a big change coming our way!