Generation gap

Noah has his tweeny friend over this afternoon, and they were getting packed up for Noah's baseball game tonight.  I spotted his jock strap on the kitchen table and said, "Noah, please get that sick thing off the table."  Noah and his buddy looked a little confused.  Then I remembered that the word "sick" means the total opposite of what it used to mean.  When they like something, they say, "Dude, that's sick!"

So I explained to them, "I mean 'sick' in the old-school way.  Back in my day, that word meant 'disgusting' or 'ill'."  They said "Oh! Ok then" and removed the objectionable item and went outside.  I looked after them, feeling pretty old.

attorney

Sometimes I'm shocked by what my kids don't know.
One of Sarah's spelling words today was "attorney".  She asked what it meant.  I told her it's the same thing as a lawyer.  She didn't know what that meant either.  I said, "It's what Uncle Jeff does...." and she said, "Oh! It's someone who says bad words?"

Fancy Superhero

Noah made this Captain America shield out of a paper plate.  He left it unattended for a minute, and Sarah cut fringe around the border. When Noah saw it, he was mad. 

N: Sarah! You cut my shield!
S:  I just added a fringe....
N: It's a Captain America shield!  It doesn't need fringe!
S:  Well I was just trying to make him fancier.
N:  He's a superhero!  He's not fancy!
S:  Not much of a superhero then, is he?

WI--last day

7:30 a.m.  We ate pretty much everything for breakfast.  Sausage, bacon, eggs, toast, blueberry pancakes.  After that, we spent most of the day at the lake.  The weather was perfect all day long.

Buddies walking to the beach

I was trying to take a picture of Sarah on the dock, but just as I snapped it, this guy walked in front of me. I was going to delete it, but decided to keep it, because it looks like the guy is carrying his little Sarah doll to the lake.

Noah did an experiment to see how many rocks the frisbee could hold before it sank. 

Looks like Noah is doing a Ninja kick and knocking that guy's head off.  I love perspective.

12:00 p.m.  Came home for a finishing-off-the-leftovers lunch. Then Amy, Dad, and I worked on a puzzle.

3:00 p.m.  packing, cleaning, eating, then back to the lake till bedtime. Beautiful sunset. 

One of my favorite pictures from the whole week.  Noah enjoyed this vacation so much.  He laughed and giggled almost constantly. 

Goodbye, Wisconsin.  Quite possibly our best vacation ever!

WI--day 6

Thursday, 6/21/12

9:00 a.m.  going to pick strawberries at Thompson's Strawberry Farm, about 15 minutes away.

This was a great place with no rules!  You could pick anywhere and eat as many as you wanted.

Sarah outpicked everyone!

Mike and I were crawling down the rows by the time we got done. 

We picked sixteen quarts!

11:00 a.m.  We stopped at a cheese store, grocery store, and gas station.  Gas was way cheaper here, so we filled up.  $3.39/gal.  $22.

12:10 p.m.  homemade pizza for lunch, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  There was an incident with a malfunctioning can of whipped cream that we won't soon forget.

2:10 p.m.  going to the Jelly Belly factory tour, which ends with free samples.

4:00 p.m.  I don't take naps, but I slipped into a Jelly Belly coma when we got home.

6:00 p.m.  hot dogs and s'mores, badminton, football, frisbee, and fishing.

9:00 p.m.  Another pool tournament.  Mike is now the reigning champ. Amy and I processed eight quarts of strawberries for freezing.

10:30 p.m.  Just finished a game of Bananagrams with Ben and Noah.  Kids' bedtime gets later and later....

11:30 p.m.  I'm thinking about going to bed. 

WI--day 5

Wednesday, 6/20/12

way-too-early a.m.  Boys out fishing.  Noah caught a 2-pound bass.

Uncle Jeff filleted it.

Noah was sad and disturbed by that process.

Uncle Jeff made the fish carcass talk, and flipped its tongue around and made it say "blub blub blub".

10:00 a.m. Fired up the jetskis, and that's all we did.  All day.

Mike and Noah tipped the jetski over and went into the drink on their first run. 

Mike towing Jeff.

Noah, Mike, Ben

Grandma and Sarah heading in to make lunch.

For the record, Mom and I were the only ones who didn't dump ourselves or anyone else into the lake.

WI--day 4

Tuesday, 6/19/12

7:00 a.m. pancakes and bacon.
8:00 a.m.  boys are going outside to play lawn darts, baseball, etc. before it gets too hot.

 10:00 a.m.  way too hot outside.  Boys are playing Wii in the basement....

...and Sarah is helping in the kitchen, where she's always eager to work.  It's my day to cook, so I enlisted Mike and Sarah to tear up lettuce and help make a cake.

1:00 p.m.  brats for lunch, followed by a pool tournament, with real brackets and everything!  I beat my nephew (only because he hit the 8-ball in).  My sister-in-law beat my son (he hit the 8-ball in).  I advanced to the semis, where I beat Mike (because he scratched on the 8-ball, which I didn't even know was a rule).  So it came down to my sister-in-law and me in the championship game.  It was neck and neck, and I was trying to sink the 8-ball...when I scratched.  So Amy is the reigning pool champ!

3:00 p.m. Sarah, Mike, Amy, and I got down with some Twister Moves.

3:40 p.m. Mike and Sarah are going out in the canoe.  Mike brokered a deal with the neighbor, Chuck, to rent his jetskis for the day tomorrow. 

 5:00 p.m.  Lots of Bananagrams.

6:30 p.m.  Chicken tacos.  Then some of us went outside for a rather intense game of Taboo.

9:00 p.m.  Mom and I are going for a walk. 
10:00 p.m.  Kids are finding their way to various sleeping places.  All are excited about jetski day tomorrow.

WI--day 3

Monday, 6/18/12

7:00 a.m.  breakfast
8:00 a.m.  frisbee with Noah
8:30 a.m.  fishing with the kids.  Noah fell off the dock into the lake with his fishing pole, shoes, and everything.

10:30 a.m. playing Bananagrams with Mike. 
12:00 p.m.  lunch
1:00 p.m.  Dad and I are going to Walmart.  The rest of the troop (minus Jeff, who is still missing since he took the canoe out this morning) is going to the beach.

4:00  p.m.  We're all home from the beach and freaking out about where Jeff could be.
4:35 p.m.  Jeff's back.  He beached the canoe and walked here.
6:00 p.m. ate leftovers and sandwiches.
7:00 p.m. playing Bananagrams with Mom, Dad, and Amy

7:45 p.m. Mike and I are going to rescue the canoe.

8:15 p.m.  Bingo with Dad, Amy, and all the kids.