Random driving leads to Childrens Museum

After planning a hike out of town, we changed plans because Sylv was too cranky. So, we headed into Madison to visit the zoo... but I missed the turn and ended up circling the Capital. So, I we decided to stop into the Childrens museum which is across from the capital building... and what a good thing we did. It wasn't crowded, and we had a lot of fun. - Probably everyone else took their kids to the zoo!

Becca led the kids in a wild bongo drum band.

Sylvia enjoyed driving her "baby" around the childrens museum, taking in the sights.



Mattias tried his rodeo stunts on a cow statue.




Asher also rode the cow, but brought along several other cow friends.

Sylvia loved the "Cow Room" and found a cow her own size to rock and roll in.

In the cafe section, Noel is ordering some stir-fry... but who is behind the counter?

Yes, it is Aunt Becca! Running the show, making sure Mattias doesn't hit the ceiling lights with the pizza's he was hand tossing.

Sylv proudly wears a cow vest while practicing her parallel parking.

I'm sure these guys are not wearing seatbelts officer! Toss 'em in the can!

A good day of fishing was found on the second floor. Mattias kept playing with the sharks though, and needed rescuing several times.


After all that hard work playing, everyone was ready for ice-cream. Where else in Madison does one go for ice-cream, but Ella's Deli! Here is a shot of part of the ceiling. - It is full of whirling, twirling, rotating clever toys. Imagine this picture spinning so fast, it is a blur, and you get the feel of the Deli.





Here is a house specialy, The Ragady Ann. It is a giant bowl of 9 scoops of ice-cream, with bananas, whip cream and all the toppings! These three finished it off in record time. We are thinking about trying the 32 scooper next time... we'll have to bring Sean along for that one!

AUNT BECCA is HERE!

My youngest sister, Becca, is finally here to visit! The party can now begin! - Much random giggling is anticipated.
In fact, as soon as her plane landed and we drove her to our home, she began tickling Sylvia with a giraffe tail. - (Becca is a pro with making stuffed animals talk. - A favourite talent with the two year old crowd around here.)

We took her on a walking tour of downtown Stoughton, ending at the library, where she played a cut-throat game of Candyland with Noel.

Sylvia's New Dresses

(Sean here)

Deb and I have very different picture-taking philosophies. She poses everyone, or at least tells them that they ought to be posing, before taking pictures. I try as hard as I can to be invisible when taking pictures, and catch people in the act of being themselves.

In the following pictures, I have to admit that Deb wins hands down. These are two beautiful dresses sent to Sylvia by Grandma Liz, taken by Deb.




"Hivie happy!", (translation: Sylvia is happy!) she said while pointing out bows and flowers on her dress at lunch today. :)

Asher at camp

Asher and Sean spent last night in the manicured woods of Wisconsin, at a Webelos scout camp-out. (They don't really mow their forests here... it was held on the property of one of the other scouts.)

A highlight was a large teepee they set up. There was a fire in it, and the boys slept together inside at night.

This is a sampling of Sean's tricky photography skills. They had this dream-catcher hanging inside the teepee.

The boys work on ar projects, studied trees, hiked, cooked and whittled. But of course the best part of camping is just standing around, poking the fire. Below is a picture of Asher and a couple other cave-men cub scouts.

Fishing Tuesdays

This summer, the homeschool group we are a part of has started "Fishing Tuesdays". Another mom in the group, Ann Puser, has picked a different park to fish at through the summer. The kids fish, or dig in the sand and wade. It has definately been one of our Wisconsin summer highlights. All of the kids get so excited and gather around yelling whenever one of them catches a fish.
Today was a stellar fishing day for Mattias. He caught SEVEN fish, one of them was this large mouth bass.

Sylvia enjoyed wading in the water... this is a close-up of one happy baby face.
Here is some of today's fishing buddies. Daniel Pusar is in the middle, and is our group fish ID expert. His little sister Eva has the reddish hair and is an expert sand digger.
We are thinking of continuing this group into the winter, for ice-fishing. That would be an adventure!

Hinkypunk Summertime Activities

What do hinkypunks spend hours doing in the summer? Well.. wonder no longer. Below is a rare insight into their daily lives.
First, feast your eyes on the best outfitted action figure on the block. The boys spent hours making various swords and shields for him.


Here is the armoury. It has a wide selection of shields, swords, pikes, lances, and a bow.
The armoury continues to grow, and I am informed that it is now a "billion times improved." This is very likely, since my whole roll of aluminum foil is now almost empty.

Here is the master armourer at work. Notice the sweat on his brow from the hot fires of his forge.

The armoury also doubles as a writers-center. This weekend we re-arranged the boys room (also know as semi-annual cleaning day). They now have a place for the typewriter Asher bought at a garage sale this month. I often hear "click click ding" coming from behind closed doors. They produce weather reports, stories, and general announcements of great importance. The boys also have a place for the encyclopaedia set they bought at the library book sale. Mattias uses it to research tornadoes. More on that later.

And here is Sylvia, the most amazing computer navigator of the family. This picture was taken to commemorate the moment she learned to "click" on a mouse. It has opened a new range of game playing possibilities for her. This sit shown is one of the families favourites, Boowa and Kwala songs, at http://www.uptoten.com/kids/boowakwala-home.html
This site has fun songs and games in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.

We tried to capture Noel in a free time activity, but she is usually reading or swimming. Due to a lack of underwater camera, we'll continue trying to get an exciting picture of her reading. Stay tuned!

Stuffed animals show soccer game styles

This is how Mattias entertained Sylvia during Asher's soccer tournament. He wove willow crowns for them both, and some necklaces for her stuffed animals. Syvlia kept saying "ee-aa, Tie! Tie!" Which translates to "Mattias, tie this on." She was very loud, and the whole soccer crowd was aware of her, but she was happy, and Sean and I got to watch the whole game!

Family Vacation to Nauvoo

The Hinkypunks and parents are expanding their territory. They took a family vacation to a new state... Illinois. We now understand why they are called "Flatlanders". We visited the city of Nauvoo, with an LDS temple, and much church history. It was set on a beautiful hill, overlooking the Mississippi River.


We visited many living history buildings the church has set up in the old part of town. One of our favorites was the wheel wright shop. They showed us how many pieces it took to make a wagaon wheel. There was a sudden demand for wagons and wheels when thousands of people had to exit Nauvoo due to persecution. Below is a wheel hub.

Getting an even wheel was a tricky business. The hinky punks were impressed.

In the Blacksmith shop, the blacksmith made a mini-horse shoe for Sylvia since it was her birthday that week.
Here are the smiling children, in front of an oxen shoeing stall. They are glad they are not going to have horse shoes put on them.
Sylvia's favorite part of the brick kilns was climbing on the bricks.

Sean and Deb both had ancestors who lived in Nauvoo and were chased out. We went to the lands office, and visited the plots in town where their homes once stood. Here is Sean in front of a Harris plot of land. Since the Harris family was converted in England and travelled to Nauvoo after it was settled, he had a plot farther from the river, up on a hill.


Here is the plot of land belonging to one of Deb's ancestors, Theodore Turley. He was the first LDS settler to build a house in Nauvoo. It is down in the old part of town, close to Joseph Smith's home.
We also visited Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were shot. I didn't realize you could still see the bullet hole in the wooden door where the mob shot into the room. The boys were in awe.

Here is a part of the upper level where they would lock up dangerous prisoners. It was very dark and hot. It would get up to 120 degrees in the summer.
The statue of Joseph and Hyrum at Carthage.

Here is the tribe, minus the mom-photographer, in front of the Nauvoo temple, at dusk. Sylvia was creative in her posing.
Here is another picture of Sylvia's face she pulls when she sees a camera. I'm sure she learned it from a senior Hinkypunk.
This is a view of the temple at night from Parleys Street. We walked along and read excerpts from pioneer journals, that were posted along the road. Parleys St. is the main road that leads down to the Mississippi river. In February 1846, wagons were backed up for miles, as thousands of people and thes of thousands of livestock rolled down it to leave Nauvoo.
One of our favourite parts of the trip was sitting on the grass outside the picket fence surrounding Joseph Smith's house. It was evening, and the old part of the town was quiet. Everyone had gone up to the Visitors Center and the main part of town to see some of the entertainment the church puts on. We could see the Mississippi, hear its birds, and imagine how beautiful the place must have been to those who lived here earlier.
Noel started making clover chains for everyone as we sat on the grass. It turned out into everyone wearing clover crowns and necklaces.

A Hinkypunk on alert. (Mattias)
Asher looking a little confuse in his lopsided crown.
Sylvia looking like a nature princess in her clover accessories.
Sylvia got into the decorating act. She would follow Noel around yelling "Wait! Wait!" and try to stick random clover buds into hair. I am modeling her first attempt at clover hair fashion. It was later to become a hit with daisies at a midsummer fest we held.

All in all... it was a good trip. Swimming in the pool, watching the folk dancers, and eating pudding snacks are highlights not pictured here.

First Wisconsin Camping Trip

Our first Wisconsin camping trip was at a secluded lake called Bloody Lake. (The kids were in awe that it got its name from an indian battle so fierce that the dead bodies turned the water red.) What you do not see in the picture are the thousands of giant frogs, which sounded like a deafening cello/kitchen blender duet all night.


As soon as we got the tents set up, Sylvia was sold on camping. She played zip and unzip, go in and out, of the tent for hours. She was happy to play inside it while the rest of us fished.



Here are the might fisher-people. The following morning, the boys caught a catfish, and what might have been a bass. We cooked them up to supplement our breakfast. Mostly they caught the overhanging branches you can see in the picture.



Sylvia enjoyed her first s'more. - She loved roasting her hot dog and marshmellows in the fire with the big kids.


... and a good time was had by all.