Circus World, and beyond

   When Sean's parents came to visit earlier this month,  I purchased a family pass that would get us into all 11 Wisconsin Historical sites for a year. Now I am determined to see them all!  (Unfortunately for the kids, they are part of my evil plan to expand their horizons and have new adventures.)

 With a complaining crew of only 4/5's of the kids (Ephraim though it was a brilliant plan), we set off for a day trip to Baraboo, Wisconsin (about an hour north of us) to see what Circus World was all about.   Basically, it is a large area that the Ringling Brothers used as their wintering-over home starting in the 1800's, and has now been turned into a museum for tourists and school field-trips.

 They had a beautiful collection of the old circus wagons and carts.  It is amazing to think that these were hand carved, and then driven about in all sorts of weather.

 We wandered around a big warehouse, exploring all the different styles.

It was a cold day, and we were freezing.  Half my time was spent trying to keep Ephraim wrapped up in a blanket. You really don't get a sense of the freezing temperatures (the warehouse was unheated) in these pictures.

We took this picture with my mom in mind. It was the original wagon used in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. 

 In another building they had all the costumes used for the circus.  I'm not sure if we were supposed to try them on... but there were no signs saying otherwise.  Sylvia and Asher looked stunning in their hats.

 Ephraim wasn't sure about this fashion show, but I thought he made an adorable circus baby.

 It was a beautiful autumn day, just very cold.  The trees all along the river (which runs through the complex) were in full color.

 We chose the last weekend they were open this season.  Thus, we didn't get to see all the live circus shows and animal acts.  We did get to see one magician show, but it was about on the level of Asher's card tricks that he learns from youtube.  Nevertheless, the kids found fun activities on their own.  They had fun on the playground and on this old fashioned merry go round.

 We had the place almost to ourselves.  Sometimes it made me think of a desereted carnival set that you would see in a movie, with some sort of chase scene.  Below are the McMullin movie stars.

 Mattias has his own idea of fun... Sylvia was not so sure if she agreed with him.

 After visiting Circus World and eating a picnic lunch, we drove to a nearby natural preserve that I had heard was a nice place to hike, Parfrey's Glen.   Ephraim's first ride in the backpack was a success.

 We found a little creek off to the side of the trail that beckoned to the kids.  I am amazed we did not go home with all children dripping wet.  They have gotten much better at leaping from rock to rock in their old ages.

 It was a very pretty area, I'd like to go back and see more of the trail sometime.

 Asher felt very tree-climby.  He tried almost every one we passed.  Here he is realizing that climbing this tree could end in impalement. Utilizing his brilliant self control, he moved on to the next tree.

He finally found a perfect candidate for his next climb.

 I turned my back for a few minutes, and when I looked again, Asher was about 30 feet in the air.  (I don't know if you can see him in the picture below). I told him to climb down, Sean had already started looking around for branches to use for splints on broken bones.  This is how parents get grey hair.

Sylvia also got in on the tree climbing action, but she stayed a little closer to the ground.

 Noel was great at helping Sylvia cross over the creek on the stones.  This is probably how we avoided going home with soaking children.

 Noel's main activity was "cleaning the creek".  This entailed using a long stick to clear leaves and muck from between the rocks so the stream ran clear and fast.  She got a 10 foot section cleared before we had to leave... only a mile or so left.

Two things I learned from this trip: first, putting almost boiling water in your thermos means your hot chocolate will still be too hot to drink 6 hours later.  Second, if you go to places late in the season, the elephants will have already migrated elsewhere.

  I hope to go back next summer and see what Circus World would be like at high season.  We will definitely go back and hike more of Parfrey's Glen.   It ended up as a fun day.  I'm glad my complaining crew did not mutiny and toss me out of the van.  I think we all have fun memories from the outing.

Grandparent McMullin's visit

   Sean's parents came out to Wisconsin this past month to see their latest grandchild.  Liz enjoyed holding Ephraim while Brad helped Sean do fix-it projects around the house.

 Ephraim was at the sweet stage of opening his mouth wide and planting a big slobbery kiss on people's cheeks while they were here.

      We took a day excursion to see a historical site in a town about 2 hours away, on the banks of the Mississippi River.  The historical site is an old home from the late 1800's, "Villa Louis". The estate has been restored to all its former Victorian grandeur. It was stunningly elegant, not at all what you would expect to find in a small mid-west town.   Unfortunately they do not allow indoor photography, so here is a photo of us all out on the steps - you will just have to imagine all the exquisite wallpaper and furniture.

 It was a neat tour.  Afterwards we went to the river for a sunset boat cruise on the Mississippi.  Here is Sylvia and Grandpa before we got on the boat.

  I didn't realize what the view would look like from the river. It was very pretty. Apparently this upper section of the river is the only portion left undeveloped.  The rest of the river banks south of Wisconsin are all covered with industrial factories and shipping docks. 

 The trees along the bluffs were just beginning to turn color.  I think it would an amazing tour to have taken 2 week later when the hills would be covered in fall colors.

 There was a covered portion of the boat we could ride in when it got too windy or cold.  Sylvia enjoyed covering up in a blanket and watching out the windows.  We were allowed to bring food onto the boat, and enjoyed a little snack.

 Sylvia's favorite part was resting along the window ledges at sunset, watching the beautiful light bounce off the ripples left behind the boat.  It was very peaceful.

 The next day was the start of General Conference weekend.  Here we have three generation of McMullin's dressed and ready to head off to the Saturday evening priesthood session at the church.

We greatly enjoyed their visit and hope to see them again next fall.  I'm sure we will have more fix-it projects lined up by then for Brad to help Sean with.

Sylvia at school - butter making

   Sylvia and I are reading through Little House in the Big Woods again.  This time is for school, to better understand how people would have lived at that time in history.  So, we are doing some fun activities as they come up.  This week we made butter and bread. 

     First we had to make a grater.  Sylvia is pounding holes in a can to make the bottom of it rough. Sylvia got to thinking afterwards, and realized that if you put a flashlight in the can, the pattern of holes would shine on the wall.  Now she wants to make a new can pattern in the shape of a butterfly.

 But, back to the butter making.  Once you have your grater,  you peel a carrot on it.  This is used to color the cream yellowish in the winter, when the cows aren't eating grass.   Yellow butter was considered prettier to place on your table.

(Unfortuantly I boiled the cream and carrot too long on the stove.  It over cooked, and was too hot to do anything with.  So, Syliva just made white butter. )

 We put the glob of butter from the shaken jar into candy molds.  This way Sylvia go little indivdual pats of butter, shaped like roses.

The next day we baked some bread to go along with the butter.  Sylvia had fun rolling out lots of different shapes.

 The final products were left to rise. After baking them, we served them for dinner, where the entire tray was polished off.   Everyone agrees that this is a very tasty way to study literature and history.

It is funny to note that I did this same activity with Mattias about 6 years ago.  Here are some pictures of Mattias doing the exact same activity in the fall of 2006

 Getting his can-grater ready...

 Grating the carrot to add to the cream for color...

And shaking, shaking, shaking the cream!

    I think it is funny that Sylvia was part of Mattias's 2nd grade butter making event, at age 4 months.  Little did she know that she would be shaking that cream herself in another 7 years.  I guess this means the next time I'll be doing this activity will be in the year 2020 with Ephraim.   Ephraim slept for most of Sylvia's butter making adventures this past week, so it will be all new material for him. :)  I love being a homeschool mom!

Grandma and Grandpa Chiddix's Visit

    It was a treat to have my parents come and visit for a week this month.  They came mainly for Ephraim's baby-blessing, but got in lots of other activities as well.

  Grandma and Grandpa went straight from the airport to a Boy Scout Court of Honor.  I got a picture of my dad talking with Asher before the meeting started, trying to encourage him to stop being a slacker and get going on an Eagle Project.

  I'm sure Asher will remember this pep talk for the rest of his life.  :)

 My dad tried to give Ephraim a scout pep talk, but he just wanted to cuddle.  Ephraim is grandchild number 24 for my parents. 

 My mom taught Sylvia and Asher how to play an indian game where they toss sticks into a circle and try to win all the sticks.  Even though she is a retired teacher, she still loves sharing her knowledge.

Ephraim loved laughing and smiling at my mom.  It was adorable.

 I love watching people's faces as they get smiled at by babies.  Their faces reflect that pure joy.

We also had a good time at the zoo.  Sylvia loved trying to get pictures of the animals.  I think she took a pretty good one of the giraffe.
 

Luckily there were benches in the shade for us old folks.

Sylvia and Grandma made cute animals themselves.

Grandpa often entertained Sylvia with some of his books on his kindle.

    We all have good memories of their visit.  The older kids appreciated a mega school-clothes shopping spree, funded by the grandparents.  Sylvia enjoyed eating lots of ice-cream, cheese, and fudge together.  I enjoyed listening to my dad tell stories of the "olden days" when he rode a trike around his dirt yard pretending it was a tractor.  We are glad they made the trek east! 

Ephraim - 1 month

We have made it through the first month of babyhood, where days and nights all blend together.  At least we have a cute baby to show for it all.  Here he is, weighing in now at over 12 pounds... the heavyweight champ of burps... Ephraim McMulllin!

Between all the eating and sleeping he does, he has now moved onto 6 month clothing.   Here he is giving Asher napping lessons.

 Luckily, Grandma McMullin went on a shopping spree and sent some larger sizes of cute sleepers.  He is already able to wear them.

My favorite thing to do is kiss his sweet little head. 

 
He fits perfectly snuggled into my shoulder.

On the rare chance we get him to sleep in his his crib for a few hours, we party it up.  Sean, Sylvia and I have enjoyed a new game this month called Descent.

Ephraim is beginning to smile more and more often.  We've even gotten a couple starter laughs from him.

My handsome  boys...

 And finally, after a month, Maya has decided that Ephraim is not a squeaky chew toy that we brought home from the hospital for her.  She is content to give him some space, and only occasionally sniff him up close.

It has been a blur of a first month.. but fun to see how our little chicken legged boy is starting to chunk out and look more like a McMullin.  We look at him and wonder what sort of little person he will become.

Ephraim - week 1 (pictures for grandparents benefit)

Ephraim has definately helped slow our house down.  There have been many hours of naps taken, and much lounging this past week.  I took some pictures of our time together as a family to show the grandparents, who are on the other side of the country. 

  Sean was able to take a couple weeks off work, and has been a great help.  While Ephraim and I lounge in bed until late in the morning, he has started taking Sylvia to the tennis courts for early morning lessons.  She really seems to enjoy the sport, as well as getting her dad's attention first thing in the day.

In the evenings, Sean goes back to the courts, and challanges Asher to a set.  Here Sean is in full serving action. 

 Mattias is now a pro baby holder, and realizes that if a baby cries while you are holding it, you shouldn't take it personally.  They don't hate you.

Asher is a great help as well.   I am able to get a shower anytime I want with all these baby holders around.

 Sylvia is very fun to have around.  She will teach Ephraim to laugh at life. She comes and crawls in bed with us every day, and checks how Ephraim is doing.  I scratch her back a little, and read her a chapter from her library book, and we chat about what we want to do that day.  Today as she was holding Ephraim she got three smiles out of him.  She felt good about it... as that is the more than even her dad has seen.

 Right now... Ephraim is just learning to track objects with his eyes.  Syliva finds this very interesting, and likes holding toys up and slowly moving them for him to follow.

 I found a University of Montana t-shirt in a second hand store here.  Who whould've though there were other UM alumni in the area?   It says "Ready or not, here I come... UofM"  - and it is in the old classic colors of the decade we graduated in.

 I thought he looked distinguished here. Well as distinguished as a 1 week old lounging on a bed can look.  This is another one of Syliva's great photographs.

 Snuggling his soft cheeks are a favorite past time of mine.

And there you are, grandparents... Ephraim turning into his own little person, day by day.