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!