26 August 2013

Wisconsin Trip Part III


On Wednesday afternoon, Grandma and Kelly came to the cottage. Max, who had been thinking about this meeting for weeks, decided it was best to greet Kelly with a Silly String surprise! Little did he know that Kelly had her own Silly String for the battle.

Squirting each other! 
That afternoon, Max and Paul went out on the paddle boat for the first try at "real" fishing. Success!
First fish on his new pole! 
Later in the afternoon, Max had another greeting surprise for Aunt Kelly. We made some of the Mexican Confetti eggs, and Max exploded them on Kelly's head.

Hey, little fella, what's in your hand? 
Boom goes the egg! 

He had some fun. :-) Thanks to Kel for being a good sport! 

Thursday, we headed down south of Minocqua to Blue Lake. Grandpa Joe's cousin, Janine, has a place on that lake. In fact, most of her in-laws and family has places around Blue Lake. It's kind of like a cool compound. We enjoyed our visit to Janine and Aunt Marie (Joe's mom's sister). Lovely time! 
Marie enjoying Max hamming it up for the camera.
Want a side of eggs with that ham?


Family pic with Marie.
Back at White Sand Lake later in the afternoon, Max got to shoot off some quiet fireworks that Kel and I got in Flambeau.
Blue smoke bombs.

Smokey smoker.
Got Dad with the champagne bottle poppers! Thumbs up! 

Poor Grandma!

The little boat smoked and sparked and rode across the board.
But the best part was when the little flag popped at the end. Next year, I will take a video. :-)

Sparklers! 
Ending lake time Thursday with a paddle boat ride!

Nice pic of Paul, Max, and Kelly. 



A few more pics to come!

24 August 2013

Wisconsin Trip: Part II - Fun times!


 After the train trip, we headed on up into Minnesota and landed at an Eagan hotel. It was a quiet and relaxing night, particularly eerie considering that as we sat in the pool, the world around us was reacting to the Trayvon Martin trial verdict. Eagan, MN, seemed quietly isolated. So, though cold was the air and cold was the water, we swam and let out the day.

Me watching Paul watching Max watching the moon.

The next morning, we headed into Wisconsin, stopping at a fun restaurant in Wausau for lunch.

Spaghetti Max!

He's so cute here, but he also looks old. *sigh*

 For the first couple of days up north at the cottage, we overlapped our time with Nancy Helm, administrator in the pharm school, and her daughter, Amanda, and son-in-law, Kyle. It was a really fun time. We had pizza, miniature golf, dance party, cookout, and pleasure cruising on the pontoon. So much fun!

Put-put in town (Minocqua). 

Though Max won our game (thanks, Kyle, nod, nod, wink, wink),
he was still not in the mood for paparazzi. 

View after leaving town and heading back to the lake. Fog, cars, and deer on the right.
He practically waved at the car as we drove by. 

Amanda and Max dancing to the Tooty Ta song, which Paul and I never realized
is a real song until Amanda, who has spent some time around the little people for work,
broke it out on her iPad. Pretty sure Max was hooked on Amanda at that point.
Dancing, with Kyle, Paul, and Nan laughing in the background. 

The Helm/Davis clan left us Tuesday. Max had decided earlier that he'd wanted to fish. Dutiful parents that we are, we got him a little pole, Paul hooked up a plug at the end, and we spent most of Tuesday letting Max learn to cast and play in the water.

Important note: it was literally in the 90s in northern Wisconsin for DAYS. It is never that consistently warm. So we soaked that lake in fully, even me. Lots of water, lots of sand, lots of boat. Gotta take advantage and live the life!

Fisherman Max

Proving I'm, indeed, on the vacation and, indeed, in the water. 

Practicing the cast.

Done reeling the plug back in.

Gotta tell y'all, the kid can cast a line. Paul and I were impressed. He used that tiny pole, and he landed that plug
15-20 feet out fairly consistently when not distracted. 

The many castings of Max.





Dorky parents!



Kayaking!
The boys going for a kayak ride.



Far, far away!

Pontoon time!

Max with his fourth of July starmellows! 
Driving the boat! 


More proof that I was there.

From the look on Paul's face, I think Max must have passed gas.

A-freaking-dorable.

Casting from the boat!

Thumbs up for the real thing!

Chillin' like villians.

We wrapped up our solo time, and then we looked forward to Kelly and Grandma B coming on Wednesday!