An off day ...

We (Jim/Laurie and Cyndie and I) had a great time last night on our date! We ate at the Blue Cow restaurant ... it wasn't as good as the last time we went there, I'm not sure we'll be back for a while. After that we went for a walk starting over by the Cove/Gilbert's and walked East/South. It was a section of the lake that Cyndie and I had never walked before. We saw several really nice houses and had a good time chitchatting. I'd say that by the time we got home, however, we were all pretty tired. The kids had a good time with the babysitter. It was a new one, Miss Hannah, whose mother will be Tim's pre-school teacher this fall. It was Maddi and Caitlyn's first "real" babysitter (not a family member or friend of the family).

Today we all kind of got up a little later and had a slow breakfast. Then headed to downtown for the "Art in the Park" fair and library book sale. We browsed around for a bit, then each family bought a box of kids books for $3. We probably got 10 or 15 books, so that was a great deal. Afterwards we played at the big elementary school's playground for a bit and then headed home.
This afternoon, the Zones borrowed the car and are exploring the local towns while Cyndie is sleeping and the kids watching a movie. It's a nice little break for the kids.

Emma has had several traumatic events recently. On Wednesday evening while we were out on a walk, she and Maddison were running next to eachother and got their feet tangled. Ems bit it on the asphalt and ended up with a really good skinned knee. She was pretty distraught for a while, but is doing better now. The other was when Lee was here she had a wasp attack her by the condo pool. Then there was another wasp out by the Dragon's Lair a couple days later. Anyway, the "bug" events are probably worse in that now she doesn't want to go out to the Dragon's Lair anymore. She just now asked me if there are wasps in winter ... implying that she doesn't want to go outside until then! I think we'll get her past this, but it's a little frusterating right now.

The big upcoming event will be when we stay the night out at the Grand Geneva on Monday night. The big thing about that is that we're going to the waterpark there before and after on both Monday and Tuesday. I think the kids will have a really good time with that!

Friday

Well, we're having a great time with the Zones. Yesterday morning was spent with me working and everyone else exploring downtown, especially finding all the different painted horse statues that the different businesses have (part of a fund raiser going on). In the afternoon we went over to the pool and hung out for a while. Emma even got to the point where she was attempting to dive! I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the competition factor of Maddi and Caitlyn. Anyway, she had a really good time with that. Timmy is doing a really good job too. The only ting missing for him is the willingness to put his face in the water! In the evening we had a bonfire and cooked s'mores.

Today the kids had swim lessons at the lake, so we all went there to the beach and hung out in the morning. We were supposed to go sailing with Jack this afternoon, but his wife Joan is having some problems with her gall bladder, so that is off. Instead we'll take it easy this afternoon and then a babysitter is coming over to watch all four kids while the adults go out for dinner and a little adult time!

Zone in the House

The Zones are quite literally in the house. We got them at 5:30 last night. We stopped in Muwanago (half way home) for Culvers. The kids were pretty hyper, but having a good time. Maddison ended up taking a nap on one of the flights, so she was pretty wired and didn't end up going to bed until about 10:30 (which was really when her bedtime in CA is anyway, so I guess that's to be expected).

I'm taking today off and we're going to head to the lake to swim.

Tuesday ... The Zones Cometh

Emma woke up hyper this morning. She's very excited for Maddison and Caitlyn to come today. Hopefully Cyndie makes it through the day without being driven crazy by our crazed 6 year old. We'll probably leave around 4p to drive up to Milwaukee to pick the Zones up. Hopefully the long flights (they lay over in Dallas) will get them tired so that the kids are ready for bed around the same time. We're going to try Emma and Timmy together in Emma's room (which works fine for going to sleep, but Emma tends to wake Timmy up in the morning), Zones in the guest room, Maddi in Timmy's room, and Caitlyn in my office. (Maddi and Caitlyn apparently don't sleep well together). In the meantime, Cyndie has just a little more cleaning to do and some grocery shopping, and I'm trying to wrap up some work stuff and get the lawn mowed (rain permitting) before the Zones arrive. I'm going to take three days off while they are here, but want to finish some other things so that the days I do work are easy!

A short breather

So Lee took off this morning after breakfast which means that we have a couple of days breather and then the Zones come. We'll probably lay pretty low the couple of days ... clean the house a bit and just relax. Tonight we're going over to our friends Kaz and Aya for dinner and Cyndie has Bible study afterwards.

We had a nice big thunder storm last night and as I sit here typing this, we're getting a little mini-downpour again. It's kind of nice since we haven't had much rain lately so the grass is getting a little crispy. I guess that means I probably won't mow the lawn today though. Bummer!

An update on the swimming ... we went to the pool yesterday afternoon. Timmy is swimming a bit now. He'll swim about 5 or 6 feet. He's hindered (just like Emma at about the same time frame) by the fact that he doesn't want to get water on his face, so he kind of swims upright, which causes him to start to sink after the 5 or 6 feet. It's progress though!

Staying Busy

We're staying busy here in Lake Geneva. We had a full day yesterday with a big sourdough breakfast in the morning followed by a nice walk on the lake path. After a quick lunch and quiet time we hit the pool over at Mom and Dad's, then had a steak dinner and ice cream.

Today was church. I've been playing the guitar more lately, and also singing. The last two Sundays the band has also done the special music during the offering, so that's been a challenge. Afterwards we had lunch at Culver's. We're kind of being lazy right now. It's very pleasant out, and we're just kind of laying around the house. They kids want to go swimming over at the pool again, so we'll probably do that later on.

Emma and Tim have both been doing very well swimming. The lessons all spring and much of the summer have really paid off. Emma is now swimming under water with her eyes open and has lately really enjoyed diving for things on the bottom of the pool. Timmy is getting much braver with the water. He doesn't really swim yet, but will go out in the deep end with his floaty belt and is very comfortable with the water in general. He's still not a big fan of the water in his face, but I think that's fairly typical. I'd say he's about the same place that Emma was a couple of years ago.

Lee will be with us until tomorrow morning sometime. Then we'll have dinner with our friends Kaz and Aya (and their toddler Makoto), and then on Thursday evening we'll pick up the Zones at Milwaukee for their week long visit!

Friday and HOT

Well, it's friday, the end of the work week. This morning we had a leisurely breakfast with Lee, and then he, Cyndie and the kids went to the lake for the kids swim lessons. They had a picnic there and then headed out of the sailboat with our friend Jack (with whom Cyndie does the sailboat racing). They had a nice time, but it was pretty hot, especially because there was not a lot of wind. Oh well, I think they enjoyed it. In the meantime, I stayed at home and finished up some work so that I can go with on a walk along the lake trail this afternoon after quiet time.

That's pretty much it for now. It'll be a nice relaxing weekend with Lee.