Kettle Moraine

This past weekend we met up with our friends Ben & Crystal in Kettle Moraine State Forest in southeastern Wisconsin to go camping.

Morgan, Lena and Ben on the trail on Saturday.
Unfortunately we were prepared for torrential rain (which didn't come) but not for squadrons of mosquitoes the size of helicopters. Here Paul displays wounds received during our hike Saturday morning.
Crystal, Morgan, Lena, and Ben taking a break from the bugs in a backpacking shelter.
The view from the shelter in the photo above. Kettle Moraine was beautiful but the bugs got the best of us. After camping Friday night we spent the day hiking and swimming on Saturday and then bailed to Ben & Crystal's home in Madison for Saturday night. We are hoping to return to this shelter sometime in the fall when things are cooler and there are less small biters.

July in Chicago

This past weekend was classic summer - music outside, swampy weather, gardening, and ice cream. On Sunday we went with friends to the annual Folk and Roots Festival at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Here are Lena and Morgan during the fiddle band performances.

The festial had a musical instrument petting zoo. Here we try out the bongos after rocking out on the ukelele.

Lena is an avid dancer. Here she square-dances with Morgan and Morgan's bhangra teacher, Shamila.
The other treat of the weekend was visiting the berry patch at Morgan's garden. While Morgan staked her tomatoes Lena ate her way through the black raspberries. Afterwards she looked a little like someone out of a horror flick but she loved every bit of it!

Ann Arbor

In early July, Paul's dad made an unexpected trip to the hospital. All is well now and we are very glad. It did give us an opportunity to visit with Paul's parents and his sister and her family including an impromptu early birthday celebration for our niece Izze. Here are Al, Lena and Morgan at Izze's fest.

Vanessa and Izze opening birthday presents.

Paul and Lena at the party with Paul's mom in the background.

Morgan, Vanessa, and the daughters after an outdoor splash. Lena loved her time with her big cousin Izze.

Summer at the playground

A few photos from the first of July.

Summer fun

Lena's new favorite hangout is the water sculpture downtown. There are two towers like the one above that face eachother. The faces are video installations that "spit" water on the brave big kids. The area between the towers is flooded and perfect for little ones.

Our friend Becca valiantly trying to shield Lena from this big splashing girl. In reality, Lena was loving it. It's neat how bigger kids are so interested in babies. The boys especially can be really sweet.


California dreamin'...

Chompers!! She's got six of them now.


Riley and Lena remain best friends. Last night he meowed into the room in the middle of the night and Lena sat up and said "cat".

Music class

The three of us participated in music class this past quarter through the family resource center at the university. Here Morgan and Lena play the guitar. In the background is Lena's friend Rosie who was born on the same day as Lena. The two of them have gotten to be good friends.

Lena's first camping trip

Yesterday afternoon we drove an hour southeast of Chicago to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to camp for the night. The weather was spectacular and we spent the afternoon/evening along the shores of Lake Michigan.

The lakeshore isn't always the most appealing (look for the smoke stack from the local steel mill in the background), but it's fairly close to Chicago and we'll take what we can get.

A short film of Lena dipping her feet in the great lake.

Sunset from a nearby stretch of beach where we had a picnic dinner.

If you look closely you can see Chicago in the background rising from the water.

Our picnic - kiwis, celery and peanut butter, yellow dog, the essentials.

Camping went well and Lena loved the tent! Here are Morgan and Lena this morning.

Lena not long after exploring the nooks and crannies of our temporary bedroom.

Paul and Lena looking at a spider on the wall of the tent.