Day 8: Friday, 9/11/09: Lake & dinner out

Friday morning we went back to Devil’s Lake since we had such a good time there on Wednesday. We checked out South Shore first since I thought maybe I could get a better picture of the lake from there. After we determined that the water was warmer and it was shallower at North Shore, we drove up to North Shore to spend our morning there. We hung out on the other side of the chateau this time so that I could lay on the beach while Dave and Elodie played in the water. We had lunch with Dad and Jan, who brought us fixins for sandwichs.

After naptime, we joined Dad, Jan, Aunt Ann, Uncle John, Jim and Diane for dinner at House of Embers in Wisconsin Dells, famous for its barbeque and Friday night Fish Fry. Elodie was a bit of a handful. In retrospect, taking your kid out to dinner, where she’s confined for the entire night the night before you put her in a car seat for 17 hours isn’t the wisest idea. Dave and I both got the 1/3 rack of ribs and I thought they were quite good.

Click here for a slideshow of PICTURES from today.

Day 7: Thursday, 9/10/09: Visiting a friend, dinner & bowling

Since dad was golfing & Aunt Ann was going into Madison for a quilt fair, we took the opportunity to meet my friend Mandi Vander Galien and 3 of her 5 kids at a park in Montello, about half-way between her house and where we were staying. It was nice to be able to meet some of her kids and catch up a bit. The last time I saw her was the last time I was in Wisconsin nine years ago.

After Elodie’s nap, we headed over to the Tangers Outlet Mall so I could see if they had any deals on anything. I ended up getting some socks for Elodie and some yoga pants for me at the Old Navy Outlet. When we were done, we met dad, Jan, Aunt Ann & Uncle John across the parking lot for dinner. We got free bowling with dinner, so after dinner Dad, Jan, Dave & I bowled. It was so much fun. Dave and I hadn’t bowled since college. Dave was doing pretty well, especially since he let Elodie bowl a couple times, but he choked up during the last couple frames and wasn’t able to get over 100. Dad beat everyone by a ton.

Elodie says "bamboo" for Baraboo.  She knows "river" now, instead of all water being a lake.  And she likes to say "not yet."

Click here for a slideshow of today's events.

Day 6: Wednesday, 9/9/09: Lake, dinner on Wisconsin River

We spent the morning at Devil’s Lake with Aunt Ann, dad, and Jan. Other than the haze from the California fires that’s plagued us since we arrived, it was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect. The road into the lake is covered in trees and Elodie calls it a “tree tunnel.” The north shore is very shallow for a ways out so it was perfect for Elodie to run around in. Dad rented a row boat and took Dave out to his childhood swimming rock. Aunt Ann went swimming and Elodie ate some lunch. When the men made it back, we all had lunch on the picnic bench in the shade. Elodie went swimming with daddy one more time before we left.
We tried to put Elodie down for her afternoon nap at the farm but we weren’t very successful…in fact, not at all. Aunt Ann and I looked through one of her mom’s travel photo albums from 1936, when she was only 22 years old along with a photo album she started when she was 16 years old that also has dad and Aunt Ann’s baby pictures in it.

Then we headed over to Uncle John’s brother Jim’s house in Prarie du Sac on the Wisconsin River. We even got to take the Merrimac Ferry on the way to their house. It was a great dinner with fun company. The highlight of the evening for Elodie was Jim’s restored player piano. She loved dancing to the piano as Jim obliged by picking out different songs. I even got to take some decent sunset pictures of the Wisconsin River from their boat dock.

Click here for a slideshow of PICTURES from Day 6.

Day 5: Tuesday, 9/8/09: Storybook Gardens, Wisconsin Dells, dinner

This morning we met my dad & Jan at Storybook Gardens because my dad really wanted to take her there. When we had visited Wisconsin as kids, my parents always took us there. Well the Storybook Gardens of the past is not the same as the present. The years have not been kind: the characters’ paint is pealing; not all of the posts with the stories are there to match the characters; there are no live people dressed in character walking around; and the ponds/lakes are full of scum. Instead, they’ve adding animals so it’s kind of like a zoo. I didn’t see why they can’t keep up the storybook (that is the name afterall) and have animals as well. Dad and Jan had giraffes eating out of their hands and licking them. And there was even a little train that we rode around the park. Elodie did much better on this train ride but she was no where near excited about it until afterwards.

When we were done there, we walked across the parking lot to DQ for a treat for dad & me and lunch for Dave and Jan. Then we walked up to the Army Duck parking lot for Elodie to look inside the Huey helicopter they had there. Elodie was excited to know it was like the ones Uncle Dale flew in Vietnam.

Dad and Jan went off to hunt for wi-fi and we wanted to see downtown Wisconsin Dells. We stopped at the dam so I could take a picture and then drove through the little downtown that is not at all quant and very overly touristy. Then we drove back around looking for a spot for me to take a picture of the river. Let me tell you that the Wisconsin River is not very accessible for picture taking unless you’re on a boat and we didn’t think Elodie would last for a 2-4 hour tour on a boat.

After naptime, we had Aunt Ann’s ribs for dinner. They were very good and Dave thinks he’s in heaven getting fed good, free food every night. Elodie spent a lot of time with Nonna looking at the horses. She really likes Aunt Ann’s horses.

Click here for a slideshow of PICTURES from Day 5.

Day 4: Monday, 9/7/09: breakfast, zoo, park, train & photos

Monday morning we had breakfast at Aunt Ann’s with Uncle John, my dad, and Jan. We had fun watching sibling rivalry in the best pancake maker. For the record, dad had major trouble getting the pancakes not to stick and Aunt Ann got them off perfectly. While we waited for dad to get showered (why he wasn’t already showered by the time we got there?? Oh, wait…typical dad), Dave blew bubbles, Elodie chased them, and I attempted to capture the moments on “film.”

After everyone was ready, we headed to the Ochsner Zoo in Baraboo. It’s a tiny zoo run by the city, open to the public for free. We saw a bobcat, some goats & deer, two bears, some sort of monkey, and a white wolf. Elodie really enjoyed seeing the animals. Then we walked next door to the park and let Elodie play for a little bit before heading out. Dad took us all up to the Riverside and Great Northern Railway to ride the 15-inch gauge railroad train. Elodie saw the train and started to cry. We had to wait 15 minutes for the train and she cried on and off the whole time. On the train, she’d put her ear on Dave’s chest and place his hand over her other ear. We road the live steam trains along a 3 mile roadbed winding through scenic canyons, beautiful wooded areas, and majestic rock cuts beside the Dells of the Wisconsin River. We saw the locomotive being turned on a hand operated turntable at Western Springs and turned again at the final stop at the Hyde Park depot. We even had little bits of soot all over us from the burning coal. Even though it was a trying experience for Elodie, she talked about riding that train with Opa and Aunt Ann for the rest of the week.

That night, I dragged Dave and Elodie around looking for good spots to photograph the lake and river during sunset. We only really found one decent spot and then Elodie wouldn’t cooperate in having her picture taken. Afterwards, we grabbed takeout at Culvers and went back to our unit.

Elodie knows what the golden arches mean and yells excitedly "McDonalds!" when she sees them.

Click here for a slideshow of PICTURES from Day 4.

4/4/09...L's getting more words

I'm experimenting w/a new way of posting pics. If you click on the image above, you should get a bigger view of the collage. These are pics from yesterday (riding her horse) and today (reading w/daddy, wearing goggles, & talking to "k-k" on the phone).

She seems to be developing more and more every day. Yesterday she said "chicken" clearly for the first time in months (she said it very clearly one day a long time ago and has never repeated it since). Tonight she very clearly said "chicken" a couple times when pointing to a picture of a chicken in one of her books. It seems like every time we go through one of her word books, she knows more words. I never know if she's said them before with D or not unless we're together and I can ask him. She can point to objects in the book like "mommy," "daddy," "boy," "girl," "mirror," "cheese" (camera), "choo choo," "giraffe" (although this word isn't clear at all but she does the sign for giraffe with it so I know what she's saying), "chicken," "house," "banana," "apple," "weeee" (slide), "grapes" (this word isn't clear either but she does the sign), etc. Today, she seemed to be trying to talk all day, although I can't always understand her. She does a lot of "It's a..." sentences. She also said her first "hi daddy" all together today. She also said "hi k-k." She's obsessed with calling her auntie "k-k" and praying for her auntie "k-k." K gets LOTS of L calls everyday. Today she also talked to uncle D. L whines to pray for "k-k" every night. We usually leave the room and she's still whining "k-k" over and over and over, even though we've praised Jesus for Katie like 10 times already. She also really likes to pray for "Opa." We get such a kick out of all the new things she says and discovers. D and I are laughing or smiling in amusement all day long (in between being completely frustrated with her for something, of course).