Dad Rocks!

Well, as Deb has been pretty consumed with starting a new teaching job this week at Deforest High School, Mark and the boys have been "on vacation" together. They have taken day trips around the state of Wisconsin every day this week. If you've ever read the book "Wild at Heart", by John Eldridge, they've been doing that kind of stuff...climbing mountains (or over-sized hills), biking and hiking trails, and generally exploring the Badger State, at least the lower part of it. On Monday, they visited Ohlbrich Gardens in Madison. On Tuesday, they trekked down to Prairie du Chein, which is about 2 hours away from us. They have a great state park there and a huge hunting/outfitter store called Cabela's. On Wednesday, they visited Devil's Lake and hiked a lot while they were there. Enjoy these pictures of their adventures!

Lake Monona

Yesterday, we checked off another item on our summer "to-do" list by visiting Lake Monona in Madison. We brought a sack lunch and the boys brought their bikes to ride. The weather was perfect...sunny, 78 degrees with a nice breeze coming off the lake. We wish you could've joined us, but since you couldn't, we took some pictures for you...enjoy!

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Mel Rock

Well, today we hung out at the Goulee's domain on the Milwaukee River in Glendale (just North of Milwaukee). Mark is in Florida on "business", so we took it upon ourselves to get out of town for a few hours and hang out with Mel and Jeff (Mark's sister and brother-in-law). They happily put up with our occasional invasions. The boys swam in their pool for a few hours. Jeff took us for a ride in his speed boat on the river and then grilled hamburgers for us afterwards. Around dusk, we got back in the van and drove back to Sun Prairie (about an hour). All I (Deb) heard was snoring on the way back. I enjoyed the BIG SKY sunset all the way home!

It is good to live near relatives again...it somehow leaves us feeling more "connected" in a small way. Josh and Ken really enjoy being around the Goulee's. When Ken said earlier this week, "It's been awhile since we've seen Aunt Mel and Uncle Jeff", a light bulb went off in my head.