Geo-cacheing....Rochester

Sunday night we decided to take the kids on our second geo-cacheing adventure. There are several caches hidden at the Gamehaven Lake south of our house. Since we hadn't had a chance to take Kyle and Allicia out there yet, we thought that would be a perfect place for us to go. We had two caches we were attempting to find. The first cache was said to be hidden near the entrance. Unfortunately, we were unable to find the cache. We're thinking since it was near the entrance it may have been obvious, so it may have been taken by a muggle (someone unfamiliar with geo-cacheing).

Here we are off to search for our second cache.

It was a nice hike out to the second cache. We were all hoping that this would be our first successful find...and it was. The cache was hidden in a wooded area on a hill overlooking the lake. Here is what we found inside it.
It was so much fun to actually find a cache we could open. We're hoping to come up with something unique for us to add to the caches we find...but for now we're just signing the log book to say we've been there. On the way home from we also decided to come up with a team name. Allicia actually thought of a very clever name for us.... The IceBergs. Ice for Freese and Bergs for Bergstrom. Very clever huh???

After finding the cache we took come cute pictures of the kids. The first one I posted at the beginning of the post. And below is one of Ava attacking her brother and trying to eat him. Oh...I forgot to mention that while in the woods, Ava managed to grab a stick and ate it. She almost choked on it and of course I was freaking out. I guess the next time we go I need to make sure to hold on to her little hands.

Making Grandma's Donuts

For months I have been craving my Grandma Helen's homemade donuts. So I planned a day for some of our family to get together at my Uncle Pat's house in Austin for a donut making party. When I planned the party we didn't actually have my Grandma's donut recipe, but we found one on the Internet we thought might be close to hers. Thankfully after a little searching my Aunt Louise was able to track down Grandma's recipe from some family in WI. We had a fun day and really enjoyed eating Grandma's infamous donuts.

Kids...and the crazy things they do!

I was just thinking this morning about all the cute, crazy, and quirky things Allicia and Kyle used to do when they were smaller, and sometimes still do. I thought it would make a great post so here goes.....

Kyle

• Had a dump truck that he used to ride and push around the house. He absolutely loved it and often liked to talk about it. The not so good part about that was that he couldn't pronounce it very well. To Kyle it was his "dumb f***".
• He was often found jumping up and down stomping on the floor underneath the fire alarm as it was going off. Now you might ask, "Why?" My response would be that the fire alarm would go off due to the poor placement of the fire alarm. It was hung very close to the stove in the kitchen. Others might say that it was due to my tendency to burn things when I cooked. In my defence, this was in my very early years of cooking...and I do HONESTLY like to eat many things just a little over-cooked, maybe even burnt. :) Now, why would Kyle stomp on the ground under it when it was going off? Well, this is because to turn it off, I would have to jump up and try to push the button on the fire alarm. I guess Kyle had seen me do it enough times he thought all he needed to do to shut it off was stomp on the floor, jumping up and down, underneath it.
• Kyle used to like to play with playing cards. We had an old baby wipes box stuffed full of many decks of cards. He would sit for hours and look at, organize, and play with them.
• He loved match box cars....at one point I counted how many we had and it was over 700.
• He was always very particular about the clothes he would wear and would ask me, "Mom, does this look cool?" and he loved to put on cologne. I remember taking him places and my friends would say, "What smells so good?" Then they would notice it was Kyle.
• He used to suck on a pacifier. After we took his passy away he would suck on his tongue while he would sleep.
• He went through a phase where he would stutter. It was just before he started school and I was really worried about him....but he eventually grew out of it and you would never know now.
• He was the slowest eater ever. Now he is just picky.
• Kyle loved to make books and magazines with his Grandma Dixie. He would draw pictures and then he would tell his Grandma what to write on each page. I still have many of them stored away. The last time I looked at them I noticed many of them consisted of funny monsters.
• He was scared to death of water. I had a hard time even washing his hair in the bathtub he hated it so much.
• In first grade we would wake up every morning, get ready for school, and then I would read him Magic Tree House books.
• He talks in his sleep.
• When he was about 3 years old, he insisted on wearing long sleeve shirts and pants in the summer. It would be hotter than hot and he would be sweating bullets, but he wouldn't care. He would not put on shorts. It look a few weeks of hot summer days before I finally convinced him to wear something a little cooler.
• And he hated it when his Aunt Leslie nick-named him Buck, which she still calls him. His other nickname is String-bean, given to him by his Grandpa Pete, because he was long and skinny when he was born.

Allicia

• When I would nurse Allicia, she would rub her little hands up and down my sides or back.
• She loved to sleep curled up right next to your face and had to be touching some part of your skin at all times.
• She gave the best hugs ever....and still does. There was nothing better than having her little baby arms wrapped around your neck.
• She had an imaginary friend named Dorna. She often blamed Dorna for naughty little things that happened around the house, such as the time her bed broke because someone was jumping on it too much. She also asked almost every night before bed time if Dorna could spend the night. I would often hear her talking to Dorna while she was playing in her room. And if you ever asked her what Dorna looked like, she would tell me "she looks like me, mom" as if I should already know that.
• She loved to drink "straw-baby" (strawberry) milk in her sippy cup.... at least this is what she called it.
• She called her blanket bubby....she still wishes she could have bubby.
• She went through a phase where she would roam the house during the night. We would wake up to her sleeping in odd places throughout the house or hear her getting into different things. We actually had to start trapping her in her room with a gate so we didn't have to worry about her. Many mornings we would find her curled up on the floor with her bubby, sucking her thumb, right next to the gate.
• She couldn't say fabulous. Dave would ask Allicia what she looked like and her reply would be "fab-lee-us".
• Jenny taught Allicia the words to the song "Ice Ice Baby", but instead of starting the song with "Stop, collaborate and listen". Allicia would say, "Stop, ker-ab-a-late and listen".
• When Allicia first learned how to give thumbs up she did it with her pointer fingers.
• She would always make friends with people anytime I would take her somewhere. She loved to sit and chat with anyone.
• She came home from one of her first days of school in Rochester and says to me..."Mom today one of my friends called me the H-word." Her face was very serious and I could tell she thought the H-word was something really bad. I of-course was thinking what in the world did she call her. So I asked, "Allicia, what is the H-word?" She replied in a whisper, "hot, Mom...she called me hot."
• She too has many nicknames......Alli, Alli-B, Beans, Baby Cakes, and Cakers.

Ava

She has her cute and quirky ways as well.

• She's really jumpy and gets startled very easily. Its funny because she will jump and quickly look anytime there is a loud noise. She rarely cries but she sure gets startled easily.
• She has a smile on her face almost all of the time. Sometimes even when she is crying or whining.
• She has the hardest suck ever. And can bite hard enough for it to hurt...even without teeth. I think she is going to be a very strong girl.
• When she gets really mad she blows bubbles when she cries. I'm trying to catch it on video and plan on posting it as soon as I do.
• She loves the feel of her Daddy's whiskers.
• She is not a morning person and hates to be picked at when she is sleeping. Her daddy likes to give her kisses in the morning before he goes to work. She usually thrashes around and swats him away with her arms. She gets this from him because he hates being bothered while he is sleeping too.
• She loves to lay on her changing table.
• She has some of the biggest toots ever. And she has started to blow bubbles with her mouth whenever she toots or is filling her pants.
• She doesn't always ride well in the car. It seems like if she is starting to get really tired or is alone in the backseat it is the worst. She will seriously scream the entire time until we either arrive at our destination or she cries herself to sleep.
• Ava's nickname is Ava-bear.

Kids....they're so much fun!

Roughing It!

Well, here is a recap from our wonderful family vacation to Big Foot Beach State Park in Lake Geneva, WI. It was great!

Friday....John, Nancy, Dave, the kids, the dogs, and I all headed out of town about 11 am after filling the kids bellies at McDonald's. It was a 4 1/2 hour drive so we wanted to start it out on a good note. The drive went really well, given the fact that Ava doesn't always ride well. She was a perfect angel and really didn't get upset at all. We made our first stop at the Dells to have lunch at the Cracker Barrel. It was perfect timing we were all hungry and so was Ava. After filling our bellies again, we were off for the last leg of our road trip. We didn't have very far to go...or at least that is what we thought. I should have known the trip would not be complete unless I managed to get lost. Every year I make this trip, no matter who it is with, I manage to get lost. This time I thought I was prepared and had all the directions I needed, but they don't help much when you run into road construction and have a bad address for the final destination. We ended up running into a detour that through us a little off track. Then once we managed to arrive in Lake Geneva, my directions for the State Park led us no where close to where we needed to go. It was quite the adventure. We drove in circles until we finally asked for directions, but even after asking for directions we managed to get lost once again, by the time we arrived we were so happy we finally made it. After talking to the lady at the check in, I felt much better because apparently everyone has a hard time finding the park. The address they have posted is the business office address...nice huh?? Anyway, we made it safe and sound and everyone was happy...that was until we arrived at our campsite only to find out I reserved a site with no running water or electricity. WHAT?!?!? Seriously, what was I thinking??






































At first that is exactly what I was thinking, but honestly it wasn't that bad. We all survived...the bathroom, or should I say hole in the ground with a toilet seat, was really close to our campsite, and it didn't smell that bad until you were in it. The showers, that only sprayed water if you were holding in a button, were very close to our campsite as well. The only bad part about not having electricity was the fact that I didn't have a hair dryer or hair straightener. Thankfully Dave didn't care that I looked like a drown rat for the concert.



So Friday after arriving we set up camp, my Dad arrived not too long after we did. He decided last minute to drive over and spend the night with us too. We ate my infamous "sandwich for a crowd" for supper and roasted smores over the fire before calling it an early night. Our first night sleeping in the tent was not so bad. I was a bit nervous wondering how it would go with Ava, but she was a trooper. Seriously, this girl LOVES the outdoors. I think she would be happy camping every night. Sleeping on an air mattress in a tent didn't phase her at all. She loved it....and so did the other two. Allicia slept most of the night on the hard ground or halfway hanging off of the air mattress. She's a wild woman when she sleeps.















Saturday we woke up fairly early, ate a nice breakfast, and then headed out to try our hand at GeoCacheing. It is our new hobby as a family. We had several caches that we were trying to find. Unfortunately, we weren't as successful as we were hoping to be. The first one consisted of 2 hides. We found the first one, which listed the quadrants for the second find, but we had no luck with the second one. There were trees down where it was supposed to be and it looked as if the land had been washed away.


The second cache we found, but unfortunately couldn't solve the puzzle telling us the code to open the padlock. That was kind-of a bummer, but we really enjoyed looking for them anyway. We're looking forward to a free weekend when we're around home so we can do some searching for caches around Rochester.

After our hike we headed back to camp. Dave and I got ready for the concert and Nancy and John started lunch. Dave and I headed out for the concert around 2:00 pm. The concert didn't start until 7:00 pm, but every year we end up sitting on the road waiting to get into the parking lot. I was hoping to avoid that this year. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to avoid it, but the wait wasn't as long as it has been in previous years. Upon arriving we settled in and took a nap in the back of the van, while everyone around us drank themselves silly. I unfortunately had a really bad headache, so I wasn't so much fun. My headache finally went away just before it was time to head into the concert. Thankfully! So around 6:15 pm Dave and I headed into the concert. It was an awesome concert...even Dave really enjoyed it. I hope he will agree to go with me again next year.















Sunday we slept in, John and Nancy went to church, and by the time they were back we had already started packing up to go home. We were all ready to head into Lake Geneva to see the town and have some lunch.




After eating at Popeye's we stopped at a candy store to have an ice cream cone before piling in the van for the long drive home. Thankfully the ride home went a lot smoother than the drive there. Ava held out until we got close to home. She was a little more restless than on the drive there, but still really good compared to how she usually is. And exceptionally good given the fact she started cutting her first tooth while we were there. I still can't believe how happy she was even while cutting a tooth. She is such a good little baby.

Off on our adventure!

Family camping trip here we come! Tenting with a almost 6 month old, Geo caching, and the Dave Matthews Concert! I can't wait!

Our trip to the Zoo!

Today we spent the day at Como Zoo celebrating David's Cousin Susan's wedding. It was a perfect day. We had so much fun taking Ava around to see all the animals. I wish Kyle and Allicia were there to join us....but we'll just have to go back again when Ava is a little older with all three of the kids. Anyway below are some fun pictures from our day...my favorite animals by far were the monkeys. They were so darn cute!

Our Hike!

This evening Dave, Ava, Maddie and I took a nice little hike out to this reservoir just south of our house. We've been meaning to check it out for a while, but it hasn't worked out until now. It was a beautiful hike, but Maddie didn't do so well. Dave ended up carrying her part of the way back because she could barely breath...and she even got sick. Poor puppy! The next time we hike out there she won't be going along. Now that we know what it is like, we're planning on taking the kids there for a picnic and fishing. We can't wait!

Ava's First Haircut

Because of this hair-do and a cute little rat tail in the back....I thought it was time to give Ava her first haircut.



















Grandma Freese performed the first haircut while Ava sat on Mommy's lap.

This was before.............

And this is after...........

Campions of the Regular Season!

Kyle ended his regular season in baseball on Wednesday with a big win. They did such a great job this year and were really fun to watch! Way to go Kyle on being the champions of the regular season ending with a record of 12 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie. Unfortunately we will be away on a family vacation for play-offs, but we're sure his team will do great. Way to go Kyle on a great season!!

Happy 4th of July!

What a great 4th. My sister Joni surprised us from Seattle. It was such a nice surprise and a great weekend. Ava had a blast watching the fireworks. She didn't even flinch or get scared. She was in awe and loved seeing all the colors. Here are some fun pictures from the weekend.
















My sisters and I.















Ava and I visited my Grandpa in the hospital.