Trip to Wisconsin

Last weekend we went to Bryan and Carissa's to help them do some painting. They are going to be selling their home in Racine and moving to New Orleans this August. Austin and Ariel were very well behaved and even got to help some. Of course I think their favorite thing the whole time we were there was the rats. They loved playing with them and watching them run around. In fact, the first time Carissa got them out for the kids, Ariel went and put her nose right up to the big one's nose. It was amazing!

We also went bowling (Bryan is in a league right now and got to show off some of his skills) It was very interesting trying to bowl at 6 1/2 months pregnant. I chose not to finish my 2nd game and instead let it be a free for all where people could throw what ever they wanted to (mostly Phil try to throw the ball as hard as he could). We used two lanes so that the kids could enjoy bowling with the bumpers up.

Ariel had to have a pink ball no matter what, and Austin got to wear his first pair of bowling shoes. They had a great time rolling the ball down the ramp and dancing to the music that was playing on the jukebox behind us. Then we went over to Lake Michigan to show the kids. Austin was amazed by all the boats that were parked at the docks and Ariel didn't like it too much. She started shaking and wanted to be help like she did when we were at Lake Erie last summer. Something about big bodies of water seems to get to her. But if I remember right she loved being out on Cannadota Lake in my Dad's boat - hm maybe it's the fact that she can't see the other side?

Our trip home was the most painful one that we have had since the kids were tiny. They were both out of sorts and Ariel was being especially needy and crying alot. So what should have been a 4 hour trip ended up being about 7 hours. We did have some fun though. For lunch we were looking all over for a Giordano's Pizza and ended up going to the Rainforest Cafe. It was so cool inside with huge fish tanks and gorillas that moved. Our next big stop was at Fair Oaks Farms. It's a dairy farm that doesn't use antibiotics or growth hormones on it's cows. While we were there we watched a 4-D movie about the farm and then did some walking around. The kids jumped on a huge pillow of air and we sampled some cheese.

The funny thing is there weren't any cows around. I guess that you have to take a bus trip to go see them :)

Our Garden

It's so rewarding to be able to plant, grow and harvest your own veggies. Today Austin, Ariel and I did the planting - what I call the hard part. This year we rented a garden plot near Eagle Creek Park. It's a 25x25 plot that we are sharing with our neighbor friend Jenny. So far we have met some really nice people. One man named Bob offered to help us by tilling peat moss down into our soil. It was such a huge help! I can't imagine trying to how and rake all of that in by hand like we were going to have to do.
We have 5 rows: lettuce, carrots, and two of green beans with 2 plants each of green and red peppers and 4 hills: 2 of zucchini, pumpkin (at Austin's request) and butternut squash. I thought that I would try the butternut squash since that is something that I used to buy and puree and freeze when the kids were first eating solids. I thought that I could harvest it in the fall and then cook them up and freeze them for our new baby.
I am also growing 2 tomato plants, oregano, catnip, basil, lavender, parsley and corn (for fall decorative purposes only) at home.
After digging around in the plot I am very sure that we will just rent our own next fall. It's amazing how 25x25 sounds huge and then when you get into it, it's not as big as you think. Plus next year I will have so much more energy and less stomach, since I won't be pregnant, to do more.

Tired

Yesterday and last night were very interesting. Austin and Ariel decided not to nap and by 6:30pm Ariel was out cold. So I put her in bed for the night knowing that she would probably wake up early. I was hoping for 6:30am or so but no. She decided to first wake up at 4:40am. Then it was 5:30. I finally got out of bed with her and watched some Veggie Tales that we had recorded so that Austin could go back to sleep. He of course knew that she wasn't in the room anymore and came looking for her. So I let them watch Curious George (the tv show) and tried to go back to sleep myself for 30 minutes only to enter our bedroom and find Phil awake and at the computer. To top everything off I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep right away (belly is starting to get in the way) and there were thunder storms that woke me up at some point too.
So needless to say, I am very tired today. Our plan is to run errands and then pack up to go to my Mom's for Mother's Day weekend.