Last week of vacation......First week of August

At this point the days all kind of ran together, I am not sure what we did on which day so here are some pictures of swimming, sunsets and goofing around.
Alex got a little brave swimming.
We spent some time swimming at Aunt Lori's and Alex got to go fishing with the neighbor boy there.
We dyed fabric one morning. We all had a great time doing that, both kids made some really nice pieces.

Satureday July 31st - Northwoodstock

My mom belongs to a group of artists called the Art Gypsys that go to different events and set up booths. This year they were invited to Northwoodstock at Bent's Camp in Land O'Lakes. I was asked to go along and help set up and take down. I enthusiastically agreed because it sounded like some great people watching. I was not disappointed! We were told to come dressed "groovy".....I soon saw why! Over half of the people who came to the concert came in costume. There was good music and it was fun....but we left around 7pm. Just like the original woodstock it was clear they were going to have some "sanitation issues" soon.

Friday July 30th

Walk the bridge, wild raspberries, pontoon boat ride...........
A shopping trip to town.
Happy Birthday to my Mom! Alex and I got a cake while we were in town as a surprise. While we were gone Mom and Maya made a blueberry pie. Then Mom's friend Nancy came for the weekend with 2 apple pies! We had quite a party!

Thursday July 29th

Some of our cabin neighbors (who have 4 kids) had friends staying with them (with 4 kids) and I brought my 2 kids down to play with them at the other neighbor's house (who has 2 kids) and then my cousin and his wife (who have 3 kids) came over too. Doing all that math yes, that makes 15 kids ages 12 and under playing on the same dock/beach. Needless to say they had a lot of fun!

Ahhh, back at the cabin

Wednesday night right around sunset we got back to the cabin and went down to the lake for a little while before bed.

Kittens..........

Wednesday afternoon we went back to New London to pick up the truck and also to pick up two little kitties to bring up to Grandma Ruth's house. So here are her new additions - Anna and Abbey (named by Alex and Maya).

Wednesday July 28th

Our extra time in Green Bay also allowed us to play with friends some more. We spent the morning with Joy and Maddie. Maddie has been nice enough to share some of her outgrown clothes with Maya. Maya LOVES this and had a blast going through the bins of clothes and of course had to try things on right away!
Alex and Maddie then dressed her up in some things and put on a "show" for us.

Tuesday July 27th

We stayed in Green Bay through the weekend, Ben went home Sunday the 25th. Then Ben's dad did some work on the truck for us over the next few days. So we did some swimming in the pool and were lucky enough to be able to hang out with some cousins again on Tuesday. We met at the Bubolz Nature Preserve in Appleton for a little hike. It was incredibly humid and thank goodness cloudy or the heat would have been too much I think. But the mosquitos were insane! Even with several layers of bug spray on we were getting pretty bit up. BUT - feeding the bullheads and turtles at the pond was totally worth it. The kids loved it and a pretty big snapping turtle popped up in the middle and came quite close to the dock.

Saturday July 24th

Party time at the Nieto's! It's been so great the last two years to be able to see so many people in one place at Ben and Nancy's. This kids have such a great time playing with all their cousins. It's always hard to get any pictures of all the boys, they are big enough to just be running everywhere the whole time now. The little girls are a little easier to track down!