Days at the lakes

All of our company has gone back to Kansas City. It was sad when Chris and Kierra left yesterday morning. It's so nice having everyone up here, and I wish they could all stay. Having family nearby is something you truly take for granted until you are suddenly separated by hundreds of miles. On the other hand, it makes the time you spend together that much more special.

The pictures above are from Sunday and Monday. As I wrote previously, Sunday we went to a kayak/canoe demonstration at Hodag Park, which is located on Boom Lake here in Rhinelander. Mel's Trading Post was putting on this demonstration so that people could try out the various kayaks and canoes before purchasing them. One of the kayaks we purchased, and the canoe, were delivered to our house yesterday. The other kayak is supposed to come in today. Before the guy even got the boats off his truck, Anna already had her lifejacket on and was waiting to get on the water. By the time I walked down to the lake, she was out in the middle! Needless to say, she was excited! So, I'm happy they delivered hers first!! We also took Noah and Amaya for a ride in the canoe yesterday. It's going to be a lot of fun once we figure it out. Of course Amaya kept walking around and making the canoe rock....and then after we came back to shore we realized we'd been paddling it backwards....oops! Glad nobody was out there to watch us!

Monday we rented a pontoon boat and spent the day on Lake Minocqua in Minocqua, WI...which is located about 30 miles north of us. We had so much fun! The pontoon was so big, we had plenty of room for all 8 of us to move around. There are several islands and sandbars in the lake, so we stopped at them several times to play in the water or go fishing. By the end of the day we were all exhausted, Kindra Chris and I were a little bit burned (even though we'd applied sunscreen several times throughout the day, the sun is just so darn strong up here), and we were ready for a good meal! So we stopped at Perkins in Minocqua and then headed home. We had such a great time! We might have to make that a Memorial Day tradition.

Now that all our company has gone, we are getting ready for the transition from school to summer. The girls have a half day of school tomorrow, and then they are done. Kindra has an awards ceremony in the morning, she will be receiving a Presidential Academic Excellence award, so we are planning to be there to watch and take pictures. Pavan is going into clinic late tomorrow so he can be there too. It's early enough that hopefully Noah and Amaya will be in good moods!!

Last night Noah and I had a date. Pavan had called home in the afternoon and suggested that I take Noah to the movies. He was sleeping for the 515 movie, so we went to a 730 one. We saw Over the Hedge, and we had such a wonderful time. It's nice to spend time with one kid at a time, and I think Noah really needs that one on one attention. He behaved perfectly the entire time. We had popcorn, ICEEs, and Skittles. And afterward we made a trip to WalMart to buy him a new carseat. A new carseat law went into effect in Wisconsin today, which I've know about for several months. Basically, my understanding was that it required all children under 4 ft 9, or 80 pounds to be in a booster seat. So we bought extra booster seats to make sure Anna would have one in my car and in Pavan's truck. Well yesterday there was an article in the newspaper about the new law, describing it in more detail. It turns out that anyone under the age of 4 has to be in an actual car seat. So I took Noah to pick out one for himself. He picked out a really nice one that has a cupholder, and can be converted to a booster seat once he turns 4. Turns out, WalMart isn't very crowded at 900 on a Wednesday night (making a mental note...) so we picked up some groceries while we were there too. By the time we got home, everyone was asleep and Pavan was reading a book about boating (to avoid any more embarrassing mistakes...). It was such a nice evening with my son. When Cars comes out next week, I think Pavan and Noah should go together. We were talking last night and decided we really need to make the time to spend one on one time with each of the kids as often as possible. Especially Anna....she gets left out so much because she is so well behaved. Kindra is rather moody and defiant (welcome to the preteen years), so she requires a lot of attention. And obviously Noah and Amaya require a lot of attention. Poor Anna is truly suffering from that middle child syndrome!

Well I'd better get going. Pavan is picking Kindra and Haley up from school, and I am supposed to go kayaking with Anna this afternoon (assuming the second kayak arrives soon!). It's a beautiful day here in the Northwoods, around 75 degrees, light breeze, and ony 44% humidity (can you tell I have the Weather Channel on right now??). These days make me forget about the long cold snowy winters.....almost.

More later in the week,

Rebecca