More Sanibel Pictures 2011

Vacationing on Sanibel Island 2011

We had a wonderful time on Sanibel Island and found it hard to say goodbye. Julia and Evan had a great time finding all kinds of shells along the beach. Julia enjoyed making sand castles. Our family got to go kayaking for the first time and found it to be very enjoyable. John paddled Julia around and I was with Evan. We did get to see Mannatees coming up to our kayaks and dolphins and fish flopping around. It was funny watching these large fish jumping out of the water almost hitting John in the head. It was so relaxing just getting away. John and Evan got to go fishing with another group and Evan did catch a small fish but did not get to spend all that much time out on the boat. The beaches were so nice with very white sand. There were so many biking trails to explore with free bikes to use from our resort. We did get to celebrate Julias birthday out at a restaurant and she felt like queen for the day. I think she is convinced that her birthday is every day this week since we have not gotten together with family to celebrate as of yet.

More Fourth Pictures 2011

Here are some home Fireworks Pictures

Happy Fourth of July 2011

A Special Thank You to those who have served our country and for our freedom! Happy Fourth of July!

Had a wonderful time celebrating with family and our neighbors. Had our yearly barbecue and went to the fireworks twice this year! Went to a parade on the 3rd. There were several kids around us at the parade and a lot of competition for parade candy. Julia did get tackled a few times and got frustrated so she ended up running up to the floats and insisting on candy instead of trying to catch it which was pretty funny. One lady next to me said she will have no problem at all with the competition this year.
Julia made her own teeshirt design in preschool. She got to stamp her shirt with stars and the teachers helped write Proud to Be an American on the back. It is a little big but was the smallest that they had.

Of course John and Evan had to light their share of fireworks this year as well. Julia actually liked holding the sparklers this year which was a surprise!
Hope everyone had a great Fourth!

Strawberry Picking

The weather in Wisconsin has finally cooperated and it was a beautiful day! I had decided to work on my yearly project of making freezer jam. We all went out strawberry picking. The wet weather really did take its toll on the strawberry crops for this year but we did manage to find quite a few small berries. I made 14 quarts for freezing. I like to freeze the jam so we can have it year round and it is fairly easy to make. Julia does not like strawberries but helped with the picking and did get to see one of her preschool friends Scotty there! We got to ride a tractor into the fields and then they assign you a row...John and I did a little row hopping since our rows did not have as many in them.
After the picking Julia played with the other kids in the play area and went to pet the goats. Had a nice relaxing day.

One Eyed Bandit!

We took Julia back to the eye doctors after wearing her glasses for about 6 weeks to see if there was any progress. It turns out that her vision in her L eye went from 20/80 to 20/40 which was very encouraging. They now want her to wear a patch over her right eye to strengthen and improve the vision in her left and she has to do this for 4 hours a day. She does not mind it except for when we have to take it off with all of that adhesive...ouch! I am hoping that she does not need surgery....we shall see in July at her next visit. She is a real trouper wearing her patch. One child asked her why she had a bandaid on her eye and she said, "It IS NOT A BANDAID" in her I want to set you straight voice! She is really something else.
Here are a few pictures from around the house
My step father came over and went swinging on our swingset with her. She loves her Grandpa Allen.

Happy Fathers Day 2011

Happy Fathers Day to all of the blogger dads! I really miss my father every year and wish he could have watched me grow older and get married and raise a family. I know he is probably watching me from above!
I only took a few pictures from Fathers Day! It was a pretty low key day. We bought John a Kindle and I think he was really surprised that it was not clothes or cologne. He is one hard individual to buy for!
John took a half day off of work to visit Julias daycare for a special Fathers Day picnic and nature hike this past Friday. Julia was so excited and so proud to have her daddy there.
I took Evan and Julia to the local grocery store to decorate a cake for Fathers Day. Julia had so many sprinkles on hers....we had to turn it upside down in order to shake the sprinkles off of the words.
John is such a wonderful husband and terrific father and I am so lucky to have him in my life!