Beautiful August Weather!

This week was VERY busy! Mostly because the weather was absolutely perfect. With the humidity way down and the temperatures 70's to 80's with sunshine pretty much every day, we felt like we could finally spend a bit more time outside. It was especially nice because the nice weather fell on my stretch of ten days off! Our time outside was spent either looking for bugs, playing with the puppies across the street, yelling for Emily across the street (Ethan's babysitter), kicking or throwing balls, playing in the pool, or playing blocks. When we weren't doing those things, here's what we were up to...

We started off by meeting up with Courtney and Kileigh at Toys R Us . The kids rode around in the cart playing and roaring with play dinosaurs. After we finished up our shopping Kileigh wanted to take Ethan on a ride. I think they could have played on that thing all day! (Notice Ethan's bling around his neck that he just had to wear)
After we finished up shopping we met Casey and Emelia out at Italian House for lunch then headed off to Palmer Park for some outside fun. Although we all thought the swings and play equipment sounded like a good option since it was only 75 degrees, the kids only enjoyed it for a little while.Their eyes were on the water next door! So we dressed them in their swim suits and off we went. Problem was, the water was FREEZING! Just like hose water. It was so cold that after about a minute in the water they had to get out and warm up on the concrete!Brave little man...brrrLater that night we headed out to the cabin and met up some family friends Jan, Max, Attalissa, and Jax. We started off with some dinner, then headed out for a boat ride. Although it started off pretty warm, with the fast moving boat and the cooling off temps, it got a little chilly. The kids all huddled together to keep nice and warm.After we got off the boat, Mike started a nice and warm campfire and we made some s'mores. Kelly even found a cute little tree frog for the little ones to look at. Although the adults enjoyed the fire, the kids had more fun running around and playing on the slide. After all, it was way past their bedtimes, which made it that much more fun!

Just in case you were wondering, yes, Ethan's love of bugs continues. In fact, any time we see a bug now he runs around looking for a stick to hold him with (you can tell he has spent lots of time with mom who refuses to touch a bug). Here he is with one of his many cicada friends :). On another one of our warm days, we headed out to my dad's house. Unfortunately, the visit started off with me getting pulled over in my dad's driveway. I apparently didn't quite stop at the stop sign by his house, come on! Anyway, we were all outside hanging out and Ethan really wanted the pink motorized car that my dad has in his garage. My dad said not to worry, he can't reach the pedal. Well, next thing we knew, Ethan was off and driving in the thing, and guess who got to chase him around :) Notice his hands are clinging onto the sides of the car, nowhere near the steering wheel!
Another visit we had this week was with Mike's uncle Brian and aunt Kim. They drove in from Florida to visit for the week! We spent a couple of nights with them at the cabin catching up. Even more fun was that they had never met Ethan before!
On Tuesday, my sister and I had yet another fun day. We drove up to Madison and took the kids to the zoo for the morning. They had lots of fun looking at all of the animals. They even pretended to be a couple of polar bears. Ethan's favorite animals of the day were the rhino (strange, i know), lion (because he was roaring while were watching him), and of course the polar bear. I'm sure the monkeys would have also been a favorite but the exhibit was closed that day.Although they liked the animals, they liked the carousel even better! Kileigh tried her hardest each time to get the gorilla. Ethan just liked the ride, although he did point out all of the kitties around us.
To finish up the week off, I whipped up a batch of lasagna and had my mom, Courtney, and Kileigh over for dinner. While we were busy cleaning up after dinner, the kids took the opportunity to snuggle up in the rocking chair all by themselves to read a book...just a reminder that really do love each other!P.S. We are also very excited because we just learned that my brother, Aaron, is moving back to good old Wisconsin after living in Texas for way too long! He plans to be back here by early September!

August = Lots of New Experiences for Everyone!

On August 2nd, we were inside making dinner when a storm came overhead. Little did we know what the storm was carrying, HAIL! Mike and I had never seen any hail bigger than a marble, so this was quite the experience for all of us, especially Ethan. He spent the storm out in the garage with Mike yelling at the hail for being naughty..lol. After the storm passed, we all went out in search of the biggest hail we could find.

Here was the winner!
The next afternoon we went out on an extra long boat ride out to the other side of the lake and had dinner with Mike's mom, Lainey, and Chad. Ethan loves sitting in the driver's seat!He even got to ride next to his best bud, Chad!
At the bar we ate at they had a pool table. Ethan and Lainey had fun rolling the ball back and forth.
This past week we had quite the event at our house. No, this is not the scene of a murder...

And no, Ethan is not the next serial killer...While I was busy washing the dishes, with the thought that he was being so good reading books in his room, he was busy sneaking across the hallway to the bathroom and getting into mom's lipstick! Here he is assessing the damages.
Oh so proud of his fun...stinker!
Another strange thing this week happened when Ethan and I were exploring outside. We were looking at all of the empty cicada shells on our tree out front, pointing, and saying ewww when I noticed one of them looked a little funny. That's when we noticed there was still a bug in it, squirming to get out, gross! But just in case no one else has seen it, I thought I could share the progression :)
After we found it, the first thing we did was call my mom, the nature photographer! She sped right over with her camera in hand to snap some shots of the nasty bug! Mike also got home a bit later and started talking about the cicada, thing was that it was a different one! Yes, there were TWO nasty bugs trying to get out of their shells! Here is the second one with Ethan saying "mama, grandma, ewww!"So we switched focus, and started to watch the second bug. It didn't take long and he made his way out of the shell. Then he just had to wait for his wings to dry out.Inspired by my mom's photography, here is a shot looking down on the bug and his old shell just before he made his way up the tree.
P.S. That first cicada did not plan his journey very well. He had himself right in the direct sunlight and completely dried out before he could make his escape.

Summer Fun and the Fourth of July

July was full of outside time, mostly in the water, because it was sooo hot! We spent lots of time out at the cabin or in our new pool with a slide in it. After the pool got a little boring one day, I thought we could try out the sprinkler. At first he was a little hesitant and this was the closest he would get. (Good thing he ducked to get under it huh? haha)
A little while later Mike got home and was a willing participant. At first Ethan was a little apprehensive, but it didn't take long and he was laughing hysterically every time they ran through. I'm sure you can see his smiling face in the pic below.
A day in the water sure is fun!Although we wish we could always be outside, at night we have to head in. Although it isn't nearly as fun, we try to make the best of it. We even turn laundry time into rides around the basement!
We also LOVE July because we get to celebrate the Fourth of July and our wedding anniversary all in the same weekend. We even got to spend some quality time with all three sets of grandparents! In the morning we went on a boat ride with my mom, Courtney, and Kileigh. It was perfect because it was a pretty calm morning on the river.

After the morning fun, we headed to Milton to a family friend's house to watch the parade. Although the parade is always fun, this year was especially fun, mostly because of Ethan's love for trucks, cars, and trains! Although we started out sitting up in the driveway, we didn't last long.
Afterall, down on the curb is where all the action is! (Notice he is dancing in this pic)Woohoo!! Here come the trucks!Aunt Kel, do you see all the big trucks?!
After the very exciting parade, we all joined back up at the cabin. Kileigh, my mom, and Courtney also joined us at the cabin. We had some pizza, set off a few fireworks, and of course, played!

After we were done at the cabin, we headed off to the park to get a spot for the fireworks. Although our blankets started off all spread out and in a neat little group, it didn't last long. I'm sure the people around us loved the kids' game of tag.When it started to get dark, the games slowed down a bit and turned into pretend sleeping and peek-a-boo.As the sun set, there was a helicopter that came down right in front of us and tried to dump a bunch of ping pong balls into buckets. Although their game with the ping pong balls was a bit of a failure, the kids loved seeing the helicopter so close!Here's a group pic just before the fireworks started.
Cousin love under the fireworks :)
Mama, Daddy, OOOHHH, AHHHH, WOW!!! That was about all Mike and I heard throughout the firework show :)
Check out how excited Ethan was to see the fireworks! We were just happy he wasn't scared.
Cuddling with mom as the firework show went on...getting a little sleepy!
Just a cute pic of grandpa and Ethan the next weekend out on the boat!
**Ethan is really starting to get into naming things and is stringing quite a few words together now. He is also really into animals and the noises they make (especially dinosaurs, bears, and lions because he loves to roar!)

P.S. These are out of order, I accidentally posted the end of July before the beginning, guess that's what happens when you get behind :)

Lac Vieux Desert in July

This year instead of going to Rhinelander or Phelps, the Ekedahls went to the UP for vacation. The resort is one we visited last year while out on the pontoon. It was the perfect place to go for the kids. There was lots of super shallow beach space, a small play area with slides, sand and see-saws, and lots of open grass to run around in. We spent pretty much the entire week outside, relaxing, and playing. Here are some pics to sum up the week.

We bought a new sprinkler special for the vacation. The kids loved running in it because it was more like a mist than a spray.Strike a pose!
For our outing this year we went to the coolest petting zoo I have ever seen (I was made fun of for liking it more than the kids!). They had porcupines, descented skunks, hedgehogs, goats, peacocks, deer, bears (in cages), parakeets, and lots more! Ethan's favorite was by far the goats (mostly the babies).

His second favorite was probably the birds. They had a huge room full of parakeets. You could buy a stick with birdseed on it and the birds would sit right on your arm or on the stick and eat.
Only problem was that Ethan wanted to hold one. He got pretty close!

My favorite part was the deer. I had heard that the antlers were warm but I didn't realize how warm they really were. This is a picture of Ethan saying, "No no no, mean!" to the deer because he turned his head and hit Ethan in the leg with his antlers.We also had lots of story times with Lainey. She is the best storyteller afterall!
Just the cousins hanging out on our Hawaiian themed day.
Eating his first ever s'more. YUM!
Posing in their sweatshirts made for the Sole Burner race we walked/ran in this past May in memory of Kevin.
Playing in the water was surprisingly not top on the list for Ethan, in fact, not even close to the top. For whatever reason he did not want anything to do with the lake. Finally, on the last day we were at the resort, he managed to go in up to about his waist to throw rocks with grandma.
We also spent lots of time learning everyone's names. His favorite to say, of course, is still Chad!

As a side note, our plan had been to bring DVD's for the car ride up north. As you all know, Ethan LOVED Ellen Degeneres so our plan was to find DVD's of her show. Well, he has completely grown out of his love for Ellen. He now loves Little Einsteins. So, the drive up and back were full of pat pat pats, buckling our seat belts, blast offs, singing, and dancing!