Rhinelander, Wisconsin 2009

For more than 20 years, our family has been going to Rhinelander, Wisconsin for a week every summer. We were kids then, and now we take our kids there. The past few years, I have taken the kids by myself because Jared has had classes and work. But this summer he got to go with us! And although we didn't get to stay the whole week, we still had a great time!

Caroline...

Tiny...

Jacobean...

A rainy evening spent in the cabin playing games...
Jacob and Jared

Grandma, Aunt Di, and Christina

Jen eating chocolate and peanut butter...mmm...

Jen strawberry picking...

Tiny found what we call a "lucky" one.

Caroline eating more than she's picking.
But who can blame her - these are the best berries ever!

Christina learned to drive the paddle boat on her own this year...
here she is taking her sister for a ride.

Tiny out on her maiden voyage!

Tiny and the joyful days of being a kid in the summertime...

Jared getting some much deserved R and R!

Caroline and my cousin Samantha on her first tube ride without me!

Christina and my cousin Carissa

The girls ready for a fun ride!

Jacob getting up the courage to try his hand at waterskiing!

Friends come to visit...

Our friends the Garner's came to see us in July. They used to live here and we're always excited for the chance to renew our friendship. The girls had a marvelous time playing dress-up!

Their daughter Shay was adorable in the ballet costume!

Even though it was cloudy, we took a chance and went to the pool.
It wasn't a hot day, but the kids still had a great time.

Caroline and Leah

Jacob surfing down the rail...to the dismay of other responsible adults.Tiny and Brynne

Father's Day!

Yes, I know Father's Day was two months ago...but better late than never!

The kids and I made an oreo dirt pudding dessert complete with gummy
worms. It's hard to tell who liked it more - Jared or the kids!

We love you Jared! You're the greatest DAD!

Swimming...

We spent a lot of time at the pool this summer. Between the public pool,
our complex pool and a friend's pool, the kids had plenty of time to work
on their swimming skills.

Tiny and our friend Paul

Tina and the girls....

Caroline the daredevil...with our friends Phil and Krysta.

Jared throwing Jacob (Jacob's at the top of the picture- I only got his feet!)

The beginning of summer...

I know, it's the middle of August and I'm a little behind in my blogging,
but I've been outside with the kids doing all of these (soon to be seen) fun things!
We've had a great summer and are a little sad to see it come to an end.  School starts
this coming week and there will be no more freedom from homework or demanding schedules -
but we made the most of it while it lasted! So, enjoy the next several posts about what
we did on our summer vacation!

First we went to a free fishing clinic through the park district.  Turned out that the
instructor happened to be the kids' p.e. teacher from school.  They thought that was cool!
He taught them some fishing techniques and safety.  We went with our friend Shelly and her
kids.  Fortunately the instructor baited all the hooks, so we didn't have to worry about
that along with keeping track of 7 kids!

Christina and Nicole ready to learn!

Caroline, Shelly, Emma and Nicole.
We did spend lots of time untangling the fishing lines!

The fish Tiny caught!

Jacob with one on the line...

Caroline and Emma - getting along for the moment!

We also had our pictures taken by the local paper, and you can check them out at this link.
We are numbers 100 and 102!

http://www.news-gazette.com/photo/?gid=958