Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

We had a great couple of days in the forest about 10 miles east of Eagle River ("The Snowmobile Capital of the World"). Many times we have gone up to the mountains or out to the desert for day trips but its been over 10 years since we have been camping as a family! I grew up in a family that would go camping at least twice during the summer every year plus at least 1-2 hunting trips per year and I loved it!!! I thought my children needed to experience the joy of family campouts as well. Once we got over the fighting over not bringing the laptop, the i-pods, and struggling to get the cell away from Alayna...we had a good time! We camped right by Franklin lake which was beautiful but you really need a boat or canoe to fish it. We were on the "chain of 28 lakes" so we didn't have to drive far to get to a better place to fish. Unfortunatly we did not catch anything. We went on some fun hikes, and enjoyed cooking over the fire. On the way home we did a little exploring and found a fun trout stream we want to try out sometime. We are definatly not waiting this long to camp again!

Fun Weekend

We had a fun weekend. Saturday morning our guys came home from scout camp. They had a great time. Dakota is now a member of the "order of the arrow" and he earned 3merit badges while he was there. His favorite was rifle shooting. His grandpa will be glad to hear that.



We went to Doug's work party Saturday afternoon. Food was pretty good, especially the grilled corn on the cob! The kids had a good time doing this jump thing you see here.

Ariana enjoyed digging for money in the sawdust. She came out with
2 dimes, a nickel, and a penny. Woo hoo!


Yesterday evening 5 of Alayna's friends from West Bend came up to visit. They went out to eat and hung out at Alayna's friend Jessie Robinson's house last night until late then they all went to church together this morning. After church we had them (and several other friends) over to the house for lunch. When they were done eating they gathered to chat on the trampoline. I thought it might break with 15 teenagers on it but it held up! The close up is Alayna and her friend Roger from W.B.

"Tent"-Ariana style and a very busy August

Its a little dark but if you look closely you can see Ariana's version of a tent. She LOVES making them...everywhere! This one is in the front room but we also have them show up in the sunroom, bedrooms, even my closet! Hopefully she will enjoy the real thing when we go camping in a couple weeks. We haven't been for a VERY long time!

What a crazy month this is. It started off with Alayna at youth conference. Now Dakota and Doug are at scout camp all week. The day they get back we have a work picnic followed by weeks of school registration (we now have kids in 4 different schools), dentist, oral surgeon, endodontist, and orthodontist appointments (Dakota...and now Arissa is getting braces later this month), an overnight temple trip to Chicago, a luau, and of course our long awaited camping trip. For a family that is kind of laid back and not involved in many activities it is kind of overwhelming! I hope it all goes well...and that all of those appointments dont break the bank!!!