CAMPING

we went camping this week, for the express purpose of viewing the Perseids meteor shower. It was incredibly hot this week, so we were able to sleep in our tent with out the rain cover, so we could actually see stars through the screened roof of the tent.

The sky was perfectly clear and we got to look for meteors at 9:45 and 2:30am. At 2:30, we all went out and watched meteors. We saw more than 50. Some were surprisingly bright.

Maddie told me that she would spend most of her time "roasting and eating". We had roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for dinner. This fulfilled a requirement for Martin to 'prepare and cook an outdoor meal' for scouts.


I loved camping with the kids. They were all excited about the meteorites. I was even able to teach them a few constellations. I will do this again next year.

tenney beach ----vilas beach

tenney beach is adjacent to tenney park on lake mendota. This is an awesome park.

This is a popular madison beach, complete with concessions and lifeguards. The larger lakes hav waves on windy days, and that was the case today. My kids were surprisingly confident in the water. The enjoyed jumping over adn diving under the waves. There are large concrete steps near the edge of the swim area, kids are allowed to jump (feet fist) off of the large concrete blocks into the water. There is a nice sandy bottom to the swim area, but there are also a few giant rocks to trip over, so we have to be careful. This is a good beach and I will come back here again when we are on the isthmus and need to swim.

Vilas Beach is very near our home. It is probably the busiest of the Madison Beaches. There are multiple lifeguards, concessions, boat rentals, and of course we are near the Zoo. Our favorite activity, next to swimming, is pouring water down the beach and making dams, rivers, and reservoirs.

Vilas beach is a great place, but it is usually too crowded for me. I like to go here in the early morning of evening when there are fewer people.

scavenger

I am good at getting stuff on the cheap, or free. Here are things that I have accumulated that are incredibly useful as well as free.

I made this rug out of old tshirts left over from a large yard sale. I am so proud of this thing!

Free off of craigslist.... My friend Alisha Peterson co-wrote book with Jon Schmidt called '67 fun songs primer' It is a piano teaching book for parents to teach their kids piano even of they do not play themselves. I am trying it out, so we got a piano. I plan to recover the keys ($100) and I looked up the value of this great white thing, and it has no real value, but it can hold a tune and it is fine for us to learn on.

We got this really great futon out of someone's basement when they were redecorating. It is really nice. We sit on it when I am in the basement supervising the kids. Also, it is where the kids go to hide whenever the tornado sirens go off. I like it in the basement but Benjamin keeps pointing out that it is much nicer than much of our upstairs furniture.

I got this couch when someone was moving out of student housing. I recovered it and we have had it for 4 years now. recovering a couch is pretty expensive, but originally it was free so it counts.

Blooming Butterflies

We visaited Olbrich Garden's Blooming Butterflies recently. Everyone had fun, and surprisingly Caleb was the most interested in identifying butterflies.
He looked at the butterfly displays for a long time. He walked around with his butterfly identification card, and tried to figure out what each one was. Many of the butterfly species look similar, so this is a formidable task for a 4yr old. His greatest achievement was figuring out the name of this butterfly,
a tiger lapwing. He was so excited that he told everyone who would listen the name of the butterfly. He really wanted the butterfly to land on him, but it did not.

Adam ondi Ahman

We recently visited Adam Ondi Ahman, a historical and religiously significant site maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Benjamin's parents are missionaries there, maintaining the grounds.


This is Preachers' Rock, Joseph Smith Stood on this rock and organized the 3rd stake of Zion. Maddie stood on it and posed.

We found some great tress to play in by the east overlook. The grounds are all well cared for, and from what we heard, there was a lot of work put into making them look this nice.

The kids called this the 'family tree'. We do all like to climb trees.


We went to a park in the nearby town of Gallatin and played. There were a lot of mud puddles, and three of the four kids got so incredibly muddy that they had to go home in different clothes.
Benjamin's Parents, Ben and Melody, are in their element. You could not design a missionary experience more perfect for their abilities and talents. Ben's dad drives around tractors and backhoes, while his Mom does indexing for family history work. The sisters also do community service and seem to have a lot of craft projects going as well.This was an incredibly fun, spiritually uplifting family vacation and I hope to go back a lot over the next year while Ben and Melody are serving their mission.

Spring Harbor Beach

Today we visited Spring Harbor Beach. It is a neighborhood beach located at 1918 Norman way, just north of Spring Harbor Middle school along the shore of Lake Mendota.


Amenities
The Parking lot for the beach is located across the street from the park. It is a pretty good walk from the parking lot to the sand, but this is the only major inconvenience. There are bathrooms and a drinking fountain located near the water. There are a few shade trees and grass in the park, as well as several picnic tables.

Safety
The entire beach was visible from my spot sitting on a picnic table under a shade tree. The swimming area is well marked with ropes and buoys. A life guard is on duty for part of the day, though we had to provide our own lifeguards....

Caleb kept saying "don't throw sand Martin!"

Sand&Water
There was a little bit of green seaweed. I didn't have a problem with it, but Maddie and Martin who were actually swimming in the water seamed to find a lot. The water was fairly clear and relatively cool. There were lots of boats going by, so there were waves in the water.

I really liked this beach, it is small and safe and I will come here again with my kids to swim.

Stewart Park Mt. Horeb

Stewart Park in Mt. Horeb, Wi has a lovely newly created beach and swimming area. There is a natural spring in the sand, which creates a tiny, 2ft wide shallow pool which then drains down the beach into the water. It is like a natural sand and water table, and is really really fun to play in. As a bonus, the spring water is cold, so it can be used to ice sore muscles.

I once belonged to a gym that had a 'cold immersion pool' right next to the hot tub. Some older guys would "go to the gym" and sit in the cold immersion pool, then get in the hot tub, then back to the cold immersion pool again and call it a workout.....

well, here we have this little spring and it is fun.

Safety
There are no life guards, no swim lines, and no buoys. Motorized boats do not have access to this part of the lake, so they are not a danger, but the swim area does drop off sharply about 100ft from the beach. There is a sign warning of this, but no swim lines. All of the mothers at the beach agreed that the city should put up a swim line. It would probably not cost very much money and would make it much easier for us to tell if our kids were going out too far.
Sand
The sand is clean and new. It was only been on the beach for a year, so it is beautiful. The beach was fairly clean, a little bit of seaweed and some droppings, but it wasn't too bad. The water is pretty clear.
Amenities
The changing rooms and flushable toilets are near the parking lot which is very far from the beach. It is about 300yards from the water to the parking lot. There is a small playground near the parking lot and there are lovely hiking trails around the park and lake. There are lots of berries growing in the woods around the beach.

The beach is very wide and there were a lot of people there. This is a great beach for a cloudy day, as there is no shade. Even in the sun this is a pretty great place to swim.