Ice age Trail

This weekend we went hiking on the Ice Age Trail. It was cool and cloudy- perfect weather for a walk.
The older kids loved running up and down all of the rolling hills. They also got to look for the yellow paint on posts and trees that marks the trail. There was even a hand-pump operated drinking fountain along the trail. We brought plenty of water, but it was just extra fun to pump your own water. Even though , according to Maddie "it tastes like a penny".

This is a great place to hike with kids. I love that we have lived here for three years, and we are still finding new fun places to explore.

Valerie's Running Update

I have been training for a marathon October 30th, but I tried to register and it was already full. However I do not care because my training is going great. On Friday I ran 18 miles and I felt great.

I have been running pretty well recently, but it is easy to get off track. To train for this race (which I am not doing) I am running 50 miles a week, and that was difficult at first, but now I am 3 weeks in and I can actually see improvement. Amazingly, regular training results in better running.

To run quickly a person must incorporate speed workouts, hills, and long fast runs. I will probably do that eventually but right now I want to cover distance and the formula for that is simple; Run lots of miles.

I am not doing any intentional speed or resistance runs right now, but I run with my double stroller a lot, and I think that the extra effort counts as something. I have awesome ankles. They are virtually untwistable. Kind of like that special metal in eyeglasses that can be twisted around and not break.

So, this is my little fitness update.

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.