Blessed Beyond Measure: Father's Day Weekend

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent Father's Day Weekend up North celebrating my dad's retirement, but it wasn't all work related. When we weren't celebrating the retirement, we had lots of family fun time playing together at the hotel, local zoo and at Mom and Dad's house.

When we got to Marinette, we headed straight to Ansul for the first retirement party and when that was over we all headed over to the hotel to check in and have some fun in the pool before the surprise party that evening.

Eric and the boys enjoying running through the landscaping at Ansul.

Micah and Caleb join in on the fun.

We had a lot of fun in the pool and it was a great way to cool down from the hot day and let the boys burn some energy after spending the morning in the car. Unfortunately though the pool was too deep for all of the boys except at the far shallow end, so Erika went over to Family Dollar and picked up pool noodles for them all. Once they had a bit of floatation help, they had a blast jumping in from all sides of the pool and swimming everywhere. Avery probably had the most fun. For almost one hour straight he would jump into the pool and have me catch him, and I would return him to the edge where he climb out and immediately do it all over again...and again...and again... When he started to get a little too brave and insisted on jumping into the deep end, I had to switch with Eric because I could no longer touch the bottom myself...and if no one was there to catch him, I'm positive he would have jumped in anyway (need to get the kid a life jacket!!)!

After our fun in the pool, all of the little guys stayed at the hotel with Aunt Bonnie and cousin Rachel watching movies and baseball while the adults headed out to the surprise party. When we returned, I wish I would have taken a picture. All four of the Klingenmaier boys were fast asleep (the three older snuggled up on the sofa bed) and my two boys were still awake (barely) waiting for Mommy and Daddy to get home! To be fair though, Avery was actually the first to fall asleep, he had just woken up before we got back.

<3 Cousins! <3
(Left to Right: Avery, Micah, Hudson, Caleb & Asher)

We all got settled into our beds and went to sleep, but Avery woke up at dawn ready to go. Eric mercifully got up with him and took him outside and down to Lake Michigan so that Asher and I could continue sleeping.

Sunrise over the lake with Avery.

Avery practicing his throw and chucking rocks into the Lake.

Video: Throwing Rocks

Asher happily sound asleep with a queen-sized bed and 4 over-stuffed pillows all to himself!

When everyone was up, we all enjoyed the continental hotel breakfast and then headed back to the pool for some more fun before checking out.

Avery chasing Eric down the hall ready to swim.

More fun for Avery jumping in!...not quite so much fun for Daddy.

Avery and Papa splashing each other.

Video: Splashing Papa

All but one of the Klingenmaier family boys jumping into the pool together:
(Caleb, Micah, Aaron, Hudson, Asher, Avery, Eric & Papa)

Look at that smile! Such a happy boy!

(2) Videos: Pool Fun

When we were done at the pool, we cleaned up and checked out, off to have more fun at the DeYoung Family Zoo.

Micah, Caleb & Hudson waiting for their mommy & daddy to get everything set to go.

My boys waiting for everyone to be ready to go. When I walked in to find this, I asked if I could join them and snuggled up next to Avery in bed. He pushed me out.

We had fun at the zoo with all the family and Mom and Dad's friends Carrol and Diane who had flown in for Dad's retirement party. We enjoyed feeding the farm animals, hippo and deer and watching the lions and tigers get their lunch as we walked around the park.

Avery & I checking out the cow.

Caleb

Micah

Asher. We were happy to see that he was brave enough to feed the goats. Typically, he would be too nervous to do something like this, but he must have gotten braver with his big cousins around.

Asher & Eric howling at the wolves.

Avery, Grandma & Asher looking at the Dingos.

Asher, Avery & Eric feeding the hippo

Grandma, Hudson, Asher, Avery & Eric.

Snacking on some popcorn. We have come to this zoo in the past and had fun, but this was our first time coming since we had kids. I had to try and not think about all of the germs on the boys' hands as they munched on popcorn (even after I tried to clean them up as much as possible with baby wipes).

Avery checking in on baby Gabe.

Eric, Asher & Caleb

Avery feeding the fawn. He just loves animals! At one point I caught him letting the fawn suck on his fingers! (yuck!) :P

Avery feeding the doe.

Grandma and Avery watching as the tiger waits for his lunch to arrive.

The bigger boys trying to catch tadpoles in the pond.

Eric & Asher watching as the tigers get their lunch.

Grandma asking for a kiss.

Avery thinking about Grandma's request.

Avery playing hard to get.

Finally Grandma gets her kiss.

When we were all completely exhausted and the sun was getting too hot to bear, we headed back to Grandma and Papa's house for naps with a stop at the concession for hot dogs and water along the way. Avery had no trouble passing out, but Asher took some convincing and needed to rock with Grandma for a bit.

When everyone was awake, we enjoyed the rest of the day playing at Grandma and Papa's house and visiting with our friends the Smiths and Strietzels who came over for a cook-out dinner.

Aunt Carol brought Dad's Retirement/Birhtday/Father's Day gift from all of us over and we couldn't find him anywhere. Finally he pulled into the driveway after apparently leaving to pick up some batteries. He saw the Gator doors as soon as he pulled up and there was a big smile on his face! ;)

Asher, Caleb & Avery riding in the trailer behind the Gator.

Tim Strietzel, Hudson & Kevin Strietzel on the back of the Gator.

Video: Gator Ride

Avery and Eric enjoying their dinner.

For dessert at the party we enjoyed a leftover cake from the retirement party that I repurposed into a birthday cake for Dad and Eric (who's birthdays had been the two previous days before). Eric, however, said the weekend was about Dad and refused to participate in our Happy Birthday singing.

Hudson helping Papa blow out the candles.

Jamie Strietzel, Asher, Caleb, Hudson, Micah, Mom & Laura Strietzel enjoying the campfire.

Happy boy with his 'Ba'

The bigger Klingenmaier boys all making mini 'campfires' around the bigger (real) campfire.

Can yo see the little stones and sticks of Asher's 'campfire'?

After a lot of fun playing and visiting with friends it was time to get some rest and recharge from our long day, but as always the boys were up nice and early and ready to play the next morning before we had to head back home to Kenosha.

Note: Before continuing on about our last day in the U.P., I have two stories...

First, while I was talking with Judy Smith that night, I saw Asher and Caleb playing at the far back of Mom and Dad's 5-acre yard, just outside of the woods. They were intently searching the ground and I yelled out to them and asked what they were up to. If my ears served me right, they told me that they were searching for snakes. I was grossed out, but thought "there are no poisonous snakes here so yuck, but have fun". About a half hour later, Eric came up to me (looking panicked and furious) with the two boys and something in his hand. He too had wondered what they were up to and went to find out. What he found was that they were searching for and eating wild berries!!! We were both freaked, while they boys were mad at us and wondering why we took the berries away. Thankfully we confirmed that they were wild strawberries and not harmful, but we still had a long chat with them about how they are not allowed to eat anything unless an adult they know okays it first. Even though we were quite sure all was OK and Jamie Strietzel the LLBC adventure camp leader looked at them and agreed all was find, I still had a hard time sleeping that night as I worried about our boys and whether or not we were right in our assessment. ;( Then the next morning, Asher and Caleb ran past me in the house as they headed out the door and in passing said, "bye Mom, we're going to look for more berries!" I immediately stopped them in their tracks and veto'd the idea as Caleb shot Asher a dirty look that read "you weren't supposed to say anything!" Boys!! Needless to say, we had another 'chat' about not eating wild fruits without permission.

Second, as almost everyone was inside Mom and Dad's screen room that night visiting, Avery walked up to the screen door holding a ball and tried to get everyone's attention. He stood in front of the door saying "Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi..." over and over again until he had everyone's attention. Finally when he had the attention he was waiting for and all was silent he held up his ball and simply said, "Ba!" :) Silly boy!

Baby Gabe up bright and early Sunday morning.

Driving the Gator all alone!

Avery's turn to drive.

Avery riding the mini four-wheeler down Grandma & Papa's driveway.

Grandma getting her baby fix on.

Happy Baby!

The boys waiting for a ride as Papa works on his new Gator doors

Silly Boy.

Baby Gabe quickly feel asleep in the swing for his morning nap.

The boys had a lot of fun playing in the kiddie pools and going down the slide.

Before we headed out of town and back to Kenosha, we enjoyed one last ride on the Gator.

Touring the farm equipment at my cousin Tom's farm.

Love this idea. They turned an old school bus into a round-bale hauler.

Looking at the cows.

Ready for a nap.

Finally, it was time to go home and before we loaded into the van I got a few quick pictures of Papa with his Little Buddies. Notice the croquet ball in Avery's right hand. As soon as I was done taking the pictures, Avery walked up to me and from a foot away chucked the ball 'to me' hitting me hard in the forehead! I immediately saw stars and fell back from a sitting position to my back on the grass as my head started to swell and throbbed in pain. That kid can throw! Papa even teased that it was too bad Asher (our seemingly less athletic child) wasn't the one to throw the ball, because he may have missed!

The first 3/4 of our drive went well, with the boys sleeping for much of the way. About an hour from home though things changed when Avery puked all over himself! He and Asher both started to cry and Asher was freaking out as we tried to find a place to pull over and clean up and Avery started to pick up the mess as Asher yelled, "Momma!, he his picking it up with his fingers!! I don't think that is a good idea!!"

We found a McDonald's to stop at and got Avery cleaned up and changed. Then we made it the rest of the way home without incident and spent the rest of our evening celebrating Father's Day with Eric. We enjoyed a backyard fire with grilled cheese pie iron and then had some yummy s'mores for dessert. Then we gave Eric his gifts and headed to bed to finish up the weekend....and a wonderful weekend it was...completely exhausting, but wonderful.