First Day Of School

 

The first of school for us was this last Tuesday.  This was a BIG day in our house as it was the first day for Drew, Claire, and Andy!!  Our house was a crazy mess that morning and that explains why I have no photo of all three of them!

Drew has been talking about his first day of school here in Madison before we even left Spain!  He picked out his entire outfit, hat, sunglasses, and wanted to wear a sweat band, however that's where I had to draw the line!  Drew started kindergarten not even a block away from our house M-F from 8:30-3:15.  Drew had an awesome week!  He gave me a big hug and kiss his first day and never turned back!  I guess his shirt says it all starting a new school with so many changes and being so adaptable!

And on his way to school!  We love really close to campus, so just a quick bike ride in!

Claire was more interested in what was in her back pack vs. looking at the camera...

Drew and his amazing teacher Mrs. Robbins before school started

Claire is going to a little private preschool here two days a week for three hours on each of those days.  And was also BEYOND excited!

I couldn't have asked for a better school for Claire!!  There is fourteen cute little kiddos with two teachers at all times.  The room is set up very natural with tons of hand on activities.  The first week was themed "camping" with letters and numbers involved!

Claire jumped right in and started playing.  After her first day and picking her up, she even asked to stay longer!

End Of Summer Fun!

One of the many pools here in this great town has great water slides.  Claire especially loved this pool as she was able to go down the slide ALL ALONE!!  We spent the entire two hours going down the slides.. over and over!

Andy's brother Aric and his two kiddos Sunny and Skylar came up for a weekend.  We had a great time biking around.  We went to the National Mustard Museum with them which had over 500  mustard's that one could taste!

One of the huge perks to being back in the Midwest is the SWEET CORN!!!  I thin we buy it every other day!  Claire still isn't to sure about husking it!

Claire learning to hula-hoop at PaPa and MiMi's!

Claire is in flag football this year and can throw a mean spiral with his left hand!

Visiting another pool

Life In Madison

On Monday we arrived in Madison ready to begin our new journey in Madison for a year!  Andy will be attending graduate school at the University of Madison.  We are thrilled to be back in the Midwest and close to family and friends.  Andy and I had the chance to leave Drew and Claire with Andy's parents for a week while we unpacked FOUR shipments of house hold goods! When we arrived back this past weekend for the first time with the kiddos everything was put away, pictures were hung, and sheets had already been washed.  We were so grateful and by far this has been our most organized move, with not even a box in the garage!

 

 Our home for the next year

We packed out in Spain the month of May, so it had been a long time since the kiddos had seen any of their toys!  When we walked in it was like Christmas morning!!  The train table we had put in storage before we left for Spain, to this was new to the both of them!

I think if Andy and I were to settle down in the Midwest we would choose Madison as our city.  The city has SO much to offer from festivals, parks, lakes, farmer markets, and our favorite hundreds of miles of bike trails! 

This past Saturday we went on a bike ride to the large farmers market around the capital!

Enjoying a bike ride around one of the many lakes

Few More Fair Photos!

                             This was Andy's first year at the Iowa State Fair and loved this sign!

  The fair had a really cute area called "Little Hands"  where the kiddos had an opportunity to see what it would be like to work on a farm.  When you entered each child was given an apron and a basket and continued on to several stations.  At the end each child was given a fake dollar bill where they went to the general store to pick out an item for their hard work.  Drew and Claire chose a Popsicle!

                                                                    Planting vegetable seeds

                                   Filling the baskets full of grain for the farm animals

                                                                    Picking up eggs

 They then had to jump on little tractors with their buckets in the back, pick up hay, and feed the cows

                                                                  Milking the cows

   One of the many foods at the fair is a GIANT turkey leg!  Drew and Claire had to try a few bites off of Brian's!

 And of course there was a large selection of tractors!  The cost on one of these bad boys is INSANE!  Many of them were as high as $500,000!!!  The kiddos loved climbing inside them and "driving."

Iowa State Fair!

   This weeks kicks off the Iowa State Fair!  The Iowa State Fair is listed in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die.  And it is said that over a million people will come to the fair from all over the world!  We have been visitors to the fair ever since I was little and it's sad to say that I have not been there for five years!  However today we made up for all of that lost time and we spent TWELVE hours there today!!!  And yes, the kiddos were with us for the twelve hours with NO NAPS and NOT ONE melt down!!!  We had an amazing day with so many fun memories!

  One of the many attractions there was a butterfly garden.  In this garden one paid $3.00 per person to have all of the butterflies one could imagine land on them and pick up!  The kiddos were in heaven, along with the adults!

                                Mimi and Claire having a great time!!

Grandpa and Grandma's

This past week we spent at Andy's parents house in Minnesota.  Their cute town has hundred's of lakes and one person is never bored!!

Drew, Andy , and Grandpa took the boat out one night and look what they came home with... dinner!! Drew's face had to of hurt from all the smiles!!  He was in heaven.

Claire not to sure about eating a roasted marshmallow

Look what we saw on our road trip from Wisconsin to Minnesota, our good friend Paul!

One night at Grandpa and Grandma's was devoted to catching frogs!!

I don't think Drew and Claire will ever want to leave Andy's parents house as he was able to shoot a gun!

HoMe SwEEt HoMe!

On the 8th of July we landed in Virginia at 3am and started our new adventure here in America.  Saying good-bye to our friends in Spain was so hard, however it will be so great to be near family for our next tour in Wisconsin.

We were able to spend three days at my brother's Brain's house in Virginia Beach, which was awesome  & with so much entertainment.  Uncle Brain is like an amusement park for the kiddos and they always have a BLAST!

We then loaded up the car and spent two days driving to Madison!  The children did awesome in the car and the time actually went by really fast!

We then spent two days in Madison checking out our new house and the kiddos school's. 

Relaxation was in sight as we headed to our family cabin in Northern Minnesota for five days.  The days were filled with fishing, boating, state parks, and swimming in the lake!  We couldn't have been more relaxed if we tried!

The Olsen's cabin

Drew and Claire ready for their first fishing trip!

Flash backs from my childhood... hammocks are ALWAYS a hit with kiddos!!

Boating with grandpa!

Drew ended up catching six fish!!! For his first time fishing he did amazing and Andy has found his fishing buddy as he will stay fishing for HOURS... YES, HOURS....

After seeing Drew catch a few, Claire wanted to try...

So peaceful..

and so HaPPy!