Party Hearty

Four weeks ago today (my goodness, has it been that long?) was our annual Independence Day party. We always invite a bunch of friends and family for a cookout, fireworks, and general outdoor fun. Did I forget to invite you this year? My apologies -- e-mail me, and I'll make sure you're on the list for 2010!

This year's party was another great one. The thing that I will remember most is the large number of kids in attendance. Thankfully, we had lots of things for them to do. Jenelle has three bins full of her old toys in the basement. We also have a set of bases, about ten wiffle balls, and a big red plastic bat. We have a firepit that we used to help the kids (and adults) make s'mores. And when Jenelle told the kids that there's a frog (or is it a toad?) that hangs around our yard, the kids were following her all over. It was pretty cute.

We STILL have tons of beverages left over. This year, we had about 50 alcoholic beverages, and approximately 7 of those were consumed at the party. The same goes for soda. We obviously overbought. Jenelle and I are not big drinkers, so I think we're covered until the end of the year. :)

The cutest kid pictures are below, and here's the full photo album.

Exacta Exacta

Congratulations to my grandpa, who won over $100 at Arlington race track yesterday. I don't know how he did it, but on two consecutive races, he got both his exacta bet and his winning horse. Amazing. He was nice enough to buy me two fried doughs at the Roma Lodge Italian Festival, which starts today. What a guy!

Adventures Up North, Part 2

From June 26-30, we ventured north to the family cottage for the second time in a month! This time, we were joined by three other couples -- Mark & Heather, Rich & Maryke, and Jamie & Janet.

The photo album covers most of the stuff we did.

We went kayaking on Clear Lake on Saturday afternoon. Rich & Maryke came along. We did just fine alternating who was paddling and who was relaxing on shore. It makes me wish we had another two-person kayak. Hmmm....

Miniature golf was the big activity on Saturday night. In a match play format (four singles matches), the gentlemen managed a 3-1 victory over the ladies. It was great fun, as we had pretty much the entire course to ourselves.

On Sunday morning, Janet, Jamie, Mark, and I (Ben) ran the Freedom 5K in St. Germain. I set a new personal best, finishing in 21:12. Mark wasn't far behind. Jamie & Janet each finished their first ever 5K, so congrats are in order for them as well. We celebrated by going to Paul Bunyan's for breakfast after the run.

One thing that's not in the photo album -- we went back to St. Germain that night for fireworks. It was an amazingly impressive show. They seemed as good as (if not better than) the fireworks we saw in Racine on July 4.

We tried a new pizza place on Monday for dinner - the Minocqua Pizza Co., which is outside of town (south of the bridge). Not bad.

The weather was a bit cool for late June. On Monday night, before heading out for one last fishing trip on Little Muskie Lake, Jamie and I bundled up in some old clothes we found in a closet in the cottage (there is a picture of it in the album). We didn't catch that many fish, but we still had fun.

I'm not sure if we're heading back up to the cottage again this summer, but if we do, I know it'll be a blast.

A little behind

June and early July has been / will be a pretty crazy time for us. Crazy, but fun. I'll post more as soon as things settle down. Hang in there!