Indiana and Wisconsin
We found a gem - only 5 hours from us are the shores of Lake Michigan. Fine sandy beaches, dunes, freshwater as far as you can see with small waves (although Eric has done some research on surfing the lakes during windy, large-wave weather). Gorgeous! Friends have been telling us about this but it was hard to believe without seeing it in person.

Eric had a conference in Madison, Wisconsin and so we made a road trip out of it. We spent a night in Indiana near lake Michigan and spent some time enjoying the beach. I loved the grasses and sedges growing in the dunes.

Cadie loved running/tumbling down the dunes - I wish I had taken video! We are still finding sand in her hair.

Then on to Madison, our hotel on the campus of UW with views of Lake Mendota. There were plenty of things to do while Eric was in meetings.
Children's museum:

Geology museum with dinosaur bones and a black-light room full of rocks that glowed. The zoo would have been a bigger hit if it was not 96 degrees and humid but the herpetology building was pretty cool - Cadie was fascinated with the amphibs that were shedding their skin. I thought the baby lion was adorable.

One highlight was unexpectedly joining a protest at the capital. Long story short - we stepped out of a museum and onto capital square just in time for the protest. A lady approached Cadie with a bucket of sidewalk chalk, and now amidst the calls for a recall and other choice sayings, Gov. Walker will find a few spiders and sunshines (hard to distinguish between the two) on the sidewalks in front of the capital.

All in all, a good trip. We will definitely go back to Lake Michigan and Madison is a nice place, how about having this as a commons area on campus:

Friends and Fun
We had a visit from friend McKade and his family!

Cadie was in heaven to have a friend sleepover. She really wanted to give up her bed and sleep on the floor somewhere. I'm not sure where this idea came from - maybe from a library book we have? Kade's family were here during tornado weather so we chose to have fun at an indoor play area with more friends.

Downtown Columbus recently tore down an old shopping mall and created a green space park. As part of the opening celebrations they had a Friday fun day for kids. Cadie rode the carousel three times.

Her version of cornhole:

Future enginerd:

Warm Weather Excitement
We have tried to take advantage of any non-rainy moment we can get outside.
Success: crew game.

Success: elephants in the neighborhood. The circus elephants were dropped off the train and marched down the street to the downtown arena.
Waiting at the tracks with the paparazzi.


The little one:

Success: some gardening and lots of mud pies

Wet but still fun: Slate Run Historic Farm for sheep shearing the 1860's way

Success: Happy birthday! (29 again)

Happy Easter!

Happy Earth Day!
This is more of a journaling entry - I wanted to remember our day.
For work, I helped plan a tree planting/river restoration project that will take place at the end of the month, however, I wanted to get outside today to do something to celebrate Earth day. So Cadie and I braved the drizzle to visit the Wetlands Research Park on campus and take part in a "wild-egg" hunt. This was not the normal egg-hunt with 200 kids on the edges of a soccer field waiting to pounce on the egg-strewn field. We were shown pictures of the birds that visit the wetlands and told that the birds had left 92 eggs throughout the (52 acre!) park and that we should try to find them along with Olga the sneaky muskrat (stuffed animal) who was hiding. Kids under age 5 could look around a smaller pond area and the bigger kids had free rein on the remainder of the park but most of the eggs were around the trails and large ponds. Cadie and I started walking around the little kid pond and somehow all of the other little kids went around the pond in the other direction. Without competition, needless to say, in about 10 minutes she had found about as many bright eggs.
Pink one in the trees!

Easier find in the grass:

Not wanting to be an egg-hog, I recommended going for a walk and looking for Olga the muskrat. We were having a great time - we saw lots of birds, found holes "Olga's home?", and climbed a tower to an observation point. Then we found it. Not Olga, unfortunately, but a dead muskrat. Right in the middle of the trail. I saw it first but realized I couldn't do much to stop Cadie from seeing it. After I explained that, no, this was not Olga, we had quite the conversation. In fact the entire walk back to the education center was devoted to answering the question "Why did the muskrat die, Mommy?" It was sweet in a way to realize that her 3-yr old mind couldn't process death. Back at the center we opened our eggs to find pictures of birds that we then matched to a poster and found out what prize each egg gave us. Cadie came home with bird food, wildflower seeds, earth day buttons, a pencil, and a huge African violet!
Back at home with her loot:

Well, the dead muskrat wouldn't leave her mind. She even asked one of the organizers why the muskrat died and this conversation continued on the ride home. Finally, after talking about sickness being a possible cause she was silent for a while. And then, "Mom, I'm going to be a muskrat doctor and fix sick muskrats in my home with my doctor tools." You go girl.

Veggies we love you
We worked in our community garden plot this morning. It was good to work in the dirt and I am really excited about the overall garden plan. Cadie asked if we were going to grow garden burgers. She is enjoying gardening much more than last year. Especially digging, making mud, and finding worms. This morning we found a little snake curled up in the straw. I definitely asked another gardener if there are poisonous snakes in the area before moving it with a shovel to the grass. I don't mind most of the critters that visit the garden but this year we put up a small fence around the area for our greens. Last year the rabbits ate all of our chard before I could get to it.

Hawaii Miracle
Hawaii was so great and we did so much, I can't possibly cover everything so I will try a top 10 list.
The top 10 awesomest things about Spring Break in Hawaii:
10. Being with friends. Actually this should be at the top but I had to introduce it early so I could post pictures with these great people. We stayed at McA's in Mililani on Oahu. We have been friends with Ted and Cindy since before we were all married. Since then we have followed each other across the country from Logan (UT) to Corvallis (OR) to Silver Spring (MD). I guess this means our next move will be to Hawaii? They have crazy 7-yr old Kai. Mutual friends Matt and Christina flew in from Colorado to join us.


9. Visiting with sea turtles.

8. Lots of fresh fruit and ono grinds (good eats). Here we are eating pineapple soft serve at the Dole plantation.

7. Watching all the extreme activities. Surfers on the big waves at the North Shore, sky-divers, boogie boarders, kite boarders, and wind surfers all catching big air and doing crazy stunts.

6. Trying out new sports. Eric rode the boogie board on the calmer waters and Ted, Eric, and Matt went spear-fishing.

5. Exploring new places. Byodo-In Temple, Bishop Museum, Contemporary Art Conservatory. Here is Cadie ringing the big peace bell at the Byodo-In Temple (Buddhist).

4. Sunset cruise and whale watching trip. Humpback whales breaching everywhere! Cadie trying out the view from the Ted seat:

3. Snorkeling and swimming with amazing fish larger than Cadie. (no pictures of the actual fish but here we are at Hanauma Bay).

2. Sitting on the beach everyday. Sun, sand, water. What more could we want? Cadie would wake up in the morning and say, "let's go to Hawaii" meaning: "let's go to the beach!"

And finally... drum roll please... for those who have stuck through this whole post, here is the Hawaii miracle, the #1 most awesome thing about our Hawaii trip:
1. (Sorry for the graphic nature of this one) E not vomiting! No trips at all hours to the bathroom, no dehydration, no IV fluids needed! Totally a miracle as this was my life for the 8 weeks leading up to our trip. I'll admit that the week before Hawaii things were improving but I did not expect this. Yes, I'm pregnant! Due date 9/11.

Hawaii - pictures now, talk later
It seems a little weird to follow up the last icey post with pictures at the beach but that is about how it went. We left Columbus with new snow on the ground on the morning of the Japan tsunami, spent nearly two weeks in paradise with lows reaching 68 and highs of 83, and then came home to barely above freezing highs and a broken furnace. I want to go back! Details to follow...