comfort inn

on the way home my parents paid for us to stay in a hotel. we picked a comfort inn with a water slide. needless to say, ellen and i spent hours in the pool on on the water slide. 

fires and uncles

we also got to see uncle ryan and ellen got to have a couple fires with grandpa

mini farm

we took ellen up to the mini farm at camp. it is like a petting zoo of sorts but with farm animals instead of monkeys and lions. as you can see from some of the pictures the bunnies, cows, sheep, and goats were more like lions, tigers, and bears. ellen was actually terrified of them. we hadn't really seen that side of her before. she did warm up a bit after while and managed to touch some of the animals, but we had to order to do so. after she left each pen she did want to go back in, but as soon as she got in there she wanted right back out. it was pretty funny. the epitome of a love/hate relationship. 

cfs express

camp also has a train for the kids. i think you know how much ellen loved riding on that.

canoe ride

out at camp we took ellen for her first canoe ride. she was a tad nervous at the start but warmed up to the idea of floating on the water.

barn swing

tessa took these pictures of the kids out on the swing by my parent's barn. sometimes i think she could be a professional photographer. 

at grandpa and grandpa's house

these are some pictures from around my parent's house up in wisconsin. there were all kinds of new adventures for ellen. she really enjoyed exploring a new yard. and no, the title is not a mistake. ellen calls my parents grandpa and grandpa. hasn't really figured out the "ma" ending yet. 

wisconsin

camp forest springs is having it's 50 year celebration this weekend and tessa and i are already here. we got in this morning (wednesday) and will be here until next tuesday. it is going to be an awesome time to see old friends and remeber all the things and lives that have changed the last 50 years of camp's existance.
we will be silent on the blog until we return home. rest assured we are not dead.

potty in the potty #2

we have noticed that ellen is more "aware" of when she has to go to the bathroom when she is not wearing her diaper. for instance....when she has just gotten out of the bath, or about to take a bath, or getting her diaper changed she will tell us she has to use the potty, and does. i decided to take a bit of a risk yesterday and see if she could go diaper free for a while, thinking that might help her get used to "going potty." i am proud to report that ellen conquered the entire day (aside from nap time) totaling 17 "number 1's" and 2 "number 2's." i couldn't believe it. it was like she had been potty trained for years. i blurred the contents of the container to save those with weak stomachs. tomorrow she might learn to spell her name and ride a wheelie on her bike.

sleeping on the job

ellen has been falling asleep in some funny places the last couple days. one was in the middle of the living room and the other is obviously when she was eating lunch. i think she has so much energy and then all of a sudden she hits the wall and is gone. maybe she is narcoleptic.

bird questions again

ok, i'm 99.99% positive that the top picture is a golden finch. however, i have never heard of a blue finch. i looked it up on the internet and they are only native to south america. small chance we have a blue finch at our feeder. it is the same size and looks much like the golden finch except for the blue color. can anyone out there put a name on this blue one?

potty in the potty

ellen has become fairly skilled at using the potty. we are nowhere near potty trained but she is really getting the hang of this thing. i would say we get 3 or 4 potties in the potty a week. she potties in the potty, removes the toxic waste container and comes dancing with the good news to us, we then take it to the big potty, flush it and wave bye bye, and finally we eat our potty celebration candy and dance some more. 

the yard

these are some shots of ellen running around in the yard yesterday. she is so cute i could squeeze her until she pops.