Land O Lakes, WI - '08

This past week end we were lucky enough to be invited to share in some Kaji vacation time. We packed up our van with two of the three Kaji kids (& our family) while the Kaji van had mom & dad (Eugene & Jining), Eugene's brother, Ken from Phili, Jining's mom & dad (Ranee (Ama) and Tom (Agon)), and Baby Joey! Four and a half to five hours later and much north, we arrived in Land O Lakes, WI (supposedly where the butter is from - although we saw no evidence of this during our stay). We stayed at the Sunrise Lodge Resort. There is no actual hotel. We each had our own little cabins (or huts as I liked to call ours). We had one bedroom with 2 double beds a bathroom and living area with full kitchen and living space (complete with fire place). One might not think a fire place would come in handle in July, but in Northern WI - it did. Our "hut" was right on the lake. This place made our beach house on Leetz Island in CT look large!




This is the view from our porch.









The Kaji's had more of the Executive Hut. Three bedrooms, 2 baths, much larger living area and kitchen .... But, we all had plenty of space. This resort was just amazing. It had everything you could think of doing if you were a kid. And it was all included!! Play grounds, mini golf, shuffle board, basket ball, tennis, soccer, softball, volleyball, capture the flag, fishing, swimming, boating, bicycles and trails, pool tables, air hockey, library, scavenger and treasure hunts, pizza and cookie making, water balloon volleyball, movie night with popcorn, cook outs with s'mores and ghost stories, bingo, canoeing, hiking and crafts (just to name a few).

The Kaji's rented a jet ski and a pontoon boat so the Learish's got to partake in that fun as well. They also had skies and a tube. No one really knows how much horse power the jet ski had, but it got me up on a slalom ski, Eugene on two skies and pulled the kids on the tub!! The pontoon came in very handy for fishing and tooling around the lake.

Sunday ended up being a bit colder then we anticipated (50's). So, a trip into town was needed. I forgot the name of the store we found but we were able to get what we needed. We also found a horseback riding place and went for a 30+ minute trail ride.

This place was like luxury camping! It was great letting the kids just run around outside. There was just no end to all the fun they could have.

Moving on to one of my favorite topics ... food. You could do an all inclusive deal and have all your meals paid for or just order off the menu. Every meal was just amazing. Obviously many fish dishes were always offered. Steaks, chops and pasta. Soup, salads, home made breads and bakery. I honestly think I gained about 5 pounds in the three days we were there. For sure we will go back and hopefully stay longer.

Click the link to see a slide show of Land O Lakes, WI.

Slide show of Land O Lakes

Click the link to see a slide show of Kaji - Land O Lakes, WI.

Slide show of Kaji - Land O Lakes

The kids spent hours looking for "stuff". They found minnows, snails, leaches and frogs ... They had little nets and buckets and just kept adding more stuff to them.

Eugene built a fire every night we were there. The kids spent all their time searching for pine cones and whatever else they could collect to toss in the fire. We made s'mores. This is a photo of the group minus Jining's folks who had already retired for the evening.

Tom really enjoys fishing. So, they hired a fishing guide and went out Sunday morning. Randy and Chris got to go along with Ken and Tom. They all had such a great time. 58 fish caught in all. We even had the resort cook some up for lunch that very day!

Mom Rides!!

Sharon has some crazy plan to get me on a horse that worked this past week end! I rode for the first time in over 17 years (at least). It's kind of like riding a bike ... errr - well not as easy though. I remembered what to do but it sure was not smooth, pretty or even close to what the horse would expect from a rider. My legs were telling the horse to go left while the reigns were telling her to go right. But, over all it was very fun and I think it's my job to show Acacia how easy it is to canter!! Baahaahaa!! More on that later. Oh, my inner thighs are uh ... kind of hurting ... a little ....

Click the link to see a slide show of Mom Rides.

Slide show of Mom Rides

The Circus for Chris

With Randy in an air cast from toe to knee and on crutches, 6 kids and our friend Matt, we drove about 45 minutes to see the circus for Chris' birthday. Chris asked for a space shuttle cake - so I did my best. Gotta love the aerodynamics of the thing. Anyway, special thanks to Audiovox for providing the in-route entertainment. For sure, Randy and I would have just put the van on cruise and just jumped out of the windows if we would have had to listen to 5 kids go on an on in the car. As it was, listening to the commentary of the movie from Chris and Kirin was indeed - entertaining to say the least. The circus was .... interesting. The majority of the performers might want to consider any or all of the following: day jobs, new choreographer, a new costume manager and / or new dietitian. The men in full body PINK leotards with beer bellies catching the women and their thonged butts mid air had a little something for everyone. The cool conclusion was 6 motorcycles in the big steel cage ball thing all running at the same time. That really was cool. After the 2 hour event ended we said good bye to Matt and Alex and headed to find some food. McDonald's drive through: Lisa: "What is the largest quantity of nuggets I can order?" Speaker box: "20." Lisa: "I'll take 40 ...." Spending $27 at a McDonald's was a first but that fed 7 people!! We took the food to a local park and ate and played before we packed everyone back in and headed back to Madison. A grand time!! Enjoy!

Click the link to see a slide show of The Circus for Chris.

Slide show of Circus for Chris
















Oh - Acacia wanted me to take this movie. Exciting footage ....

Riding a new horse!

Acacia started to ride a new bigger horse this past week. I have also been instructed to wear pants and bring a helmet to next weeks lessons. I have to learn to ride so I can attend the mother/daughter picnic! Wish me luck! And, Chris got to sit on Danielle while Acacia was riding Mister. He was not as comfortable up there as Acacia seems to be!


















Here is a little movie too.

Remodel '07 - Before and After!

Does anyone recognize these rooms? We had decided to get new carpet throughout the house and put in wood laminate in the living room and foyer. To save some bucks we decided to take the carpet out ourselves. This involved Randy and several of our friends moving every single thing we own that touches the floor in the house and moving it to the garage or the living room (phase I). My responsibility was to keep the kids out of the house while this took place. We returned the night before the carpet was to be installed to our dressers and 2 mattresses on the floor in the living room. Nail strips and tacks all over the floor and the basement wood paneling half painted with primer. The primer was not part of the original plan .... So, now we have committed to painting ... Long story short - all the base boards, molding around the doors, windows and closets have all been painted white. The wood paneling in the basement is one tone and the rest of the walls (through the entire house) are a lighter tone. We took the (fake) ceiling beams down from the ceiling in the basement and painted the ceiling white. We did an accent wall in the living room (same color as the wood paneling in the basement). There is a short shag like carpet in all the bedrooms and hallway and a looped carpet on the steps, to the landing, down the rest of the steps and through the lower level family room. The living room has the wood laminate. All the bathroom, bedroom and closet doors have been sanded down and stained a lighter pecan color. It is an amazing transformation and looks totally different. Randy and Dale did all the painting and several friends helped with a lot of the labor. With the exception of the actual carpet installation, Randy did everything else. I think he is trying to keep up with Chris (Wheeler). So, what do you think? Want to come visit now?





No more carpet or pink walls!





We took the wood beams off the ceiling and painted over the lower level wood paneling. The chair rail is white and the walls are a sandy color now.

Chris is 5!!

Well, we have not really done a whole lot for Chris this year. But, Acacia and her cool baby sitter made Chris an Easy Bake Oven cake and we all sang to him. He got a hand full of presents - transformers are very cool!! We are going to take Chris and his friends to the circus this coming week end. 10 kids ... should be interesting to say the least! Wish us luck!

Even More Outside Riding

She's moved up into just wide open spaces now. The film where there are two riders, Acacia is the one in front.

Oh, How sweet our neighbors lawn is ...

This is Acacia in our neighbor's yard. Randy started to mow the yard but you can see how nice and long her weeds get. Just lovely ....

... not.

My Olympic Gold moment!!

How cool! Mark Johnson from the 1980 US gold metal winning hockey team ("Do you believe in miracles??") is the UW Madison's women's hockey coach now. We (Rec Sports) asked if he would speak at our Big Ten Rec Sport conference and he said ... yes. He brought the gold metal and just passed it around! He spoke for over an hour on the entire experience. He also attends our church and did a service several years ago where his metal was passes around. So, I have actually seen this gold metal twice. Still very cool!! I went up to speak with him after his speech and I got my picture taken with him (and the hockey puck he signed for me)!! I don't know what the deal was with the camera as the color is all weird, but still - it's him!!

Another Sleeper shot!!

I just don't know how they can sleep like this. But, the actually sleep better with each other ....

Riding Outside!!

The weather warmed up enough to allow for outside riding!! What an adventure! Acacia just LOVED this!! She did amazing especially given the terrain was not even at all! Way cool!! She is hoping she can ride outside the week too!!

Fitchburg Days '08

Another successful Fitchburg Days Carnival! Food, fun, rides and fire works!! For a mear $80+ you can ride all the cheesy carnival rides and eat some quality deep fried Twinkies!! Oh, and you can't forget the strategic games that win you amazing prizes that make only the most pleasing noises that last forever!

Click the link to see a slide show of Fitchburg Days '08.

Slide show of Fitchburg Days '08

Spring Soccer '08

So, spring soccer '08 is officially over. Acacia's team had a great season! The team is really coming together and they are learning skills and strategies now. They have one more year of co-ed soccer and then it switches to all girl teams.

Click the link to see a slide show of spring soccer '08.

Slide show of Spring Soccer '08

Easter '08

This years Easter trails were very personal! The Easter Bunny made two trails. One for Chris (made with race car track) and one for Acacia (made with ponies) - see photos for more details. The hunt lasted a little while this year with stops on each floor of the house, and even in the bathroom. We went to church and then came home and had a great ham lunch. Randy and the kids then went to the foot of snow we received on Friday and made what will hopefully be the last snow man of the season. But, this was a very impressive snowman. Complete with hair and a bird flying over his head!! Jesus is risen. He is risen in deed!!

The slide show starts with the real bunny tracks we found in the show outside the house and then a couple photos of the hunt. We tried to take some family photos of us dressed nice. Some of us cooperated more then others.... Chris then took the camera and ran round the house taking pictures of everything (mostly Acacia) until she finally had had enough and asked him nicely to stop (photo near the end of the slide show). Last couple shots are of the snow man. Please note the yellow bird flying around above his head and all his very nice Charlie Brown hair!! Enjoy!!

Click the link to see a slide show of our Easter '08.

Slide show of Easter '08

Click play to see a movie of the hunt ...

My trip to warmer weather

Mom had her sergury about 2 months ago now. I decided it was time for a visit. After agonizing over flights, rates, destinations and dates I booked a flight from Milwaukee to Ft Lauderdale (via Charlotte, NC - go figure). Chris and I (and Newman) drove up to NC for a little surprise for mom and dad. Yoli came a day later via plane. We pretty much did whatever mom and dad wanted us to do. Weed the gardens, fix dad's computer, play golf, drink wine, walk, walk, walk and move a TV. It was a great visit and mom is doing really well (from what we can tell). Newman is super cool but dad is allergic to him so Newmy was not allowed in the house. Chris slept with Newman on the pourch and when Yoli arrived, she slept out there too. I am sure Zander is happy to have full run of his house and yard again as Newman pretty much dominated the doggie situation.

Click the link to see a slide show of my warm weather adventure.

Slide show of warm weather



We all drove back to FL together. Yoli had gotten Chris sailing lessons for his birthday (last year) and they were just now getting around to taking the lesson. The best part was that I got to go too!! A day sailing in Miami!! Chris and Yoli both did a great job and are ready to sail to the Bahamas for some scuba diving.



I flew home after a little over a week to find Randy and the kids still in one piece. The warm weather was GREAT!! But, back to the reality of WI. We are under a winter storm advisory from now through the week end with expected snow accumulation of 4-10 inches. Please - STOP THE MADNESS!!