July in Wisconsin

Apparently the heat and humidity are going to be setting in soon, but yesterday was just unbelieveably gorgeous here. It was sunny and lightly windy and maybe in the low 70's? We took the kids for a walk after dinner, about a mile to a little park down the street. It was lovely and there wasn't even too much complaining when it was time to leave. Harper started to whine a bit on the way home but I distracted her with math and spelling, which is kind of hilarious, no? We spent about 3/4 of the walk giving her addition problems to solve or spelling words for her to guess. She LIKES this. And while she had to slow down while figuring out what 7 plus 4 came out too, it was a fair trade not to listen to how tired she was and that she needed a break.

And then we saw not one, not two, but THREE hot air balloons toward the end of our walk. I didn't realize this, but Harper had never seen one in real life before so it was very exciting. It was also funny to point it out to Michael and see the expression on his face completely change when he actually spotted it. Finally, on the bike/walking trail behind my parents' place we saw a bunny. Everyone was really really happy. And Michael learned to say lawn mower (which sounds a lot like Elmo, "yaw mo"). Not bad for a summer day.

Yesterday afternoon I drove Matt to Madison, where he met up with his assistant coaches. They were continuing on to Rochester, MN where his 12 year old basketball team is competing at AAU Nationals. If things go well I may drive out there next week for the final games, we'll see. It's about five hours from here, so it isn't a small undertaking.

The drive between here and Madison (and between here and Minnesota) is so calming. Rolling hills, woodland, farms, and lakes. This time of year everything is still nice and green with patches of colorful wildflowers every so often, to remind you that we haven't jumped in and ruined all of the land just yet. There's so much space up here - our area of Ohio is significantly more urban than where I grew up and if I'm away too long I forget how much I miss that openness. It reminds me why we need to learn to camp as a family - probably the only way my kids will experience the kind of spaces I remember.

My parents have a wedding to attend tonight so the kids and I are going to hang out with my sister, and maybe some takeout pizza. After they are in bed I think Shannon is going to watch the 6th Harry Potter movie with me. I missed it in the theater and haven't been able to bring myself to watch it on my own, silly of me, but it feels like a movie I want to share with someone, you know? I love Harry Potter.

Hope you're having blue skies and light breezes where you are, and if not, may I suggest a rum and coke?

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