Summer field trip!

I promised myself this summer I wouldn't let it slip by without taking advantage of all the fun free things there are to do. My plan is to find a new place to explore weekly and we thought it'd be fun to concentrate on the Mississippi River and all there is to see and do in, around and about it.

Today we went to Lilydale Regional Park - Jacob, Ella, Jill and I. We didn't park quite in the right place, so had a pretty long trek, but, that's not necessarily a bad thing. We started at "Bruce Vento's View". We saw a waterfall, Echo cave and a brick oven, went fossil hunting and walked to Pickeral lake. There were many signs along the way to learn about what we were seeing.

I'm so glad that, save a few exceptions, Ella and Jacob have a blast together. When we were raising the first batch of kids they had little need for friends, pre-teenage years, as they were content playing with each other. So far, that is usually the case for Ella and Jacob - they are really compatible and just have a blast together.

Mark has been uber-busy working on Shannon's new bathroom. It is a huge undertaking and as with every project in this old house has tons of bumps along the way - nothing is ever plumb. It is only 3 weeks until her surgery - spine fusion - a very serious surgery for the 60 degree curves, 2, in her back.

Next week Mark and I are going to Chicago to visit good friends for 3 days - a post-wedding/pre-surgery getaway if you will. We are greatly looking forward to it and trying not to get too ahead of ourselves thinking about the immense impact Shannon's surgery will forever have on our lives.

Today - we had lots of fun exploring!