Month: June 2019
Three generations of Burch males eating onion rings at Art Bradish.
I had heard about Mud Day at the Ecotarium last year, but we had been unable to attend. I thought it sounded like so much – wear old clothes and have lots of fun makes mudpies, mudart, mud digging, mud sculptures, etc. Today we loaded up the kids, brought a change of clothes for all of them and headed out. To my surprise, nobody was very interested in getting messy. The big boys just looked at the activities but didn’t participate. Kaitlyn loved all of them, but didn’t get a drop of mud on her at all. Ben, now Ben is a completely different story. He dived right into everything.
It looks like this summer is going to be a little different. I had no idea “10” was the year it would suddenly be no fun to go on outings with your siblings. Alex is initially okay with going the pool or lake. Then after about 30 minutes the complaining starts. He wants to know when we are going to eat or when we are going to leave. I have suggested bringing his book or drawing supplies, but that is not something he wants to do. It’s going to be a LONG summer.
Today was the last soccer game of the season for Kaitlyn. Because Wade was out of town that also meant everyone had to come with me to Kaitlyn’s game. Unfortunately, it was insanely hot and the fields have zero shade. Ben had a stroller with a sunshade but zero desire to sit inside. The big boys tried to use his stroller for shade (which I found hilarious). The girls on the field did great considering the weather. I’m not sure Kaitlyn’s foot touched the ball, but she did travel with the pack. Afterwards it was medals and snacks for everybody.
Wade is out of town, so the kids and I are doing all kinds of fun stuff. Today we drove to Vermont. We visited Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury, VT. We went on the factory Tour. We tasted samples. We shopped their gift shop. We ate scoops from their scoop shop. We bought our favorite flavors to take home. We had a great time and might have even had ice cream for dinner too.
This slide has been waiting and waiting for warmer weather. At our house we have Christmas and then almost all the birthdays are winter birthdays. Sometimes that means we have cool summer things that come as gifts and then have to wait a while before they can be used. The kids were so excited to try this one out. We even used it twice today.
Local shopping is all the rage these days. You can’t get any more local than the market in my sunroom. I had the cutest shopkeeper too. (Wade’s market is one of my top favorite things he has ever built. The red checkered awning was lost in the move from Chicago to Grafton but it’s on the short list to be replaced this summer.)


Alex is our “big idea” guy. Ever since moving into this house he has wanted sell something on the side of the road. The “something” has varied. It has been lemonade, cookies, artwork, etc. Wade finally convinced him the first step is to build a stand or cart. Alex took the advice to heart and built a cart. That boy is definitely creative. Now he is talking about walking the neighborhood selling his cookies.
Kaitlyn used Pop’s $20 to buy the game Pop the Pig. Obviously, we then had a family game.
We loaded up the kids, packed a backpack with a few snacks, found the backpack carrier, and surprised the kids with an afternoon hike at Purgatory Chasm. The big kids had a lot of fun climbing over rocks, Ben loved the ride, and the adults enjoyed being out of the house. Wade’s knees and toe were not so happy with the adventure. (Poor guy is showing his age prematurely.)