Cincinnati Children's Museum

Learning is made fun at the Cincinnati Children's Museum. As you can tell from the following photos, the kids had a great time learning...

Breakfast in Cincy

While in Cincy, we found a really neat restaurant that served all kinds of cereals. Mix It Up! serves up more than 30 kinds of cereal that you can mix and match. Once you have your cereal in the bowl, you get to add all sorts of accoutrements (chocolate chips, dried fruit, fresh fruit, M&Ms, etc.). Breakfast was definitely filling, but boy was it worth it!

An Afternoon on Lake Johnson

After our return from Lake Norman, we were still jonesin' for some lake time. To satisfy our craving, we took a boat ride with Carter and his dad. Here the boys show off their paddling skills.

Animals, Up Close and Personal

When we visited a game farm near Lake Norman, we initially thought we might need some binoculars to see things up close.

We needn't have worried...
Although a zoom lens helped see the baby ostriches a little better.
No binoculars needed in order to see the zebras...
... or the stags.

Boating on Lake Norman

While on vacation in Lake Norman, we rented a pontoon boat one day and spent a couple of hours out on the lake. I'm not sure if you can tell, but we definitely enjoyed the sunshine on the water.

Lake Norman - Deep Thinking and Deep Swimming

A six letter word for fun... Summer? Norman? Cooper?

Floating on the lake - not a bad way to spend a lazy afternoon.
Of course, some of us prefer to exercise once we're in the water. Sugar absolutely loved leaping off the dock, retrieving sticks and swimming back into shore so that she could trot out to the end of the dock and do it all over again.
Our little guy perfected his version of a washing machine agitator.

Lake Norman Retreat

In early August, we spent a few days relaxing at a house on Lake Norman. Throwing rocks off the dock provided hours of entertainment.

Mommy is all smiles dockside.

Dancing With Mommy

At a recent Sandbox concert, there was a whole lotta dancing going on.

Who's Backing Barack?

Obama has also been endorsed by The Sierra Club, Wesley Clark, and Warren Buffet. If you want to see more about who's endorsed Obama, click here.

Working and Playing in the yard

On one of those rare weekends when we are home, there is often yardwork to do. Luckily, there are often a couple of hearty fellas around to help. When you have a truckload of mulch, it's hard to resist playing around just a little.

Cooper is a big help when it comes to transporting the mulch to the backyard. He was also a big help when it came to spreading the mulch. We definitely worked hard that day.
When the work is done, it's time to cool off.

July in Wisconsin

Popi and his grandkids - enjoying the new deck.

The view from the dock.
Of course, we were delayed on our flight home.
As you can tell, the airport people have been through this before.
Luckily, we didn't have to stay overnight in Chicago. We were several hours late, but we finally made it home.

Popi's New House

After all the parade hoopla died down, we headed up to Popi's lake house. Over the last year, Popi's house got a LOT bigger.

His new living room is almost as big as his last house...

And he's even got really cool sinks now.

But the sinks aren't the best part of the bathroom...