Wisconsin Weekend: Friday
Jul. 6th, 2009 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windinthemaplesOur weekend began much as it proved throughout--without rush or bother or attachment to outcome. By late morning we'd loaded the car down with clothing, toys, and a picnic hamper packed with happy summer foods. Our hundred mile drive up to Eagle, Wisconsin was pleasantly punctuated with lunch (peaches, popcorn, and avocado/sprout sandwiches), traffic slowdowns, radio station surfing, blue skies and green grass. Graeme got restless as we passed a riverside playground in a random town we were passing through, so we stopped and played. Fishermen cast from their folding chairs on the grassy shore, four and five car freight trains slowly eased across the railway bridge, sunlight and breezes caressed the leafy canopy overhead, all while we watched Graeme climb stairs and "eeeeeeeeee!" his way down slides, clap and laugh as the swing tilted him higher and higher.
There's that saying that you don't know a heyday until that heyday is past. No. I know. My little family is in its heyday and there is no mistaking the magic and perfection of these days together. The park felt like it existed in a snow globe, the glitter of sunlight and dust motes and wildflower fluff drifting down around us in a slow, perfect blanket. Maybe that snow globe, that picturesque summer park day, will be something I carry with me into my old age. I hope so.
Maybe Graeme felt it too, or maybe he's just nearing that tough two year-old stage of knowing his mind but being too young and unskilled to speak it--but when it was time to continue on he cried. Crouched down in the middle of the park and wailed. He'd changed his mind. He wasn't ready to stop swinging, so back we went for another two or three minutes of savoring that sensation, of having mom and dad smile and laugh at him each pass he made, until he was ready and content to get back into the car and move on.
By late afternoon, we pulled up to Kettle Moraine State Forest a beautiful rolling land traced with hiking trails. The mosquitos made an appearance and so we settled for a quick bug-dodging run up the hill to an old signal bluff overlooking the forest and prairie and then down the road to a restored settler's cabin along a picturesque prairie creek. Graeme went unscathed as any mosquito even eyeing his baby skin moved on to her next life but Daniel (who is somewhat allergic to mosquito bites) and I got back into the car with lumps and bumps and itchy bites everywhere. Daniel had one lump rising on his brow ridge that I laughingly told him was transforming him into Quasimodo. We were an itching, hilarious mess. :) I don't know. It was fun in that miserable, optimists-suffering kind of way. :D
We immediately scratched off our plans for further hiking that day and visiting the largest freshwater marsh in the United States for Sunday. Yeah, no thanks! Where's the DEET? :)
So, thanks to the mosquitos, we hurried on our way to our hotel in the lake country town of Oconomowoc. We'd chosen it solely because it was the nearest Hilton product to where we wanted to be and D had enough points for us to stay two nights free there. Who knew how great a little town Oconomowoc could be? ;) Graeme fell asleep as we pulled in, so we circled around and found an awesome thrift store for me to shop in while Daniel stayed in the car with him. It was such nice stuff! Even the books were alphabetized by author and subject. I kid you not! :D About thirty minutes later, I walked out with a few Yule gifts for people left unnamed, a handful of board books for Graeme to read, a brass trivet that may be the inspiration for my first tattoo, a big aqua glass Pyrex mixing bowl, and a middle grade book Boston Jane: An Adventure that turned out to be really enjoyable material for the trip.
That evening, the boys went swimming in the pool (I'd forgotten to pack my suit!) while I rolled up my jeans, splashed my feet, and took photos. We wandered downtown to a Mexican restaurant and then followed the cooler-lugging crowds to the adjacent lakefront boardwalk where a fireworks display was in the offing. One mom with a toddler of her own offered us a blanket. Her son showed off and shared toys with Graeme while we waited and then, around 9:30pm, there was an incredible fireworks display. It was truly astonishing! At one point, one of the shells exploded into a night-lighting pentacle--a yellow star within a red circle, expanding outward and then sparkling into darkness to be replaced by the rest of the barrage. It was all so unintended and so picture perfect.
There's that saying that you don't know a heyday until that heyday is past. No. I know. My little family is in its heyday and there is no mistaking the magic and perfection of these days together. The park felt like it existed in a snow globe, the glitter of sunlight and dust motes and wildflower fluff drifting down around us in a slow, perfect blanket. Maybe that snow globe, that picturesque summer park day, will be something I carry with me into my old age. I hope so.
Maybe Graeme felt it too, or maybe he's just nearing that tough two year-old stage of knowing his mind but being too young and unskilled to speak it--but when it was time to continue on he cried. Crouched down in the middle of the park and wailed. He'd changed his mind. He wasn't ready to stop swinging, so back we went for another two or three minutes of savoring that sensation, of having mom and dad smile and laugh at him each pass he made, until he was ready and content to get back into the car and move on.
By late afternoon, we pulled up to Kettle Moraine State Forest a beautiful rolling land traced with hiking trails. The mosquitos made an appearance and so we settled for a quick bug-dodging run up the hill to an old signal bluff overlooking the forest and prairie and then down the road to a restored settler's cabin along a picturesque prairie creek. Graeme went unscathed as any mosquito even eyeing his baby skin moved on to her next life but Daniel (who is somewhat allergic to mosquito bites) and I got back into the car with lumps and bumps and itchy bites everywhere. Daniel had one lump rising on his brow ridge that I laughingly told him was transforming him into Quasimodo. We were an itching, hilarious mess. :) I don't know. It was fun in that miserable, optimists-suffering kind of way. :D
We immediately scratched off our plans for further hiking that day and visiting the largest freshwater marsh in the United States for Sunday. Yeah, no thanks! Where's the DEET? :)
So, thanks to the mosquitos, we hurried on our way to our hotel in the lake country town of Oconomowoc. We'd chosen it solely because it was the nearest Hilton product to where we wanted to be and D had enough points for us to stay two nights free there. Who knew how great a little town Oconomowoc could be? ;) Graeme fell asleep as we pulled in, so we circled around and found an awesome thrift store for me to shop in while Daniel stayed in the car with him. It was such nice stuff! Even the books were alphabetized by author and subject. I kid you not! :D About thirty minutes later, I walked out with a few Yule gifts for people left unnamed, a handful of board books for Graeme to read, a brass trivet that may be the inspiration for my first tattoo, a big aqua glass Pyrex mixing bowl, and a middle grade book Boston Jane: An Adventure that turned out to be really enjoyable material for the trip.
That evening, the boys went swimming in the pool (I'd forgotten to pack my suit!) while I rolled up my jeans, splashed my feet, and took photos. We wandered downtown to a Mexican restaurant and then followed the cooler-lugging crowds to the adjacent lakefront boardwalk where a fireworks display was in the offing. One mom with a toddler of her own offered us a blanket. Her son showed off and shared toys with Graeme while we waited and then, around 9:30pm, there was an incredible fireworks display. It was truly astonishing! At one point, one of the shells exploded into a night-lighting pentacle--a yellow star within a red circle, expanding outward and then sparkling into darkness to be replaced by the rest of the barrage. It was all so unintended and so picture perfect.
