Party of Two: La Crosse, August 2011: Day Five

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Another rip-roaring day!

We slept in - again.

Gotta love the sight of my sleepy, tously, doe-eyed, loose-lipped boy first thing in the morning. He's never crabby when he wakes up, and often lingers in a silly, zoned, half-awake world of nonsensical chatter that I adore.

Off to our complimentary breakfast.

He pretended to be captain of the boat at the entrance to the restaurant.

We enjoyed our usual waffles, hot off the griddle, from our table with a riverfront view.

No, he was not punching me!

He was demonstrating how a paddleboat works (we saw quite a few trawling up and down the Mississippi during our stay, and he found them endlessly fascinating).

Tamara, Brianna, and Nathan came to meet us, and we headed off to nearby Red Cloud Park, another of the items on my checklist for our trip (we were knocking a few back faithfully each day!), as it was supposed to be fun, and in the middle of "wildlife".

Ayize on his throne.

Well, there was definitely some wildlife, but it was just this patch of wildflowers and weeds.

Nathan wanted to walk, so we took the opportunity to explore further.

This copse of trees provided picturesque shade just beyond the playground and "wildlife preservation area."

It was bordered by this stone wall, which the kids (especially Nathan!) enjoyed walking on.

And there was this log cabin-ish thing just beyond the stone wall. It had washrooms and picnic tables, and a sign advertised it for rent for "special functions."

Showing Nathan something.

At the edge of the tree grove, Tamara spotted this sign. A clue!

And just past the sign, a break in the trees, where they became heavier and forest-like. Ayize scouted ahead...

...then eagerly hailed us. Aha! Wildlife, indeed. And such beauty.

Brianna followed behind him, slightly apprehensive about where the path was leading.

As we walked downhill, we looked down on this lovely little pocket of nature and peace.

I spotted something in the water and shot this photo with extreme zoom, so apologies for it being blurry. But what a neat little patch of wild pink salvia, growing out of the trunk of a felled tree.

Li'l hikers.

Neat.

Long-ago fallen tree.

We returned to the park proper. I hadn't noticed this pale tree before.

Nor this one. They were both pretty and unusual.

Back along the wall went Ayize, and Nathan itched to follow.

"I can do it, too!"

Playground time.

Love love love him.

Silly lounger.

Sibling tunnel.

Denied entry.

Planking, toddler-style. Gotta show the littler guys how it's done.

Tunnel tot.

Tunnel toddler.

Tunnel party!

"Me too! Me too!"

Giving Tamara a ticket that he'd found among the rocks.

Mount Everest is next.

And away they go...

Pseudo picnic, with hot head.

A return to Taco John's. Cheap, easy, near the hotel. Their food was actually decent, though their slogan left something to be desired - "A Whole Lot of Mexican."

Particularly ironic considering their fare was even whiter than Taco Bell's - no rice and beans on the side here, but you could get tater tots! LOL

Chocolate milk - a special treat.

Driving to Tamara's house, we were finally stopped at a red light at this intersection. I'd been meaning to get this picture for days.

This is Copeland Park, the playground/sprayground that I spoke of a few postings back. Ayize loved passing this train as we drove to and from the hotel each day, so I was happy I got this shot, and the next.

We also passed this place every day, and it never failed to inspire a snippet of that old song. We even wondered if it was inspired by the real "Sloopy", of the song's fame.

Driving to her house, we detoured to try to get Nathan down for an early nap (he had woken up very early that morning).

We drove down to the riverfront, where we spotted the Friendship Garden that we'd been meaning to check out. He was looking heavy-lidded though, so we decided to save it for another visit.

Further down along the riverfront, we saw this statue.

And of course, Ayize's famous paddleboats.

Apparently, there was to be a sand sculpture contest that coming weekend. Very cool to see the skeletal structures going up, not to mention the huge piles of sand at the ready. Each pile had a "no parking" sign stabbed into it, inexplicably (who would park on a five-foot-high pile of sand, anyway??)

Looking at the bridge that connects Wisconsin to Minnesota. You can see another sandpile at far left, this one dumped on a pedestrian boardwalk, with its ridiculous "no parking" sign proudly on display.

Another sculpture.

Brianna, having a snack attack, despite our big lunch. Can anyone say, growth spurt??

Back at the hotel, Tamara used our stroller to nap Nathan again, though he woke up about a half-hour later anyway.

Bu the kids were happy for the delay and killed time in the arcade, despite having no quarters (they didn't seem to notice they weren't actually controlling the games).

Here, Brianna tried to get her hunt on.

Ayize quickly stepped up to give her some tips (he considers himself an arcade master ever since our trip last February to Key Lime Cove, where he "played" a zillion quarter-less video games with his godfather Peter.)

Nathan was up by now, too.

"If only I could reach the pedals..."

Back to the pool we went.

Sun-dappled ball balancer.

"I can catch one too!"

"Ooh, look what I can do with the water!"

Two ball balancers.

Buh-bye.

Biting off more than he could chew.

Mini temper tantrum involving flinging the kickboard out of frustration (it was hard for him to pick up).

Sulking, and mad at me, probably because I couldn't help giggling and thinking the mini-temper tantrum was adorable.

Back in a jolly mood again (you can't keep a good baby down).

Nathers got brave and decided to do a little water-sliding.

Wheeee! No fear!

Meanwhile, Ayize and I meandered over to the hot tub to soak up some warmth.

We came back to discover that Nathan had gotten overconfident on the waterslide and taken a small tumble. He was not to be deterred, though...well, at least not mostly...

Nathan decided to play it safe at ground level, where he and Ayize played "pass the ball" for a bit.

Brianna dancing on top of the waterslide. I think she had made up a song too. You can see Nathan's little hand at bottom left - undaunted, he was ready to try again!

"It's so hard to hold on to!"

Young Elvis.

Using Mom for balance.

I love this pic. Mothers of sons will see this and agree.

Impressed the kids with my b-ball skills, getting the volleyball into the dumping bucket in the nick of time.

Now two! Yeah, that's right! Mad props for this mama!

Awwww. Somebody was feeling a little sad and cranky from lack of sleep.

Comforting.

Consoling.

Conspiring?

Contentment.

Up to our room, to get washed off.

Rub a dub dub...

Back at Tamara's house, Ayize fantasized about going all kamikaze on the steep hill at the base of their driveway.

Instead, we just recreated a scene from The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle (remember that movie? circa 1970s? with the cop and the giant radar gun?? - skip to the 3:20 mark).

We headed to level ground for some actual riding.

Meanwhile, Brianna caught some serious air on her pogo stick with a little help from Mom.

Back on solid ground.

Duet.

Hoarder.

Aspiring DJ (actually, the "headphones" were Dan's ear protectors for mowing the lawn).

We went in for dinner and ate ourselves silly.

Afterwards, we headed out to Ranison's, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor that Dan's co-workers had told him about.

Ayize literally sat down cross-legged in front of the glass candy counters, agog.

And why wouldn't he be? Check out these chocolate rocks - yum. And so cool-looking.

Oh man, who doesn't remember these?? First, you have to bite off the icky, waxed end of the bottle, but then out would flow the sweetest, sugariest juice of all time.

Ayize, predictably, went with Blue Moon, based on color alone.

Nathan seemed a little disgruntled at his lack of conage.

How good?

Soooooooo good!

Blue lips.

"What're you lookin at?"

We left Ranison's and headed out on foot to nearby Weigent Park to let the kids run off their sugar high.

Along the way, we passed through a neat neighborhood with a mixture of big, Southern-style, wraparound-porched houses and run-down college kid party palaces.

At the park, Ayize was making the best faces, followed by great dramatic flair. Soooo happy that I happened to have to camera on at this moment. This could quite possibly be one of my favorite movies of all time!

My silly boy!

Placated by the swing (but still pondering that elusive ice cream...)

Trying to get Dan's attention to tell him about how Mommy threw the rest of his Blue Moon in the trash.

He was okay with my garbaging it - he's not the biggest sweets fan - but he thought the way it looked when it splattered into the can was super cool, and wanted everyone else at the park to admire the blue mess!