Friday, August 19, 2011
Jumping headlong into our last day in La Crosse!
Up late (again), and we enjoyed our last hotel breakfast. Fruit Loops and blueberry yogurt were the order of the day, rather than his beloved waffles, for a change - oh, that and the white part of several hardboiled eggs. And orange juice. And a couple of buttery biscuits. Breakfast of champions, to be sure!
During breakfast, he kept doing pseudo-sign language to me, just to be silly. The ham.
Though they looked real enough to fool any idle bystanders! So I amend my previous comment to "the talented ham".
All summer, Ayize transposed his Ls and Rs, which made him sound very Japanese (I actually think he did it on account of my dad's accent, as Grandpa is kind of his super hero). Here he was talking about his "sclambled" eggs for a bit, before devolving into a shouted refrain that had everyone around us staring - and myself cringing, good vegetarian that I am.
Hi-ho, hi-to, it's off to our room we go.
Check-out time!
Goodbye, room! Thank you for all the extra hours of sleep you provided this tired Mama with, as your serene setting encouraged my early riser to sleep in each morning!
Off to Tamara's, and I snapped this view of the bridge that almost accidentally lured me to Minnesota on more than one occasion (it gets fed into by several one-ways, so it's almost impossible to avoid if you're unfamiliar with La Crosse's mazelike downtown street grid).
Major sibling war occurring here. A one-sided one, as Brianna was in abject misery over her line of trains being persistently ransacked, while the 13-month-old ransacker was oblivious to all the emotional trauma he was causing as he happily tasted train after train (none seemed sufficiently edible for his standards, so eventually he moved on to other, less challenging conquests).
Peace. Love. Bike.
No more need be said.
Tour of Tamara's basement. I fell in love with this antique steamer trunk of her grandmother's that actually made the transatlantic voyage back in the day from the mother country. Very cool clasps and detailing. Such a wonderful piece! Filled my imagination with days gone by.
Complicated negotiations between a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old had me laughing til the tears squeezed out. I particularly liked Ayize's choice phrase of "Oh, man!"
Nathan had a nap, and then we were off to Erickson Pool again for a last visit. It was hot as Hades out and we were all ready for a cool-off. Plus, Tamara and I had an ulterior motive: with a long drive ahead of us all, it behooved us to tire out the troops pre-trip.
Nathan's first waterslide!
Brianna was next.
I daresay she liked it.
Happy swimmer.
Holding hands with Mom.
Silly spray fun.
Rub a dub dub...part two.
Silly billy.
Brianna and Ayize tried to work together to drag me forward by my feet (they were spectacularly unsuccessful).
Yee haw!
Banzai!
Catwalk.
Cooling their heels.
Guy time.
Sun worshipper.
Strike that! Gimme some shade.
Bombs away!
OMG, okay, on the count of three...
Yarriba!
Locker room antics, as past-pool-visit tradition dictates.
On the way home we made one last stop, to the Hugelheim Nature Preserve near Tamara's house.
Nathan was still "in the zone" from swimming, methinks.
The pond at the entrance.
Reflection.
The pond.
This unusual tree resembled a beckoning, crooked finger.
Giant daddy long legs were everywhere in the nature preserve - and they were red! Very cool.
Pretty stream.
Bridge over the stream.
Brianna clowning around on the bridge.
On the other side of the bridge, the water ran a little more rapidly.
Another neat footbridge, as we followed the winding path through the preserve.
Coming up to the first, smaller waterfall.
A strange rock beside the waterfall's catchpool. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a cleverly-disguised cover for a small water hygiene basin.
Making a wish?
Cattails in the late afternoon autumn sunlight.
Fishing may not be "permited" here...but apparently, misspelling is. Yuk yuk.
This sign was covered in red bugs. Here's one on extreme close-up.
Continuing along the path, we next encountered this funny little bridge, which appeared to be bordered on both sides by pieces of someone's standard backyard fence.
The water we were crossing. The shadows created by the bridge were pretty neat.
Shadow in the water, close-up.
Unusual, square-shaped flower blooms. I likey.
Last bridge, near the exit of the preserve. A small one that reminded me of the troll and the trip-trap-trip-trap billy goats.
Just over the bridge, the path split. To the left lay a large pond and the exit. To the right was a small circular stone path bordered by a small waterfall and a little dedication pond.
The kids veered right and sat on the wall by the waterfall, until we noticed a sign warning people not to, on account of the dangerous snakes that sometimes lurk between the large rocks.
Caramba!
The small dedication pond, to the man who made this preserve possible.
We went back to the fork in the path from before.
Gathering little fallen berries from the bridge and path.
The large pond by the exit.
I lurked behind to capture this photo of the waterfall, and did a double take when something large and white moved suddenly at the top of the waterfall, startling me.
What the ---- ??
Oh. A giant white chicken-rooster-thing!
Nathers, finally out of the stroller, and ready for some action. He was pushing the pram down the long straight path bordering the large pond.
Ayize in motion (perpetually).
He returned to the waterfall to see the big white bird I'd told him about, but became more fascinated by what he swore was small fish in the catchpool (I never saw them, but he has better eyesight than me).
Both of us returned to the big pond to catch up with Tamara.
Giant blue bug landed on a nearby flower as we walked. It did not appear to be very friendly, and actually acted quite perturbed at me after I shot this from very close, so we had to run a bit to evade it's angry, buzzing response. Don't know if it can sting - but didn't want to find out!
Playing in the pond.
I returned to the other side of the pond to catch this shot of Tamara and the kids illuminated by sunlight.
Don't fall in, Brianna!
We returned to the house and quickly packed up our cars.
Then we all headed out - Ayize and I were, of course, returning home, and Dan and Tamara were actually making their way to Milwaukee for an Ultimate Frisbee tournament.
But our first stop, just on the outskirts of town, was actually to this Rocky Rococo pizza parlor, so we could all get a good dinner in before hitting the road.
While we waited for the food to arrive, the kids enjoyed the Lego table.
Hey, Nathan - no shoes, no service! LOL
Desperate to win a bubble gum ball, despite his serious quarter shortage.
After a yummy dinner of pizzas and breadsticks and garlicky cheesy bread, we separated into our respective vehicles. Dan was towing the two kids, while Ayize and I enjoyed the pleasure of Tamara's company all the way to Milwaukee (we got in a good four hours of girl talk and gossip, so it worked out perfectly)!
Sunset in my rearview mirror as we drove.
Goodbye, La Crosse.
Sniff!
Ayize woke up randomly around 10, just before we dropped Tamara off on the outskirts of Milwaukee. I know I'm like a broken record, but I swear, this is the happiest kid I've ever met. He never fails to wake up with a smile on his lips, and he laughs and giggles and smiles in his sleep all night long. I was so happy that I had Tamara to bear witness to this - he was chortling so hard in his sleep, and grinning like his face hurt, that he woke himself up. And once awake, the big smiles and sleepy happy talk and giggles continued, and they did so all the way home - he never quite fell back asleep.
One last bit of excitement awaited us: I ran out of gas somewhere in the pitch blackness of the outskirts of Sturtevant, Wisconsin and we crept on fumes to the point where we limped pathetically into a gas station in literally the nick of time. But for those few miles, as I felt the car sputtering and the gas truly giving out, in the middle of some pitch black cornfield on a deserted, unlit country road, with zero cell phone reception, I can honestly say I began to feel truly panicky. Not a common occurrence for me, but somehow the isolation and my generalized "country folk" phobia (thank you, Deliverance, for scarring me for life) and my little boy in the backseat, whom I felt I had terribly failed, all combined to scare the bejesus out of me. I have never felt so happy to have a full tank of gas as I did driving out of that station! Lesson learned...never take having gas for granted when you know your low fuel warning light is on the fritz!
And on that dramatic note, we ended the last leg of our journey and came happily, exhaustedly, into the embrace of our beloved little home.
Such a wonderful trip (except the last hour of it - LOL), and such fun times to treasure! We can't wait to return!
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