Boreal Witch

I've had to rely on public and alternative forms of transportation for a few weeks now. It's kind of fun and refreshing and brings out my inner hippie. I've lost a few more pounds and hope to make my pre-Balin weight by the end of the summer. The plethora of cheap vegetables have helped, too.

My only gripe is that Beloit is not very bike-friendly (neither was Fairbanks, so that isn't much of a change). There are few bike paths - with the exception of our hip and/or edgy downtown - and the sidewalks are really, really crummy, especially in our neighborhood. In some areas, the sidewalks actually disappear and reappear several blocks later. It's weird and unsettling. I can't really explain it except to say that the city planning committee in Beloit is probably made up of five-year-olds.

I bought a new bike trailer. The wheels come off and it folds up so that you can store it easier. It's pretty posh. The boys love it. We found a nearby park and I plan to take the boys there often. Every Friday the boys and I ride eight miles (round trip) to the grocery store and do our shopping. The trailer is invaluable.  

It's also difficult only having a bike though, because while I would love to volunteer, I don't have time except on evenings or weekends. I don't feel comfortable biking at night, so that leaves weekends. I miss having people depend on me. I miss having a purpose, so even though I'm settling in, I still feel a bit lost here.

Blessed be.

My dad came to visit this weekend for a couple of days. He loves going on fun outings so he took us to Lake Geneva which is about 40 miles away. The boys weren't too excited about the drive over, but they were thrilled to be at such a large body of water. They watched boats, splashed in the water, and played some instruments.

The lighting was perfect (I even saw a couple getting their engagement pictures taken!) and I managed to get some lovely photographs of the boys. They must have been in a cooperative mood because they sat down when I asked them to and even posed when necessary. (The promise of ice cream must have been quite a lure. It was awesome ice cream, so well worth it!) 

They spotted fireflies in the fields we drove past on the way home. Arthur discovered that some of the lights looked yellow and some looked white. Balin repeated, "Butts light up!" all the way back.

We are all looking forward to checking out some of the other places around Wisconsin and Illinois. Any place that has water or a beach should be a hit with the boys.

Blessed be.

 Shopko is starting to get rid of their summer stock of vegetables and flowers so I decided to get the boys each a tomato plant. Their pots and potting soil were outrageously expensive, so we bought their pots at the Jo-Ann's right next door (you can't beat 70% off!). I might even stop by at a later date a pick up a few more pots for next summer's gardening or future houseplants. After picking up some soil at the Ace Hardware down the street, we were ready to plant the tomatoes!

Both plants have a tomato, so we'll have at least one for each boy. Hopefully there will be many, many more!

Blessed be.

The boys got to shoot off fireworks for the first time on July fourth because by the time mid-summer rolled around, we had about 22 hours of daylight in Fairbanks. You couldn't see the fireworks, although we often heard them.

One of the neighbor kids shot off fireworks with us. 

The boys also saw fireflies for the first time. They were amazed that "their butts light up." One of these nights we'll have to get a lidded jar and capture a few for the boys to watch.

Blessed be.