More Rolling...

Cutting the lawn with Grandpa Cerkas (obviously much earlier in the spring)

The 2 Cerkas cousin boys, Ben and Levi, swimming together

This is how Ben & Levi roll... in a pink Cadillac!

Fourth of July parade in Hilbert with friends Metadel on the left and Miriam on the right.  It was sooooo hot that day, that we just couldn't stay for the entire parade!  It was a fun one, though, with lots of tractors and candy!!

Baking banana nut muffins with Grandma Cerkas while Mommy takes Levi to his swim class!  Thanks, Grandma!

Waiting for the muffins to be done!

Daddy's 35th Birthday

Eric turned 35 on June 18, so we got him some gifts... and Alena wrapped them pretty much all by herself! 


She was extremely proud of herself!



The kids had to help Daddy to unwrap his gifts!

We also had a family dinner at Jade Palace with Eric's family, complete with cake and fun at our house afterward! 

June Cabin Weekend

A long weekend away at the cabin!  We went up with Eric's parents, Kenny V, and their 2 dogs.  The kids were relatively well-behaved! Highlights for me include seeing a mommy turtle layng eggs, taking two long four-wheeler rides, splashing in Morgan Lake with Alena, playing cribbage with the family, entertaining Alena with bugs & butterflies, and watching the fireflies in the field at night!


Ready for a wheeler ride! He LOVES the wheeler, even just sitting on it!



One of her damaged butterflies!  We found some butterflies that were hurt, so they'd stay on her finger!  She walked around the entire day with them.  I cannot say, however, that she didn't damage them more than they already were!  She loved it, nonetheless!



Eating lunch outside in the shade instead of in the hot cabin!  More fun this way, anyway!

The Badger Carferry Returns!

We went down to the harbor to see the SS Badger Carferry return to Manitwoc for the first time this spring (May 24).  We're not sure if this will be the last "first return" ever or not, because of the coal ash that the ferry expels.  The newer environmental codes are requiring the Ferry to ditch the coal power for something more environmentally friendly... by next year.  We thought we'd check it out, regardless!  We watched the ferry dock many times last year and it's one of those things we generally do once every week or two!

Waiting for the ferry!  It's running late!  Alena loved to watch the band that was playing, shown in the background.

Levi got to eat a banana while we waited.

Windy day on the lakeshore.  We're waiting by the Manitowoc sign right by where the ferry will dock!

Ooops!  We've never seen the carferry get this close to the other side of the harbor!  SUPER close!  Normally, the ferry enters the harbor, turns sharp right, then backs straight in toward the dock (which would be to our right in this shot).  We should have been seeing the hind end of boat by now!  We waited for probably an hour as the ferry tried to maneuver itself to the dock.  It seemed like it was stuck, and it really was!  They had to call in a tug boat team from Sturgeon Bay to come down an move the ferry to the dock!  Talk about an embarassing first run!  A band, coast guard boat, firetruck shooting water, lots of people, TV cameras, and the mayor were all there to welcome the ferry back! Needless to say, several hours later, most of the welcoming committee had dispersed!  We later found out that they had lost some power in the engines, leaving the captain without all the maneuverability he needed.

Yes, we stayed too long into naptime.  We didn't get very far at all before Levi crashed!  We've been back a handful of times since then and the kids LOVE to watch our beloved ferry... just not when it's late and gets stuck!

Easter

All of the Cerkas cousins

Our cute kids in their Easter best!

Hunting for Easter eggs in our backyard after naptime!

Levi found one!

I think her Easter basket is hidden under there!

Tundra Lodge

We took a belated winter family vaca to Tundra Lodge in, where else, Green Bay!  Even though it was March it was still a nice time for all of us!  Alena got to go down some of the big slides with Mommy or Daddy, but was a little startled by the water dumping down on her on the platformed play area.  She and Levi mainly stayed in the zero depth area. 

Levi's getting excited about the water!

Lena is "taking a shower"

She got to play lots of games in the large arcade.  You can see in this picture that she is uber tired!

This was our favorite game to do with her because she was actually pretty good at it!

Cabin Trip March 2012

We decided to make our inaugural family trip up to the cabin in March.  The weather was pretty chilly, and it was misting on and off.  We did get a good hike in, and had food cooked over the fire.  But, due to things beyond our control, we ended up cutting our trip short and heading home on Saturday afternoon!  The kids just were not very happy with the sleeping arrangements in the cabin, were getting crabby, and Mommy and Daddy couldn't take their (or our) crabbyness anymore!  It turned out to be a HUGE blessing in disguise!  The Lord works in truly mysterious ways and we are so grateful that he doesn't tell us his plans!

Out for a walk around the circle.  Daddy brought a rifle so he could shoot at a porcupine if he saw one.  I think we were all disappointed that we didn't see one!

Here's Levi's ride

After a while, Daddy took over carrying Levi.  Then, Levi was so tired and had so much fresh air that he fell asleep!

We carefully took the backpack off of Daddy's back and propped it up in the cabin, letting the little boy sleep longer.

It wasn't long before he was up and devouring his army guy!  Daddy looks very excited about it!

Alena colored...

And Daddy worked as the human colored pencil sharpener!

Alena decided that the fire needed some poking.  She felt like a big girl doing that!

Look at all of the shells she found strewn all over!  Daddy hinted that they may have been from the guys weekend earlier in the year!

Queen of the dirt hill!