Skyler's Doe Down During the Illinois Youth Season

Wanted to brag on Skyler a bit.  Here is a picture of her beautiful 108 pound doe she harvested with her muzzleloader Saturday morning during the Illinois Youth Season.  I drew the short straw so Paul and Skyler hunted in the stand while I archery hunted a separate property to be sure I didn't affect her hunt.  It wasn't long after first light that Skyler's doe, along with 2 others, came into feed on her Buck Forage Oats we all hand-tilled and planted this summer.  Skyler made a perfect double-lung shot and the doe is now safe in our freezer.  Skyler has turned into quite the little hunter -- this is her 3rd deer and she is only 11!  Her work ethic before the season of loving to shoot her rifle to make sure her shot will be true and putting in the sweat labor all summer to ensure all our stands are as good as we can make 'em makes us proud...great job Skyler!

Deer #1 Down on Day 2 of the Season

I haven't been blogging -- been so busy I have barely touched the internet at all lately.  But I wanted to do a quick post as I plan on continuing to update about our hunting expeditions.  I was able to connect on a beautiful doe on day 2 of the Illinois Archery Season -- my earliest deer ever.  So excited!!  This doe was another one that was taking advantage of one of our food plots that we spent many hours working on this summer.  She weighed in at 116 pounds and Paul, Skyler and I already have her meat in the freezer.  Both Paul and I have had many close encounters with many deer already...this is our time of year!  Hope you are enjoying your deer season as well...

Summer Break (FINAL WEEK) & Adventureland - Week 11

This week was our last chance to work on our "summer bucket list."  It is my last week working part-time and Skyler's last week home prior to starting 6th grade.  It has been a great summer but I always wish we could have accomplished more.  Here is a list of some of the fun things we did this week:

A coon that we spotted in the timber this week

• We hadn't yet made it to an amusement park for the year so we decided to give Adventureland in Des Moines a shot this year.  We had a great time...but in the end decided that (in our opinion) Six Flags in Chicago is a bit more fun -- at least for Skyler's age.  Enjoyed spending that fun day with Skyler!  
• Planted 2 food plots in the timber;
• Went for a bike ride;
• Planted my fall garden;
• Flew a kite;
• Shot our bows almost every day;
• Went to bookbag night at Skyler's school;
• Played "volleyball" over our clothes line in the backyard;
• Went on our first squirrel hunting trip of the year...we had a great time hiking around the timbers as a family;
• Went to the library;
• Skyler gave Shadow another much-needed bath;
• Went boating on the Mississippi with our friends Jayme and Brooke.  This was the first time any of us had been boating on the Mississippi even though we have lived here most or all our lives...;
• Played rummy;
• Saturday I helped my friend Megan Klauer photograph a wedding;
• Went canoeing on Lake George with Aunt Jessi, Zach, Papa and Karen.  We spotted lots of fish and got up close and personal with a green heron;
• Met Paul at his work for a picnic lunch;



Skyler getting ready for deer season

• Went to our friends' range and practiced shooting several different rifles to get ready for deer, coon and squirrel seasons.  It seems we have officially kicked over into fall/winter mode and we will be at the range regularly from now on.  It was such a fun day with beautiful weather!

A picture of Skyler at Adventureland

Here we are before the log ride got going...

I did it...I posted about every single week this summer - whew!  So glad I got to be home more than normal and spend lots of fun time with Skyler!  Whether it was spending time during super fun activities or in our down time, I just enjoyed being with my awesome daughter.  Hope you all enjoyed your summer as well!

Summer Break - Week 10

We kept busy finishing up Skyler's basement room.  We then decided to redo one of our retaining walls near the basement walkout.  So most days found us working on one of those projects.  I gotta say -- we need to start up something called Wheelbarrow Workouts!!  My body was sure feeling the effects of wheelin' wheelbarrows full of dirt and rocks...uphill!  So other than planting new bushes/flowers, the retaining wall is completed.  I am so glad that Paul is so handy and can figure out how to do just about anything...otherwise we'd have to pay to have so much done...this retaining wall included -- it looks great Paul!

Sky and I with Ali and Fran at the XStream Cleanup

Sky Lilly and Fran posing in front of an old car

What skyler may look like when she grows up  ;)

• I did the final touches on staining the deck -- so that is completely done for the year.  
• Deadheading flowers in the garden. 
• We worked on preparing the vegetable garden for my August plantings.
• I made 3 batches of salsa and froze a bunch more tomatoes for our winter use.
• For our second year in a row, Skyler and I participated with our friends Ali and Fran in the Xstream River Cleanup organized by the Living Lands and Waters (Chad Pregracke).  We chose the heavy-duty cleanup station on and around VanDruff's Island in Milan.  It is amazing how many things people just throw to the ground...it doesn't just disappear.
• Practiced pitching with Skyler.  Now that we are allowing her to pitch full speed, being the catcher is pretty much a death wish.  Her pitches come at me so fast I hardly have time to react to catch them!
• Skyler and I picked up our reduced-price tickets to go to Adventureland next week - woo hoo, can't wait!  
• Went to Incredible Pizza with our friends Ali, Fran and Lilly.  I usually make it a point to stay away from places like that...but we really had a great time!  Got to play laser tag, air hockey, miniature golf, bumper cars, etc.
• Hauled boulders and rocks for our neighbor.   
• Spent a lot of time playing with and caring for our new chicks that hatched under our chicken this week -- they are incredibly cute!
• Redid some old landscaping in our backyard.
• Skyler got to go break open geodes with her friends before they returned to California.
• I decided to do a quick little photo shoot with Skyler on my day off Wednesday.  Skyler wasn't up for going to a different location so we stayed close to home.  I love the shots with Shadow since he is Skyler's best bud!  One thing I discovered about Shadow is he HATES cameras.  He would be perfectly looking at me with a smile until I put the camera up -- then he would turn his head and wouldn't look back!!  I think he thought it was a gun!  :)
• We did several jobs for a couple of our landowners like mowing a yard, cleaning gutters, fixing a smoke alarm and fixing a road crossing...all for the mere joy of being able to hunt their lands.

Here are some of the shots from our little photo shoot...

Summer Break - Week 9

Skyler attended Blackhawk College's College for Kids all this week.  For those of you not familiar with this program, kids with top grades are chosen to attend this very exciting week of classes.  The children choose their top 10 from a list of classes to take for the week -- a lot like college.  Out of the 10 choices made, the kids are put into 3 classes for the whole week.  Skyler attended Holocaust Remembrance, Calligraphy, and Cartooning.  She really enjoyed her classes and learned so much every day!  On Friday a Holocaust survivor came to speak to her Remembrance class -- something she will always remember.  So although our time was more limited this week due to this great program, we did still get some fun in:

Skyler's Basement Playroom - BEFORE pics

Skyler's pre-teen room ALMOST AFTER -- still more work to do

• We visited grandma and grandpa and got to meet our newest family member, Chelsea the Chiwawa who replaces my parents' much-loved Chiwawa, Candy, who had to be put down the previous week after a long, happy and spoiled life  :);
• Saturday Skyler and I ran the Crimestoppers 5K race with our friends Megan, Coe, & Chase and Bonnie and Ben.  Chase won one of the 100 bikes -- congrats Chase!;
• Attended the Duck Blind Drawing at Loud Thunder where we got to hang out with friends we haven't seen much lately;
• Made one of several treks to the timber this week to set up our last tree stand for deer season;
• Worked on Skyler's downstairs room by removing the little wallpaper animals and clouds, mudding and taping new drywall and painting the walls and floor while Paul replaced the walk-out door and installed trim.  We turned her room into more of an pre-teen room rather than a little kid's room.  Still have a bit more painting and trim to do before it is all completed;
• Went to our friends' Tracy and Barry's pool party;
• Skyler went to a second pool party this weekend;
• Skyler and I made our first "fast food" run of the summer...that stuff is still yucky so it will be another long time before we make another run to a fast food restaurant;
• We started initiating 1 of our 2 downstairs cats to becoming an outdoor cat this week (which is a big deal here with Skyler the animal lover--however, the cat is adjusting well);
• Skyler got to play with some of the neighborhood kids;
• Shot our bows quite a few nights again this week;
• Skyler spent the day with one of her friends from school;
• Took a couple long late-night walks;
• Worked in the garden pulling weeds and digging up potatoes; and
• Started dumping some of our old downstairs furniture.

This week looks to be better for us -- with more time to fit in fun stuff...hope you are filling up your summer with fun activities with your kids!

Summer Break - Week 8 and our WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

Skyler and Karlie prior to running the Jr. Bix Friday night.

A buck Paul and I would love to shoot.

Skyler next to Aunt Tonia and Uncle Dan's Camaro before her big "spoiled" day :)

We had a lot of fun this week.  Saturday was our 17th Wedding Anniversary (22 years together -- whew it all goes so fast)!  Unfortunately it was such a busy day we hardly even got to see each other but I am incredibly thankful for a husband who makes every day special so we don't have to set our sights on only one day!!  I am pretty lucky to have picked the most genuine, kind (and hottest) man I know to spend the rest of my life with!  Thanks for putting up with me all these years Paul!  In addition to our Anniversary, this week we:

Skyler and Addi at the park

Skyler pitching.

• Went shopping for school supplies for Skyler's 6th grade class;
• Met our friends Megan and Addi to play at Camden park Monday morning;
• Shopped for some new school clothes since Skyler has been growing like crazy;
• Went to Skyler's softball tournament on Monday night.  They were seeded 2nd in the tournament because of the awesome year they had. Unfortunately Skyler's team did not win their game and their season is now concluded.  Skyler got to pitch part of the game and only allowed 3 runs.  Congratulations girls on a great season and congrats to the coaches as well!  Paul thoroughly enjoyed coaching the girls and they all really love to be around him!;
• Skyler went to Papa and Karen's a couple days while I worked;
• Went for supper at Applebees;
• Renee, Alex, Skyler and I played frisbee golf at Camden Wednesday morning;
• Friday night my friend Julie and I watched Skyler and Karlie run the Jr. Bix in Davenport;
• Saturday morning I ran the Bix for my second year in a row finishing with almost my exact same time as last year...just over 1 hour and 2 minutes.  I would have like to have done better than last year, but I really haven't been training enough to up my time, so I am pleased;
• Saturday I helped my friend Megan Klauer photograph a wedding and reception;
• While I was shooting at the wedding Paul and Skyler got to go out to the timber as well as going swimming at a friend's pool;
• Sunday Skyler got spoiled by her Aunt Tonia who took her to the latest Harry Potter movie at the IMAX theatre, took her out for lunch at Texas Roadhouse, bought her a new pair of shoes at the mall, got a pedicure and took her out for Whitey's ice cream (All this while Skyler got to ride in Tonia and Dan's Camaro convertible which she LOVES)!  Skyler was really excited when she got home cuz unfortunately, living with us, she doesn't get spoiled too often.  Thanks Tonia for giving her a great day!;
• Played Rummy before bed;
• Push mowed yards for about 3 hours Wednesday;
• Shot our bows in the backyard most nights;
• Practiced pitching with Skyler;
• We went to Blackhawk College with friends one last time to go over the class route prior to Skyler's College for Kids next week;
• Went out and worked at our food plots on Sunday (Paul worked in the food plots with Skyler and with Joe some other days this week as well);
• Stained our back deck.

Skyler's team after their last game of the season...Congrats girls!

This week promises to be another busy one -- maybe not a lot of time to fit in too much fun stuff -- but we'll make up for that before school starts.  Hope you enjoy your week!

Summer Break - Week 7

I took absolutely ZERO pictures this past week of our activities.  I will have to do better for next week's post.  This week we spent time winding down, unpacking, etc. from our trip last week.  It was SOOO hot this week with heat indexes hovering around 110-120 more days than not so our outside time was a bit limited.  But we did manage to do the following:

Wednesday we hiked a couple miles along a creek with our friends Renee and Alex;
Skyler hung out with Papa and Karen during the days I worked;
I worked on painting and securing up the chicken coop;
Sweated working so much one day that I killed my cell phone (the wetness indicator even turned--that is a lot of sweating) so had to go get a replacement phone;
Ordered and received another batch of chicken eggs for us to hatch out under our happy chickens;
We mowed our in-town yards in 100+ degree heat...yuck;
Practiced pitching and hitting with Skyler;
Got into several water fights this week to try to stay cool;
Rented and watched Rango;
Took some treks to the timbers to check out our food plots and do some work;
Visited the library to pick up books we ordered and return books already read;
Helped my friend Megan Klauer shoot a wedding and reception on Saturday;
Went to Skyler's softball practice on Saturday morning;
Got some runs in;
Went frog hunting;
Got the buckets and sponges out again and washed and waxed my truck; and
Played board games.

This upcoming week looks to be much better weather so can't wait to fill the days with memories.

2,000+ miles during Summer Break - Week 6

This week was a great week!  We were privileged enough to be invited to spend time with friends at their cabin on the Boundary Waters of Minnesota just as we did last year.  Our trip to Minnesota:
It took us close to 11 hours for us to drive to our destination on Snowbank Lake near Ely, Minnesota (on the US/Canada border).  We only had 4 days total (2 days driving and 2 days on the lake) so we had to cram as much as we could into a short period of time.

We got to see a Flying Squirrel (first time any of us had seen one), Loons, Deer, Badger, Fox, Pine Squirrels, Mergansers, and Eagles.

On our trip we got to do lots of fun stuff like:

• Fishing -- catching lots of smallies and largemouth bass. Between Skyler and Paul they got walleye, northern pike and silver pike;
• Snorkeling;
• Feeding a chipmunk that would sit in our hands and fill his cheeks with peanuts before scampering off to store them for winter;
• Swimming;
• Boating;
• Picking wild blueberries;
• Hiking to a waterfall;
• Visit the Wolf Discovery Center;
• Check out the town of Ely which reminds us of towns in the mountains we have visited;
• Feeding a friendly fox who showed up at the cabin;
• Hiking through the Northwoods.

We had temperatures that ranged from the mid-50's all the way up to 90.  Wow, quite a variance!  Had an absolutely wonderful trip!!

Before we left:

Skyler had two softball games, one in Illinois City and one in Taylor Ridge (her team won both games and played awesome).  Her team now has 13 wins and only 3 losses;

We made a trip to the library to return and pick up another pile of books as well as to cash in on the library's summer reading program since Skyler had fulfilled its requirements in order to receive prizes (including a free book);

Preparing for our trip filled up the rest of the days prior to our leaving for Minnesota.
After we returned Sunday afternoon:

Skyler got to hang out with her friends Bailey and Grace.  They went frog hunting which turned into a mud fight as well.  So they had a bucket of frogs and were covered in mud and lovin' it.

Can't wait for week 7!!

Summer Break - Week 5 and Happy Independence Day

Some pictures I took this week of the wildlife/outdoors around us.

Pictures from Skyler's games and track camp this week.

Skyler working on the fence this week.

My friend Bonnie and I before the Firecracker Race

Can't believe we have already had 5 weeks of summer break!!  It always goes way too fast.  This week was very busy but also a lot of fun:

Started my 4th of July off early at the East East Moline Firecracker Run with my friend Bonnie.  I ran the 10k (6.4 miles) and placed 4th in my division;
Watched the last of fireworks displays on the 4th as a family;
I ran the Bix at 6 (7 miles) practicing for the actual race coming up the end of this month;
Went to the timber as a family with Shadow where Paul cut some trees that we hauled and made rabbit homes with;
Spent about 12 hours this week staining a fence for a side job -- Skyler was a great help on this one and earned a good chunk of change for her efforts;
Practiced pitching and hitting again with Skyler all week;
Skyler went swimming with Karen one of the days when I worked;
We enjoyed Skyler's 2 softball games in Taylor Ridge and 1 in Andalusia this week;
Took Skyler to her 6th grade physical at the doctor's office where she got 3 shots and a clean bill of health;
This week Skyler attended the Rockridge track camp up at the high school;
I got to watch Skyler's track meet on Friday where she placed 1st in both of her races (the 1 mile and the 400) Woohoo!;
Went to my friend Tracy's house for a pool party with a bunch of friends;
Went to Whitey's for ice cream;
Skyler got to hang out with her friend Sammie while Paul and I cut, hauled and stacked several loads of firewood for this winter;
We mowed for a couple of hours at one of our side-jobs;
During the stifling heat of yesterday we actually sat down and watched a DVD with Skyler which she loved!
We have another busy upcoming week planned -- can't wait to live it out.

Summer Break - Week 4

Skyler and the 4-H Country Clovers' Fair Poster they created

Still trying to cross more items off our bucket list of things to do this summer.  I am completely enjoying my time with Skyler on my days off as well as filling our weekends with fun family activities:

Picked raspberries in the garden daily;
Made Fourth of July pinwheels for the porch;
Gutted out the hall closet and reorganized;
Played hide-n-go-seek in the yard (but Shadow sits and stares at the person who is hiding making it pretty easy for the "seeker");
Practiced pitching and hitting daily;

Skyler hanging out with her cousins

Got some good runs in;
Went to Lake Story Beach in Galesburg to swim with our friends Ali, Fran, Lilly and Anna;
Had a picnic on the beach;
Took Shadow to his vet appointment in Aledo;
Skyler went to a friends' house for supper and to watch their fireworks Friday night;
Mowed our most recent addition to in-town yards;

Skyler consoling Shadow at his vet appt.

Went to our friends' Renee and Alex's for Skyler's monthly 4-H meeting and helped create the Country Clovers' 4-H display for the fair;
Baked chocolate-chip cookies to share;
Had Uncle Dasan, Aunt Jeri Lynn and Cousins Molly and Drew over for supper and Uncle Dasan helped coach Sky on her batting;
Had 1 softball game in Sherrard and 2 games in Taylor Ridge this week--Skyler's team lost their first game of the season :(  but Skyler got her first home run of the year this week and earned her homemade cheesecake I promised her;

2 fawns we spotted this week

Cleaned roof and gutters for a side-job;
Made Skyler's "home run cheesecake" with raspberry sauce;
I helped my friend Megan Klauer photograph a wedding on Saturday; and
Went to a friends' pool/fireworks party.