Twins or Triplets?

Twins plus one!! Make believe triplets!

Our Island Story~Boats Aren't Just For Water

This one moves on land too!

Our Island Story~Homemade Ice Cream

I promised the kids we would make some homemade ice cream. No matter that it was the middle of winter. It was evening and daddy was at work and not expected until around midnight. The kids and I gathered up all the goodies, mixed it all together and poured into the ice cream container. Settled it into the plastic tub thingy and went to the freezer to gather the ice only to find I had forgotten to purchase it!! Ever promised ice cream to 6 young children and then not delivered! I broke the horrible new to the kids and they walked away trying to be 'tough.' A few moments later our 9 year old son came up to me to inform me that we indeed did have ice. This son of mind tried really hard to convince me that I was wrong and he was right. Okay my son, you get the ice for me and we'll make the ice cream. Not long after he brings me a bucket with the grossest, filthiest looking ice I've ever seen. "See mom, I told you we had ice. We have a whole frozen river right out our front door! I just kept chopping at the ice along the bank until I got this bucket full." ~~Needless to say he was our hero that night! The ice cream was yummy!

Our Island Story~Timing is Everything

Here's another "I was pregnant and poor me island post." Winter had not fully set in yet and I was off to grab some groceries. The pontoon was out of the water already and we only had the row boat. (I hated that boat) Daddy was off work and home with the kids so I was on my own with a row boat and 2 oars! (see the small shot of the oar. Bottom left.) This is how timing comes into play when rowing a boat in somewhat higher waters than normal. (The pic above is about what the day looked like) I'm looking over my shoulder to try and make sure I am giving the boat just enough "man power" to land it on shore in order for me to be able to exit the boat on dry land. The process goes like this: When getting a few feet from land you really work the oars so the boat will go up the embankment enough for you to, stand up, turn around while jumping over the seat, jump out of the boat onto dry land, AND grab the rope before the boat slips back in the water. See, it's your weight sitting on the front seat keeping the boat on the ground, once that weight stands up and exits the boat it's more than happy to slip back into the water.) On this particular day my preggo hormones must have thrown me off balance because I wasn't quite fast enough. I landed on the ground alright, about 2 1/2 feet under water. I gasped at the freezing water and I remember yelling at the top of my lungs, "I HATE this place! I sloshed out of the water determined NOT to row back across the river to get dry clothing. I'd rather shop wet than do that again. Then I remembered my husband always kept a fresh change of clothes and shoes in his car. He learns fast! At the time I was only about 3 months pregnant and easily slipped into my husband's jeans. There I was, wearing pants about a foot too long, and a very ugly pair of boots that were also a foot too long! (well, maybe only 4 inches) At any rate, I was warm and dry so I had to count my blessings. Off to the store I go praying that everyone I ran into was remembering the commandment "not to judge" lest ye be judged!!

Our Island Story~That Blasted Pontoon~Again!

It was our first day in our island house that cool March morning. We had moved to WI from CO because the coal mine dad was working in shut down. He got hired on at Kimberly Clark shortly after moving here and it was on this morning he was on his way to his first day of work there. Not being real familiar yet with the river or the boat didn't help what came next. You know how you feel the need to make a first great impression at a new job. That was his plan too when he left for work. About half way over the boat died on him and to no avail could he get it going. With no other choice and determined not to be late on his first day he jumped in the river and luckily it wasn't quite over his head. He then pulled it to shore and headed to work. Soaked to the skin from about his chest down and most likely very cold! But no matter, his day must go on. He was a bit late for work and I'm sure he stirred quite the imagination of his new boss and co-workers when he explained his reasons for being wet and late.

Our Island Story~That Blasted Pontoon

Sometimes that boat of ours had the temperament of a pregnant woman. And that was what I was~pregnant. I took off one day by myself to do some shopping. It was in November I think if my memory serves me correctly. But definitely before cell phones!! It was getting a bit dark and dad was still at work and the kids were home with Juli in charge. The boat had been having some problems over the summer which prompted dad to put the anchor in the boat. We hadn't had it in the whole time we lived there but for some reason he put it on there. I was about half way over the river when the boat died. I did what I knew to try to start it but to no avail. It didn't help that we had to drive UP river to go home instead of down river. Well here I was preggo, on a boat floating south and nothing I could do. I was NOT going to jump in and swim either! I breathed out a prayer and stood there wondering what to do. Then I spied the trusty anchor in the corner and an idea came to mind. I picked up, (it was heavy) and through it in the water towards the bank our home was on. I grabbed the rope the anchor was on and pulled towards it. When I got some distance I pulled up and did it again, and again, until finally I had pulled myself by the weight of the anchor to the bank. I was quite a bit downstream from home but hey, I could walk on dry land now. It wasn't repaired until the following spring.

Our Island Story~Moving In

Not too often does anyone enjoy moving. Especially where there are many children. That means stuff! And usually a lot of it. This is what it was like. Unload the van and trailer, load it to the boat, being careful not to put too much weight in at once. Drive the boat over to the house, unload the boat and move things into the house. This is how it works, groceries, kids, everything. You can't just unload and load once!!

Well, as if moving in wasn't enough of a job. Think about doing it twice in one week! That's what we did. Shortly after our 6th child was born we were ready to move. We found a house in town, rented it, and moved in. Well, almost! We were enjoying our last night of our island home as we had mostly everything moved over into the rented house. The next day we would wrap up the move with the last load of our belongings. At least that's what we thought. That night, while laying there in the quiet of the night we realized we were wrong. What, are we crazy? We must have been. So the next day we informed our landlord that we wouldn't be renting his house after all that we were moving back onto the island. And that's exactly what we did. I suppose some people just like to move. Packing, unpacking, hauling heavy loads and all that must be something we enjoyed. But oh we were happy campers to be back and we stayed for another year and a half!!

Our Island Story~Dangerous Midnight Swim

Well, it could have been if my hubby weren't a good swimmer. The story goes like this:

For a week or two we had been arguing over this and that. Not sure exactly what anymore so I suppose it wasn't all bad. But at the time, things between us were getting heated and then one afternoon we were at it again and he decided he needed time away. (must have been heavy because never in 10 years of marriage did he ever walk out until that day.) So he packed a few things intending to stay at his parents over the weekend. At the time he was on swing shift working until 11pm. So off to work he goes that afternoon and I got myself an idea.

See I always had the pontoon boat while he always had his little john boat. He rowed on over to go to work and when he left the landing I took the pontoon over and hauled his boat home. Not sure why I did that but it must have made me feel better knowing that if he changed his mind not to stay at his parents' home he would have a hard time getting back to our home!!

Well, he did change his mind. I didn't know it though. I had turned off the phone, stole away with his boat and all was well. I was safe and sound on our little island and I didn't have to worry about squabbling for a few days. NOT SO!! Around midnight I was reading upstairs and I hear this banging on the back door. Kind of scary considering nobody lived around me. I quietly snuck down to the kitchen, put my ear to the door and asked in a whisper, "who's there?" And the answer that came back was NOT in a whisper but in a loud, "What'd you take my boat for?"

Okay, I was a 'bit' surprised to hear his voice on the other side of the door but not totally surprised. The time had come to face up to what I did and I knew I couldn't run and hide so I unlocked the door and there he was, shivering from cold, dripping wet, with a towel in hand drying himself off. Our back porch was a mudroom/bathroom with a shower making the drying off and washing up process easy. Living on the river like there was always someone dripping with water or covered in mud so it was nice to be able to shower and clean up before coming into the rest of the house. At this point I thought I'd better start talking~~

"Uhhhh, how'd you get here hon?"

"How'd I get here, I swam, that's how I got here. Do you have any idea how cold that river is at the end of October and how dark it is at midnight?" (It wasn't a short swim either, there is quite a bit of river between our house and the landing.)

I got the impression real quick it wasn't exactly how he intended to spend his evening. But he was a trooper as always and eventually forgave me! Which I am very grateful for.

Our Island Story Part 10~Just Random

I found some random photos from our island home that really don't flow together in a post but each has it's own little story.

As you can see by dad's face and by our boy's face who the happier fella is!! Dad faked his sadness for the sake of the photo to act like he was so bummed out at the fact that his boy caught the bigger fish!! But later, the frown came for real when overnight, the boy's fish somehow got the better of dad's and it was dead by morning. Not sure what happened there! It either died on it's own or got beat up!

These girls sure had an imagination. Not sure how far they can row on land!

Juli running the boat and Kim peeking out from behind her!

We had a swing hung from the balcony in our living room for the littles. Here Robyn is enjoying her turn. In the photos below my "unorganized-challenged" daughter is busy organizing her books in a most peculiar way! I remember it so well. Suddenly it dawned on me that Robyn was being way too quiet so we decided to check on her and this what we found. I should take a lesson from this daughter of mine and learn some organization skills.

Daddy, Christie, and Robyn on the front porch!

I'm not sure where Christie thought she was going to go! But daddy got her attention in a hurry. The photo below was snapped just seconds after she got her love tap. The reason I remember is she hopped to the other side of the boat pretending to climb over again until we called her name with a serious tone of voice. She turned and looked at us with this precious grin as if she were trying to tease! She still does that!!

The imagination of children. At times they got to steer the boat (under supervision) but I'm sure they wish they could drive it.

Our Island Story Part 9~Yes, Mama Lived on the Island Too

I'm usually the one behind the camera and that's why there aren't too many photos of me. (I do prefer it that way!) But there are those times when I do get in front of it rather than behind it.

Mom holding Robyn and daddy holding Kimmy

Could this be a "family photo?" Mama and her 5 troopers

Mom, Christie, and daddy

It wasn't unusual for Christie to fall asleep on some of our boat rides!

Juli and mom (That poofie hair is scaring me!)

Okay, don't look too close!! Yep, baby number 6 is safely tucked away in my tummy! I am not wearing a life jacket here but judging by the size of my middle I'm sure I would float if I fell in.

The inside of the house had a balcony that went around all 4 sides of the house and looked down into the livingroom. Okay, I can read your thoughts; yes, my children have jumped from this onto the sofa below a time or two but of course they've only recently admitted to it!! There was a time when we debated on putting the trampoline in the livingroom but never ended up doing it!!

Our Island Story Part 8~Having Fun IN and ON the Water

Yes, I said ON. That would be my rebel husband being a really good role model to his kids!! This is what happens when spring comes and daddy finds chunks of ice to go "ice surfing." (WARNING~Do Not Try This Alone!) When he asked what I would do if he fell in all I could say was, "I will laugh and laugh until the cows come home!" What's interesting about ice chucks breaking away is they can be very dangerous. Especially where there are 20x more as you see in this photo. This time of year, when there are many broken off pieces we only had our john boat for transportation and dodging all these pieces while crossing the river could sometimes prove to be a challenge!! Hitting on could tip the boat easily!

Our Island Story Part 7~Fun in the Flood

This post is NOT what it looks like!! You will see the children playing in the high waters but it isn't like the water that comes to mind when we think of "flooding!" It isn't the disgusting, dangerous, toxin infested waters that would accompany a flood created by a storm. It is simply high water that overflowed into our yard because of spring melting. All of these pictures were taken "in the yard!"

Here the girls can play safely rowing the john boat around in the shallow water in our yard.

My clothes line is normally in my backyard but obviously it was out of commission for a while!

Now this is what I call fishing. Vance didn't even have to leave the porch to catch this little fish!! If memory serves correctly, he caught it up out of the water near to the porch! Not sure why he's trying to make eye contact though!!

Our Island Story Part 6~Railroad Bridges and Trains

Imaginations run wild when one lives on an island!! What better thing to do on a hot summer day than to swim in a river and climb onto the railroad bridge!!

Juli is preparing to take a dive into the cool waters below. For safety, daddy first swam all over the waters where the kids were jumping and diving to ensure the water was deep enough. We knew it would be because of the cement columns holding up the bridge as they went far into the ground under water. Juli, Vance, mom and dad were the only ones big enough and brave enough to take the dive. And let me tell you, that was some deep water because after my first dive I thought I would never surface!!

(I tried editing this photo to clean it up but it didn't work)

Vance climbed up to pose for a quick picture. This is the area our family climbed onto the tracks to jump into the river or to cross the river. Sometimes during early freezing and early melting we had to cross the trestle on foot. Quite a feet with 6 young children!! But very doable if you hang onto them tight!

It was announced in town that a passenger steam train was going to go through and what better view of that than on our boat in the middle of the river. The kids thought that was the greatest!

We weren't aware that several hours later it was going to come back through the other way and I only got one shot of it!!