Hey, our kids wanted to squeeze in every bit of play possible before school begins the Tuesday after Labor Day.
Since this is a long weekend, it had to begin with a cookout on Saturday.
While a cookout still means that I'm going to be outside on the deck in front of a grill, the kids now seem to gather in front of the Wii to play Guitar Hero...
You can always identify our sons in a picture because ineveitably they're the ones wearing the, well, distinctive hats. The other boy is their cousin John Paul.
When it comes to boys and Guitar Hero, though, no one is more focused than our boy Kekoa...
Aunty Dorothy, my cousin Sherry, and her daughter Rebecca joined us for a meal of hamburgers and hot dogs...
Which just left our vegetarian daughter Alyssa just overjoyed to be sitting in front of a giant tray of meat...
Thankfully, we did manage to pick up a loaf of fresh bread at the Farmer's Market that morning...
That's a loaf of "Aloha Bread."
Apparently Aloha is now a "Taste of Door County."
Even though it's made in Algoma.
Which isn't in Door County.
Oh well.
Since Aunty Dorothy was at our house, we used Skype to set her up on a call with my mom in Hawaii some 4,700 miles away...
I guess Nalani was so excited to see Grandma on the computer that she had to dance.
Later that day we walked to the beach (we live about a block away).
And while it's not like the kind of beaches you'd find in Hawaii, it is a sandy beach on the Bay...
David and Bretty were loving some of the pictures Alyssa had been taking...
And they all walked out to the giant rock...
But it was too late in the day to go swimming.
That didn't stop the kids from playing Baywatch...
On Sunday we took Alyssa back to Green Bay and spent the afternoon at Bay Beach Amusement Park.
Malia insisted that everyone get on the Merry-go-round...
Althought Bretty seemed to be riding a horse as if he were Atilla the Hun...
And I swear, if you look closely at the picture above, Nalani is riding a giant purple rat.
We also took the little train around the Bay which got David all fired up...
But that was nothing next to the thrill he and Bretty enjoyed on this ride...
To give you a better perspective on the ride, here they are from wider angle...
That's a bit much if you ask me.
But it wasn't enough for them.
In fact, Kekoa, Nalani and Malia all wanted to get in on the act.
So they all jumped on the next ride.
Check out their hairstyles...
And all you can pretty much see of Malia as she sits next to Bretty is her hair standing straight up...
On Monday, Cari said she wanted to go to Potawatomi.
I agreed because I thought she meant the casino.
Imagine my surprise when we ended up at a state park filled with green leafy things and bugs.
One of the landmarks of Potawatomi is this giant tower on the highest hill in the park...
And while all my kids climbed up at least a level or two, only Bretty was brave enough to climb to the top (gotta love that Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto lens!)...
Of course, Cari made sure to supervise all the climbing from the ground below...
We spent the afternoon walking along the shore...
Back at home, Nalani spent her last day of summer helping her little sister Malia learn to ride a bike...
Note the lovely purple door on our garage to complement Malia's purple bike helmet.
Malia got up a good head of steam...
Before she skinned her elbow on the sidewalk and that was the end of that.
David spent some time practicing his slight of hand...
All in all, it was a great way for the kids to end their summer vacation...
Because even though we're only a block's walk from the beach, there's always a sign pointing at what this beach will look like in just a few short months...
Happy Labor Day. School starts tomorrow.
Whew.
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