family day...

What a day...family day! I love time with my family. I work hard all week and spend much time away from them, so when we get the whole day together, I love that.

I'm also a pretty idealistic person. I get these grand visions of what family day will be. Today was one of those days...

I figured that Libby would take a short nap in the morning (like she normally does). Once she gets up, we'll take a family trip to explore our new home (perhaps the big lake or find another park in the woods). Then we'd come home for long naps, have a nice dinner...and on and on.

Libby slept like a monster. We actually pulled her after a couple hours otherwise we'd never have any time for a trip. She was fine with that. So we loaded up the van and drove north. We were aiming for a state park near Fox Lake.

A few minutes into the trip, Izak begins blowing a gear! He just won't use his words. All he does is shout, "PLEASE!" at the top of his lungs. Use your words, we tell him. PLEASE!!! Finally he gets "pretzel sticks" out and we go along our way. At two and a half, he's establishing his boundaries...great fun.

All the while he's hollering PLEASE, Libby's having a great time trying to grab his blankie and hold his hand. She loves her brother with her whle heart. He's her hero...but he wants none of it!

You have to laugh. There go the Furrs...screamin' down the road! We're going to take a dang family trip and we're all going to have fun...got it!?!?!

So we finally find the state park. Izak cheers as we pull in. We're all hungry for the picnic mom packed. Driving into the park, we discover...

...apparently they burn their state parks here. Yes, the park was on fire. Not just a little camp fire. About 5 acres (that we could see) of park land was burning or smoldering!! The park's on fire!! Nobody seemed very alarmed by this, but we decided to wait another day to figure out the state park thing.

So on we went.

We eventually found a nice park by a lake. Izak played on the swings and slides, bypassing peanut butter sandwiches and popcorn. Time to go home...woops...another blown gear. Here come the Furrs!

All in all, it was a good family day. We spent time together. We laughed alot (again, what are you going to do, get upset at the kids when it doesn't go your way?). We made a memory. Today will be known as the day we found the state park on fire.

It's time for bed now. Family days are pretty tiring...

Matt