October 21, 2012 Carson has been a pretty avid fisherman for the past year or so, and that interest continued through the summer and into the fall:
Fishing below the dam near our house
Fishing during our family trip to Geneva-on-the-Lake on Lake Erie
The monstrous walleye haul when he went across the Canadian border in Lake Erie with Boppa and Tim:
Posted in Carson 
No Comments »
October 20, 2012 Benton bounced between soccer and cross country through the fall (apparently, he’s been too busy to get a decent haircut!):
Posted in Benton No Comments »
October 19, 2012 Well, she played a little American football:
Mostly, she played what the rest of the world calls football (and this IS a tiny fraction of the pictures I actually took)!
Posted in Alana No Comments »
October 18, 2012 More pictures from our four-day camping trip to the shores of Lake Erie. We camped a half-mile from the beach, which made for an easy bike ride there and back (all told, between rides to the beach, rides into town, and rides to the marina, we logged ~24 miles each — including Alana!). Onto the beach pictures:
Not exactly rock-skipping conditions, but rock-tossing was good enough for Benton:
Carson and Julie scavenged for interesting stones:
Sand play collaboration occurred in fits and spurts:
And the sunsets weren’t bad, either (that’s Julie in the middle-right of the picture):
Julie and Benton
Posted in Alana, Benton, Carson No Comments »
October 17, 2012 A few pictures of the various amusements at Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio.
Alana putts at the (allegedly) oldest putt-putt course in the country:
Not far from the (allegedly) oldest putt-putt course was a nice putt-putt course, which Benton and Tim played (Benton won by 2 strokes):
Nothing brings out Julie’s determination than returning her to her childhood love: Ms. Pac Man:
“I’ve still got it!!!”
If there are guns or gun facsimiles involved, you know Carson won’t be far away… wait… Alana?!!
Bumper boats — Carson wasn’t going to miss THAT!
Posted in Alana, Benton, Carson No Comments »
October 15, 2012 It’s been a busy year, and this blog has definitely take a hit for it. And, while we’ve been busy, we somehow haven’t been as busy with Wilson Family Excursions as we have in the past (Julie’s return to the income-generating workforce has something to do with that, but there are other factors as well… not the subject of this post).
Our one just-the-family-the-whole-family trip this year was up to Geneva-on-the-Lake on Lake Erie in northern Ohio. Among other things, Alana and Carson both took turns bungee bouncing:
Posted in Alana, Carson No Comments »
April 19, 2012 Carson and I headed to a local metro park last Saturday for a hike. The weather alternated between a light drizzle and a steady drip, and we got a little too ambitious with the path we’d chosen, but it all worked out in the end.
Carson went through three different walking sticks — hamming it up a bit when the camera was pointed in his direction:
I really should pick up a book on the local flora, as I have absolutely no idea what this flower is:
While crossing a bridge on the trail, Carson spotted this little guy hanging out half-submerged.
And, being a 10-year-old in possession of both X and Y chromosomes, he plopped down on his stomach to try to grab the frog for a closer inspection (he failed):
Halfway through the hike, Carson was pooped and cold (lying on his stomach on wet ground while plunging his hands into cold water didn’t help!), but, since it was a metro park, we found a shelter for him to hang out in while I completed the hike and then drove back up to retrieve him. At the observation deck towards the end of that last leg of the hike, I came across this guy bedded down:
Following the hike, we stopped for gas, and the gas station had a Dairy Queen, so Carson scored a Peanut Buster Parfait. Following that, we passed a Michael’s, which prompted a stop for some blue powdered dye as an ingredient for the homemade smoke bomb we made the next day. Needless to say, Carson’s memories of the day might not include anything related to trails, hiking sticks, flora, or fauna.
Posted in Carson No Comments »
April 18, 2012 It’s spring, so spring sports are in full swing. For Benton, that means track (through school), soccer, and baseball (practice…the season doesn’t start for a while). For the next few months, our Saturdays will have a lot of this:
And this:
Posted in Alana, Benton No Comments »
April 17, 2012 Catching up, as this was several weeks ago, but better late than never!
The week after Julie and the kids returned from spring break, and thinking it was Julie’s last weekend before heading back to work, a hastily-planned “girls’ weekend” up at Lake Erie was planned. That left a neighborhood full of fathers with their offspring. Conveniently, one of the neighborhood dads (who’s wife did not head to the lake, as she was almost 9 months pregnant) received a shipment of 1,000 tree seedlings on Friday afternoon for some property he has north of town.
Combining the opportunity to help a neighbor out, spend some time outdoors, and have the kids entertained by fresh air and sticks, Pat and I spent Saturday afternoon planting ~3/4 of those seedlings.
Alana, Marty, and Pat haul the seedlings back to where they are to be planted (yes, that box holds a thousand little trees):
Taking a break to give the kids a ride. Jack and Alana on the front…
…and Carson and Andrew on the back.
Because they were outside in the woods for more than 12 minutes, Josh and Benton, predictably, built a fire and a makeshift bench:
Posted in Alana, Benton, Carson No Comments »
March 21, 2012 The final activity at the U.S. National Whitewater Center on St. Patrick’s Day were a couple of adventure/ropes courses.
All geared up:
Up the ropes to the zip line:
And zipping down:
Then, onto the ropes course:
Posted in Benton, Carson No Comments »
Recent Photos