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Our family is pretty big into traditions and routines.  At Jack’s, we eat the same foods and do the same things.  And in a way, that makes the whole experience feel a little like Christmas.  Excess eating, lots of laughter, knowing exactly what comes next.

On Saturday night, we had peaches and buttermilk biscuits with cream.  Yum!  Here, Jack’s helping prep the peaches.

We’ve been having some big issues with which version of Trivial Pursuit to use.  Terry likes the original, but none of the next generation know any of the answers to those questions.  The other versions we’ve tried have questions that are either harder or more stupid/trivial, so the debate continues.

Rolling and moving

Lots of ribbing of Terry and laughter.

Sunday morning, we lay out the final breakfast feast.  Bryan’s making French toast.

I love this picture of me and my siblings, but I feel like a midget.  Mental note, I should stand in the middle…

Hugging goodbye before Maretta and Kyle head back home to Minnesota.  A moment with Joe and Kyle.

Maretta and Terry

Pretty plant outside Jack’s front door.

Maretta says goodbye to Andrew and Sylvia

For the last four years, I’ve brought a bouquet of flowers in memory of Mommy.  She is so much a part of this weekend, and her absence deeply felt.  Mommy, we miss you.

On Sunday late morning, Jack drove his truck up to the high prairie so we could all take a look.

Sylvie doesn’t like the “shiny sun.”  My glasses seem to help.

Andrew’s tired out from an active weekend.  He’s sleeping in the bed of the pickup truck on Bryan’s lap.

We have pictures over the years of Michael and Joe up on Jack’s garage (the back side of the garage is close to the ground for easy access).  Here they introduce young Andrew to the tradition.

So ends Jack’s float weekend 2011.  Time spent with my brothers and sisters fills me up.  Thanks, guys, for a great time!

The cornerstone activity of our summer float weekend at Jack’s is the Saturday float.  We all don our life preservers, drive upstream a couple miles, wade into the Wisconsin River, and float our way down to Jack’s.  Here’s our 2011 crew in the obligatory pre-float photo:

Michael is either playing with Andrew or abusing him.

This year’s float took a little longer than normal, and we should have brought some sunscreen on the river for a mid-trip re-apply.  Oh well! 

Such a cute kid:)

After the float, there’s reading and napping.

Maretta brought her new spinning wheel, and here she’s letting Sylvie help her work the treadle.

Mid-afternoon, Jack to me and Dad and Matt up the hill to take a look at the prairie.

There’s no place like Jack’s prairie.  I just love it!

The big bluestem grasses are tall.  You can see the bluffs across the river in the distance.

Some bee balm.

Prairie, oaks, and the river beyond.

Back at home, Maretta’s spinning.  Actually, in this case, she’s taking two strings of yarn and winding them together.  That’s called plying.

Her new spinning wheel is so beautiful.  I love watching her change fiber into yarn!

Saturday night, we took our jambalaya up on the hill for dinner again. 

As the sun set, the moon became brighter in the sky.

Good food, a fire, and a beautiful (bugless!) evening.

Bev was approaching a significant birthday, and Jack wrote a declaration for her, which he read with some pomp and circumstance amidst much laughter.
And so ended our second day.  We played Trivial Pursuit well into the evening, and woke up with cozy kids in our tent.

Ahh, summer!  This picture of Andrew with his smiling watermelon says it all.

On Friday, August 5, we started the day with a big breakfast and then we headed on the river for our first float of the weekend.  When we got back, Terry and the kids broke open the first of the watermelons.

Smashing a watermelon on concrete and digging it apart with your hands is a strong Babler/Haller tradition.  In this case, however, it looks like a knife was used.

Mmmm watermelon!

Pictures of me are mostly curtsey of Joe!

There’s Bubs

Maretta-with-the-short-hair and Bearded Kyle.

Here’s dinner – Macho Salad.  yum.

That pan’s full of delicious corn bread.

Tom and the kids.

We ate dinner outdoors up on the hill.  Here’s Andrew giving a sweet kiss.

There’s Matt.  We were glad that he was able to join us this year.

Maretta and Sylvia.  Not sure what Sylvie is doing here except perhaps displaying how her thumb bends back just like Daddy’s.  Natural selection:)

Enjoying our dinner with some bourbon slush and watching the sun set.

Kids in motion.

Lots of laughter.

Our summer crew is a big one, so we tend to sleep out in our tent.  It’s fun to camp with the kids!  We had some big storms, but we didn’t blow over, and somehow the kids are now a little less afraid of thunder.  Excellent:)  Stay tuned for Day 2!

I know that it’s September now, but take yourself back to early August.  I’ve got some catching up to do on blog posts, starting with our weekend trip to Jack’s house.  This blog post is brought to you by the fact that Sylvie’s still in Texas (I’m writing here on Sept 6) and Andrew’s in school.  Oh the blessed quiet!  How I’ve missed you:)

To set the stage…it’s Thursday evening, August 4 – around 80 degrees.  Bryan just got back home after a week with Andrew in Texas.  On this day, we’re all packed and heading out to Jack’s house for our family’s annual Wisconsin River float weekend.  Joe’s flying home from DC.  Maretta and Kyle are driving down from St. Paul.  Michael is coming from work in Dodgeville.  Terry, Tom, Bryan, the kids and I are all driving from Madison.

The car is full of amazing food, our camping gear, flowers, the kayak, and a happy crew.  We’ve extended the weekend by a day.  Turns out that driving out on Thursday night instead of Friday night makes the whole weekend feel so much more expansive, relaxed, and wonderful!  On our drive out, we stop at Peck’s Farm Market like always.  Then we drive out to the bridge in Muscada where Bryan unloads his kayak and camping gear and heads to the river for a solo overnight paddle.  The weather was a little rainy, but as we parked, we saw this lovely rainbow.

There’s Bryan putting in at the Muscada bridge.

He’s heading down river 30 miles or so to Jack’s house.  Goodbye!

Bryan brought his camera with him and took some fun images of the sandbar on which he camped.

Nothing like watching the sun set over the water.

Here’s a campfire he made.

Beautiful!  Bryan’s sure enjoyed kayaking this summer!  I was glad he was able to get out on the river and explore a new (to us) section of the Lower Wisconsin.  I’m writing this in early September.  We just got home from an overnight canoeing trip we did with Andrew where we covered some of this same section of river.  It’s so tranquil and lush.  I feel peace just being there:)