the fourth...finally

now that i think about it, there's a really good reason why we started this blog in february. that is, there's not a whole ton going on in the shortest yet longest month of the year. there tends to be a lot more on the agenda come the warmer seasons, which means more to blog about but less time to do it. that's as it should be, but i've come to see blogging as an enjoyable commitment (to myself, i guess--i think that most folks who are reading are pretty much up on what we're doing with ourselves, anyway) and it's always a bit disappointing when i realize that i'm already a week behind.
over the crazy long holiday weekend (did anyone else feel like wednesday was monday?) we went up to my parents' cottage in powers lake, wisconsin. we've made our independence day weekend in dairyland a bit of an annual ritual. it's always a fun and relaxing time. on saturday morning we drove to east troy to check out their electric railroad museum and get some pre-lunch dessert at lauber's, a 1920's era ice cream parlor with a 4-page menu, tons of antique soda fountain accoutrements on display and this jukebox that plays 78s.

rob showed ultimate restraint by having a one-scoop ice cream cone, my mom had a chocolate soda, i had a chocolate malt and my dad indulged in a black and white sundae (vanilla and chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, marshmallow topping). delish. as if that weren't enough, we then drove to the elegant farmer to pick up an apple pie baked in a paper bag, their specialty, for sunday's grill-out. after lunch in burlington, which was apparently a stop for mormon settlers heading west, we walked around echo park for a bit. i'm showing ultimate restraint by not including the photo of rob using the tide pen on the special delivery of bird poop he received when walking under a hackberry tree.
back at the cottage, we played some mildly competitive bola wrap. this is a game rob found out about from his friend and co-worker brian who was nice enough to give him the plans to make his own version. each player gets three bolas (a nylon rope with a golf ball at each end) to chuck at the three-tiered, hurdle-like goals. the idea is to get your bola to wrap around one of the bars (top bar=1 point, middle=2, bottom=3) and whoever gets to 21 first, wins. of course, rob used hawkeye golfballs for the bolas and black and gold tape on the goals. along with bocce, petanque and horseshoes, bola wrap takes its place among the noble lawn games that can be played while holding a beer. oscar is the official hawkeye bola wrap mascot and enjoys sitting just close enough to game play that you're always a little concerned that he's gonna get beaned.


more about the rest of last weekend soon. we're taking the mascot to iowa city's new dog park this morning...