Geocache #4

Adventure number 4 involves our first geocache experience.  We picked the closest one (.3 miles away) because we could walk there and we wanted to introduce it to the girls.  Our GPS led us to the Haugen Dam.  We searched and searched for our cache, but never did find it.  Quinn and Tahlia and I went back the next day and still couldn't find it.  Our app tells us it's tiny.  So better luck next time, but we can't wait to do more geocaching!

These pictures are from a walk earlier in the month, but who can pass up rainbows--and I didn't take any pictures of our Geocache adventure. 

Devil's Kettle - #3

Just look at the colors!

Devil's Kettle (3) is tucked away in the Blue Hills of Northern Wisconsin, in Rusk County.  It's about a 20 minute drive from Haugen.  I've heard people talk about it before, but we had never made the trek.  So, one sunny Sunday afternoon, we decided to hit up this local treasure.  The trailhead is not marked, but lucky for us, someone else was parked there.  Although, If you google Devil's Kettle Wisconsin, it pretty much takes you right there (Devil's Kettle Trailhead, County Hwy W, Weyerhaeuser, WI 54895).  My best advice would be to follow that, if you start seeing trails that say Private Property--you went too far.

Devil's Kettle involves a pretty short hike (about 5 minutes) but has at least an hours worth of exploring.

50 things in 50 miles

Before COVID-19, we decided that we hadn't explored local enough.  It seems fitting now as we are choosing to stay pretty local.  So, this summer we will be exploring 50 things within 50 miles.  Our adventures begin with (1) Rustic Road 83 and the (2) Ice Age Trail.

Staying home is hard with 3 girls, so we often go for drives.  We like to play the left, right, left game where at every intersection a different person gets to choose which direction we go in.  This led us to  Rustic Road 83.  This road is located at 13 3/4-16 Street/Narrow Gauge Rd.  It follows the route of an old railroad line used in the logging era.  The road goes through the 4,100 acre Barron County Forest and has a great variety of trees and wildlife.  Everyone enjoyed seeing a sun-washed deer carcass, it looked pretty cool.  On our way home from one of our drives we saw 16 dear along the side of the road.  This was near Bear Lake.

Scoping out the Trail.

The Ice Age trail is a 1000 mile footpath that highlights the remnants of the glaciers from 12,000 years ago.  The trail treks throughout Wisconsin and is one of only eleven National Scenic Trails.  You can read more about it at http://iceagetrail.org.

There are a few trailheads for us to choose from within a 20 minute or less drive.  Because we enjoyed the Rustic Road, we chose the Grassy Lake Segment to explore.  Next, we decided on the Bear Lake Segment because it comes out by the Boy Scout Camp and appeared to be a pretty easy hike.  The only problem with reading a map online and seeing that the Grassy Lake Segment turns in to the Bear Lake Segment is that you don't consider that there might be separate trailheads.  So after a nice hike, a great picnic, and about 4 miles of hiking, we realized we might be on the wrong trail.  Our 4 mileish hike turned into an 8 mile hike as we had to backtrack.  It was quite the adventure as we had trekked through lots of mud and wet grass.  Mylee even fell in one of the puddles!  But what's life without a little adventure?  The girls were troopers.  I definitely recommend getting an actual map, especially if you are planning more than one adventure to the ice age trail!

Picnic Time!

Starting our Adventure!

Family Time!

COVID-19 Social Distancing Policy

A lot of times, random things happen to our family.  Not bad necessarily, just random.  We just add it to the list of sh** you can't make up.  Sometime I will go back and make a list of some of this randomness that is missing on our blog (we tend to blog with babies, but not regularly).  Anyway, because of how summer is working out, and my new job, we aren't able to take a real family vacation, so we decided we would log "50 things in 50 miles" in the Waldron Family Adventures vault of randomness.  As we started brainstorming, COVID-19 became a household word and here we are.  Schooling, Working, and Living from home (ALL AT THE SAME TIME) - I don't know how that is going to work for us, or the rest of the worlds population, but we will certainly make the most of it. 

And we did find toilet paper.  Who knew how much stress and anxiety tp could cause.  We weren't even out yet, just getting down there where I was getting nervous.  I stressed, almost cried, and then there it was... at Office Max of all places.  When I got those 2 packages, it was instant relief.  This is what the world is coming to!

But, wish us luck on our first day of learning (pre-K, 2nd grade, and 4th grade), and of working from home Probation officer and 4-H Program educator...........  

**The Schwanns guy said he would check in on us in 2 weeks :)  ha ha -- I let him know we were starting with 5!

Our adventures continue into the summer of 2016.  I decided to take the summer off, a first in basically forever.  It's been nice to have nothing I "have" to do and to be able to focus on us for once.  Quinn has been doing great since her heart surgery.  She is growing (we finally hit 17 pounds in August) and thriving.  She is an amazing little girl and she has taught us how strong our love can be.  We had a bout of Pneumonia this summer, but other than that she's been great.  She's crawling now and always into things, she already knows she can get away with anything.  Her beautiful eyes draw everyone in, people can't help but stare at her and they can't figure out why.  Although it probably has something to do with the slight Noonan features, she is pretty dang adorable.  Chris and I found out today that we are not carriers with Noonan, this means Quinn has a random mutation.  Something she will have to think about as she gets older.  But a beautiful soul who can do anything, I can't wait to see what she does in life. (well maybe I can since she's my last baby).

Chris started a new job on July 25 with Probation and Parole, this means 10 weeks of training, 8 of which are in Madison.  Soon enough Tahlia will be starting Pre-K and Mylee in 1st grade.  Everyone is growing fast.  

A little TLC goes a long way

Great appointment today, don't have to go back for a month. Quinn's heart rate is in the 130s.  Doc diagnosed her issues in the hospital as Post pericardiotomy syndrome.  We will continue with the Naproxen for another week and then wean her off over the next week, as long as she doesn't develop a fever or agitation we are good to go.  She can go back to daycare Monday and life can go back to mostly normal (we hope)   Now we just have to fatten this baby up as she is barely 16 lbs after the surgery.  She's in a very good mood, rolling around, and playing like a sweet normal 10 month old.

Happy Early Mothers Day

After moving into PEDS on May 6, we were prepared to stay until Monday as that is what the PICU doctor thought was best.  However, Quinn's cardiologist surprised us in the morning and asked if we wanted to go home.  Quinn isn't going to be any better or worse whether she is at home or in the hospital and since she was eating, playing, and happy it was time to go!  Her heart rate is still a little higher than they would like and the PVC's are a little more frequent than they like.  However, as the doctor explained today, we should think of the PVC's as a gift from God because it means her heart understands that it needs to change.  The area causing the PVC's is trying to help the area that was fixed, because of this it's sending a signal to the heart to speed up.  The hope is that her heart will figure out soon how to work together.  Her echo showed nothing bad and they did NOT check the gradient (on purpose) because they want to give the heart time to heal.  Quinn is on Naproxen which is another name for Aleve.  This is to help with the inflammation that is still in her heart from the surgery.  Quinn was in no mood for a nap and has been happily tucked in bed for 2 hours now.  The hospital ruined her, she now needs light to fall asleep (she preferred all darkness) and needs some noise to comfort her (should be interesting with dueling lullabies when the older girls get home).  She is pretty much back to herself, tried out her tummy but didn't stay too long, and can't sit up on her own, but hopefully she regains her strength soon.  She had some applesauce tonight which is the first real food she has eaten since last Sunday, although she threw up shortly after, baby steps!

So happy to have her home.  We have a follow up on Thursday.