This summer Matt offered to grill hot dogs one afternoon for the kitchen.  Upon further discussion, it was decided to grill a couple times each week for family camps.  Since Matt suggested that camps Program Department could care for the grilling each week, he was usually designated to help with it.  Needless to say, he loved it.  Grilling at camp is awesome.  It really creates a uniqueness to the environment of people being up and around the main patio area.  It also sets a good tone for that meal when people are smelling the grill right before they walk into the dining room.  The one down side, even with a huge propane grill, the second meal they grilled was barbeque chicken.  During that particular meal camp was serving dinner for about 440 people between campers, summer staff and full time staff and their families.  Needless to say, they started at 3:30 p.m. and finished just after 6:30. 

Each week, the grill was fired up three times. Tuesday lunch was usually hamburgers and hot dogs/brats, Wednesday dinner was grilled fish (new camp favorite) and Friday night was barbeque chicken. 

Here is Matt finishing up a grilled chicken night with Tim Petersen

With Simon turning 3 this summer, there have been a variety of things for us to do as he is able to do more.  One of those things is Sunset Run.  Each week during the summer Camp has a tradition of doing Sunset Run.  Campers gather together in the lower parking lot, register and get a number for the distance they choose to run.  There is a race for 8 year olds and under of a quarter mile, and than people can choose either a one mile, two mile or three mile race.  We have a designated route all mapped out for each of the races and most weeks it is a huge hit. 

One day Simon just started running everywhere he went.  Of course he wanted you to watch him run, run, run.  Wanting to try and focus some of the energy we asked him if he wanted to do Sunset Run the next day.  Of course he was excited and wanted to do it.  So the next day Julie took him down, registered him for the quarter mile and let him run.  He did great!

Here his is ready to take off

Simon getting ready to cross the finish line.  Camps new Program Administrative Assistant Sara Komer is greeting him with a big five. 

Simon with his “Aunt” Sarah. 

This summer we have really scene a huge difference with how Hudson acts and all the things he wants to be a part of.  His language is really clear at times and he is always looking for something to get into. 

Here he is all proud of his haircut and his traditional DumDum we all get when we get our haircuts by mom.  It allows the boys to actually sit until Julie is finished.

A lot of time has been spent in the sandbox this summer. Whether at camp or here at home, he always is drawn right to the sand box. 


Of course with all hard playing, the results are even harder sleeping.  Hudson fell asleep on the couch one afternoon while waiting for Simon to take a nap.  A few days later, he got to try out Simon’s old youth bed for nap time.

The day before Labor Day Weekend Family Camp started we headed down to the Zoo in Madison for the day.  Here is Hudson and Julie on the Merri-go-Round together

This last weekend, Matt’s mom and dad came over from Michigan for the weekend. The goal was to finish some much needed projects around the house and garage.  Primarily we needed to get part of the garage rewired and the kitchen painted.  We were able to accomplish all of it.  Matt’s dad rewired some lights on the front of the garage as well as wiring lights in the attic of the garage and wiring in some much needed lights into the garage. The guys also cut a couple tree’s in the yard which were either dead or preventing sunlight to reach the garden. 

Matt’s mom watched the boys so Julie could get some work done in the garden and finish painting the walls in the kitchen.  We are hoping to put a ceiling in the garage this summer so needed some lights to see upstairs once tha is done. 

Here is Matt’s dad upstairs in the garage wiring in the new lights

Papa helped Simon climb part of the ladder. When they got to the top, Simon definitely wanted DOWN!

Here is the gang hanging out the night before Papa and Grandma had to head for home

The last thing we did before they left was to get the mower deck hooked up the tractor.  Simon wanted to help unhook the last of the snowblower parts so we could get to work.

The last couple of weeks we have some exciting happenings in the Huffman household beyond the ultrasound.  Two weeks ago we moved Hudson’s crib into Simon’s room so they could start to learn what it would be like to share a room. Let’s just say, instant success.  The boys love being in the same room together. They play in the morning when they wake up and sometimes it is harder to get them to go to bed at night because they are making noises or talking back and forth. 

Last Saturday morning I tried to take Simon fishing.  Needless to say after breakfast, buying him a kids pole and license for me and stopping for worms, he wouldn’t even get in the boat. He only wanted to play on the playground.

We went to McDonalds in Medford for pancakes.

Then off to the lake for some big catches.  Maybe Not.

After a trip to the library to get some books and a few minutes on the playground there, we headed for home for lunch.  After lunch, Hudson, Simon and Daddy headed to Marathon Junction down in Wausau to ride the train.  The Marathon Park in Wausau has a little train that you can take kids on that goes in a huge circle a couple times and since the boys love trains right now, I thought it would be a good idea. We ended the trip with a special trip to Simon and Dads favorite store, Menards.  Hudson got his “guys” introduction trip as well and seemed to enjoy all the tools. 

Finally, we got the tractor back the other night and Hudson thinks tractors are the greatest. A couple weeks ago he went outside with Julie and sat on the tractor pretending he was driving it for almost 2 hours.  Not sure which will use more gas this summer, dad’s truck or dad’s tractor.