Wisconsin Deer Park in July

We visited the Wisconsin Deer Park and were so pleased to see they'd undergone some big renovations!  Their gift shop and visitor center where you enter were all updated and so nice.  We arrived right when the park opened, grabbed 4 packs of crackers to feed the deer and were greeted by lots of friendly, hungry deer.  We loved seeing the deer along with all of their other animals - ostriches, lemurs, raccoons, goats, bison and more.  This park is right on the main strip, but once you get inside it feels like you'd never know you were right in the middle of the city.

Olive looked for the quiet, shy deer to make sure they got plenty of snacks.

Fletcher was determined to find all of the sweet deer and look for deer friends from previous years.

Leo was no longer afraid of the deer and insisted on hugging as many deer as possible this year.

It was fun to introduce my parents to one of our favorite spots!

It's a wild feeling to be surrounded by deer.  They're all friendly and the worst thing we encountered was deer drool.

 

We have visited this fun park all throughout the year and it's always a good time.  It's shady so you don't have to worry about the heat too much in the summer and it's so pretty in the Fall.  We always like to come right when it opens at 9am for the best experience.  I hope you all get to visit here someday!

Wisconsin Dells Army Ducks

We had the best week in Wisconsin last week and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

This is was our sixth trip to Wisconsin (Middleton/Madison & Wisconsin Dells) and we have yet to do everything we want to do there.  It's the neatest place to visit and the weather is so pleasant in the Summer.

Kevin booked us a duck boat tour one afternoon after my dad mentioned going on a tour.  He did everything online with Dells Army Ducks - bought tickets, signed waivers and reserved our time slot.  It was really easy to just show up and show them the bar code he'd been emailed.  We'd 10/10 recommend doing a tour with Dells Army Ducks!

We booked the one hour tour which was perfect for toddlers to grandparents.  They offer are wide variety of tours and excursions for everyone.  We all enjoyed the adventure!  The boys loved all of the army stuff.

You sit two to a seat and this handsome guy was in front of me.

Olive and Mimi + Papaw were on the other side of the boat.

We were surprised to hit trails, lakes, rivers and the highway in our duck boat.

We'd never been on the Wisconsin River before.  The rock formations and history were really neat to learn about.  Our driver - Jack - was hilarious and kept us all laughing.  He made jokes that the kids and adults laughed at.

The boys loved pointing out all kinds of cool things on the tour - jet skis, boats, animals and more.

We found a free swim spot that we'd love to come back to with rafts!  It's called Newport beach and the water is shallow and the rocks are so neat.  The kids can't wait to come back to this spot.

When you skip your nap and decide to take a boat nap instead.

The other side of the boat.  I brought a few emergency snacks for Leo and everyone else was fine without water bottles or snacks.

I was Leo's bodyguard and didn't take my eyes off of him the entire ride.

The workers snapped some group pictures of us right before we got on the boat.  Neither were great (blurry & a weird pose) so I passed on the $30 picture option and we bought the kids duck whistles instead.  They quacked the whole way home and were thrilled.

We loved seeing new sights and having new adventures with the Dells Army Ducks!

Full Sun Favorites

I have a different kind of favorite post for you today.  It's all about gardening.  Specifically, FULL SUN gardening.  Our yard is so sunny.  Barely any shade anywhere.  It's taken me a season or two to figure out what works for the hot sun, but I have a good list of full sun favorite to share with you today.  Our last yard was nearly full shade so it's been a good challenge for me to figure out a whole new yard.

These sun loving plants can tolerate hot hot sun as long as they are watered daily.

I hope you find a plant or two that might work for you in your yard.

1 // Verbena - red and purple

2 // Corkscrew greenery

3 // Kimberly Queen Ferns - I have 4 of them.  2 on my front porch.  2 on my back patio.  They just getting prettier and bigger the hotter the weather gets.  They love the summer sun and heat so much.  I'm amazed.  They are more expensive than Boston Ferns, but if you have sunny spots they make such a statement around your house.

4 //  Lantana - I have 4 different color variations and it looks so pretty in pots or planted in your landscaping.  It flowers from early summer through Fall.

5 // Sweet Potato Vine - this gorgeous neon vine is such a pretty filler in any pot.  I added it to several of my pots.  It is a yummy snack to squirrels so be sure to sprinkle it with chili powder regularly if you have friendly squirrels at your house.

6 // Light Pink Vinca - it's the sweetest flower and it comes in tons of colors.

7 // Sweet Alyssum - this is the prettiest flower.  It seems to get better as the summer goes on and it really fills in nicely in pots.

8 // Marigolds

9 // Petunias

10 // Bacopa - this is the cutest flower!  It vines down in pots and grows so nicely.  It's been flowering all summer long.  I'm so glad this pretty flower caught Olive's eye.  It's brand new to me this year.

11 // Asparagus fern - it's a little pokey so you wouldn't want to handle it, but it gives nice height and texture and color to your pots.

12 // Purslane - Olive grabbed this succulent and it has done so well.  It's gigantic.  It started out as a tiny plant and it loves growing and draping over the side of my pots.  The blooms just keep coming.

Do you have any full sun flower questions for me?  Or any flower/landscaping questions that I can help you with?  I've been working hard for the last 9 or so years to learn how to garden.  My MIL taught me lots and gardening has become one of my very favorite hobbies.

Linking up with Momfessionals

Homemade Hibachi

We had the yummiest hibachi take out when we were in Florida and I came home determined to recreate it.  The kids all loved it.  Going to a traditional hibachi restaurant is well over $100 for our family so I did a little research on how to make fried rice and picked up some Yum Yum sauce.  It made all the difference!  My whole family love this meal.

I roasted some veggies - zucchini, carrots, onions and broccoli.  I left out mushrooms.

I bought some really thin chicken breasts and seasoned them with salt, pepper and Everyday Seasoning Salt.  Bake until well done.  Let cool and slice thin.

Roasted veggies.

Fried rice.  So good.

Ingredients:

green onions

match stick carrots

2-3 scrambled eggs

2 bags of cooked Boil in the bag rice

soy sauce

yum yum sauce

Directions:

Cook Rice.  Cook scrambled eggs in a skillet.  Add in all the veggies once the eggs are fully cooked.  Add in the rice and squeeze a generous amount of soy sauce and yum yum sauce on top.  Stir until well combined.  Not everyone at my house loves fried rice so I also made some white rice.

I made some kale chips that got mixed reviews and served the dinner like this.  Several of us loved having yum yum sauce to dip our chicken in.

Would your family enjoy this meal?  We loved it!  The whole meal cost me under $20 to make with leftovers for lunches.