Visiting Stelters at White Potato Lake & a Few More Words

On Sunday, 7/19, my boys and I went about an hour up north to visit our friends Heather and Dirk and their boys Mason (18) and Zane (12) at their grandparents' cabin on White Potato Lake in Oconto County. When we got out of the car, Fischer was anxious to walk around and explore. He was especially excited to see that the Stelters have a dog, Satchel. He's a gentle giant :)

Fischer warmed up to Satchel more quickly than other dogs he's met, and kept gesturing toward the dog and panting (the baby sign for 'dog').
Gradually Fischer got closer to Satchel.

At times, the excitement was almost too much!

A little closer, now...

Finally, Fischer got up the nerve to pet Satchel.

After proper introductions, Satchel felt free to give Fischer a kiss or two!

When we got to the water, quick wardrobe change to show off his new swimtrunks, and Fischer was stomping through the shallows...nevermind that it was a bit overcast and the water was a tad cool!

A couple times, Fischer lost his balance and landed on his bottom. This is how he looked when he was asking "Up!"

Zane caught a few minnows for Fischer to inspect in a bucket. He was super-excited and making exclaimations the whole time. His bottom lip was shivering the whole time, too, but that didn't dampen his fun!

Here's a quick vocab update:

Joe's been starting to teach Fischer a German word here and there. He knows the German word for car, which is Auto (out-oh), and Fischer says it pretty close, but mostly it comes out "toto". He also says here and this when handing you something or asking what something is while gesturing towards it, but they sound more like "he" and "diss". When we step outside he says "side", and while putting on his shoes OR referring to Joe's cat Schmooze, Fischer says something that's like "sooze". He's also taken a liking to turing lights off and on, especially the pull-string ones in the basement. Although we articulate on vs. off, he calls them both "opff". :)