Fun in Chicago

Of course the big event of the summer, and the reason we were having our family vacation in Chicago this year, was Abby and Neil's wedding!!  Since the time before and after the wedding was going to be our only chance for getting the whole family together, I started looking for a place to rent for a week or so, rather than spending all that time in a hotel.  After some searching on VRBO we ended up renting a duplex that was close to Abby's old apartment, to Abby and Neil's new apartment, and also to the church.  It worked out really well for us---3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, cable TV (when it worked), wireless internet, air conditioning, and kitchen (not set up for a lot of cooking, and the freezer barely kept popsicles frozen, but we managed.)  The cable situation was a bit frustrating at times, especially since it was World Cup time.  But, we survived that, too. Oh, and one other thing---we were VERY close to the EL tracks.  I think that by the end of our time there most of us were sleeping through the night in spite of the train. But if you were outside when a train came by, it pretty much made conversation impossible.  And Evan would drop whatever he was holding so that he could cover his ears until the train was gone.  They do go by quite frequently---especially during early morning and late afternoon hours.

We checked into our place on Monday afternoon and got settled.  We met Abby and Neil at Chipotle for dinner, and the Wissinks arrived just as we were getting back from dinner. Matt and Cheryl's family arrived Tuesday, around noon I think. As I think back on our time there, I have trouble remembering just what we did each day.  So I'll just post the pictures I have, and maybe it will come back to me when I post them.  There was a nice playground just a few blocks from our place, and we took advantage of that quite often.

I think it was Wednesday morning that we went to a different playground in Lincoln Park. This one had a splash area which was great.....but our time there was cut short because of a storm that sent us dashing (a few blocks) to our cars. I only got one picture there.

Wednesday seemed to be our day for getting caught in the rain.  We met Abby and her friends Lauren and Ashly for dinner at Art of Chicken.  We had asked Abby to suggest restaurants that were kid-friendly and within walking distance. (Yeah, the whole parking thing in Chicago is a pain!) So, it was definitely kid-friendly and the chicken was great.  And it was not very far to walk, but it was pouring rain when we had to walk home.

On Thursday we decided to take a ride on that noisy train that ran right by our place, so we took the EL downtown and went to Millennium Park.  Of course we had to get some pictures by the Bean.

                                                  Evan is so strong!!

We just happened upon an orchestra rehearsal going on, so we sat down to enjoy that for a while and also had some snacks.

The music inspired Josie to do some dancing.

And the boys even joined in.

This is one of my favorite shots!

Buckingham fountain

Friday morning started out with Dad's pancakes.  That is usually a Sunday thing, but the bride had put in a special request to have them on Friday.  So he obliged, in spite of  having very little in the way of kitchen equipment.  There wasn't even a spatula---he had to flip the pancakes with a fork! But the pancakes were as good as ever.

Friday's outing was to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Can't beat a free zoo!  Carousel rides were not free, but Grandma took care of that. :)

We found a great spot for some photos with the skyline in the background.

                              A pair of little farmers at the Farm at the Zoo.

Just a few random pictures to finish off this post.

Popsicles on the front steps.

Two little boys in their Iowa shirts and a

 little girl who didn't want to be left out of the picture. :)

I think this post takes us through Friday afternoon. Next up we'll get into the pre-wedding and wedding festivities.

Memorial Day week-end---Abby's Shower

There was a bridal shower for Abby in Michigan on the Saturday of Memorial Day week-end.  This shower was put on by Abby's Waanders aunts, and there were about 30 Waanders ladies of all ages, and 1 Wiers aunt, in attendance.  The food was delicious, the fellowship was sweet, and Abby got many lovely gifts.

We were staying out at the lake for the week-end. The Wissinks and Abby stayed at Waanders North, and we stayed at Diekemas.   We had to keep with the tradition of pizza at Fricano's Saturday evening, and then ice cream at Temptations.

Our week-end also included a stop at Meijer's and a penny pony ride for Jeremiah.

The week-end also included some time on the beach.  The water was pretty cold, at least that's what I was told.  I didn't venture down the stairs, because I knew I'd have to come back up again. But Mark did brave the frigid water, and Jeremiah had lots of fun playing in the sand.

Home again, home again....Spring in Brookfield

We returned from our "Big Trip"  the day before Easter, which also happened to be Bob's birthday this year.  We had been gone almost six weeks--lots and lots of mail to go through!

Abby and Neil drove up from Chicago for Easter dinner, and we had talked about going out somewhere for dinner.  But I decided that a ham dinner is really pretty easy to make, and I figured that places that were open for Easter would probably be very busy.  So I decided to cook a meal.  Well, I learned that trying to buy a ham on the evening before Easter is pretty much impossible.  So we made do with ham steaks---worked out well.  It also seemed that everyone else in Brookfield was going to have the hash brown potato casserole for dinner, because there were also no frozen hash browns to be had.  So I substituted potatoes O'Brien, and they made for a very tasty potato dish.  I may just use them again the next time I make that casserole.

It was just the four of us for dinner, but Lew and JoAnne came over for dessert later and we had birthday cake.  No home-baked birthday cake for Bob this year--I managed to put together the Easter dinner, but decided to get a cake at the Metro Market bakery.

It's been kind of a strange spring here in Wisconsin.  I had thought that we would probably completely miss our daffodils while we were gone, but they weren't anywhere close to blooming yet when we got back.  All the spring flowers were late bloomers and  the trees were slow to get their leaves as well. 

We have really enjoyed watching all the bird activity in our back yard this spring. I had heard people talk about putting oranges and grape jelly out to attract Baltimore Orioles, so I thought I'd give that a try this year.  I found a special feeder that holds half an orange and also has little indentations for the jelly. (I used strawberry instead of grape and it obviously was satisfactory to the orioles.)

We got very excited at the first sighting of an oriole, but after a while it became pretty commonplace.  At one point we had a pair, a male and a female, on the feeder at the same time.   And another time there were two males, and they sort of took turns at the feeder.  One would eat while the other perched on the evergreen next to the feeder.

So, we certainly have not turned into full-fledged "birders," and we don't have any "birding" trips planned.  But we do enjoy watching our local birds from the kitchen and dining room windows.  We also have uninvited guests at our feeders now and then.  The deer like to come around and empty one of the feeders by tipping it sideways.  And there are also some acrobatic squirrels that will hang up-side-down on the feeder to eat. And it takes more than a knock on the window to discourage them!

I just realized that I have actually written a blog post with no pictures of grandchildren! Can you believe it?  I hope they don't take away my Grandma credentials! Don't worry, it probably won't happen again. :)

Big Trip, part 9--Back in Iowa

In my last post I hinted at the possibility of one more CA post with some videos.  Well, that is not going to happen.  For some reason, even though I was able to get the videos posted, I was not able to keep them from playing continuously---all three videos at the same time.  And it was making me tired and dizzy, watching Josie and Evan whizzing down the sidewalk on scooters and bikes. So I ended up deleting that post so that I wouldn't cause my readers any motion sickness.

We began our journey back to the Midwest on April 15, taking the route through Nevada, Utah, Colorado. Nebraska and ending up in Ankeny on Thursday, the 17th. We were struck by the beauty of God's creation as we enjoyed the gorgeous scenery, especially in Utah and Colorado.  There was still quite a bit of snow in the mountains, but nothing that affected our driving.

Our stop in Ankeny coincided with Rachel's need for care for Jeremiah, so that was convenient.  Her daycare was closed on Good Friday, so we were able to spend the day with him. 

We visited the Ankeny Library in the morning and also spent some time at a city park.  There were ducks at this park, so we brought some bread to feed them. These ducks were a lot hungrier than the ones we had tried to feed in California---they were almost fighting over the bread sometimes.

This boy has quite an arm!

We spent some time at the playground, too.

We left for home the next day, but not before one last picture in front of the house in Ankeny.

We had been gone from home for almost 6 weeks in all.  We had wonderful times with our kids and grandkids and we enjoyed much better weather than we would have had in Wisconsin.  But it was good to be back home again.  I guess it's true--"There's no place like home!"

Big Trip, part 8--Hanging out at Home

This will probably be my last post of our time in California.  And it may be my last post ever, if I even manage to get it posted.  After doing many posts with no technical problems, all of a sudden nothing is going right this time.  The blog genie won't let me post pictures where I want them, and won't let me type where I want to type.  I completely deleted a partial post at one point, which meant that I had to upload all the pictures a second time.  And it's looking like I may have to do that a third time.  And if it takes more than 3 tries I may just give up.

Anyway, here goes with my second attempt. We did quite a bit of babysitting while we were there, so we had lots of time to play with the kids out in the yard. Some of our mornings were with just Evan, because Josie had school two mornings a week. It was fun to walk her to and from school, and especially to hear about her morning on our walk back.  She always had to stop to pick some dandelions and other flowers on our way.  One day I stopped her just in time before she picked someone's beautiful roses. :) 

While we were there, they were the recipients of a hand-me-down swing set from some friends whose kids had outgrown it.  Matt had a few frustrating moments as he was setting it up, but the kids have really been enjoying it. So I'm sure it was all worth it.

One day we took Josie back to our apartment for a while during Evan's nap.  She had been begging to go to see our "hotel."  So she thought it was pretty great to be able to spend a little time there with us.

                      Painting with q-tips (because I didn't have a paintbrush)

One hot day we decided that it was too hot to go to the park, and we weren't up for pool time at our apartment. So we had some pool and sprinkler time at home. 

Evan likes to help with the yard work and he's very efficient, using the mower and the leaf blower at the same time!

                                       Taking a rest after his hard work

Evan being silly

Blowing bubbles

Checking out Evan's new book with the magnifying glass

Grandpa and Grandma think story time is the BEST!

The Sunday before we left, we had an early birthday celebration for Dad.  We went to the Gourmet Pizza Shoppe for some great pizza---I discovered a new favorite. And then we topped things off with some amazing ice cream  for dessert at a la minute.

And just a couple more pictures before I (hopefully) get this published. 

                              Couldn't forget Amos---isn't he posing nicely?

I loved smelling the blossoms on this lemon tree.

I also loved picking some lemons to bring home with me.

Well, I think that I have finally finished this post, after much frustration!  Now if I can just get it published successfully!  I may do one more post with a few short videos that I took.  After the problems I've had with this post, there is no way I'm going to attempt to post them now.  Maybe if the computer and I both get a good rest tonight I can give it a try tomorrow.