July, Part 3--Lake House Vacation

Our time at the lake house this year was from July 17-22, which was a really hot week!  It was great for being in the water, and we really enjoyed that.  We did have to escape the heat now and then, for some indoor activities such as games or some screen time for the kiddos.  And most of the group took in a movie at a theater one afternoon.

This post will probably be mostly pictures, maybe not so many words.  We'll see if I can hold to that.

 First evening, enjoying the sand and water

Hope got re-acquainted pretty quickly 

with Uncle Matt and Aunt Cheryl

Bubble fun!  The bubble "guns" I bought for the kids weren't exactly what I was expecting them to be, but they had a lot of fun with them anyway. 

Our special guest "Benny the dog"

made it into this picture.

And Grandpa made it into this one.

Abby was very popular as the Jet Ski driver.  The kids loved their rides with her, and always were asking for more. 

Abby and Evan

Abby and Jeremiah

Abby and Josie

The big yellow raft was our gift to Jens in appreciation for the use of his house. We certainly enjoyed using it, and hope that he and his guests get lots of enjoyment from it as well. 

Neil with Evan and Josie

Matt, Jeremiah, Evan and Josie

Three of the ladies---we didn't

stay quite that close to the shore!

Tuesday afternoon Roger and Sheryl drove up to see us, and stayed for dinner--pulled pork smoked in the Big Green Egg. Yummy! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to document their visit. Later that evening we had a fire and made s'mores.

Photo bomb by Evan!

I think I caught someone in

mid-bite--sorry, Abby!

Mouth full of s'mores! 

Wednesday was our "Chicago Day."  We drove to Abby and Neil's apartment and took the train from there to downtown. The train ride was a highlight for the kids!

Lunch at Shake Shack--part of the group

The "Bean"

You can almost see us reflected in it.

Maggie Daly Park was a big hit with all the kids.  It was another hot, humid day, so the water features were very popular. We were thankful that we didn't lose anyone in the crowds of children, and we left with the same number that we had come with. 

Hope like sliding with Auntie Abby...

...and without her!

Great way to cool off!

(I was jealous of the kids at this point!)

I had great idea--to get a picture of all four kids in the mouth of whatever sea creature this is supposed to be. One of those ideas that didn't really work out so well. These were the best I could do. Believe me, the others were worse.

Hmm, where's Hope?

And where's Evan?

All 4 mostly visible, but only

2 looking at the camera

There's Evan!!

And there's Hope!!

We took an extra walk over to Buckingham Fountain, hoping to catch the big display (and maybe get to cool off from the spray.)  But apparently they weren't doing the big display due to construction of a stage going on nearby. Oh, well.

This also took many tries with multiple phone cameras!

All worn out!!

J is for Josie and Jeremiah....

and Jackson!

Thursday was Boat Day!  After Matt and I went out to find a farm stand to get some sweet corn (and apple cider donuts!) we packed a lunch and went out on the pontoon boat. The weather didn't really co-operate for this, and Neil had a challenge trying to avoid the rain storms that were blowing through.  It was a fun ride anyway, even though we had to cut it a bit short. 

Thursday was the only day that we had everyone together. Ben came out two different times, and Adam was only able to come from Wednesday afternoon until Friday morning because of his new job.

Friday was our last day, and we enjoyed some time in the water before packing up and leaving. The neighbor brought over his kayak for us to use, which was really nice.

 Matt and Evan

Matt and Jeremiah

Abby and Hope enjoying some water time

And a few random pictures:

Game time

The girls watching a show

The "locals" 

Our home away from home for a few days

And that lovely, peaceful view!

July, Part 2--CA Kids Arrive!

We had a very brief visit with Matt and Cheryl's family when they flew into Milwaukee on July 13. They were here just over one night, and then had to head to Michigan for the wedding of Cheryl's niece. It was short, but sweet, and we knew that we had our family vacation week to look forward to in just a few days.

It's always so much fun to meet them at the airport. We can usually hear some giggles and squeals from the kids even before they are in sight.

Here they come!!

Sorry that I missed Cheryl in the 

picture--she's almost visible behind 

that glass wall.

Even though the visit was short, we made sure to fit in the important stuff--like a visit to Kopp's.  They were ready for dinner when they got here so we went right from the airport to Kopp's.  The Brassers came to join us there for custard, because this was their only opportunity to see them this time around. 

And something else we managed to fit in--Grandpa's pancakes for breakfast the next morning.  Josie made a special request to Grandpa for pancakes, and who could say No to that?? Certainly not Grandpa!! 

Evan as assistant chef

Josie enjoying her pancakes

We were glad to have this short and sweet visit with them--we like that Southwest usually has pretty good fares into Milwaukee. 

Next post will be----Family Vacation at the Lake House!!

July, Part 1--The Wissinks are homeless

June ended with our trip to Michigan to help Adam and Rachel move out of their house there. They brought their truck load of furniture to Clinton, Iowa, but they were not able to move into their house there until July 8.  So they were sort of homeless for a week.  Abby was eager for some company because Neil was gone for his class, so she took them in for the first couple of days, and they had fun with her in Chicago.  Then on the 3rd they drove up to Brookfield and spent the next several days with us.

The 3rd of July in Brookfield means that it's time to go stake out your spot for the big parade on the 4th.  (We have never actually done this until just the last two years when the Wissinks were with us. It's the best way to make sure that you have a spot right on the curb, the best spot for getting candy, etc. that is thrown out.) We couldn't believe how much of the space had already been taken, but Adam and Rachel were able to find a good spot large enough for our little group.

The 4th of July was a beautiful day for the parade, and Jeremiah was very excited about it.  He remembered it from last year, when he gave it rave reviews!

Waiting for the parade to begin

Hope dancing in the street--some 

pre-parade entertainment

Time to come and sit down....

....and watch the parade.

Fruit snacks!

We went to watch the fireworks in Elm Grove, just like we did last year. Adam and Hope stayed home--they didn't think Hope would appreciate the fireworks enough to make it worthwhile to keep her up past her bedtime. 

Jeremiah's "Statue of Liberty" pose

Kind of a strange glow around his neck

Wirth Park pool has become a favorite spot with Jeremiah and Hope. And to say that Hope likes the little slide would be major understatement!  She would have gone up and down all day!

And I owe Jeremiah an apology, because I did not get a single picture of him at the pool. Maybe he was in the big pool with his Dad or maybe playing in the sand area when I was taking my pictures.  Sorry, J!

We made a visit to the Brassers one morning. 

Hope loved running around in their big back yard.

Jeremiah found some treasures while exploring in the basement---Ben's soccer trophies!  He chose two that he wanted to bring home with him, and we got Uncle Ben's permission for that.  But he actually forgot to take them when they left--I don't think Rachel was too disappointed about that.

One evening we went to take a walk at the lakefront.  The weather was a bit "iffy" when we got there, but we did manage to get a walk in without getting rained on. 

But the clouds were rolling in when we were

walking back to the car.

Just a couple more shots of Hope:

A Hope and Grandma selfie

On Friday, the 8th, the Wissinks were able to get into their house in Clinton, but not until about 3 p.m.  So we all headed to Clinton at about noon, and got there right about the time that they could get into the house.

 

 Bob and his co-pilot on the way to Clinton

Adam's two bosses and their families were on hand to help with the unloading and unpacking, which was great! We stayed around until the truck was unloaded, the kitchen stuff was unpacked, and they all had beds to sleep in. And of course we enjoyed some Pizza Ranch pizza for dinner! Unfortunately I did not take a single picture of the whole move-in process or of their new home. :(

Next post: California kids arrive!

June, part 2

The last week of June we were in Michigan, supposedly to help Adam and Rachel pack up for their move to Clinton.  But they were so on top of things, that there really wasn't a lot for us to do in the packing department.  But we got in some fun activities and some family visits during that week. 

We stayed at Diekemas for this visit---Abby also came to MI and she stayed with Adam and Rachel.  On Monday the Wissinks came over to Diekemas for one last visit before the move, and also for some beach time for Jeremiah.  It's been a while since I have ventured down the 100+ steps to get to the beach at Diekemas. It's the thought of coming back up those 100+ steps that makes me decide to just enjoy the beach from up above. As a result, you really can hardly see them, but Adam, Jeremiah and Bethany are down there.

Rachel decided that, considering the amount of time they had, it really wasn't worth it to take Hope down to the beach this time. But she had fun swinging and playing with Aunt Jeanie's toys.

Our fun event for Tuesday was riding on the Sinke train.  We had dinner there, thanks to Betsy (and Cora Mae) doing a great job of grilling! Chuck came over after dinner to run the train.  Bill and Pat, Laura K. and Miriam, Tess and  Megan were also there. Roger and Laura were at Brad's baseball game, so we missed seeing the them.

 It was a beautiful evening--perfect for train rides!

And Hope is the perfect size for the caboose!

I also got a pretty good video of the train, but I have not figured out how to get it from my phone to the computer so that I can try to put it on here.  If I ever figure out how to do that, I will try to add it. Such limited tech skills!!!!

Wednesday evening Jeremiah had his last t-ball game, and he was pretty excited to have both sets of grandparents and Auntie Abby at his game! I'm not sure just how much of the game Abby got to see, because she spent a lot of time keeping track of Hope. Hope was definitely more interested in running around and playing on the playground than she was in the game! 

 Jeremiah at bat

All decked out in his catcher gear!

The catcher in action!

Thursday was the big moving day.  It was a busy morning, but many hands make light work, right?  Besides us old folks and Abby, Adam's parents and his friend/new boss Mike were there to help.  Jeremiah was a great helper, but I didn't get any pictures of him working. Hope was not as much help, but I did get a couple pictures of her. :)

Doing a little clean-up after the truck was loaded.

I took this picture to show JoAnne, so that she could see that the rocking chair made it onto the truck. That chair belonged to my Grandma Waanders, and it had been in JoAnne's kindergarten classroom for many years.  When she retired from teaching, she passed it on to Rachel, who was just starting her teaching career. 

By lunch time the truck was loaded, the house had been vacuumed, a few marks removed from walls, garage swept out, etc. etc.  We all made a stop at Arby's for lunch before all the Wissinks and Mike headed for Clinton, Abby left for Chicago, and we (and Molly) left for Wisconsin. 

Next up: the homeless Wissinks come to Wisconsin!

June, part 1

The first part of June was pretty quiet and uneventful. Bob finished up his volunteering at Cross Trainers Academy and enjoyed an appreciation luncheon for all the volunteers. He also had his usual elders and church council meetings. And we had our regular Friday Panera visits--morning coffee with the senior group from church, and supper with the Brassers.

 I did quite a bit of volunteer work in the BCS library.  The library was moved into the new library/media center that is part of the latest addition at BCS.  This space is probably 3-4 times larger than the old library.  They also decided to revamp the entire organizational system of the library--out with the Dewey Decimal system and in with a system organized according to topics and genres.  That involved lots of computer work to update the catalog and lots of hands-on work with the books---new labels on every single book. This was a huge job--much more work than Melissa (the BCS library person, who also teachers Spanish) could handle on her own.  So she relied a lot on volunteer help. I really enjoyed it--I may have missed my calling.  Maybe should have become a librarian.

On June 11 we had a fun outing.  We went to Ravinia for the live broadcast of "Prairie Home Companion" with Garrison Keillor.  Since he is retiring, this was his last appearance at Ravinia.  That made tickets rather hard to get, so we had to settle for lawn seating instead of seats in the pavilion.  Bill and Pat joined us for this, and they got there early and staked out good spots for us, and also rented chairs for us.  Lew and JoAnne went with us, and we were able to get a great parking spot, thanks to Lew's handicap sticker.  It was quite a warm day, but we were in the shade, so we were comfortable.

The live broadcast always begins at 5 pm, but the music begins at 4:45, and Garrison comes out of the Pavilion and mingles a bit with the people on the lawn and sings a few songs.  I walked over to where he was, and actually got a picture.

One hot day we decided to go down to the lake front, thinking that it would be cooler there.  Well, we were wrong, it really wasn't that much cooler. But we did enjoy a walk along the beautiful lake front.

And here's my attempt at a selfie. I think I need to work on that skill--I haven't figured out how to take a picture and look happy at the same time. (And that's the Northwestern Mutual building under construction that appears to be growing out of my head.)  Oh, well.

On Father's Day we were invited to the Brassers, who had some of their family with them for the week-end.  Justin, Hilary and Silas came from Seattle for a long week-end, so it was nice to see them and to meet Silas.  They also stopped over at our house the next evening after their visit to Kopps.

It sure was fun to meet this cute little guy!

My life was so quiet and uneventful that I even did a couple of jigsaw puzzles.  I decided that it was time to get rid of some of my puzzles, so I wanted to make sure all the pieces were there before I gave them away. (If there are pieces missing, the puzzle gets thrown away.)

This one, a picture of a glass of milk surrounded by chocolate chip cookies, was a bit of a challenge.  The glass of milk was easy, but those cookies all look pretty much the same, so it took me a while.

The last week of June got a little more interesting, with a trip to Michigan to help the Wissinks pack up for their move to Clinton.  I'm going to save that for the next post so that this one doesn't get too long.  So stay tuned!!