They are back!

Courtney and Paul have returned from their three week trek across the country! I am anxious to see pictures and hear of their adventures. When I talked to Courtney last night on her final leg of the journey (driving from the Milwaukee airport to Oshkosh) she said she just wanted to get to her house and sleep in her own bed! Three weeks is a long time to be gone from your home. Personally I wouldn't want to be gone that long, but Courtney and Paul look at things like that differently than I do. I am so anxious to see what they thought of my work in Tizzy's play room. I hope to hear something today on that note. And good news, nothing came of my worst fears. Courtney and Paul were not eaten by a grizzly bear and they did not get lost in the wilderness. Thank you, God for bringing them safely home.

Note to Tizzy: Your mommy and daddy have returned to your home in Oshkosh. I hope they like your playroom, but I say, what is not to like! Take care, little one, see you soon.

Memories of St. George Island-one year ago

Courtney and Paul working on our sand castle.

Paul and John relaxing on our big front porch.

Mallory and Courtney jigging. It is one of Courtney's favorite activities.

Mallory and Marge on the beach.

John floating around in our pool.



John and I on the beach.

Mallory and I on the widow's walk flying our kites.

Last year at this time we were vacationing at our favorite place in the whole world-St. George Island, Florida. My mom, Mallory, John and I drove down to the Island. We enjoy the drive because after doing it so many times we have our favorite spots to stop for meals, snacks, gas, sights, etc. We measure our progress by these familiar stops along the route. We stayed at a rental home called Margarittaville which was perfect for our stay. We had a big front porch overlooking the gulf, a widow's walk, and a wonderful pool. Is it any wonder that this is our heaven on earth spot? Courtney and Paul joined us for part of our week last year. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip. Sit back and enjoy!

Note to Tizzy: Next June we are all returning to St. George to celebrate your mommy and daddy's 5th anniversary. We are all revisiting the scene of the crime. You see they were married down on the Island. I cannot wait to show you around the Island. You will love the waves and you will have your own sandbox!

Blog Post number 50!

Courtney with her baby. She looks like she will be a wonderful mommy. Notice the pacifier in her mouth.

Courtney age four and Alissa age two.

Courtney and her handsome daddy.

Courtney and her cute mommy.

What happened to us? When did we get so old?

Yep, you read it right! This is post number 50 for me! When I started this journey, I did not think I would find blogging to be so much fun and so addicting, but here I am still at it. I also did not think that I would already be waiting for Tizzy to come home. I thought my grandchild would go unnamed and known only to God for a much longer time than this. How blessed we all are! I wonder where I will be in this journey in 50 more entries.
I tried something new today by putting up some old pictures from when your mommy and Auntie Alissa were little. I took pictures of the old pictures so I hope they turned out okay. We shall see.

Hi Tizzy, Thinking of you so much today, hoping you are staying healthy, gaining some weight, and learning new skills. It won't be long now until your mommy and daddy come to get you and bring you to your new home. See you soon!

Tizzy is officially ours!

I hope I am not stealing Courtney and Paul's thunder but so few people read this blog anyway, so I don't think it will matter to them especially since they are still in nowhere, Montana. Courtney called today from the lowly pay phone in The Mercantile and said that they had heard from their social worker and Tizzy is officially theirs. ( I guess I shouldn't say ours, but she is partly ours!) We could not be happier. Now as I understand it, we wait for the birth certificate and the travel dates and then they bring her home! I know they can post a picture of Tizzy now, but I won't do that because I think that might be going too far for this grandma. I think I should change the name of this blog because I am no longer a grandma to be, but a grandma!!
Note to Tizzy: What an exciting day for all of us. You are officially a Van Auken now! Welcome little one!

Relaxing and Waiting... Give me patience, quickly!

Still no word from the wilderness of Montana about the court proceedings. So to keep myself relaxed and in a good state of mind I am headed over to Mallory's pool to drift aimlessly around on one of her rafts. Should be a fine way to spend a summer afternoon. Maybe I will get a call tonight and they will have some news or maybe they won't call until they return home on Sunday, so Grant me patience, quickly please! I am off with cell phone in hand.

Back in the Saddle again

Our little get away is over and we are home. John is back in the saddle at work and I am back in the saddle here on the computer. (Remember it is summer vacation for me) We took a bike ride around Lake Winnebago yesterday and then rode 12 more miles exploring other spots in Oshkosh. The picture is from another park we found. I thought the play equipment at this park was awesome! Shortly after leaving the park my chain came off my bike. Now usually one can just put the chain back on with little problem except greasy hands, but this time we (Actually John, I didn't touch the dirty thing) could not get it on and we noticed that it was bent in one area. John offered to go get the car while I waited with the broken down bike, but I decided we should walk back to Courtney and Paul's. It ended up being just under 3 miles-my odometer was working just fine. We were a bit on the sweaty side, but have yet another bike story to add to our collection. If you remember, last year my bike flew off our car while returning from Iowa. It is quite disheartening to watch your husband and son in law running down the highway to retrieve your bike. We took it to Wheel and Sprocket and they fixed it up. Again we found a Wheel and Sprocket in Oshkosh and got the chain fixed. I am a good customer of theirs! Quite by accident John had spotted the Wheel and Sprocket the day before while eating across the highway at Culver's. He filed the info and it came in handy when we needed it.

Anyway the repair took all of ten minutes and we drove home with no incidents.

Note to Tizzy-Check out that cool climbing thing at the new park we found. I think it will be fun to climb on that with you. I always enjoy playing at parks as long as I have a child in tow.

Our last full day in Oshkosh

It has been such a fun get away for us here in Oshkosh. Last night we celebrated our Anniversary (better late than ever) at a great Italian restaurant here in Oshkosh. I even had two Mojitos which were so yummy. Today we finished up a few things in Tizzy's room-see pictures. I bought those cut out letters, numbers, and animals at Dollar Tree and we put magnets on the back of them so they stick to the magnetic paint that Courtney used to paint the room. this way Tizzy can move them around and play with them. Then we visited the zoo across the street and went on a 16 mile bike ride exploring part of Oshkosh that we had not seen yet.

Top Ten List of why I love this city

1. The Van Auken Bed and Breakfast
2. The bike/walking path along Lake Winnebago
3. The flat streets (I never had to change gears on our bike ride)
4. Friendly people (Everyone stops and chats)
5. The Good Eating places
6. The busy and prosperous downtown area
7. The pretty campus of UWO
8. The cool breezes off the Lake that blow through this house
9. The free zoo and beautiful park
10. And the best part is that Courtney, Paul, and soon little Tizzy live here!

Hi Tizzy, Each day brings us one day closer to meeting you and showing you around this great city! You will love it here, just look at some of the animals you will see at the zoo. Also on the big globe Grandpa is pointing to Ethiopia where you live now and I am pointing to Oshkosh the place you will be living very soon. This big globe is in the park.

Grandpa John and the hand mower

Good news! Grandpa John got the lawn cut with the hand mower and it did not have to sail through air.

Updated Playroom Pictures

As promised, here are some pictures of Tizzy's playroom that Grandpa John and I have been working on the last few days.

In these pictures you can see things from so many people who love Tizzy and are waiting for her arrival. The toy box and doll house are from Auntie Mallory, the Cabbage Patch doll is from Auntie Alissa and Uncle Nathan, the wooden book shelf and wooden toy shelf were both Grandma's and Mommy's when they were little, the kitchen is from your cousins Stella, Sofie, and Celia, and the list goes on and on.

Note to Tizzy: It has been such fun to work on your playroom these past few days. It somehow makes us feel closer to you when we are doing things for you. Hurry home, little one. We will send up prayers on Tuesday, June 24 so that your court case can go through with no hold ups, but we will remember that God is in control and all will work in His perfect timing.

Biking the Fox River Trail in Green Bay

On day two in Oshkosh we awoke to beautiful sunny weather. The perfect day to take our bike trip on the Fox River Trail in Green Bay. After a few wrong turns and angry vents we finally found the trail. Two kind bikers gave us some very good advice on which way to take the trail. I think they would have become our new best friends if we had allowed it. Anyway the one part of the trail is lined with art sculptures. The entire trail is paved and goes along the Fox River. We were just enjoying the beautiful day with a snack break on a bench overlooking the lock and dam on the Fox River when the sky turned quite dark. We tried to beat out the raindrops but were not successful. We took shelter with four other bikers under a small shelter until the rains stopped. The sun came out again and we continued our ride.

When we got back to Oshkosh we rode our bikes over to the park and checked out the walleye contest that was going on there. It appeared quite a few walleyes were pulled from the lake today. Someone's eating good! We rode a bit more around Oshkosh and just took in the beauty of this city. For supper we got some pulled pork sandwiches and had some salad from Pick and Save's salad bar. We ate out on the screen porch which is quickly becoming our favorite spot in this house. Living across from a park is such a great place to be. There is always activity and people watching. Today we observed how very few drivers actually stop at the four way stop at Courtney and Paul's corner.

After dinner we will continue our scrabble game from last night. I am in the lead at this point. We will retire to our little double bed early tonight. We were discussing how we wish we could retire for life because just hanging out is so much fun, but that is not to be.

Note to Tizzy: You are going to just love your house. It is so big and you will have so many places to play. Now we just need you here to fill up the rooms.

Planning your Playroom

This message is for Tizzy D.
Grandpa and I have been working on your playroom. It is so much fun for us to arrange all the fun things that people have given you. We also went shopping at Toys R Us for a few goodies that we thought you needed in your playroom.
Tomorrow while Grandpa cuts the lawn with your daddy's hand mower or maybe he will use your pink bubble mower, I will be up in the playroom doing some more organizing. Check for a picture tomorrow after I complete my work.

Birds in Oshkosh

On our first day here in Oshkosh we walked along Lake Winnebago in the park across the street from Courtney and Paul's house. It is such a beautiful park and people use it for so many activities - biking, roller blading, walking, jogging, fishing, swimming, baseball, soccer, tennis, sitting, etc. We saw so many different birds on our walk. The pictures show the pelicans, the sea gulls, and the mama duck watching over her babies that we saw.

Note to Tizzy D.: Good news, you will be able to feed ducks right here in your home in Oshkosh! You will also be able to feed sea gulls (your grandma is an expert at feeding gulls) and geese.

Okay, so i lied!

I didn't really mean to lie about not having access to my laptop at Courtney and Paul's house, I actually didn't think I could get into their server because neither of them knew their security code. I tried a few different numbers, but was denied access until I took some time to think things through and decided to take the connector from their router and put it right into my laptop. The rest is history-I have access to the internet and I am a blogging fool once again!

We arrrived at the Van Auken Bed and Breakfast yesterday about noon. We found everything to be just beautiful both on the inside and outside. Courtney has come a long way in her housekeeping skills from her college days. (Or maybe it is just Paul, but for whatever reason their home is clean and organized) We opened up the windows and almost immediately the wonderful summer breeze was blowing through the house.

The Van Auken Bed and Breakfast is a lovely old house with fine furnishings. The only suggestion we have to the establishment is perhaps a king sized bed and a small TV in the guest room! I know with the price we pay to stay here we have no right to make any suggestions.

Note to Tizzy: We enjoyed your note to us. We will follow all your suggestions. Grandpa thanks you for the nice Grandpa's Day card and we both want to say Thank you for the Africa T-shirts. As you can see in the pictures we look really good in them and we look forward to wearing them when we take you out and about.

Vacation at the Van Auken Bed and Breakfast

John and I are leaving today for five days of vacation. We are staying at the Van Auken Bed and Breakfast up in Oshkosh. It is supposed to be a lovely old home built in the late 1800's located right across from lake Winnebago. Now if you know John and I, you know we would never stay at a Bed and Breakfast. We don't really care to mingle with others all that much. The thought of sitting down to a group breakfast is totally unnerving to us. Making small talk with total strangers is just not our cup of tea. The good thing about this Bed and Breakfast is that we will be the only guests and the cost is free. We will do a bit of cleaning, plant watering, lawn cutting, and other small household duties to earn our keep, but all in all a great deal for us! We plan on doing the Fox River Bike Trail in Green Bay on Saturday and biking around Washington Island in Door County on Monday. Our plan for Sunday is house chores and then a nice anniversary dinner at an Italian place we enjoy up in Oshkosh. Think of John on Sunday as he is cutting the lawn with Paul's push hand mower. Back in the Elkhorn days, John had to use one of those due to lack of finances to buy a power mower. One day as I was playing with Courtney in the house we saw the mower fly past the window in the air! John had gotten so mad at it that he threw it and it went sailing. Too funny! I hope he won't have to launch Paul's mower! What would the neighbors think!
Note to Tizzy: We will be staying in your house in Oshkosh for a few days. Here's something to keep between you and I (we won't tell your mommy and daddy because they might get nervous being way out in Montana and not able to control me) I plan on working on your playroom a bit while I am up there. I have some ideas that I plan to put into action. I feel like I have some expert advice on playrooms due to my Preschool classroom experiences. Mum's the word!
To those who actually read this blog, I will not be able to update for the five days because of computer issues so be patient and I will update when we get home.

The twins go for a drive!

Today Lynne and I took her twin grandsons for a walk. We got off to a rather shaky start when one twin threw up in his car seat and Nana Lynne had to take him home and clean him up. After the clean up we took off for a nice walk. Both boys were wearing their little baseball hats until we noticed that one twin had lost his hat. We retraced our steps for blocks and blocks, but we finally found it. The whole morning felt like a comedy of errors, but the boys had a ball anyway. The best part was bringing them over to our house to take the cars for a drive. The orange car is the one I bought at a rummage sale for Tizzy and the blue one was Alissa's when she was little. It was so funny to watch the boys play with the cars. The most fun for them was opening the door and climbing in and out. They really didn't care if the cars moved or not as long as they could get in and out. Mallory and my mom were also here to watch them and take in the fun. We also played a little ball. They are naturals with a ball!

Note to Tizzy: Today I got to see how much you will enjoy playing with the little cars. I cannot wait to see how you drive them around. If you only want to climb in and out of the door that is okay, too!

A surprise call from Portugal!

Today I was so surprised when my cell rang and when I picked it up, it was a former Preschooler's dad calling from Portugal. At first I couldn't think who was calling me from Portugal and it didn't register right away until he mentioned Audrey's name, then it all clicked for me. Audrey's family are WELS missionaries. They were home for a furlough (I believe that is the correct terminology) last summer and enrolled Audrey in my Preschool for 6 weeks. Well, lucky for me those six weeks turned into 6 months. I was so blessed to have Audrey in my class for that much time and to get to know her wonderful family. They left for Portugal at the end of February where they will live for about a year to learn the language so they can do missionary work in Mozambique. At the end of the school year my class made Audrey a book and I sent her a few little surprises along with the book. That is the reason for the call. She was so sweet on the phone. She asked to speak to one of her little friends, but I had to tell her that I was at home and not at school so her friend was not here. When I hung up I felt so good. The Lord truly blessed my day by having her call. Her mom and dad both have a blog so I intend to keep up with their lives. Audrey is the little girl in the picture and yes, she always had that big smile on her face. I miss her!

Memories of the Watertown Aquatic Center

At the end of my walk today I passed the Watertown Aquatic Center and the lifeguards were just walking out to go to their stations to start the day. It made me think back to all the years that Courtney and Alissa worked at the pool. They were really fortunate to have such a nice summer job for all those years although if you ask them they might not agree with the lucky part. They always came home with stories of poop in the pool, bloody injuries needing stitches, and adult males exposing themselves up on the hill. As I think back to that I am so glad that nothing really serious happened on their watches! It is big responsibility for 18 year olds. Both girls served as head manager of the aquatic center meaning all big decisions were ultimately in their hands. One year Courtney was the manager while Alissa was her head guard. The Damman girls were running everything that year. I guess I didn't realize the enormity of that until just now. Alissa managed for one year without her sister when Courtney graduated from college and got her first "real" job. That was the last year for Dammans at the Aquatic Center. They moved on and those new lifeguards took over their stations today. Those lifeguards today were probably just little kids back when the Dammans ran the pool!

My thought for Tizzy today: Swimming has always been so important to your mommy and your Auntie Alissa. They swam from the time they were even younger than you are today. I don't know if you will be a swimmer or not, but I do know that we will spend many happy times at the Watertown Aquatic Center. I am so excited to take you there!

When did we get old enough to retire?

This is my good friend, Joan and I at her retirement party on Saturday, June 14, which also happened to be her 55th birthday! We had a lovely time at her party renewing friendships with many of her High School friends and her wonderful family. I still remember our days at Carroll College like it was yesterday. I am so blessed to have met Joan during those first few difficult days of college. She was my life raft that helped keep me afloat during some hard times. We eventually became roommates during our Junior year and the adventures continued. She introduced me not only to many of her good friends from South Milwaukee but also to many new experiences which will remain unmentioned here. Those were the days, my friend...

My wish to Joan is for many, many happy times ahead during her retirement. Celebrate life, my friend!

Note to Tizzy: My wish for you is to find friends like Joan who will stick by you through all the phases of your life. It is nice to know that someone is there who will come to your aid in a heartbeat even though you don't see them as often as you would like.

More Father's Day shots

To Tizzy:
Here are a few pictures from our Father's Day. The top left one is my Brother Kevin (your great Uncle) and my niece Mallory (You will call her Auntie Mallory)
The top right is my daughter Alissa (your Auntie) and Mallory again. Hard to believe that Alissa is 28 and Mallory is 15! They are like two peas in a pod when it comes to their sense of humor! They both make me laugh. Just wait until you spend time with the two of them they will make you laugh so hard and teach you many things. (Most useless and inappropriate)

The last picture is Grandpa John and Auntie Alissa. Your mommy and daddy were traveling around the country at this time so John only had one daughter here with him for the day. We also had John's dad, mom, and sister out for a cook out. It was a very nice, relaxing day. The sun was shining and the basement is finally drying out! Thank you, God.

Father's Day 2008

The Proud Grandpa to be!

The Flood of 2008

To the left is the bandshell at Riverside

Park. The river is usually at least 100 yards behind the bandshell. To the right is a picture of what is left of our Island. It is now covered in water.

Below is the foot bridge to Tivoli Island. Usually the river just flows gently under the bridge exposing rocks where we used to like to climb around on as kids. Now you would be swept away in the rushing current.

To the left is the overflowing creek

in Riverside Park taken from Hill St.

looking toward the baseball diamond.

Normally this is a slow meandering creek

that is fun to cross on the exposed rocks.

The picture below is
one of our many bridges.

This one is on Second St.

Normally you would be

to stand up under that

bridge.

The picture below is the flooded Spaulding St. The

water is at least two feet deep at this point and

there are subdivisions to the left that are not

reachable at this time.

John and I took a walk yesterday to take a look at all the flood damage around Watertown. The Rock River runs through Watertown and it has jumped its banks in many places. When we see the houses with the water running over the sandbags we indeed feel very thankful that our only problem is water in the basement. We didn't know the appropriate words to use when we would see these homeowners moving their furniture out to the curb. I am sure many memories are tied up in those belongings. Everywhere we walked we were joined by people with their cameras in hand trying to document this hopefully once in a lifetime flood. It was refreshing to watch the children as they ran barefoot through flooded streets and rode their bikes through the water with waves spraying up high in the air. Even in the midst of a disaster, children can take it all in and find ways to enjoy it. They will file these memories away and tell the stories to their children and grandchildren years from now. And life goes on... These won't mean much to anyone unless you know Watertown, but I am using it as a way to document the Flood of June 2008. Now our prayer to God is Please no more rain!

Note to Tizzy: My message to you today has nothing to do with the flood. Instead it has to do with Father's Day. Today Grandpa got his first Grandpa card. He wondered how you got it here all the way from Africa. What a special little girl you are to be able to do that for him. He is going to put it up at work for all to see! He is very proud of his little Tizzy!