A ladies Lunch

Two college roommates, Sherri and Joan, 35 years later!

Today my college roommate, Joan and her mom, Margaret met my mom, me, Courtney, and Tizita at Andrews Restaurant located in the Delafield Hotel. We are going to make this an annual gathering. Last year we met at Margaret's home and had a lunch after that. It had been thirty years since our moms had been together, so that visit was long overdue and we don't want that to happen again. We always have such a lovely time when we all get together and it feels like no time has passed as we pick up our conversations so easily. I highly recommend Andrews to anyone. The food was excellent and we were not rushed out of our private room, we actually visited there for almost three hours!

And here are the lovely ladies at the lunch. The only one missing is our photographer, Courtney.

It was indeed a wonderful lunch with great food and even greater conversation. We were lucky to have our own little private dining room so Tizita could roam around as she pleased without disturbing anyone.

Tizita has our undivided attention at this point

Tizita entertained us by reading us a book about Elmo. She kept saying, "I funny." She sure was!

Tizita got a big kick out of Gigi's rain bonnet. She had to try it on all of us and see how we looked.

What a fun lunch with some very special friends!

A belated Father's Day celebration with John's folks, Mamaw and Pops

Yesterday we celebrated Father's Day with John's mom and dad who Tizu calls Mamaw and Pops.
(Same thing that our nieces in NC call them, it is just another weird southern thing, but works well for her since she can easily pronounce both those names) John's dad, Pops just got home from the hospital after spending 22 days in there trying to regulate medications he takes for his parkinson's. He was in good spirits considering all he had been through and Tizu was just what the Doctor ordered. John's mom always makes a yummy feast and always has enough for all of us to bring home leftovers plus last night she wanted to clean out her freezer since Pops hasn't been eating much lately, so in addtion to the regular leftovers we all left with coolers full of good stuff. I won't have to cook for at least two weeks, Yea!
Paul and Nathan always enjoy listening to Grandpa Jack's (Pops, he has a lot of names here and I don't want to confuse anyone) stories, he has war stories, Legion stories, telephone lineman stories, and they are all interesting. Nathan also likes to share a manhattan with Grandpa Jack but since he had to give up drinking for now, Nathan had to drink one alone.
Here are some pictures from our celebration:

Here is Tizu spending some time with Alissa and Cheddar. There is always some monkey business going on when these three are together!

Tizu helped Pops open his Father's Day gifts.

Then Tizu helped Grandpa open his gifts. Just look at that proud grandma!

And finally Tizu helped her Papa with his gift. Pepper for Papa, perfect gift.

I am closing this post with a four generation picture of the Damman family.
Mamaw, grandpa, Pops, Mama, and the star of the show, Tizu.

An early morning walk

I just returned from a nice long walk that took me over 4 miles which included a walk through the cemetery. (You may remember a past blog about my love of cemeteries) The humidity is finally going away so it was comfortable enough to walk such a distance, it is still hot, but it just helps to have that humidity down. Anyway I visited my dad's grave and took a moment to reflect upon a few things that he would be thinking if he were still with us here on earth:
1. He would be loving the heat and humidity. He was one of those people who started wearing his shorts on the first warm day be it in March, April, or May and he never looked back. He wore shorts then all summer. I am a lot like that, I guess. Once I have my shorts on I like to keep them on for the season. Plus I inherited my dad's long, lean legs so I suppose we like to show them off!

2. My dad would have been gearing up for another 4th of July celebration. Again, I posted about his love of the 4th in a previous entry. He would be watching the parade, toasting his country, and grilling the brats. This year he would have been especially excited since Tizita will be here celebrating with us. The 4th is another one of those holidays that is more exciting with a child around.

3. I can't help but think how disappointed my dad would be with the direction our country is going right now. He knew that when you take Christ out of our country you are going to hell in a handbasket.

So that is what I thought about at his graveside. I then proceeded on to visit numerous friends taking a few moments to just remember some happy times with them. Then it was on to my grandparents (both sets) graves. I had my ipod on during this walk and "I hope you dance" was playing at this time. I had to smile and say to myself, "Yep, all these people were not afraid to dance and live life to the fullest." And now they are dancing in the happiest place ever!

I did not spend my whole walk in the cemetery, it was actually just a small part of the whole walk. I also was inspired by Jimmy Buffet, Rod Stewart, Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, and others as they joined me for this walk. Everything just looks a little better when you have these singers along.
The last song that I ended the walk on was "Bridge over Troubled Waters" which brings me way back to the age 17, chicken pox, and a High School Sweetheart. Oh, the memories...

Great minds think alike and other tidbits

John and I celebrated our 33rd anniversary on June 12. We spent the day driving on our way to St. George Island. We didn't' do anything particularly special, didn't go out for a nice dinner, or buy each other nice gifts after all 33 years is not a milestone year by any means. We did buy each other a card and as you can see in the picture, we each picked out the same card for one another. Now if that doesn't prove that great minds think alike, I don't know what does!
Over the years we have done some pretty cool things to celebrate anniversaries. We have flown to NYC for the day, spent a week in Hawaii, spent the night in a pink convertible, slept in a jungle theme room, toured Lambeau field, toured house on the rock, spent a few anniversaries in Door County, spent time in beach houses, gone out to nice dinners, and taken long bike rides. I guess we always feel that when our anniversary rolls around we need to celebrate it in some way sometimes big and sometimes small, but a celebration none the less. After all in this crazy world staying together is something to celebrate! Congratulations to all my readers who, like us, have stayed together during the good, the bad, and the ugly!

On a different note, I got to spend this morning with Lynne and her grandkids. It has been a long school year and I am glad that we get to have our weekly get togethers again. We walked to the park, but the heat (high 90's) drove us home. The boys rode around in the little cars while Lynne and I chatted in the shade. Meghan played in the house with Grandma Marge. Next week Meghan is helping me plan a pool party. I look forward to Tizita joining us for some of these fun Wednesday mornings! This is one of my favorite parts of summer.

Speaking of Tizita, she and her mama and papa should be leaving Cleveland today. (Cleveland, armpit of the US or as Sigmund Snopek said, "thank God, this isn't Cleveland!") and heading to the Chicago area on their last leg of a long journey home. I figure she probably feels they have left their home in Oshkosh and will from now on sleep in tents or motels and spend the remainder of the time in her car seat. I think she will be happy to get back to her big house in Oshkosh tomorrow!

And on one last note, I am heading up to my Aunt and Uncle's house shortly to help them pack up for their move to Sussex. They are both 90 and unable to live on their own so far from their son and daughter in law so they will be relocating to the same apartment complex that Bob and Pat live in. It has been a long process of packing, throwing, sorting, etc. They have lived in their home for all of their 70 years of marriage and they have accumulated much. To some it might seem like junk but each piece holds memories of days gone by. It must be hard for them to watch so much being thrown out, little bits of their lives just pitched in the garbage or given to Goodwill, but that is how life works. As I work on my scrapbooks, part of me wonders why I put so much into them because someday I am sure someone will just pitch them out... Life seems so unfair at times but that is how it goes, I guess.

Take me back to the Island

We arrived home safe and sound earlier this afternoon. We cannot say the same about our car which came home not feeling so good. We knew our Taurus wagon was a bit sluggish upon arriving at the Island, but we figured a week of relaxation would benefit the car, too. We left the Island at 5:30 Eastern time and made excellent time all the way through Alabama and Tennessee. It was in Kentucky that I kept eyeing the heat meter which kept creeping closer and closer to H. I knew that wasn't a good sign, but didn't really want to mention it to John. As we crossed the Kentucky, Illinois border we pulled into the Welcome station at 4:00 Central time. The car proceeded to die just as we pulled into a parking spot. Not a good situation! The attendant at the rest area helped us by calling a mechanic and finding us motel rooms. Well, the last place that I wanted to spend the night was in Metropolis, IL even if Superman lived there! This first plan is not going to work for us. If it were just John and I we could call it all a big adventure, but with my mom and my niece in tow we had to press on. John went out and tried the car again and it started. We waited for the mechanic and he told us to drive a bit slower and it should get us home. We were off. We drove four and a half more hours to Bloomington because we knew that Alissa and Nathan were there for the weekend and between them and Nathan's dad we would be taken care of. It was a nerve wracking drive just going on a wing and a prayer. Niether John nor I have ever badmouthed our car and we didn't begin with this episode. Between prayers, we stroked her and talked to her. She did not let us down, we made it. Checked into a motel at 9:00 had pizza and beer and slept.
Today we left our motel at 8:00 and drove the remaining three and a half hours home without any problems. We were a bit on edge and were very relieved when we pulled into our driveway. Our car will go in for repair work tomorrow. I am so glad she is going to our usual mechanic.
It will be her last trip to SGI, but we are ready to go back.
The end of vacations are always bittersweet for me. As I was unpacking I was remembering how I took such care in packing up all the things we would need or want to make our beach home a comfortable place for us. It was sad to pack it all away. One of my favorite things about the Island is that I can wear anything that I want. I can walk the beach in my swimsuit without a cover up on with a baseball cap on my windblown hair. I can go shopping in my coverup if I want to. I can go all day without worrying about make up or hair products. It is such freedom for me. I have often made the mistake of buying some cute beachware that I wear down there and then never touch again up here. This time I bought a hooded sweatshirt that I know I will wear.
I miss my little Tizita after spending a week with her. John and I had so much fun with her and we are having Tizita withdrawal as well as SGI withdrawal.
I miss you St. George, but we will be back just not in our Taurus!

Do you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean?

This is our last day on the Island. As it is with last days, we are trying to fit in all of our favorite actvities and are wishing this day could move in super slow motion. John and I began our day as we begin every day here with a nice long walk on the beach. One of the best parts of SGI is that you can walk the entire beach (at least 12 miles worth) Each day the beach looks diferent so we never get bored with our walks. We like to add a little bit on each day. We are up to five miles now.
Mallory visited an estuary today with Paul, Courtney, and Tizu and saw some critters up close and personal there. John is smoking a cigar and having a beer out on our front porch right now. Life is so simple here on the island. And yes, we do still feel small when we stand beside the ocean...
Here are a few last pictures as we close our week here:As we leave this beautiful Island we leave nothing behind except our footprints in the sand...

Our night with Tizu on SGI

We played on the beach and talked about turtle nests.

We enjoyed pink ice cream at Aunt Ebby's Ice Cream Shop.

We played in our pool

Climbing high with Mal.

We hung around and had fun at the park on SGI
Checking out the view from our roof.


Helping Grandpa fly the kite.
We flew the George kite on the roof. George is much bigget than Tizu.
Tizu likes to sleep just like her mama did with her bum in the air.
And here she is just waking up in the morning after a great night of sleep.

Just some photos to enjoy

Fun in the pool. Tizu is such a fish just like her mama.

Beach time!

Reading with Grandpa after a long day in the water.

Mallory and Courtney baked and ATE all these cinnamon rolls!

Grandma helps Tizu work the remote.

John and I ready to hit the beach for one of our long morning walks.

Another sunny day on St. George

Up and ready for another repeat or our day yesterday. Beach walk, beach time, lunch, pool time, more beach time, a bit of shopping, pool, and on and on. Everyday is basically the same here on the Island, just the way we like it!
We did meet up with the Sterns and Paul's parents for dinner last night at our beloved Blue Parrot where the seafood is to die for and the yo yos are divine. A good time was had by all. The men enjoyed fine cigars after dinner and the women and children conversed and played. Everyone from little 2 year old Tizu to 80 year old Marge and all in between find their place to fit in here on the Island. It is truly a spot for all ages to enjoy.
No photos today just facts and thoughts.
Off for a beach walk...

Greetings from St. George Island

Yep, we arrived. During our long drive yesterday, which by the way, seemed endless, we all secretly wondered what we were doing in a car driving so long, but when we took our first walk to the beach and beheld its wonder we all knew why we make this long drive!!!!
Tizu experienced her first walk on the beach and swim in the gulf and she loved it! She is part fish just like her mama.
We had our own version of the Amazing Race. Team 1 (John, mom, and me) against team 2 (Paul, Courtney, Mal, and Tizu) They pulled out of Wendy's first and arrived at IGA ahead of us. We power shopped and were first in the car, but took the slower exit and ended up behind them. We do know a short cut to the bridge though and arrived on the island first. Mal tried to tell them about the short cut, but they didn't believe her. John came out of the rental place with our key and we were off. Paul detoured to sample some chowder in the rental place so we unpacked and were first to the beach! Team 1 is declared the winner! I am off to the beach on a long walk with John and Mal.

Cullman, Alabame, our first stop on our trek to SGI

I am coming to you from "our" Days Inn in Cullman, Alabama. The routine is always the same for this stop on our journey to SGI. We stop at the Alabama welcome center with the big rocket display and pick up a coupon book. We clip the coupon for the Days Inn in Cullman where we can still stay for $45.00 with a free hot breakfast inculuded. It is too sweet of a deal to pass up. What will we ever do if that coupon is not in the book, I can't say...
Anyway we had an uneventful trip down for the first 11 hours. We played a lot of games and had the usual amount of laughs. I read the journals to a rather captive audience. We opted for the long route through Illinois rather than going into Indiana. It isn't actually any longer just seems longer with that state of Illinois being so long, but let the record show that there are parts of Illinois that are very hilly and beautiful.
We met up with Courtney, Paul, and Tizita at the above mentioned rest area. Tizu entertained us and then we all took off for "our" Days Inn. I tend to take ownership of some of these familiar places on this journey. Upon arriving, John and my room had faulty air conditioning so we had to switch rooms. John, Paul, and Tizu hit the pool, the ladies had beers (not Mal, she had green tea) and we all enjoyed pizza and breadsticks.
Today we will all eat our hot breakfast together and then head off to St. George Island which is about a six hour drive yet! As I write this it is thundering and pouring out there, but hopefully that will move out of here before we leave!
My next post will be from SGI!

Sorry no photos, no time to load them right now.

Water Balloons

Mallory helped me fill about 200 water balloons today that I will be using at St. John's Day Care tomorrow. What started out as just a tedious job turned into a fun activity for Mal and I. We used the handy double spout for the hose that has a button so we can turn it on and off after each filling. It made our job very easy, Thanks John for that handy nozzle! We never had to leave the comfort of our lawnchairs while doing the balloon filling. After filling the balloons we felt it was only our due reward to use the balloons for some fun of our own. As usual, Mal and I just made up a golf type game and had contests with some of the balloons. I know the balloons will work well tomorrow and the kids will have loads of fun.
Thanks, Mal for all the help and the good laughs, too.
We leave on Friday for St. George Island, Florida. This will be my last post from here. I will post from the Island. Mallory and my mom are joining John and I for the road trip down there so it will be another fun drive. Watch for posts from sunny SGI!

Trip Journals

On every vacation that our family has ever taken beginning with John and my trip to Hawaii in 1986, I have kept a journal. Pictured above are my journals, each one is filled with memories of our vacations. The journals have captured the historic data, the motels, the restaurants, favorite routes, helpful hints for the next journey, gas prices, personal memories, quotes by the travelers, and lots of funny events.
On each trip I drag all the journals along and reread all our adventures. Usually the girls would zone out except for a few of their favorite stories like the ever famous Burger King Whopper story (a family favorite) or the rancid turkey sandwich story or all the stories about Courtney on her 40% of the backseat and Alissa on her 60% or the runner man story. Just typing these things makes me laugh and remember such good times. John listens intently because it keeps him awake, I think.
The journals cover 14 trips to St. George Island, Florida, (all driving), Courtney and Pauls wedding trip to St. George, one trip to Cape San Blas, Florida, one trip to Emerald Island, NC, one trip to Wrightsville Beach, NC, one trip to Greenville, Mississippi, one trip to hell aka Gulf Shores, Alabama, two trips to Disneyworld, a trip out west to SD, Colorado, and Wyoming, one trip to Washington DC, and various smaller trips to cottages up north. Oops, almost forgot the biggest adventure of all, a trip to the Riveria Maya for our 30th anniversary with C, P, A, and N. (Soup or salad?)

I have four journals so far, almost ready for a fifth one, maybe after this trip. The first journal was a gift from my best friend, Connie for my 30th birthday in 1983. It has a very special inscription in it from Connie. It covers our trips to Hawaii, two to Disneyworld, Washington D.C., Virginia Beach, and out west.
The second journal, the Noah's ark one came from a student of mine. It includes three trips to St. George, a trip to hell and back (Gulf Shores), and a trip to NC.
The third journal came from my other best friend, Lynne. It has the pretty beach scene on it and is also inscriped with a sweet message from Lynne. It covers four more trips to St. George Island, a trip to NC, and a small trip to the Mall of America.
And the newest journal is from my niece Mallory given to me on my 52 birthday. It is the one with the pretty flowers on it. She also wrote a note in the journal to me. This one covers a trip to Cape San Blas, Florida (almost forgot about this trip) we had to go to Cape San Blas after a hurricane closed St. George down at the last minute, six more trips to St. George, our Mexico Adventure, and a bike trip to Red Wing, MN
By the way, Mallory will be driving down with us to St. George on this trip so she will be hearing the journals unless she has her i-pod cranked too loud!
I look forward to leaving for St. George on Friday. The journal reading will begin when the sun is up probably about two hours into the trip so somewhere near Rochelle, IL
Too bad Alissa and Courtney are not in the car with us this trip because I know how much they enjoy the journal reading and how they will miss it, especially Alissa!

A shout out to my friend Verna

Verna and I met when we took Alissa to college for the first time. My nerves were on edge worrying about many things that lay ahead for my youngest daughter as we left her at her college of choice. One of my most immediate concerns was about her roommate and how they would get along. Well, long story short, Kim was heaven picked for Alissa. From the moment I laid eyes on her I knew Alissa would be alright. Kim would see to it! I was right, Kim and Alissa became fast friends and are still as close as they were in college. Now back to Verna. She is Kim's wonderful mom and I am grateful to her for the terrific daughter she raised and shared with our family. She has also shared her talents with our family through things she has made:This was her wedding gift to Alissa and Nathan. What a beautiful quilt all handmade by Verna with lots of love! I took this picture this past weekend of the quilt on Alissa and Nathan's bed.And this is Tizu with the dolls that Verna lovingly made for her. She even used the perfect shade of brown yarn to match Tizu's beautiful skin! We played with the dolls when we were together this past weekend.

Verna also made Tizu a cute Dora quilt and pillow which she uses in her bed. I forgot to take a photo of it, but I will say that Dora is one of her favorite characters along with Elmo, so good choice Verna.
I just wanted to take this chance to send out a sincere Thank you to Verna for her gifts to this family. They are much appreciated and enjoyed.

An early Father's Day Gift

We have just had a super few days biking, celebrating an early Father's Day with the Hunters, and visiting our sweet little Tizita. So many fun things in one weekend. It doesn't get any better than this!
We began our adventures on Friday, which by the way was a beautiful day for biking, sunny, mid seventies, light breezes... We were planning on riding the Oak leaf trail from Wauwatosa to Dretzca Park about 20 miles round trip, but the bike trail was closed for repairs so we ended up on a few park ways and city streets which was fine.

We stopped for a snack at Macdonald's and enjoyed a tasty outdoor lunch at Piccola's in downtown Wauwatosa.


. After lunch we rode our bikes again for about 5 more miles, did some shopping at Target and Kohl's and then headed over to Alissa and Nathan's to get ready for our night out with them.

We had dinner at Transfer Pizza which they tell us is in a bad area of Milwaukee. Alissa says we could not sit outside since we might be hit in a drive by. Needless to say, we ate inside for safety. It was really a very nice, friendly place and the pizza was very yummy. Alissa and Nathan have a gift for finding the best pizza places around.


After beer, gin martinis, and our pizza we went to watch the Milwaukee Iron in their arena football game. We were four of about three thousand fans in the Bradley Center which seats 18,000, so it was a bit on the empty side, but it was still a fun experience and we had lots of leg room. The actual football game is really such a small part of the festivities. Every few minutes they bring out a cannon and shoot t-shirts out into the crowd, the medical cart circles the field with the dancers on it, and contests happen throughout the game down on the floor. It is definitely a sport for those of us who get bored at traditional football, baseball, and basketball games because there is just too much of the sport being played. The beer was a bit flat, but the huge popcorn more than made up for that. Nathan was able to get a few $1.00 beers since they were so nasty tasting. We saw some very interesting people sitting around us and I had fun talking about their life stories. It was good people watching for sure, too.


After the game, we took a taxi to Derry's bar (sp) where Alissa and Nathan are treated like family. We enjoyed hot cashews and beers and great conversation. No deep fried snickers this time. Incidentally, the taxi ride was fine this time. The driver knew where he was going. Nathan does tend to share a bit too much info with a cab driver, but he is just that kind of friendly guy.
We walked from the bar back to Alissa and Nathan's for the night.

This evening treat was an early Father's Day gift for John since we will be in Florida on the actual Father's Day. Thank you to Alissa and Nathan for treating us to everything! A great time was had by all!
On Saturday we slept in at the Hunter B and B before heading up to Oshkosh to spend time with Tizita. She was her usual charming self offering us lots of laughs and loving. Courtney, Paul, and Tizita leave for Florida on Tuesday already. We will meet up with them in Cullman, Alabama next Friday night to finish the last leg to Florida together.


Have a great Sunday, everyone. I am having some trouble loading my pictures, so I will do that when I am able.