26 miles on the Bugline

Yesterday, Saturday, John and I took the 26 mile ride on the Bugline from Merton to Menomonee Falls. It was a picture perfect day for biking with a bit of a cool breeze and sunny skies. Here I am at the trailhead in Merton ready to start the journey. We always stop at this park to use the bathroom.

We had forgotten our water bottles, so we made a stop at a gas station to purchase some water.

We made it to the other end of the trail! Now we just had to ride back.

There were some puddles and wet areas in the wooded portion of the trail and when I drove through the puddles they sprayed up on to my shirt. It reminded me of the day we did the Military Ridge trail last year and we were covered in the gritty stuff. So bad that I had to shower off in a bathroom in Mount Horeb. Luckily, this was nothing near as bad as that!

On our way back, we treated ourselves to a yogurt parfait and ice water at McDonald's. Those parfaits are so yummy.

My friend, Angie gave me a bike bag filled with wipes, anti bacterial soap, band-aids, etc. She gifted me this when I posted about that Mount Horeb experience so that I would be more prepared in case of gritty, grimy conditions. So, after this ride, I used one of the wipes to clean up a bit. Thanks, Angie!

John and I are really hoping to do more biking this summer and we think we are off to a great start! Let's hope we can keep it up now.

Play Dates and Grandma and Tiz take over the Mall

Tizita, Courtney, and Paul spent the last three days with us here in Watertown. I invited a few of Tizita's Preschool friends over to play with her on Tuesday evening. Here she is with Sinai and Aquila, two very sweet twins. The three girls had lots of fun together. It reminded me of the play dates of long ago when I would have friends over to play with the girls. Sometimes the play times went very well and needed little or no adult intervention and then other times I felt like I needed to be directing activities the entire time. I am happy to report that this play date went well and needed little adult direction except for some bathroom issues. On Wednesday I invited Ava over to play to join with Meghan, Calvin, Jacob, and Tizita. We picked Ava up from St. John's Day Care. I chose Ava first because she really is a nice friend to Tizita, but also because she is a low maintenance kid. She plays well by herself or with others and doesn't require much adult intervention. We started out with a trip to the park and despite a few raindrops and some wierd weather everyone had a nice time. We had a picnic lunch at the park and then headed up to our house where we played with playdough and set up a playdough sweets shop run by Meghan. After an hour of playdough play, we enjoyed a snack and called it a day, a very fun, successful day.

The twins and Meghan left for swimming lessons while Ava and Tiz took the Escalade out for a spin. This is the first time that Tizita has been able to share her car with another child, otherwise I have had to ride in it with her. It was so cute to watch the two of them driving down the street. One slight mishap when Ava almost ran Tiz over, but other than that, it was a fine first cooperative driving experience.

That evening Gigi shared a book with Tizita that her daddy had given her when she was a little girl. I remember hearing that book often when I was little, too. It is a very special book since my mom's (Gigi's) dad died when she was only ten years old and this is one of the things she remembers him giving her.

On Thursday, Courtney and Paul had to have their fingerprints done for a second adoption. They have to have it done every year since you know, they change those prints so often. This is time for anyone who has biological children with little problem to say a prayer of Thanks to God for that gift. Adoption policies are complicated, expensive, and downright ridiculous
at times, but the end result is so worth the hassles.

Anyway, Tiz and I went along. First, we stopped to visit Mamaw and Pops at the nursing home where Pops lives. It was a nice visit even if it was a bit short. Mamaw had lots of treats for Tizita.

After that Courtney and Paul dropped Tiz and I off at Brookfield Square. We couldn't decide if we should spend our time together at Chuck E Cheese or a Children's Musuem. It was quite a decision. I kept vacillating between the two, not really comfortable with either choice until Tizita asked about a mall, so a mall it was. I am certainly at home in a mall, so I knew that was a good choice and boy, did we ever have a great time together.

There were so many choices of gumballs, candy, and trinkets at every turn, luckily I had lots of quarters.

Finding the little riding toys was like a little piece of heaven. We rode several of them over and over again. We also had our photos taken in one of those little photo booths. That was lots of fun, too.

Tiz enjoyed dancing on the light up moving floor.

Lunch time already and we haven't even been in a store. Who needs Chuck E Cheese when you have a mall? We took our self portrait here during our Subway lunch.

Finally, a store, the bookstore. We rode the escalators a few times up and down, then Tiz read me a few books. Before we knew it, it was time to meet mama and papa and go home.

The best part of when Tiz told me, "Grandma, that was the greatest time ever!" Such words warm a grandma's heart.

Today Tiz and her mama and papa took of for a few days in Iowa with Paul's family. I will miss her around here, but she will be back for the 4th!

Just a few last St. George Notes

One last post about our vacation on St. George Island. These are just a few of the special things that I wanted to document so I could remember them in years to come. This is our pool. We shared it with seven other houses which would mean that 48 people could conceivably be in that pool at one time. John and I only use the pool for washing off the sand when we come up from the beach. (A big No No, but it is not our pool, so...) Anyway we made some new friends around this pool. Piper and her family for one and the Bob Getzen family. The one bad part about this pool was that one day, a "neighbor" of ours said that there had been a snake crawling around the inside of the fence. Now, I did not witness said snake, but the whole idea of a snake being this close to my residence was not a good thought. I have a snake phobia and I preferred to believe that "our Island" was snakeless!

We took our bikes all the way to Florida on the back of our trusty Taurus, which by the way has made all 13 trips to the Island. Whenever we take our bikes along on a trip we hope that we use them enough to warrant the extra time and gas to take them along. Well, I am happy to report that we did indeed ride our bikes often on this trip. On this particular ride, our first, we rode 16 miles and I barely made it home due to being so hot!

This is a new water/jump house area on the Island. It is rather disheartening to see our Island turning little by little into a more commercial resorty area, but the good news is that we never saw even one person using the play area. Who needs this when the Gulf is right there?

We were fortunate enough to be on the Island during a full moon. It is at times like this that I wish I knew how to take better photos because I just could not capture the beautiful moonlight. I tried with the flash on different settings, but this is the best I could do.

This was our second day of biking. We rode over to Connie and Paul's on the plantation which is the guarded area of the Island. Their house was very near the guard house, so it was only about a 5 mile ride and an easy one at that. After visiting with them we decided to ride further into the plantation to explore a bit. Of course, as always happens with me on bike rides, going in was easy, but coming out was long and hot again. That day we again rode 16 miles and most of it during the heat of the day, but we did survive to tell about it.

I always pick up shells on the Island, always many more than I need. I have boxes full of them from previous trips and even though I always say, "I am not going to pick up shells this time," I always pick them up. Here are a few of the more unusual ones I found this time. Note to self: Next time, no shelling.

This is an area at the very west end of the Plantation called Bob Sikes Cut. It is actually a channel that someone (I am assuming Bob Sikes) cut in the Island connecting the Bay with the Gulf. Our friends, the Dobbratz's love this area so John and I had to check it out. We, personally did not see what the big attraction is, but...

This was taken at St. George Island State Park which is at the East end of the Island. John and I think this is one of the most beautiful places on earth. All you can see for miles is our chairs just waiting for us. We spotted our first dolphins from here, too. This area was hard hit by the hurricane in 2005. Most of the park was closed due to all the sand that blew over the roads, but with time, the dunes are back and the park is once again open and beautiful.

This friendly bird was eyeing up our cooler. He probably would not have wanted the Diet Cokes that were in there!

These are the two singers that entertained us at Eddy Teach's Raw Bar after our dinner at the Oyster Cove. Usually John and I do not partake in the night life. We usually like to be in our home by dark, but this night was different and a lot of fun. We enjoyed a few Miller Lites and this couple's music into the wee hours of the night. I actually do not think there ever was much night life on the Island, that too, seems to be on the increase.

This is the deck in back of the Oyster Cove where Courtney and Paul had their wedding reception. The stage was not there at the time, Gretchen's band played right on the deck. There were little white tables and chairs with daisies for everyone to sit at while enjoying the great food, drinks, and music. It was a great party indeed!

This is me with one leg on the plantation beach and one leg on our beach. Even though there is a guard gate, one can still walk right into the plantation on the beach. As far as we could see, there was no difference in the beaches at all, imagine that...

As we were driving home near Troy, Alabama at dusk, we saw the most beautiful sun and sunset ever. The sun was a huge round orange ball, but again, my lack of skill as a photographer was evident. We see some awesome sunsets right out our back window here in Watertown, but I have never seen anything like this before.

On our last day on the Island, we had lunch at what used to be That place on 98, but is now Captain Snook's. We noticed these baggies filled with water and a penny hanging on the ceiling. We found out that they are there to scare the sea gulls away. John and I could not figure out why that would scare them, but maybe because it looks like some kind of animal. There is always something to learn on the Island.

One of John's favorite movies is, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." If you have ever watched the movie, you will remember that they are all searching for a treasure buried under the "W." Well, we found this "W" on our first visit to the Island and we always take a picture of it. We have never tried to dig under it for treasure, however.

So, there you have it, the last of my Island posts for this trip. Tiz will be arriving in a bit to spend sometime here, so I will post about that next time.

Take me back to the Island

Sea Wolf, see note below.

We aren't even home from our vacation yet and I am already searching through the rental books to try and find our next home on the beach. John and I always enjoy driving around the Island (this time on our bikes) and checking out all of our former "homes." To document these houses, I am posting them here. This was our first house, Angel Share. We lived there in July 1997 on our first trip to the Island. We had originally wanted to rent Sea Urchin, but at the last minute that home changed owners and the realty company gave us Angel Share. It was a great fun home for the four of us.

On our second trip in July 1998 we rented Abode to Knight Lights. It was a beautiful home. In recent years a big, tall house has been built in front of it and it is no longer beach front, but now beachside.

Our third home in August 1999 Sea Wolf. (Picture was accidentally deleted but I wil post at the top) My mom joined us for this trip and she, too fell in love with the Island.

In February, 2002, we took our first trip to the Island in Winter and stayed in Take Five. It was cool, but still a fun trip. That was just John and I celebrating our 25 anniversary.

In August 2002, John and I rented this cute little pink house called Wild Dunes. That was another fun trip.

In May 2003, Courtney, Paul, John and I rented Seaplace 5. I believe that is when talk of an engagement and wedding took place.

In May of 2004 our family and many friends came to the Island for Courtney and Paul's wedding which took place at Cloud Nine.

In Dec. 2004, John and I spent New's Year's Eve on the Island at Seaplace 8-sorry no picture, but it looks just like Seaplace 5. It was too cold down there in December and I don't think we would return at that time of the year again.

In July 2005, we were supposed to rent American Pie (no picture) Mallory, Pam, Alissa, Nathan, and my mom were joining us, but Hurricane Dennis had other plans for the Island and for our vacation. I had one week to find us another place due to the bridge being closed, so I found a beautiful home on Cape San Blas. We did not like it as much as the Island, but it was sitll a fun vacation despite many mosquitoes and frogs.

In April 2006 we stayed for four days and nights at the Buccaneer Inn. Not as fancy as a home, but still very nice.

In June 2007 we stayed at Margaritaville with my mom, Mallory, Courtney, and Paul and then again in June 2009 we celebrated Courtney and Paul's 5th anniversary in Margaritaville with mom, Mal, and us. Courtney, Paul, and Tizita were in a house behind ours and Paul's family was just up the beach. It was a fun celebration.

And finally this time, we stayed at Seaplace 7. It was a perfect place for John and I since we liked being so close to everything. We walked or rode our bikes all over the Island.

So, I am busy marking my favorite homes in the rental books for our next trip to St. George. It cannot come soon enough for me.

Keeping up with the Joneses, oops, the Dobbratzs

Connie is my best friend from High School. We actually went to Kindergarten together, but we went our separate ways after that, me to the Lutheran school and Connie to the Catholic school and we didn't reconnect until the first day of ninth grade in a study hall.
John and I have always played a bit of "keep up with the Dobbratzs' game over the years. They got a Gremlin, we got a Gremlin, they got a waterbed, we got a waterbed. They went to D.C., we went to D.C., they got hermit crabs, we got hermit crabs, and the list goes on and on. It is not that they are such big trendsetters, but we just always enjoyed their things so much and we wanted our own.
The same thing happened with St. George Island, Florida. They told us about it and a few years later we vacationed there for the first time. We loved it and as usual, the Dobbratz family did not steer us wrong.
Even with all our trips to the Island, we have never been able to come down at the same time they came down due to schedules and school breaks until this trip. When I booked our trip way back in January, I had no idea that Connie was booking their trip for that same week. Finally, we would get to spend time on our beloved Island together.
We met Connie, Paul, Sarah, Chad, Aidan, Ava, and Nathan at our favorite eatery, the Blue Parrot. We toasted our friendship and our Island. It was indeed a good night. Sorry the picture is so dark, but you get the idea, I hope.

This is not a flattering picture of us at all, but I still wanted it up here. The wind was blowing, we were walking the beach after dinner, and the moon was full and reflecting off the sea. It was a beautiful night.

So, thanks, Connie, for Gremlins, Hermit Crabs, and St. George!

A Typical Day on the Island

As you know, John and I are vacationing on St. George Island, Florida. Everyday starts out the same here on the Island. We wake up to this beautiful view. Somedays the waves are big and the beach has a wall of sand packed up by the crashing waves and some days the waves are small and the beach is long and flat. But no matter how the beach looks, we start the day the same way. John carries our chairs down to the beach so they will be ready for us after our morning walk. We also take a cooler with our two Diet Cokes in it.

After we walk the beach for about an hour, we sit in our chairs and take it all in and yes, we still fell small when we sit beside the ocean.

We enjoy our Diet Cokes.

And then we take a dip in the sea. Today the sand bar was close enough to get to easily. It seemed like we were way out in the sea and the water was only up to our knees. Somedays the sand bar is way farther out and difficult to get to without swimming quite a distance. I used my little green inner tube today, too and that was fun since the waves were big. I did have some difficulty getting out of the tube after riding it to the shore. The waves kept crashing and I just wasn't sure how to stand up gracefully. Finally figured it out and was able to get up. Good times.

Then we head up to our pool and rinse off the sand. You are technically not supposed to do that in the pool, but we do it anyway. The pool water is always so warm. We don't spend lots of time in there, but it feels so good. After that we dry off on our breezy top deck. After that it is lunch time.

And that is how we spend a typical morning here on the Island. The afternoon includes more of the same with a bit of shopping, jigging, and reading thrown in. Dinner is usually followed y one more trip to our chairs to sit by the sea and then it starts all over again.