Celebrating Courtney and Paul's Birthdays and a few other fun things

It's been another fun filled, memory making weekend.

I offered to take the girls for the weekend so Courtney and Paul could celebrate their birthdays in a fun way.

This was purely selfish on my part, since I just really wanted to have the girls for a weekend.  They decided to travel to Iowa to visit Mike and Jen, win/win all the way around for sure.

They dropped the girls off on Friday about 3:00.

We went to a dance at St. John's that night.  It was so much fun.  At first Tiz wasn't too interested in getting out there and dancing, but with some encouragement, she found a friend in Julia Schauer and the rest is history.

Soliana, of course, found a bunch of friends right away and I didn't see her for the rest of the night.

Louisa and Tim Budreau, my favorite parents ever are fostering a little three month old baby girl, she just came to them on Wednesday and they brought her along to the dance.  Tiz enjoyed holding her for awhile before she got out on the dance floor.

She is the cutest baby and I am so excited for their family.  What a blessing for Harmony!

After the dance, we came home and watched some TV.

On Saturday we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum.  We usually try and go once a year with the girls.

It was a great day all the way around.

Here are a few photos:

After the museum, we stopped at the Dollar Tree so the girls could buy some cards and gifts for Courtney and Paul.

We came home and Tiz made Paul a mint chocolate lasagna cake while Soli made her mama a chocolate chip cookie dough cake.  Both of them were so proud to make the cakes.

We had PJ's subs for dinner and then watched movies for the rest of the night.

Today we went to church and then the girls decorated and planned a birthday party for their parents.

What fun they had doing that!

Courtney and Paul arrived from Iowa about 2:00.  We enjoyed Marge's scalloped potatoes and ham and the two birthday cakes.  We played games planned by the girls and opened gifts.

It was a great way to end our wonderful weekend.

Nest week it is circus time!

I will leave you with these beautiful sleeping babies.

Mid February with temps in the 60's!

The weather this weekend is gorgeous and so different than February weather should be.

But, we will take it and hope it is here to stay.

On Saturday, John and I decided to use our zoo passes and get our exercise walking around the zool.

Well apparently every other person in SE Wisconsin had the same idea.

It was so crowded, but it was still a successful walk.

We put in 4 miles at the zoo and then headed to Frame Park and put in another 2.5.

After the walking, we rewarded ourselves with dinner and drinks at Bonefish Grill.

It was our first time there and we enjoyed it so much.

Great raspberry martini, wonderful, tasty fish, and a personal waiter named Jeremy.

It was pricey, but most great things are, right?

We will go back but not often due to the prices.

Today (Sunday) we will take a walk to the cemetery and put new things on the graves.

Nice, relaxing weekend for John and I.

Cheer, Beer, Girls, Sing, and Make up

It was another fun weekend.

On Friday, Alissa arrived for a sister/cousin/watch Tiz cheer weekend.

We had made plans to go out with Tim and Louisa Budreau months before the other plans fell into place, so Alissa joined us.  We had fish at Elias, so yummy, and then headed over to Ann's for a few beers.  I am not sure what the Budreaus like about hanging with us, but I love them and they are almost like a third daughter and son in law to us.

On Saturday AM, Mal, Lis and I were heading into Milwaukee to see Tiz in her cheer competition.

We were on a tight schedule.

Mal waas 20 minutes late to begin with and then we got stopped by a train and then we got stopped by a cop. (No ticket, just a warning and we were on our way again)  Two delays but we still made it in plenty of time to see Tiz cheer.

Her team did well.

After cheer,we had lunch at Picolo's Pizza in Wauwatosa.

Two water spills later, we were on our way back home.

The girls went out for the night.

John and I took Tiz and Soli to see Sing, a very cute movie.  We all liked it.

After the movie, we stopped at the dollar store to buy makeup for our fun activity.

We put make up on each other with one of us behind the other one using our arms to apply makeup to their face.  It was fun.  It is now on you tube if anyone wants to see it.

Bedtime, church today and then everyone left about one.

John and I just got back from a long walk.

Nice temps, but the wind is very strong today.  Almost blew us over a few times.

Now we are back in for the night.

Another great weekend!

Here are a few photos:

Ice Castles and Mt. Olympus = One Awesome Weekend!

We just got back from a wonderful night in the Dells.

We met Courtney, Paul, and the girls at the Ice Castles and toured them first.

What a fun experience!  

The girls loved all the caves that they were able to crawl through.

After the Ice Castles, we ate a late dinner at the Moose Jaw which is never a disappointment.

We were staying at Mt. Olympus for the first time.  I had heard mixed reviews on it, so was not sure what to expect, but the price was right.

With our stay at Mt. Olympus we received free admission to the Top Secret upside down house.  All of us have driven by that attraction many times, always rather intrigued with it.  Well, now we had our chance to see what was inside, for free!

Well, all I will say is that it was worth the price of admission.

We spent maybe 15 minutes in there and couldn't figure out what it was we just saw.

Craziness all around.

After that exciting tour of the Top Secret house, we checked into Mt. Olympus and enjoyed time in the indoor theme park, arcade, and the waterpark.  

I did quickly remember why we are not really waterpark people, but all in all, it was a good experience, especially in the lazy river.

 I am teaching the girls the fine art of Deal or No Deal here.

 Soliana won this big ball in a claw machine on her first try.  She was so proud.

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 Lazy River fun, our only photo from the waterpark.

After the waterpark, we enjoyed some down time in our room

We loved the accommodations, especially the bunk beds for the girls.

It was a pretty early night for all of us after a fun filled day.

On Sunday, we did more in the arcade and the theme park.

John ran into an old high school friend who he has not seen for 45 years, but thanks to FB they found each other here.

It really is a small world out there.

After we checked out, we headed downtown because you really can't do the Dells without a stop downtown.

We found ourselves in an old time photo place where the girls had their photo taken in 50's costumes.  It turned out so cute!  

Following a fun lunch at the Dells Distillery, we headed for home.

Super bowl is on tonight, don't really care who wins.

What a memory making weekend for us again!