A Week with Tizita, A weekend with friends, and a Happy Soliversary

Wow, it has been a fun week plus since I last posted,

so much to share.

First off, I had Tizita here for four days and nights.

We has a wonderful time.

We made scrubs and foot lotions, we made slime, we played games, we shopped and we had Sinai and Aquila over to swim and play.

We ended out time together with a day at Little Americka with Courtney and Soli.

I love spending alone time with both girls.

They are both so different and so fun in their own ways. 

Here are a few photos from those days:

On Friday, we went out to dinner with Karrie, Brent, Mary, Mark, Connie and Paul.  We are all old friends from High School along with our spouses.

It is always fun to get together with this group.

On Saturday we went to Rachel Fischer's wedding.
It was a fun, wonderful time.
We saw John and Ethel Schuman at the church and we also saw Marcia.  I have not seen Marcia since we were 12 years old.
We took them over to say hello to my mom.
It would be a very short visit before the reception, but they were all so happy to see one another.
I love seeing people who knew my dad back when.
I love the stories that people share about him with me.
It's so special to hear about him from the people who knew him back when and that is what I was ablt to do on Saturday with John, Ethel, and Marcia.




The rest of the wedding was just as much fun as seeing these old friends.
I love a wedding where we really feel welcomed and see so many people that we know.
It was a great day!

On Sunday, John and I drove to Oshkosh with a stop on the way at Horicon Marsh for a nice hike.
We celebrated Soliana's Soliversary on Sunday night.
On June 29, it will have been five years since we first met her and that deserves a big celebration.
We bought her legos, the girl loves her legos.
I made her two lego cakes and we did a lot of building.
It was a fun celebration.
We always sing a song to her (and to Tiz on her Tiziversary) that I make up.  While we were singing it, Soliana's face was just lit up.  She was so proud.
Here are some photos from the Soliversary celebration:

John went to work on Monday and I got to stay for the day and play some more.
Fun all the way around.
The next time I see the girls will be on Saturday on St. George Island.
I think it is going to be a great vacation!

Father's DAy Celebration

This year we celebrated Father's Day in Bloomington with Alissa and Nathan.

We took my mom along, too.

It was a great weekend filled with lots of beers, good food, and laughs.
Here are a few photos:

And, Of course, I cannot let Father's Day go by without remembering my dad.

He was a good dad!
We miss him.

And, then there is the dad of my girls.
I don't want to forget him today either.

He has been a great dad and now he gets to enjoy being a grandpa!

Looking forward to a visit from Tizita this week.
It is her turn to come and visit us for a few days.
Bring it!

Little Amerikka became Riverbend today!

It was too hot today (92) to go to Little Amerikka for Courtney and I so we headed to Riverbend instead.

What a great decision that was.

Riverbend holds many memories for us.

1.  It was Rubidell when I was in High School and we used to ride our bikes out there (12 miles at least and these were not speed bikes).  The pond was so mucky but we always had fun out there.

2.  Many years ago, when Riverbend was turning it into an RV park, John and I sat through a timeshare thing just to get the prize of an Atari gaming system.  How we loved Pitstop, Q bert, and Frogger.

3.  I went there about 15 years ago with the Mary Linsmeier kids a few times.  The pond was still a muck hole but they had built a nice pool which we all enjoyed.

and

4.  Courtney was a lifeguard there after her sophomore year.  She lasted about a month when the Watertown Aquatic Center offered her a job and she took that one.

So those are some of the things that I remember about Riverbend.

We started our day out in the pond which may still be as mucky on the one side, I did not put my feet down there to test it, but there is a nice sandy beach area on the one side and some cool inflatables out in deep part.

We ate our lunch and then headed to the pool.

What a nice pool.  I even went down one of the big slides!

We had a great time at Riverbend and I am sure we will be returning.

Here are a few photos:

After our swimming, we headed to the new Mullen's for treats.

it was a great day all around.

Now I had to say good bye to Soliana after four days and nights.  i am going to miss her around here, but next week it's Tizita's turn!  

Catching Up on a Summer that is flying by!

Last weekend we celebrated our 41 anniversary by going to the Fireside for their dinner theater.

The last we had been to the Fireside was 40 years ago on our first anniversary shortly before it became a dinner theater.

It was a fantastic show!

It was a look at the music and trivia from the 50's.

The music was great, the food was so yummy, and we enjoyed it all.

In fact, we were already planning a return at some future date.

On Sunday we had our church picnic, it was a beautiful day and we stayed for most of the activities.

Courtney, Paul and the girls joined us for some of the picnic and later we all went to the pool.  Each girl had connected with a new friend at the picnic.  Julia Schauer and Claire Zuelke joined the girls at the pool.  It is so fun to watch them making new friends.

Step back to Friday, June 10.  I almost forgot my visit with my good friend Terri Hubbard.  She drove down from Medford and we had the greatest visit.  It is like no time has passed w

whenever we are together.

So that was a great way to start a great weekend.

We actually did take a photo but I can't upload it right now, so just trust me that we both looked great!

Back to Sunday.

So after swimming, we cooked out and watched Julia Pasch's three girls for her.

It was a fun night.

Courtney, Paul, and Tiz left on Monday morning and I got to spend four glorious days with only Soliana.

It's Wednesday and we have only one more day together.

It has been so much fun.

On Monday we shopped at Walmart.  She wanted a nerf gun, handcuffs, and a bra and short shorts, so of course, I bought her those things.

In the afternoon we made fluffy slime and it turned out so good.

Soliana loves to follow the recipe (unlike her sister) and was an expert at making the slime after the first time doing it with me.

We took her to see Captain Underpants in the evening.

Silly movie with lots of potty words so she loved it.

TV watchng with grandpa and then some hand cuffs for grandma!

On Tuesday we went to the pool with Kaliyah and Treyton.

After the pool, they came over and planted their fairy gardens, made slime with Soliana, and played police with Soli's new gun and handcuffs.

It was pretty funny to listen to them talk as they played.

We took them home about 6:00 after a great, fun day.

Watched Soli's favorite netflix and called it a night at 10:30.

She goes to bed late, but she sleeps in late, too.

Great summer schedule for her.

I almost forgot to document the fact that Soliana is reading now, too.

She read to us each night before bed.

I love that she is on the fast track to reading, again, different track than her sister took!

Today we visited my classroom, fed the ducks, and had frozen yogurt at the gas station.

After that we played police again, Soli played Barbies with Gigi, and we built with legos.

It was a great, fun day again.

Grandpa will be bringing Little Ceasar's for dinner tonight and then I am sure there will be some more TV watching.

Tomorrow we head to Little America with Courtney and Tiz and then my fun filled days with Soli come to an end.

What a joy she is and how blessed I am to be her grandma.

I am also blessed that Courtney trusts me enough to let me keep her for four days and nights.

I will send her home a bit more sugared up and with a few more things and hopefully, with lots of memories!

Next week, I get to have Tizita for four days!  

More fun ahead!