Minoqua/Mercer - Back to school Adventure with the Grils

When Tizita was going into Preschool, John and I (mostly my idea, I suppose) decided to take her on a fun end of the summer, beginning of school outing.

Before Preschool, we took her to Build a Bear, mini golfing and Monkey Joe's

Before Kindergarten, it was a trip to Little Americka

Before first grade, we went to Circus World Museum and rode the ferry

Before second grade we took Tiz to the Dells where we rode the Ducks, mined for gems, and wne to Tommy Bartlett's.
Third grade took us to Chicago via the train.  We went up to the Sears tower and enjoyed other Chicago sites.
Last year before fourth grade we took Tiz to the Mall of Amreica for some serious shopping.

We started taking Soliana places to celebrate her end of summer, too.
Before Preschool, I don't think we took her anywhere special or at least I cannot find any documentation of it and my memory is failing me here.
Last year, before Kindergarten we took her to Mayfair mall for some shopping and then to a motel  in Hartford to swim and spend the night with us.

All these trips have been so much fun and I hope they will be remembered by the girls for a long time.

This year I debated taking both of them to the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter near Cinncinati ut they had spent so much time traveling in a car this summer that I thought better of that idea.
Instead of the museums, we took them to Minoqua for a long weekend.
The hotel we stayed at was so awesome.
We had a suite and the pool and hot tub were fantastic.
We started our trip in Mercer with a stop at the loon and the infamous Wampam Shop.  We also got a tour of the little ,museum from a very nice old man who volunteered there.

After our Mercer adventure, we checked into our hotel.
The girls swam for over an hour and had the pool all to themselves.
They both love to swim and pretend to be mermaids.
We ordered pizza for dinner and watched TV

On Friday, we began our day with breakfast at Paul Bunyan's.
It was so yummy, we were stuffed after it.
We headed to the Wildwood Nature center to have fun with the animals.
It was a great, fun time.
Soli and Tiz both loved the bunnies so much.
We also fed the bears some soda, fed giraffes, fed deer, and went in the parakeet house, although Soliana did not like it in with all those birds.
We ended our day with a great dinner at the Islander Restaurant and watching the ski show.

On Saturday we shopped in downtown Minoqua and then took the ferry at Merrimac.
Today we went to church and then to the pot luck for the new teachers.

It was a great way to end the summer for me and the girls!
School, bring it on!

Bookworm Gardens and the Shalom Wildlife Center with the Grils

On Wednesday, I watched little Harmony for Louisa so she could spend the day with her big kids.

Tiz begged Courtney to bring  them out so she could help watch Harmony.

It was a great afternoon full of fun Harmony moments.

Tiz did a great job of watching her.

Soli decided she wanted to stay overnight here since I was planning on going in with John on Thursday anyway.

We had to get up early on Thursday so we could get on the road in time for John to get to work.

Soli had a fun night with us and was ready to go at 6:15 in the AM

Courtney, the girls and I went back to school shopping when I go there.

We got all the girls' supplies and then bought some new outfits at Justice.

We ate lunch at Rocky's and treated ourselves to frozen yogurt.

Then we stopped at Brinkley's so that I could look for some clothes.

The girls were so good while I tried things on that I treated them to some pottery painting.

It was a great, fun day full of successful shopping.

Here are a few photos:

On Friday Courtney, the girls, and I headed to Bookworm Gardens in Sheboygan.

The last time we were there, in 2015, it rained on our parade and we couldn't see everything.

This time the weather was wonderful and we had a great time.

After Bookworm Gardens, we ate lunch at Wendy's and went on to the Shalom Wildlife Center for a adventure there.

We had a great time at the Wildlife Center especially with the golf cart that we rented.  The girls loved driving the golf cart around the center.

There were lots of fun animals to feed and lots of information about native americans and their beliefs.

We enjoyed some ice cream on the way back to Oshkosh to end our fun filled day.

John and Paul did join us for some Mexican before John and I headed home.

We went to Kohl's on Saturday to do some back to school shopping for me.  It was a very successful trip indeed.

Today we took a bike ride.  It was only 13 miles around town but it felt like 200 miles.  We are slightly out of shape, I would say!

Another good weekend.  So excited because this Thursday we take the girls on their back to school outing to Minoqua!

Riverfest 2017

Courtney and family left for God forsaken Montana last Sunday.

They are due back around 11:00 tonight.

It's been a long week without being able to contact them due to the fact that there is no electricity or cell service at that cabin in Montana.

Courtney was not happy to be going, she really dislikes the wilderness, but they had to go to bury Paul's dad's ashes.

Why they had to go for 7 days is beyond me, seems two or three would have sufficed, but it wasn't up to me.

At any rate, hopefully they will be home safe and sound very soon.

I kept myself busy with pool dates with the Budreau kids, getting my room ready for a new school year, and taking walks with Lynne.

On Friday I went to Oshkosh with John and organized their house for them.

Riverfest is just winding down.

On Friday we watched the fireworks from our backyard.

Roy, Jody and Dan, Pam Wilke, and the Budreaus all came up to watch them with us.

It was a fun night.

On Saturday Johna nd I took a long walk and then went to the park to hear a journey band.

We took care of little Harmony for a while down there.

We went out with Tim and Louisa on Saturday night.

We had dinner at El Mariachi and then chatted over beer at Bismarks.

It was a great, fun night.

I don't know why we get along so well with them but we do and I love it.

Today Kaliyah and Treyton came and sat with us in church.

After church we went back tot he park with mom, Roy, Jody, and Dan and enjoyed the Del Rays and the Lovin' Spoonful.

Tonight we are relaxing because tomorrow I have registration.

Time for bed.

Our First FAmily Packer Day is in the Books

Well, another weekend is coming to an end.

These summer weekends are so much fun and the end is in sight.

On Friday night, John and I went to the Island Bar and Grill near Fort Atkinson to hear Pat McCurdy.

We really enjoyed this great bar that is located right on the banks of the Rock River.

I had a blue gill fish fry that was so  yummy.

We enjoyed the show very much because Pat McCurdy does not disappoint.

It was a fun way to start the weekend.

On Saturday we headed up to Oshkosh to take the girls to our first ever Packer Family Day.

We drove up with Courtney and Paul who had to work the game to earn money for Tizita's cheer costs.

We did not know what to expect from this experience.

Some parts of it, we absolutely loved.

Some parts of it, not so much.

The lines were long for all the activities, so we would not do that part again next year.

The food was very expensive.  ($53.00 for two burgers, a hot dog, 2 cookies and three sodas)  So next year we will bring our own food and tailgate.

We went in through the wrong gate so our wait was very long.

Once we were in the stadium itself, we walked around the whole stadium before finding the place to ride the escalators up to our seats.

There was a thunderstorm/lightning warning so everyone had to wait inside the stadium, so as we were walking around in a huge oval, we had to battle throngs of people.

Finally, we found the escalators and once we were up to the 600 level, it cleared out and we were finally able to relax in our seats.  The storm warning was over by the time we got up there.

The girls never once complained about any of it and I love the smiles in these photos!

So even long lines and expensive food could not take the joy out of seeing our granddaughters experience the magic of Lambeau Field for the first time.

Go Pack Go!