Another Riverfest going down in the history books

Courtney, Paul, Tizita, and Soliana just left after a wonderful Riverfest weekend.

Paul had a gig in Iowa so he dropped the girls off on Friday and joined us again on Sunday.

On Friday afternoon, we took our friend Ava down to Riverfest with us.

 I think we all had fun despite the fact that Ava and Tiz are both strong willed girls and had a difficult time compromising on just about everything.

 The traveling magician offered them minutes of entertainment.  The were busy trying to figure out his tricks.  At this point they were working together.

 They also had a lot of fun dancing to the live music.

 These are the cute notre dame cheerleader t-shirts that I bought the girls last weekend. 

 On Saturday morning we took our cute notre dame cheerleaders and visited pops in the care center.

 It was the first time he was meeing Soliana and of course, she stole his heart.

 After our visit, we had a picnic lunch at Frame Park in Waukesha.  Tiz wanted to ride one of these cool bikes, so we rented one.  She had a ball and was able to operate it quite nicely.  Best $10.00 we may have ever spent.

 When we got home, we let Tizita take Soliana for a spin in the escalade.  We have been waiting for so long to have another sibling ride shotgun with her and now the seat is filled. 

 Tiz asked Gigi to get in the car, so this good sported 83 year old got in and Tiz gave her a spin.

 Soli preferred pushing the car.

 Me and the girls.

 On Sunday afternoon we did some more rides.  Here are Tiz and I on the top of the ferris wheel.

 Tiz is very brave, she rode the tilt a whirl all by herself.

 These boucy cars were lots of fun and she found a friend to ride with her.

 Here she is with some more friends, Erin and Adam riding the teacups.

 Tizita rounded out the day by getting her face painted.

This is how both Soli and I felt at the end of our weekend.

Sad Good byes

We have known for awhile now that the time with our beloved Taurus Wagon is coming to a close.

We have known since a trip to Florida a few years ago when we limped her back home.

We really knew after our vacation to Illinois when she would suddenly stop running at the most inconvenient times.

We knew for sure when on the 100+ degree days we were unable to use the air conditioning without the car killing on us.

But even knowing has not made this easy.

Yes, it is just a car and

No, I have  not ever been this attached to a vehicle before, although I did love our T-Bird, but I digress.

This Taurus wagon has taken us on every one of our 15 or so trips to St. George Island.  It has carried our bikes, Courtney's wedding dress, hermit crabs, buckets of white sand, bags of seashells, and countless people to and from the Island.

It has taken my daughters to and from college every year for six years straight.  It only missed Courtney's first year in college.  All of their stuff has always easily fit into her or him.  (I have never been sure if this car should be referred to as a female or male.)  It has transported TV's, trunks full of treasures, futons, favorite stuffed animals, and hundreds of shoes to and from Knox and Illinois Wesleyan College.

Courtney tells the story of the first time that John came to Knox to pick her up in the Taurus.  She was shocked to see a station wagon, rather embarrassed, I think.  It was not the usual van driven by most families.  She says she just knew everything would not fit into that wagon, but it did!

This may or may not have been the time that John was throwing single shoes into boxes and lecturing Courtney on never packing a box that she could not lift.  Lessons learned right alongside that car.

Just so you know, Courtney learned to love that car, too.

On of its greatest features was a seat that folded up in the back facing backwards.  It was always an adventure ride in that seat.

I remember when we first bought the car, Mallory was with us and she rode in that special backseat.

One time for her birthday party, three kids sat in that seat all the way to Waukesha for her party.

Yep, I am going to miss that seat.

There was also a hidden trap door in the back.  When we took Alissa to College her Sophomore year, we were all the way to El Paso (about 30 minutes up the road) when we realized all her underwear and bras were packed in that little cubby.  We had to head back to deliver it.

Anyway, enough memories for now.

We just had some work done on the Taurus by our trusted and very honest mechanic.  He feels there is still life in her.  (There I am calling her a her)

Just a week after the repairs, oil started pouring out of her.  She was oiling out (like bleeding out) or so we thought.

Last night, John desperately went shopping for a used vehicle to replace her.  He brought home a honkin big Jeep, that was not going to fill her wheels.

We decided to return her to Jeff, our car doctor.  He called with the results today, it was not a death sentence, but rather just a cracked oil filter caused by him at the last repair.  It just needed a band aid.

Yes, we have some time left with our beloved Taurus!

 On a somewhat different note, our dryer died last week, right in mid cycle.

She (another female, I think) was just 12, but they don't make them like they used to.

I had no emotional attachments to that dryer.

In the same breath, I did not want to have to pay to replace her.  This was not a fun shopping trip, I was not upgrading or looking or a dryer with bells and whistles, I just wanted the same simple one I had before.

John went our and bought if for us.  I did not want to listen to a salesman trying to sell me a cadillac dryer.  Those saleman can smell my inability to say No.  John, on the other hand, just found the least expensive one and said, "that's the one."

It was delivered today.

Works fine, but I still did not want to have to purchase a dryer.

It's the old one in the picture by the way.

I did ask for the big box it came in so Tiz and I can make something with it.  I guess that was the good part of buying that dryer.

I will end this long post with a picture of me and courtney sitting in that little seat in the way back of the Taurus.

We rode back there all the way to Brookfield last summer to visit Pops so that we could all fit into one car.

I am going to miss you, Taurus Wagon, you have served us well.

Here's to Good Friends, Tonight is kinda special

A sad thing happened about 20 years ago, we lost touch with these two very dear friends.  There is no good reason for this, just life got busy and this friendship was put on the back burner. 

Then, last July, out of the clear blue sky, we reconnected.

What a blessing to have found each other again and even after all these years, it is as if we never had that 20 year hiatus.

Our first meeting was last September in Mishawaka, Indiana, a middle meeting point for us.

It was a magical, wonderful reunion with much catching up, beer drinking, and memory making.

On the night that we got the news that Natnael had died, I meant to call Paul, but by mistake hit Patti and I, to this day, believe that God had his hand in that mistake.  It was so comforting to hear her voice on the other end of the call.  At that instant, I have never been so thankful that we had reconnected and could once again share our lives, the good and the bad.

Well, we just had another fun filled weekend in Mishawaka with Patti andTom.

Tom is able to get some really good deals on hotel rooms, so we were able to spend two nights in a Fairfield Inn for $35.00 a night.  What a deal!

The weekend was filled with good food,

good drinks,

and good laughs. 

This is Patti in the middle of one of her funny stories which usually involve something that Tom has done.  I think this one may have been about his dream or maybe it was about La-a, not sure.

There were so many good laughs!

We enjoyed breakfasts at Bob Evans.

More yummy food and fun conversation.

Tom and Patti drive this pick up truck, HA and they have not been to Europe.  (I threw that in for you, Patti)

We took a tour of the Notre Dame campus which is very beautiful, by the way.

Here Patti and I are heading into the massive book store.

John and Tom make quite a pair.

 We tried on a few items in the book store.  We were being very typical tourists.

Patti and I with our new friend.

This is touchdown Jesus located on the Notre Dame campus.

 Here we are in front of our hotel.

We thought rule number one was a bit crazy.  I mean who actually admits to having diarreah in the past two weeks and who, exactly do you report that little tidbit to anyway?  This may not seem funny to some of you, but I know Patti will get a kick out of it.

The weekend just flew by.  I had been looking forward to it all summer and in the blink of an eye, it was over.  That is how those greatly anticipated things usually go.  Here and gone before we know it.

One thing we know is that we will get together again in about six months or so and we will keep in touch on a regular basis.

We aren't always given a second chance at things in life, but we are so grateful that we had that second chance for this friendship.

So, "Here's to good friends, Tonight is kind of special."

See you soon, Patti and Tom, hopefully with Alli and Tizita in tow.

Spending a few days in Oshkosh

 Lots of photos and few words in this post due to the fact that I am updating from our motel room in Mishawaka, Indiana where we are spending the weekend with our "long lost" friends, Patty and Tom.  That post will follow, so back to you previously scheduled post.
Last Wednesday, Courtney, Tiz, and Soli came out to Watertown to spend the day.  We met Lynne, Melissa, Meghan, Calvin, and Jacob at the pool for a fun filled play date.  It took Tiz awhile to warm up but once she did, Meghan and her got along famously.  They seem to share many of the same personality traits which helps.
I have been spending time with Meghan since she was a newborn baby and now she is eight and growing up into a wonderful young lady.  Where has that time gone?  We did manage to get all of them to pose on the swing and look at the camera at the same time, no small feat.  I look forward to many more happy times spent with them in the years to come.

 On Tuesday afternoon, I headed back to Oshkosh with Courtney and the girls to spend a few days before we left for our weekend here in Indiana.  My biggest thrill was taking both girls to the park by myself.  Soli was so excited for our outing.

 Here she is doing "so big" but just with one hand so she could hold on with the other.

 Tiz had to push her "baby", too.

 Of course, it is always more fun to push a real baby!  They had so much fun together and Tiz was a wonderful big sister today at the park.

 This may or may not have been a happy face, but I know that Soli enjoyed the swing ride and did not cry even though this looks like a sad face.  Thin line between laughing and crying at her age, I guess.

 Tiz wanted to take Tiz on the bucket swing and she carefully held her on there while I pushed them.

 Soli tolerated it all, probably wondering what the heck is going on here.

 We like the way Tiz's hair is flying on this pony ride she took.

 Soli enjoyed riding the rhino which I always called an elephant by mistake.  Fine Preschool teacher I am.

 Both of my beauties after a slide ride.

 And "So Big" yet again, this time with both arms.

 Fun in the tunnel.

 Being a good big sister, Tiz is teaching Soli how to do Pat a cake.

 Before we knew it, it was time to head home after our adventure.  Tiz gladly pushed Soli home.
The rest of the time was spent setting up a library for Tizita.  I will post a picture of that in the next post.  It was a great few days playing with my girls.