Oshkosh Visit, weekend fun, and church picnic

Yesterday, I said "Good bye" to  my three girls after a wonderful week full of fun.

Here are a few of the things we did during the first part of our week after we returned to Watertown on Friday, June 7.

We had just spent the day at Bay Beach and were now ready for a weekend of fun with Cheddah and Alissa who had come to visit and spend time with the girls.

They gave Soli her birthday gift since they are not sure they will be around for her actual birthday on July 7.

They gave her a huge gorilla.

Now both girls have large, soft stuffed animals.

You might remember that Tizita has a huge bear named Darrel which was given to her by Nathan's (Cheddah's) dad, Darrel.

Lissa and Cheddah wanted Soli to have a big animal, too

Soli named him Jimmy and she loves him.



On Sunday we had a beautiful day for the church picnic.

Again, the weatherman was wrong since he had predicted rain and storms all day.

Here are Mallory and Courtney sporting their sunglasses at the outdoor church service.

Alissa and Cheddah came down and joined us before they had to leave for home.

There were games for the school kids.

Tizita joined right in.

I had blown up many, many water balloons on Saturday.

It took me hours to blow them up and minutes for the kids to break them all, but they had fun doing it.

Note to self:  I bought these cute little dresses for the girls.  I have good taste.

Here the girls are saying their good byes to Lissa and Cheddah before they left for Bloomington.

It had been a great weekend.

On Saturday, Lis, Courtney, Mal, Gigi, me, and Soli had lunch at Applebees and went shopping at Kohl's.  We helped Marge spend her Mother's Day money.
Tizita and Cheddah went on a walk to Mullen's to buy candy.
They came home with a new bike helmet from our new bike shop.
Tizita was so excited with her new unicorn helmet.
She and Cheddah had fun bonding that afternoon.
Saturday night we grilled hamburgers and watched movies.
Sorry I had to backtrack there a bit, but I wanted to document our Saturday activities, too.

Later on Sunday, after the picnic Courtney, me, Soli, and Tizita headed back to Oshkosh for a few days.

Tiz had her first tennis lesson on Monday morning.

We played at the South Park and then went on a bike ride, just me and Tiz.

She likes to lead me around and show me cool places in her neighborhood.

She took me to these beautiful spots along the lake where we skipped rocks and watched sailboats.

We went to the library and checked out lots of books and the movie, Parent Trap which we watched that night.

When Soli woke up from her nap, we played some more and then headed to Cranky Pat's for a pizza dinner.

I dressed the girls up in these cute dresses that I had bought for them before Soli came home last June.

I could not button Soli's anymore but we squeezed her in it for one last time.

Tizita cleaned up Natnael's memorial garden which is in their yard.

We talked about her little brother for a bit.

One last photo and we were off to Cranky Pat's.

We walked, Tiz scooted, and we enjoyed our dinner despite two rather ill behaved little ones.

One the way home, we stopped at a park and got rid of some of our energy before bed.

On Tuesday morning, Tiz and Courtney went to tennis while Soli and I hit the park and zoo.

She had so much fun feeding the animals.

Tiz and Courtney met us after tennis and Tiz needed a lift in the stroller, too.

This caused much laughter.

We enjoyed popsicle treats,

a ride on the merry to round,

and a ride on the paddle boat.

It was Tiz's idea.  She thought it would be a good memory maker for us.

That it was!

We were all a bit sunburned, not really expecting to spend time on the water, but it was all good.

After a quick lunch, we headed back to Watertown where spent the next three days.

I will post about those next.

It is such a blessing to spend this much time with my precious little ones and with Courtney.

Fun at Bay Beach and a few other noteworthy things

 On the Thursday after Tizita's graduation, I was able to spend the day with Soliana since Tiz still had one more day of school.

We spent our morning up in the playroom having fun.

She told me to, "Go Night, Night," then she proceeded to drill my head.

Not sure what that was all about, but it made her laugh loudly.

 She had lots of fun with her ball toy.

 And we did spend a good amount of time in the closet.

She loves a closet just like Tiz did.

My camera suffered an unfixable accident so we had to go to Walmart and replace the camera.

 On the way home, we stopped at the sweet shop and bought some cupcakes to help Tizita celebrate her last day of school.

 Tiz did enjoy her blue moon cupcake while

 Soli enjoyed her raspberry chocolate cupcake.

After our snack we had dinner and then went to Cherryberry yogurt and enjoyed creating our own yogurt treats.

Paul left for a conference in Denver and I stayed on.

 On Friday, we headed up to Bay Beach in Green Bay.

What a fun place!  We all had a great time.

The first ride we put the girls on was this bomber plane.  Soli seemed determined to get out, but she made it through the whole ride even when it went up in the air.  She spent most of her time with her head on the gun.

 Next we drove little cars around.

 Tizita enjoyed a swing ride made just for her size.

 There were so many fun kiddie rides and Tizita patiently enjoyed them with Soli.

She was waiting for her turn on the big rides, but due to busloads of school groups, the lines at the big rides were very, very long.

She and Courtney did manage one ride on the scrambler at which point, Tiz decided that the little rides were just fine.

 Of course, we all enjoyed the merry go round.

 We had lunch at Bay Beach.

After a very long wait for our fast food, it was all worth it.

 We all rode the train after lunch.

I took Soli on a few more little rides while Tiz attempted the big rides again.

 Still long lines, so she joined us once again.

 And what is a trip to the amusement park without the cotton candy?

These are the triplets, Chase, Pierce, and Trey from Tizita's school.  They happened to be up at Bay Beach, too and the girls were so excited to play with them on the big playground for a bit.

I might add that the three boys appear to like Soli and Tiz just as much as the girls like them.

 

After Bay Beach we headed to Watertown to continue our little vacation.

Alissa and Nathan joined us for the weekend.

Details on that will follow in the next post.

We have a First Grader among us

 On Wednesday evening, we (Gigi, John, and I) went up to Oshkosh to see Tizita in her Celebration of Learning program.

We enjoyed her class of ten singing their favorite songs from throughout the school year.

 This is her teacher, Mrs. Seckar, who, by the by, reminds me of me if the way that she teaches and reacts to the kids.

I figure she is one very good teacher.

 As you see, Tizita was one of the shorter kids, but she was not the shortest.

Here she is performing one of their songs with sign language.

 Each of the students prepared a time capsule to be opened on their High School graduation.

Mrs. Seckar talked about each child while presenting them with their box.

My only fear is that Courtney will forget where she puts that box.  It is many years until Tizita graduates from high school.  Sometimes things get lost in the Van Auken home, they seem to have a black hole.

 Tizita brought her time capsule to her mama before returning to watch a video with her classmates of their year in review.

The teacher made a copy of the dvd for all the students.

She used the song, "Let the be Little" for one of the sections of the video and I don't think there was a dry eye in the place.

I love to watch programs from the other side and get new ideas for my "end of the year" celebrations.

This was definitely one of the best I have seen.

 Tiz requested an ant farm for her gift and that is what she got.

This one is just like the one her mama had.

Long story, short, Courtney's ants escaped one day when Alissa and a friend tipped the ant farm upside down, panicked, and it opened up.  We have had many laughs over that story once the trama was over.

 We went to the sweet shop and bought a blue moon cupcake for Tiz.

 She reported that the cupcake was very good.

 Soli enjoyed a chocolate raspberry one.

I was able to spend a few days with my girls.

On Friday we went to Bay Beach in Green Bay and continued our celebration with a day of rides.

More on that to follow.

Hard to believe that we have a first grader among us!

Time flies.

Glacier Drumlin Trail - Dousman - Waukesha

 Today was a beautiful day for a bike ride.

We debated a few trails and finally decided on the Glacier Drumlin starting in Dousman and going to Waukesha.

Our first little stop was in Wales.

 I remembered from previous rides that the trail from Waukesha to Wales is uphill, but I didn't need to be reminded of that fact by two other bikers about our age.  They always ride from Waukesha to Dousman, not the other way around, so the down hills are at the end of the ride.

Well, people, who I don't really care about, I didn't need to hear that and have it reinforced for me.  Now that uphill ride back was in my mind and I knew it would seem harder than it needed to be.

Oh well, we press on.

 This is the very Eastern end of the Glacier Drumlin located by Prairie Park in Waukesha.

I am hoping we can ride the entire trail again this summer.

We purchased our annual bike pass for all the state trails and today the DNR ranger told us the trails are free, but we are still set for the rest of summer.

 Saw this sign and it reminded us of the days when Courtney worked for Swimtastic.

 We headed up to our alma mater, Carroll College which is now Carroll University, but will forever be Carroll College to John and I .

 We had lunch at Subway and then went to check out Frame Park.

After our ride of 31 miles, we had our sunroof open and it is as close to a convertible as we will ever get, but it was great, none the less.

I just want to document this little tidbit about this portion of the Glacier Drumlin.

This is called a recreational trail, but there are way too many speed bikers on this trail for the safety of the average family that might want to use it with little kid bikes, buggers, or tag a longs.

I feel the racing bikers should take their ride to a different venue.

Just my humble opinion.

I will also document for those readers who may want to ride this  trail, there are plenty of bathrooms along the way and also places to get a treat or a bite to eat.

The scenery is beautiful, but remember that the ride is uphill from Waukesha to Wales.

It feels good to have put in 31 miles and still be walking around!