Our Annual Zoo Trip through the years

As I said in my last post, John and I have been taking Tizita to the Milwaukee Zoo each year since she came home.

I wanted to take a step back and look at those pictures.

I  hope that we will be able to take her and now Soli and any other grandchildren that may be in our future, to the zoo each year until they are grown ups

Tiz and I always talk about how we will look on the merry go round when she is in college and we laugh.

The Milwaukee zoo is expensive, but there is no price tag for making memories with our grandchildren.

These three photos are from our first visit to the zoo in July 2009.

That is the first time we took the picture by the snake sign.  We didn't know at that time that it would become a tradition for us.





This is Tizita's first ride on the train.

For those first few years, Grandpa had to ride by himself on the seat across from us.

We always said he would sit with the next Van Auken to join the family..

Finally, he has a seat partner.

 

This picture is from our second trip to the zoo 2010.



 



 And here we are in Sept. 2011.

Still waiting for a partner for Grandpa on the train!

 

 

These pictures are from October 2012 and look, Bumpa finally has a seat mate!

Soliana has joined the family and now we finally get to do the zoo with two!

Soli was just over 1 year and she did a great job especially considering it was pretty cold that day.

 

 

 



And here we are in present day, 2013.

Look what difference a year makes!

Soli is almost two and absolutely loved everything about the zoo.

Tizita is six and is such a joy on these outings.

She loves to learn about all the animals and she remembers the previous visits which is really fun.

So there you have it.

A history of our visits to the zoo.

This is what being a grandparent is all about!

 

On a totally different note, we have heard nothing from the company that John interviewed for on Friday in Michigan.

No news may or may not be good news.

They said they would let him know early in the week and this is Tuesday.

Tomorrow becomes mid week and our hope gets a little smaller.

I am trying to stay optimistic, but my motto 
"Hope for the best, expect the worst, and roll with the punches"

is making me very anxious.

I am trying to remember how thankful we were when John got his current job at Kapitan after six months of unemployment.

At that time, it was the best news ever and we were so blessed to have a job again.

That job is still there and John can go on working just as he has been, so that in itself is a great thing, but

it is hard to think about all the benefits that the other big company was willing to offer and how much closer the commute would have been.

Oh well, it is what it is or is it?

 

Time now to go walking with my friend, Lynne

and then off to zumba.

 

In case you are wondering about those ads on my blog, I can make a few cents if any of you click on them, so if there is anything of interest to you, please click and check it out and if not, no big deal, just come back and visit me often.

And What a Three day Weekend it was!

We are finally back at home after a action packed, fun filled three day weekend.

We started out with our road trip to Iron Mountain, Michigan.

We had never been to that area of Wisconsin or Michigan before and it is such pretty country.

John had an interview with a company up there and that company put us up in a beautiful motel and paid us generous mileage.

The interview was early on Friday AM.  By all accounts, it went well.  We should hear something early this week.  We are cautiously optimistic.

 

At 11:00, we left Iron Mountain for Manitowoc all dressed for Nicole and Josh's wedding.

We had to be at the church by 1:30.

For a bit, I was afraid we weren't going to make it, but we pulled into the church parking lot with ten minutes to spare.

The wedding was beautiful, very elegant. Nicole was beautiful.

After the ceremony, we had three hours before the reception so we had a late lunch with Ruth and Larry at a cute little candy story that looks like it belongs in the 1950's.

The food was delicious and cheap.  We even ended our lunch with a turtle sundae, YUM!

It was so nice to spend time with the Parkers, such nice, good people.

 

The reception was at Fox Hills.

It was just my kind of food, fried chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, corn, and coleslaw, does it get any better than that?  Not for me.

We stayed till about nine and then drove to Oshkosh to stay at the Van Auken B and B.

We arrived up there by 10:00, had a few beers and visited with Courtney and Paul. 

 

On Saturday we left bright and early for the Milwaukee Zoo on our annual trip.

Vikki and Kev gave us an annual family pass to the zoo so we were able to get in for free.

It was a perfect day, overcast and not too hot.

We always start our zoo day with a trip on the train and this trip was no different.

There were lots of people at the zoo, but we were able to walk right on the train, no waiting.

Soli was so excited for our train ride.

As we always planned long before a second grandchild was in the picture, Tiz and I always sit together on the train ride.  Bumpa gets to sit with Soli.

After the train, it was the merry go round.  Soli loves her merry go round, too.

We had an overpriced zoo lunch and then finally saw some animals.

Isn't it funny, there is so much more to do at a zoo, it is hard to even take time to see the animals.

Soli was enjoying the monkeys.

We paid to see the Sea Lion show and it was well worth it.

Tiz especially enjoyed leaning about sea lions and watching them do tricks.

Every year, we pose by the snake sign.  Mostly because we do not like snakes.

This year, Tiz was fascinated by the timber rattlers. 

We called her the little snake charmer since the snake would follow her finger.

She may be leaving my "hate snakes club" and becoming a fan of them.

Both girls crawled in the stroller when we had to make a long walk to another part of the zoo.

Lots of laughs from both of them.

It was then popsicle time.

Soli loves her popsicles.

She loves lots of things, doesn't she?

John and I had bought one ice cream sandwich to share and Soli wanted that, too.

Two fisted, very messy little lady.

Back in the stroller.

This is our tour guide, Pete the Peacock.



We followed him for a long time.

Then it was up close and personal with the giraffe.

We saw some really wonderful things at the zoo.

We made some great new memories and look forward to our next zoo trip.

Soli fell asleep as soon as she was in her carseat.

Tiz asked if we could eat at Glass Nickel Pizza where she loves the Nickel Nuggets, so we agreed.

What a great decision.

We loved the pizza and the best part is the owner who remembers the girls from past visits.

He brought each of them a huge Mr. Freeze for finishing all the food on their plates.

Such a family friendly place.



When we got back to Courtney and Paul's we opened the gifts that we had brought for Soli's first Soliversary

The soliversary is when we celebrate the first day we met our sweet little lady.

Just one year ago and I cannot imagine life without that precious little girl.

I gave her some of her own tic tacs and you would have thought I gave her the moon.

Just another one of her loves.

We celebrated with cookies and milk.

Here we are with our two blessings after a busy, busy day.

 

Today, Sunday, Courtney went to a zumba training class.

Paul, John, the girls and I went to church.

We wanted to take them to Cherry Berry Yogurt, but we did not have car seats, so we could not drive there.

After some discussions, we decided we would bike there

Tiz would ride the tag a long on the back of Paul's bike which John would ride.  Confused, yet?

Soli would travel in the trailer on the back of Courtney's bike which I would ride.

Paul would drive there to meet us and join us for the yogurt treat.

It all worked out beautifully

On the way home, Paul rode his bike with Tizita and I had Soli, John drove the car home.

Wonder what people thought when they saw a 40 year old man, a 60 year old woman, and two small kids.  I know I would have been wondering about such a situation.

Funny stuff.

I was just happy that I could keep up with Paul on the ride home.

After our ride and treat, John and I left for home.

Paul and the girls were in the middle of a big squirt gun fight

 

It was a great weekend.

Look Out, Exciting weekend ahead!

John and I are off on a few adventures this weekend and we are both excited about what may lay ahead.

 

Tomorrow evening we are driving up to Iron Mountain, Michigan so that John can interview at a company up there.

Before anyone gets the idea that we would move up there, hold on.  The position would be with this company, but it would be at a new office just opening in Pewaukee.

Pewaukee, folks, that is only 30 minutes away.

John commutes one hour and twenty minutes one way everyday to get to his present job in Sauk City.  That is almost three hours on the road each day.

Too much time to spend in a car, so this would definitely be a blessing for that reason alone.

 

I will not say any more except that the company is paying for our mileage up and back and for our motel room, so even if it doesn't pan out, we still have a free night to explore an area that is new to us.

 

On Friday we will leave Iron Mountain to go to Nicole and Josh's wedding in Manitowoc and Mishicot.  Nicole was our kindergarten teacher this past year and I loved working with her, so I am looking forward to a fun time seeing her get married.

 

We will leave Mishicot and then head to Oshkosh, my favorite place to be when I can't be at home.  (Well, there and Bloomington)

We will spend the night in Oshkosh and then take off early for the zoo.

This year we are getting our annual trip in early, we are not waiting till October like last year.

We also have family passes, thanks to Kev and Vikki, so this will not be our last or only trip this year.

At any rate, it is going to be a great weekend.

Bring it on.

 

Please send up some prayers that God would show us the plan with this new job opportunity.

Stay tuned for updates.

Weekend recapo-Celebrating 37 years of wedded bliss

 After the girls left on Friday, John and I had a nice, relaxing weekend which included a 21 mile bike ride and celebrating our 37th anniversary.

We took the Lake Country Trail.

We start the trail in Oconomowoc at the Imagination Station Park.

 The trail is completely paved and you can go off and explore areas of Oconomowoc, Summit, and Delafield as  you travel along.

 We arrived in Delafield which is just about nine miles from where we started.

Delafield is such a cute little town with lots of shops and restaurants.

 We opted for a snack at a gas station because we knew we would be eating a big meal that night for our anniversary.

 Cushing Park is located right off the trail in Delafield.

We always like to stop there to use the bathroom.

We came upon this mama turtle who was laying her eggs right on the path to the bathrooms.

 Not so sure that is the best place to lay eggs, but what do I know.

 We made our way back into Oconomowoc and then took a tour around the lakes there.

 Just in case anyone reading would be interested in this trail, it is flat with just one small hill, completely paved as I said before and there are many places to stop along the way for treats and a bathroom.

A small portion of the trail is on a quiet road, but traffic moves slowly there and it is not a problem.

We did stop at Culver's for a sundae to reward ourselves for a ride well done.

 Later that day, we went to Fox and Hounds for our anniversary dinner.

I had gotten a gift card from two of my students and there is always a deal, buy one dinner, get the second one for free.

Fox and Hounds is located in a beautiful setting surrounded by woods.

 We enjoyed these drinks before dinner our dinner of prime rib, duck breast, and tenderloin.  It was all so yummy.

We treated ourselves to dessert, too.

After dinner we went into their downstairs pub and had a few beers while listening to a band.

It was a great night and a wonderful way to celebrate 37 years together.

On Sunday, Father's Day, John visited his dad at the care center and I put up new decorations for my dad at the cemetery.

As a side note, John had his shirt on inside out during our drink time and dinner at Fox and Hounds.  He finally noticed and fixed it in the bathroom.  We laughed about that one!

Ending my Tiz/Soi/Courtney week in Watertown

On Tuesday afternoon, we returned to Watertown to wrap up our fun filled week.

Courtney and I went to zumba.

Courtney had so much fun that she is actually thinking of taking a class to get certified as a zumba instructor.

After zumba we watched TV and relaxed.

On Wednesday AM we went to the Library.

Tizita got a card from our library in Watertown so she could check things out when she is visiting me.

We did a scavenger hunt in the Children's room, used the computer, did a craft project, and found many books and dvds to check out.

After the library we did some shopping.

We met our friends, the Hurtgens and Lynne at the park for a picnic and playtime.

Unfortunately, a big storm blew in and cut our time short, but it was till fun to see them.

Courtney and I went to zumba again that evening.

We were both so sore after that workout.

We came home and all watched movies from the library.

On Thursday we headed to Ebert's.

Courtney had a gift card and wanted strawberry plants.

They were all out of them, so she chose a few other pretty plants for her gardens.

 The girls always have fun playing in the kids area.

Here they are in the playhouse.

 Since Soli enjoyed the fountain so much, we went to the Aquatic Center in the afternoon.

 The water is still cool, but the girls did have fun.

 We ended our Thursday with more movies.

It was a fun, busy day.

 Friday was our last day together.

The time had gone so quickly.

We went to Clark Park for a picnic lunch.

We all had fun making a train and going down the slides together.

It was a great way to end the visit.

And, of course, we had to do some swinging.

Courtney, Soli, and Tiz left for home shortly after lunch.

The house is quiet and clean now.

I miss them, but we will be seeing them again this weekend.

I visited with my friend, Pam that afternoon.

John and I went out for pizza and beer that night.

There is some big news in the making for John, but so as not to jinx anything, I will not post anything quite yet.

Stay tuned.

 

John and I did have a great weekend and I will post about that one day this week.