Riverfest 2013 and a look at past Riverfests

We celebrated another Riverfest this past weekend.

It was a fun weekend because Courtney, Paul, the girls, Lissa, and Nathan were all here.

It was such a pleasant surprise to have Lissa and Nathan here.  Originally, Alissa was supposed to be leaving Sunday for a business trip to Kansas City, but as a final gift to her, John's dad died and she was able to bow out of the trip.

She did not want to go and the timing of the memorial service was perfect.

We went down to Riverfest on Saturday.

The girls enjoyed some rides and we all enjoyed some good food and beer.

 

I always enjoy taking a look back at Riverfests past, so here we go on a walk down memory lane.

This is Tizita at her first Riverfest back in 2009.

She has a tic tac in her mouth.

Funny thing is that Soli loves to get tic tacs from Gigi and we had forgotten that Tiz used to enjoy tic tacs, too.

This is Tiz dancing to the music at that first Riverfest.

Here she is at her second Riverfest in 2010.

She rode some rides with her friend Aaron.



Here she and Aaron enjoy a ride on the teacups.

2011-Tizita and her friends, Sinai and Aquila danced together to the fun music.

 

2012-Tizita enjoyed the festivities with her friend Ava.

Here is Soliana at her first Riverfest-2012

And finally, Riverfest 2013.

Paul had to ride these cars with Soliana.

Such a good papa.

Nic wanted to take Tizita on the bumper cars.

What fun she had!

Soli fell asleep right in the middle of the midway.

Nic did some shooting.

He was so happy to win Tizita a cute stuffed puppy.

After the shooting, Tizita tried to break balloons with darts.

Here we are with our prizes.

Notice the popular bubble gun which was a much sought after prize this year.

Tiz had lots of fun and did a great job climbing the rock wall.

It was a fun filled few days.

We were all glad to have this time together before we had to attend Jack's memorial

service and say our good-byes to him.

Pine Mountain and Mines

We are home from Michigan.

I really enjoyed my week exploring Iron Mountain.

I especially enjoyed having Courtney, Paul, and the girls up there with us for a few days.

It is always fun to share new discoveries with Tizita and Soliana.

Courtney and the girls drove home with John and I from Michigan while Paul went to Oshkosh to get a bit of work done.

Alissa and Nathan came to Watertown on Saturday.

We all enjoyed some Riverfest and each other.

Today (Tuesday) everyone goes home and my house will be too quiet, but life goes on.

Today is also the day that we all go to Jack's memorial, hope that goes okay.

 

Now back to some of the things that I really want to remember about our trip to Iron Mountain.

 

First off,

Pine Mountain Ski jump

 We began by climbing the 500 steps to the top of the mountain.

 The beautiful view from the top.

Proof of the 500 steps we all climbed.

 Paul decided to climb to the top of the actual ski jump.

He was the only one of all of us to actually make it to the top of the old ski jump.

Tizita almost made it to the top, but she listened to her mama and came back.

 Here is Paul checking things out from the top.

 And here is Tizita making her way up.

Both Courtney and Alissa, completely independent of one another, said this reminded them of the bridge scene in Annie.

 This picture sums up what was going on at the top of the mountain.

Courtney was a nervous wreck, she wanted at least one family member to make it down alive, so she was instructing me to go down the 500 steps with Soliana, she was waiting for Paul to either make it down safely or fall to his untimely death off of the rickety ski jump, and she was instructing Tiz to get off the old steps that led to no where.  John was taking the photo.

 Tiz ventured out on this old lookout and then finally we all made it down safely.

We enjoyed dinner in the restaurant at the bottom of the mountain.

It was a great adventure for all of us.

 

After the ski jump, we visited the spot at the Millie Bat Viewing Area and observation area that we had discovered on a walk that day.

Here are a few pictures from that walk:

 We started out at a fun park.

 After playing at the park, we walked up the mountain.  Tiz and I went on ahead, but Courtney had to push Soli up the hill in the stroller.  Good workout for her!

 It was at the top, that we found this cool observation deck that overlooked much of Iron Mountain.

Later that night after the ski jump, we took Paul and John back up to this deck so they could see the beautiful area, too.

 For lunch that day after our hike up the mountain, we enjoyed hot dogs from a little hot dog hut.  Paul took time off from his work to join us.

 We all enjoyed an ice cream treat, too.

 We took time out to splash around in a fountain in front of a church and

the girls enjoyed that cute little park I had discovered a few days before.

It was a busy, fun filled day.

 

On Friday morning, while Paul and John worked, Courtney, the girls, and I went to tour an iron ore mine.

 We had to wear helmets and raincoats for the tour.

 We took a train and went far down under the ground where we had to walk around the old mine.

We had a great tour guide and learned a lot.

There were many bats swooping around our heads, but despite those bats, we all agreed it was a great tour.

 On the way back to Iron Mountain from the mine, we found some pretty falls right off the highway.

Much taller than 12 feet, too.

We picked John up at work and left for Watertown.

The girls were quite worn out from their big adventure and slept most of the way home.

It was indeed a great week up in Michigan.

I will update on Riverfest in the next post.

Heaven's Gain, Our Loss

 Please read the post from two days ago where I talk about saying Good bye to John's dad, my father in law, Jack.

We got word yesterday that he had gone to heaven.

Our prayers were answered in that he was comfortable at the end.

We are still up in Michigan which makes this a bit more complicated, but it will all work out.

While we will miss Jack, we are so happy that he is finally back together with MaryAnn who died just short of two years ago.

In all reality, Jack "died" with her.  He was never quite the same after he lost her.

Living in a care center with a roommate is not the way to live out what was once a very social and active life full of adventures and travel.

It was never pleasant to visit him there, so for those reasons, I am thankful that he is celebrating in heaven today.

 I am so thankful for my faith.

Not sure how people who have no faith face death.

I take great comfort in the fact that yesterday, Jack was greeted at the gates of heaven by MaryAnn, his parents, many other family members, and friends, but most of all I take comfort in visualizing my dad who died 23 years ago waiting for Jack with a Manhattan in hand.

I know the old song, "In heaven there is no beer," but I am not letting that ruin my happy picture even if it is minus a manhattan.

My dad and Jack were very good buddies.

They hit it off right away and never looked back.

They traveled together, drank together, and laughed together.

When Jack and MaryAnn owned a  motel in Janesville, my dad and mom would go and spend weekends with them.

They didn't need John, me, and the girls to bring them together.

That's how much they enjoyed each other.

So last night when we were out to dinner, we toasted Jack.

In my thoughts, I toasted Ken, too.

 

 

I also get great joy and comfort from knowing that little Natnael would have been waiting and when he saw Jack, he would run up, point just like in this picture and say,"Pops!"

When in the UP, Pasties

When one is in the UP, one has to eat like the local Yoopers.

That meant we had to try a pastie.

Last night after an 8 mile bike ride which included a ride around Lake Antoine and a tour of a small island, we ordered five different pasties from a little fast food place called Dobbers that made nothing but pasties.

We were planning on ordering four, but when we drove up we noticed there was a special, "buy four, get one free," so we brought home five of them.

 

Pasties were a lunch for the miners in this area back in the booming iron ore days.

They were easy to make and easy to eat.

Not to mention that they were rather inexpensive since you could fill them with any leftovers you had around.

 

We ordered a beef, chicken, pizza, and two ham and cheese pasties.

The beef and chicken ones had the meat, of course, potatoes, rutabaga, onions, and salt and pepper.

No wonder I enjoyed them, simple with no hidden items.

Real comfort food.

John and I agreed that the pizza pastie was the best.  It was stuffed with pepperoni, sausage, marinara, and cheeses.

We are planning on taking some pasties home.

We can have a bit of the UP with us back home in Wisconsin that way.

 

Back to our bike ride.

Here are a few pictures from our trip around the lake.

 Just a pretty, quiet spot at the beginning of our ride.

 A senior citizen park along the lake.

 Courtney, Paul, and the girls will arrive tonight and will be camping at this campground right on the Lake Antoine.

I am trying to climb the sign to join the kids on the top.

 There is a nice beach at the campground.

Nice, as beaches here in the north go.

Again that yucky brownish muddy sand, but the water looks clean and clear.

 This is the path we took to the little island.  It was beautiful on the island.

And finally, the sun was shining and making the water look so pretty.

It was a great way to spend a night up here in the UP.

We are feeling like real yoopers!

Jack, Dad, Grandpa, Pops

John's dad, my father-in-law, goes by many names around our family.

I have always called him Jack,

John, of course, calls him Dad,

My girls call him Grandpa

and

Tiz and Soli call him Pops.

 

We just heard from John's sister that Jack is no in hospice.

His time is limited, very limited.

 

While this should be a very sad time, both John and I feel that a great part of Jack died when his dear wife, MaryAnn died in September of 2011.

It has been a slow deteriorating, a slow death.

The visits to the Care Center got harder and harder, there was little to talk about, and he tired easily.

The little girls tired him out quickly.

We haven't taken them for quite awhile now since we felt it would be better for them to remember Pops as he was when he was happier and healthier.

 

Now we wait and for a control freak, like myself, waiting is hard and not knowing is harder yet.

 

Our prayer has always been that Jack's end would be swift and painless.

Our prayers have been answered so far, there has been little pain and the end seems close.

 

So, we will wait to get the word and then we will say our "See you later, Jack, Dad, Grandpa, Pops"

 

One thing is certain, my dad, Ken will be waiting at the gates with a manhattan in one hand and holding the hand of a little brown boy waiting to meet his Pops.

What a sweet welcome that will be!