Tizita visits the Serious Tower

On Saturday we took Tizita on her annual "back to school" advventure.
This year we took her to the Willis Tower, which she refers to as the Serious Tower, and which I will from now on refer to as the Sears Tower both in this post and in life.
Started out as the Sears Tower and it shall remain that in my book.
We took the train.
Tiz's first train ride and she loved it.  So did John since it meant he did not have to fight the Chicago traffic.
We arrived in Chicago around 9:30 and headed to the Sears Tower.
We had to wait about an hour but with the movie and othe distractions, the hour went quickly and before we new it, we were up on the Ledge on the 103rd floor.
Tiz loved stepping out on top of Chicago.
Here re a few photos from the train and the Serious Tower.

 We had lunch in the Sears Tower before walking to Grant Park and seeing the big fountain.

From there, we were off to Millennium Park with its mirror bean and great splash pads.

Tiz said the splash pads were her favorite part of Chicago after the Serious Tower.

Our next plan was to walk to Navy Pier, but best laid plans...

We never did make it to Navy Pier due to a bunch of high rise condos set in the middle of our path with no outlet.

We decided to shop on Michigan Avenue for a bit and found a three story candy store.

Tiz loved it.  She reminded me of Charlie in the Chocolate Factory.

When we were leaving the candy store, we found this:

We just had to laugh.

It was now too late to take this secret stairway to Navy Pier, so we got some dinner at a cute little restaurant right on the river.

It was a yummy, relatively inexpensive dinner and we all enjoyed it very much.

We had a very nice view of Trump Tower.

We had to take this photo on the outside chance that the Donald becomes our next president!

After dinner, we took the riverwalk back toward the train station.

It was a bit of a hike, but Tiz was such a trooper and never once complained, John, on the other hand, could not stop talking about his sore feet!

We made it back to the train station and had a great trip back to Milwaukee.

It was so much fun to take Tizita on this adventure.

I wonder how we will top this one!

A Weekend with my favorite people

Another weekend has come to a close.

It was a good one.

I am so blessed that my girls love to come home and spend time together and with John, my mom, and I.

Alissa came up on Friday night to spend the weekend with us.  Nathan had his annual camping trip so it was a good time for her to come up.

Lissa, my mom, Mallory, and I went to On The Rock on Friday night for pizza and beer. 

We had another pitcher at Firecracker.

It was so much fun.

Lots of memories, laughs, and great conversation.

I love how Mallory is just like one of my girls and I love how my mom is really a cool 86 year old lady who can sit in a bar and drink beer with us.

On Saturday, Courtney, Paul and the girls arrived.

We had an afternoon of canvas painting.

I was a bit uninspired but the others did some great paintings and we all had so much fun.

We had brats for dinner.

Mallory went out the the girls and Paul for the night while John and I enjoyed some great TV time with Soli and Tiz.

It was such a fun, laid back Saturday.

Today we all went to church together, Mallory and Kev, too, just like the old days.

We had lunch together, just like the old days.

Soli decorated the table for us with whatever birthday and holiday decor I had.

It was so nice to sit together around that table and enjoy more together time.

Alissa left after lunch for her long drive home.

I know she had a great time.

She starts her new job in two weeks.

She is so excited about that and I am so happy for her.

Courtney, Paul. the girls and I headed over to the Art Fair in Oconomowoc. 

It was a fun time.

The girls were able to make some art projects and we watched a dance troop perform.

We all enjoyed some ice cream treats at the Kiltie and then the Van Aukens left for home, too.

The house is quiet.

I miss having everyone around here, but I am so glad they love coming home!

Tomorrow it is registration.

Yep, another year is about to begin.

I hope it is a good one.

Riverfest Redefined

I remember the very first Riverfest, it was actually our city's sesquacentennial (I think).

My girls were pre teens (maybe 8 and 10 or so.

They asked to go hang out at the rides with friends.

I remember pointing in a vague direction and saying, "Meet us there."

I had no idea that so many, many people would crowd into our little park that night to hear one of the popular bands.

The vague little meeting spot was filled with people upon people.

There was no way we would find our girls there.

Luckily, my mom lives up on the hill that overlooks the park.  ( We live there now)

The girls were smart and walked up to my mom's at the agreed upon meeting time.

And that is how it all started.

 

Riverfest has continued to attract crowds of people who come to enjoy the great food, beer, music, rides, and entertainment.

John and I have enjoyed many, mnay Riverfests.

The beer has always gone down so easily in that beautiful atmosphere.

It has always been fun to run into old friends and catch up on our lives.

Over the years we have watched children grow and now we get to see grandchildren at Riverfest.

 

I have way too many memories to even try and list them here, but suffice it to say I have had lots of fun over the years at Riverfest.

We looked so forward to sharing Riverfest with our grandchildren.

We did that as soon as Tizita was old enough to join us.

John and I always enjoyed at least one night of drinking and adult fun without them in tow, but this year was different and I didn't even miss the adult part of Riverfest.

Maybe I am finally getting too old for all that beer drinking and loud music and crappy bathrooms!

We only went down to the park on Sunday afternoon to let Soliana and Tizita ride the rides.

We gladly paid the $20.00 each for them to ride for four hours.

They loved it and got every penny's worth out of that money.

We, luckily ran into two little girls from St. John's who were the same ages as Tiz and Soli.

Now the big girls could ride the big rides and the little ones could enjoy the smaller rides.

It was a great Riverfest,

Different, but great.

 

Pool Time, VBS, and a trip to Sheboygan

On Thursday morning, John drove me to Oshkosh to spend a few days with my favorite girls.

We had lunch at Ardy and Ed's followed by some time at the Omro Pool.

Tiz passed the swimming test by being able to swim free style for 50 yards so she was able to swim and play in the deep water as well as go down the big slides and off the boards.  She was pretty proud of her accomplishments.

Here are a few photos from our day at the pool:

 On Thursday evening we went to church to hear the VBS students sing their songs.

It was a great program and I did find a song for my Preschoolers to sing this year in church.

On Friday we planned to go see Bookworm Gardens in Sheboygan.

They girls had been there last year and just knew that I would love it there.

The only problem was that the weather did not cooperate with us.

It drizzled at first, but that drizzle quickly turned into a steady downpour.

We had lunch under an umbrella there, but at one point a flood of water poured off the umbrella and ran right down Courtney's back.

At that point we decided to pack it up and head to the children's museum in downtown Sheboygan.

I was able to see half of Bookworm Gardens and plan to go back to see the rest of it someday.

They were right, I sure did like it.

Here are some photos from the museum which was also very nice.

 After our adventures in Sheboygan, we headed to Watertown.
Courtney and Mallory headed down to Alissa's for a cousins night out while John and I took the girls to the Vilas Park Zoo.
The zoo was a zoo, so many people and strollers, but we still had a fun time.

We stopped at Ella's Deli on the way home.
Great way to end a fun day.
Tomorrow, I will share my feelings on Riverfest 2015.

A Visit to Bloomington to Visit The Hunters

We just returned from a fun weekend in Bloomington visiting Alissa and Nathan.

John and I took my mom down with us so she could see all the beautiful flowering plants and trees they have around their new home.

We left on Saturday morning and stopped for lunch at Wendy's in Rochelle.

I wonder how many times we have stopped in Rochelle on all our trips to Knox, Illinois Wesleyan and now The Hunters.  If I had a dollar for each stop, I would be a rich woman for sure.

On the way down we took a small scenic route to see the Grand Bear Lodge where we all stayed three summers ago when Soli had just joined the family.

Such sweet memories and such a find in the middle of flat Illinois.

We arrived at The Hunter Home, took a tour of the yard, and then mom, Lis, and I did some touring and shopping.

By the time we got back home, it was time to get ready for dinner at Rosie's.

We all enjoyed our dinner very much.

We had a few more beers and visited before bed.

On Sunday, we took some wii fitness tests.  I always have to take a fitness test or ten when I visit.

We enjoyed a nice lunch and then hit the road home.

We took another scenic route through Elkhorn where all three of us relived some awesome memories.

What a special place that was!

Here are some photos of our weekend visit:

 Mom and Alissa sitting in The Hunter backyard near the golf course.

 The bar on the patio

 Serving up a drink for Marge.

 John and Nathan enjoying a beer together.

 Our wonderful hosts, The Hunters.

 Ready for dinner.

 Our old neighborhood in Elkhorn, oh, the sweet memories.

 This house belonged to our wonderful friends, Terri and Mark.

We met them when we moved into the neighborhood.

 And this is our house.

A bit overgrown, but not too bad.

We brought both of our babies home to this house.

Just looking at it, gives me a warm feeling.

We lived in this apartment when we first moved to Elkhorn before buying our house.

If these walls could talk...

We met Patti and Tom in this apartment.

What a blessing to have them in our lives, both then and now.

It was fun to drive around Elkhorn and just talk about all the memories.

We wouldn't change a thing.