Cousins and other Fun

Another fun weekend.

Alissa came up on Friday and spent Friday night here with us.

Mom, Kev, John, Lissa, and I went to Biggs, despite a overdone pizza we had a fun time.  Lots of laughs and good conversation.

We dropped mom off at home and went to the Drafty Cellar for a few.

Brewers won and are on their way to hopefully the World Series.

On Saturday, Alissa, John and I met the Van Aukens at Muskego where Tiz had a volleyball tournament.  Despite some great play, they lost the match and were eliminated from the tourney.

We stopped at Party City on the way home to look at possible Halloween costumes for Tiz.

She could not decide what she wanted to be, it went from nerd, to cheerleader, to fifties girl, to business woman which is where it ended.

We found a wig and a few other accessories, then headed to Walmart for more Halloween shopping.

Here she decided on a fashionista which we were able to create there with a cute sequinced dress and shoes.

Both girls bought another wig, too.

We spent the rest of Saturday just hanging out, watching TV, playing on phones, etc.

Nice evening of TV and snacks.

Church today and a little fun at Ebert's before taking them to Delafield.

It was a great fun time and the cousins had a great time in Milwaukee as usual.

Electric train ride, Elegant Farmer, and other Events

I couldn't decide what we would do with the girls on our Saturday with them.

The weather has been rainy and didn't sound great for Saturday, but my first plan was going to the elegant farmer to ride the electric train and enjoy a caramel apple.  After that I wanted to take them to the cemetery to see where Mamaw and Pops are.

We had a fun time on the seven mile electric train ride.

And we did enjoy our apples.

It started to rain harder after that part of the adventure so we used our umbrellas as we searched for Pops and Mamaw.

We finally found it, the girls left a flower and we took in the beauty of a military cemetery.

After that we checked out Courtney's craft show on Vilet, she had done very well.

I had found a place called the Organ Piper Music Palace so we went there for pizza.  It was quite the place.  Turns out the guy playing the organ was our conductor on the train that day!  

 Courtney had asked us if we would be able to get the girls to church on Sunday and then to cheer.  Of course, we took on the challenge and it was a challenge.

We stayed overnight.

Courtney left early for a show in Lake Mills and Paul left early for his mom's in Iowa, so we were on kid duty.

We had to get to church by 9:40 because Soli was singing.  What a treat to be able to hear and watch her sing.

I love Garden Homes church.  I love the mix of black and white.

The kids sang beautifully.

After church we had to get the girls to their gym for cheer.

We let Judy, the lady in our phone get us there and she didn't steer us wrong.

The girls did some amazing tumbling.

After that, we enjoyed lunch at Five Guys.

We, then came to Watertown where Courtney met us when she was done with her show.

It was a fun weekend for sure.

Octoberfest in Appleton and Pat McCurdy

It's been another great weekend.

John and I went to Octoberfest in Appleton.  We were going to check out Courtney's booth at the craft area.  We were surprised at the amount of people and the mile long beer and food area as well as all the vendors.

Courtney did well with her goods and we found a few presents.

We fought our way through the many people and had two beers at the Appleton Beer Company.

We had pizza at christiano;s in Oshkosh where Courtney met us for a bit.

After that we went to The Cabin in North Fond du Lac and saw Pat McCurdy.  He did a great show, longer than usual and called John out as looking like Colonel Sanders.

it was a good day and fun night.

We never got home till after midnight.

Today it was church and then getting the graves ready for fall.

Back to work tomorrow!

A Trtip to Bloomington

We just returned from a great, fun trip to visit Alissa and Nathan in Bloomington.

We were able to take Tizita and Soliana along with us.

We started our visit with a trip to a pumpkin patch farm near them.  I wasn't sure if Illinois would be able to do a pumpkin farm as well as our beloved Waldvogels but lo and behold, they did!

I think all pumpkin farmers must got to the same place to learn what kind of activities to offer at their farms because most of the activities were very similar to Waldvogels with a few added attractions.

The girls enjoyed all of it very much.

Their favorite was the corn pit, always is, and Tiz I liked the big jumping thing.

After the pumpkin experience, we stopped at White Oak Brewery for a few beers.

The girls had fun playing in the outside area and made some money from Uncle Cheddah for doing stunts.

We went back to their house and ordered pizza, watch Double dare, and a few movies.

One of the highlights was when Nathan made the stairs into a big slide for the girls.  The crash pad at the bottom was the best.

Today we got out the wii and had so much fun.  I think I had the most fun because I love that wii.

I came in first place on the running activity.

Yea, Me!

We ate at Steak and Shake and had a great drive home.

It was a great weekend all around.

Celebrating a tenth Tiziversary!

This past weekend we celebrated our tenth Tiziversary.

So hard to believe that it's been that long since we first met you.

In ways it seems like yesterday and in ways it seems like you have been in our lives forever.

We wanted to surprise Tiz so we took her and Soli to a women's volleyball game at Marquette.

It was a really fun event and both girls enjoyed it a lot.

We dropped Soli off at home and took Tiz to Five Below for some much needed make up and then to Chick fil a, her choice for dinner.

Then she came home with us for a sleepover.

We bought her a new camera that she wanted to we spent lots of time taking photos and videos.

After church on Sunday, we watched a wild and crazy Packer game that ended in a tie against the Vikings.

After that we headed to a chocolate factory in Waukesha to meet Courtney, Paul, and Soli.

It was a great Tiziversary!

Fun, Busy WeeHopkend

My first week of school for this year is in the books.

It was a great week.

Working just the morning three year old session is very nice, although I went home at noon this week to mopping our flooded basement, so there is that, but I am happy to say that it is dry once again and hopefully it will stay that way for a good long time.

John actually worked from home (so glad his company allows him to do this) on Thursday so he could fight the water. He had been up most of Wednesday night fighting it, too.

But we finally won!  Take that water.

The river is still at flood stage though and is very high all around Watertown.

The mosquitos are fierce, too.  we cannot go outside without our spray on!

Anyway on Saturday we headed into Ikea to get the rest of our kitchen table.  

We met up with Kev, Vikki, Nic, Tiztia at a place near Cathedral Square for lunch.  They had come in to visit Nic and see how his first days at MSOE were going.  We happened to be meeting up with Courtney at her farmer's market at Cathedral Square so it all worked out very well.

John left after lunch for his class reunion in Muskego while I had a nice late lunch with Courtney, Paul and the girls at the Water Street Brewery in Oak Creek near their gym.

John and I met up again at Courtney's and brought Soli home with us for a sleepover.

It was a great night for all of us.

On Sunday we went to church, the Budreau kids sat with us, then on to the new teacher brunch.  After that, Treyton, Kaliyah and Harmony came over.  The kids had fun playing with Soli.  Later Courtney, Paul, and Tizita came to pick Soli up.  We all went to our new Ice cream place in the old Froggy's.

It was a fine Sunday all around.

Tomorrow it is back to the grind at school. Hope week two is just a good as week one.

 Packers are on for the first time tonight.  Hope they beat da bears!

New stuff, Pat McCurdy, school starting, and oh, yeah, more rain!

Labor day weekend 2018 is coming to a close.

It had some really great upbeat times and then is had a few low moments, too.

Let's start with the good stuff.

On Friday night we tried out the new Cherry Bomb Burgers here in Watertown;

They offer a whole bunch of unique burgers.  I wanted to just try the plain hamburger, but pressure got to me and I ordered an Octogan Burger which is a burger with haystack onions, bacon, and bbq sauce.  I did not like the bbq taste since it covered up the bacon and burger flavor, but it was ok, next time I am going with the plain old hamburger!

John said his was the best burger he has had in his whole life and that is a lot of burgers.

It's a very nice place, a remodeled old biker bar, hope they do well.

After that we went to the drafty cellar for a beer.  I hope they do well, too.

On Saturday we hit up four furniture stores in Milwaukee in search of a new sofa and a new kitchen table and chairs.

We looked at Steinhafel's, Colder's, Built Rite, and Ashley.  The last two were very pushy, following us around the store.  The first two let us look on our own.  I so much appreciate that.

We decided to head over to Ikea, so glad that John agreed to that trip, he almost drove right back away when all the parking spots were filled up, but we did finally find one on the street.

We headed straight to the sofas to see if there was anything better than our favorite at Colder's, but no.  Then on to kitchen sets where we bought a table and four chairs.  They had the chairs in stock but we have to wait to pick up the table until next week.

Now can we get them together?

After Ikea we went back to Colder's and bought the couch we liked, it's a dark gray and only cost us $300.00.  It will be delivered in a week.

We looked around at a few other places for pillows and area rugs, but I will go to Amazon to find those.

On the way home we had pizza at Marty's.

It was a nice day.

On Sunday, after church we headed to Lucky's in Okee to see Pat McCurdy.

It was a great, fun show.  At one point it started raining sideways, but John and I were under the shelter of the bar roof so we were okay.

We enjoyed a nice lunch and some beers.

After the show, John agreed to a trip on the Merrimac ferry, our last for the summer.

We found that if you go from Okee to Merrimac as opposed to the other way, the wait is so much shorter.

After a tour through Sauk City, we headed home.  We drove through torrential rains and we knew that meant that our basement was going to be leaking yet again and sure enough, after our great fun time, we spent the rest of the night mopping up water.

John stayed up most of the night tending to the water.

Today, actual Labor Day it is still coming in at a good rate.

John put our four chairs together with no problems.

Other than that, it is a nice last day to summer.

Tomorrow I am back to school.

I pray for no criers! 

Stay tuned for details.