Discovery World with the Girls

It's Sunday night again.

Why do these Sunday nights have to roll around so quickly?

This one is particularly not welcome because it marks the end of my spring break.

Tomorrow I head back to school after a wonderful week of fun.

I lied in my last post when I said that I would be back to write more about our trip to the Smokey Mountains.  I never did get back her and post an update.  It was just a fun adventure and we had a great time so that is that.

Of course, I had to get my grandbabies' fix, so on Friday I went up to Oshkosh with John on his way to work.

I spent the day helping both girls clean and organize their new rooms.

We brought them home on Friday night for the weekend.

It was a great, fun memory making time again.

We had dinner at Culver's in Fond du Lac before heading home.  It was cold and rainy all weekend bu the way.

We watched some TV on Friday night.

On Saturday we headed to Discovery World in Milwaukee.

Tiz could not wait to lay on the bed of nails and Soli was anxious to touch the stingrays.

We did those things and lots of other stuff in between.

Here are a few photos from our great day:

 Tiz was actually lifting John here.  She was amazed.

 Soliana driving a big digger

 These balls would stay suspended in the air.

 Tiz on bed of nails

 Me on bed of  nails

 The electric shock giver thing. 

 Lunch

Stingrays!

After our day discovering things, we came home, ordered pizza and enjoyed a night of games.

The girls each had some nice one on one time with Gigi, too.

The funniest thing was when Soliana asked me, "When are you and Grandpa going to have children?"

LOL!

Today, Sunday, we took the girls back so they could sing in church.

Gigi came with us and we all enjoyed a lunch at Red Robin before coming home and here we are now.

Another great weekend.

Now on to tomorrow.

Our Spring Break Get Away to the Smokey Mountains

I am going to make this short and sweet,

John and I are on a much needed get away to a little cabin in the Smokey Mountains.

We love the cabin and the area.

We are enjoying all the touristy things and as usual, the time is going way too quickly.

Here are a few photos:

I will add more details when I get home.

I don't want to waste time here on the computer when the hot tub is calling.

Starved Rock, Hunter Home, and Snow Storm on the Way

It's Sunday night again and you know what that means, another weekend is coming to an end.

Another weekend of memories is in the books.

On Saturday, we headed down to Bloomington to visit Alissa and Nathan.

The weather had been so nice so I wanted to go on a hike at Starved Rock State Park which is such a very beautiful spot in the middle of flat Illinois.

Suddenly on Thursday our weather took a nose dive, it was so cold.

I wasn't sure we would want to hike if it was too cold, but we took our stuff along anyway.

Since I am still counting my steps with  a new fitbit (old on bit the dust) I also wanted to walk to get those steps in.

It was actually very nice for hiking.

We hiked almost 4 miles and 9000 steps.

After our hike, we headed to Alissa and Nathan's all ready for a night out with beers and dinner.

They always take us to new and fun places and Saturday was no exception.

We started out at a new brewery for a few beers and then had dinner at a bar with all my favorite bar type foods.

I had a BLT just loaded with bacon on white bread!  Yes!

We went back to their house and had a few more beers and a lot of conversation which was great.

Today we watched Golden Girls and headed out after lunch.

We are home now awaiting a huge predicted snow storm, the biggest of the season or so they say!

I am not looking forward to that business, but it is march, so it cannot last, right?

Here are just a few little tidbits:

1.  I am down to 154 pounds which means that I have been working hard trying to get my 10000 steps each day and watching what I eat.  It has not been easy, but when my jeans fit again, it makes it worthwhile.

2.  I hope to keep going till I get down to my goal of 145 and then I hope to never go far from that number.

3.  Next Friday John and I leave for a few days (4 to be exact) in a little cabin in the Smoky mountains.  I am not sure what the temps will be like, but I am sure we will have a very good time and a much needed get away.

4.  Grandparent's Day at Tiz and Soli's school is this Wed and for the first time, I am going.  Yep, I am taking the day off and going to be a grandma.  So excited to do that.

5.  We booked another week on St. George Island this July.  We are long overdue for a visit.  I am hoping Courtney and family will join us, but I am not sure if that will work out  or not.  Either way, we are going to enjoy every minute of our SGI time.

I think that is all for now.

Here's to a great week, that goes by very quickly and to the weatherman being wrong this time!

May Every day be a Circus Day!

Today John and I took Soli and Tiz to the circus in Green Bay.

This is our fifth time to take them to the circus and it just keeps getting better.  This year there were some really fun new acts.  There were even singing pigs!

It does get more expensive each time we go, too, but we know that ahead of time and save for the day.

We don't like to have to say "NO" to the girls because it's the circus after all, and we are making memories with them.

Tiz chose to ride a camel this year, Soli chose a pony, and they both chose to have their faces painted.  There were also the mandatory snow cones, funnel cakes, and light sticks.

Here are a few photos from our memorable day:

After the circus, we met Courtney and Paul for pizza and a few beers before coming home.

It was another great circus day for us, until next year.

Celebrating Courtney and Paul's Birthdays and a few other fun things

It's been another fun filled, memory making weekend.

I offered to take the girls for the weekend so Courtney and Paul could celebrate their birthdays in a fun way.

This was purely selfish on my part, since I just really wanted to have the girls for a weekend.  They decided to travel to Iowa to visit Mike and Jen, win/win all the way around for sure.

They dropped the girls off on Friday about 3:00.

We went to a dance at St. John's that night.  It was so much fun.  At first Tiz wasn't too interested in getting out there and dancing, but with some encouragement, she found a friend in Julia Schauer and the rest is history.

Soliana, of course, found a bunch of friends right away and I didn't see her for the rest of the night.

Louisa and Tim Budreau, my favorite parents ever are fostering a little three month old baby girl, she just came to them on Wednesday and they brought her along to the dance.  Tiz enjoyed holding her for awhile before she got out on the dance floor.

She is the cutest baby and I am so excited for their family.  What a blessing for Harmony!

After the dance, we came home and watched some TV.

On Saturday we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum.  We usually try and go once a year with the girls.

It was a great day all the way around.

Here are a few photos:

After the museum, we stopped at the Dollar Tree so the girls could buy some cards and gifts for Courtney and Paul.

We came home and Tiz made Paul a mint chocolate lasagna cake while Soli made her mama a chocolate chip cookie dough cake.  Both of them were so proud to make the cakes.

We had PJ's subs for dinner and then watched movies for the rest of the night.

Today we went to church and then the girls decorated and planned a birthday party for their parents.

What fun they had doing that!

Courtney and Paul arrived from Iowa about 2:00.  We enjoyed Marge's scalloped potatoes and ham and the two birthday cakes.  We played games planned by the girls and opened gifts.

It was a great way to end our wonderful weekend.

Nest week it is circus time!

I will leave you with these beautiful sleeping babies.

Mid February with temps in the 60's!

The weather this weekend is gorgeous and so different than February weather should be.

But, we will take it and hope it is here to stay.

On Saturday, John and I decided to use our zoo passes and get our exercise walking around the zool.

Well apparently every other person in SE Wisconsin had the same idea.

It was so crowded, but it was still a successful walk.

We put in 4 miles at the zoo and then headed to Frame Park and put in another 2.5.

After the walking, we rewarded ourselves with dinner and drinks at Bonefish Grill.

It was our first time there and we enjoyed it so much.

Great raspberry martini, wonderful, tasty fish, and a personal waiter named Jeremy.

It was pricey, but most great things are, right?

We will go back but not often due to the prices.

Today (Sunday) we will take a walk to the cemetery and put new things on the graves.

Nice, relaxing weekend for John and I.

Cheer, Beer, Girls, Sing, and Make up

It was another fun weekend.

On Friday, Alissa arrived for a sister/cousin/watch Tiz cheer weekend.

We had made plans to go out with Tim and Louisa Budreau months before the other plans fell into place, so Alissa joined us.  We had fish at Elias, so yummy, and then headed over to Ann's for a few beers.  I am not sure what the Budreaus like about hanging with us, but I love them and they are almost like a third daughter and son in law to us.

On Saturday AM, Mal, Lis and I were heading into Milwaukee to see Tiz in her cheer competition.

We were on a tight schedule.

Mal waas 20 minutes late to begin with and then we got stopped by a train and then we got stopped by a cop. (No ticket, just a warning and we were on our way again)  Two delays but we still made it in plenty of time to see Tiz cheer.

Her team did well.

After cheer,we had lunch at Picolo's Pizza in Wauwatosa.

Two water spills later, we were on our way back home.

The girls went out for the night.

John and I took Tiz and Soli to see Sing, a very cute movie.  We all liked it.

After the movie, we stopped at the dollar store to buy makeup for our fun activity.

We put make up on each other with one of us behind the other one using our arms to apply makeup to their face.  It was fun.  It is now on you tube if anyone wants to see it.

Bedtime, church today and then everyone left about one.

John and I just got back from a long walk.

Nice temps, but the wind is very strong today.  Almost blew us over a few times.

Now we are back in for the night.

Another great weekend!

Here are a few photos: