Summer 2010: Wisconsin & Iowa

Our first part of the summer trip, we visited Wisconsin and Iowa. Here are some of the pictures from our adventures. We went to the zoo, went to the Milwaukee County Museum, saw a Brewer's game at Miller Park, went to the Waukesha County fair, petted a sea lion,went to the Mitchell County Fair, petted a pig (which was on Matthew's bucket list), visited everyone we could, and then we kept going west.

Summer Vacation 2010

Well, we finally got back from our summer vacation. I'll post some pictures and stories in the next few days. In short, we went to Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and back through Tennessee and Ohio to New York. 5 weeks, 5500 miles of driving. Phew!

We still don't know exactly where we're moving yet (theoretically, we'll know in another month).

Philly and NYC

We took a trip to Philadelphia and NYC last week. Attached are many, many pictures.

We did ride the Philadelphia Ducks (yes, the one that got rammed by a barge yesterday). But, we obviously had a much better time than those people by NOT getting rammed by a barge.

NYC was really fun, very busy, and quite warm. We saw as much as we could in 2 1/2 days and didn't even come close to seeing all we wanted to see. Hopefully, we can take another trip there before we move.

One of the memorable quotes of the trip came from Matthew. After a long day of walking and getting dirtier than I ever thought possible, he decided to partake of our whirlpool tub (it was the only room they had left - and the kids thought it was awesome). After an unusual amount of giggling, I asked him what was so funny. He replied, "Whirlpools are great because you can fart and nobody will know!"

It's Official: Julia is a middle-schooler!

Julia graduates
23-Jun-2010

Here is a clip of Julia at her "graduation" (aka "Moving Up") ceremony. She's now a middle schooler!!! And, to complete the day, her softball team won their game and is moving on to the championship game tomorrow!!!

Julia is a middle-schooler!

Julia officially joined the ranks of middle-schoolers across the land today, thereby sealing my fate as an official old person. One kid in middle school...you're getting up there. TWO kids in middle school - yeah, please get me my cane.

She had a good day, even though her class was the last of TWELVE (yes, 12!) classes to get certificates. She had some refreshments afterwards and had a great time doing not much for the rest of the day at school.

Attached are a few pics. One is of Matthew who found that using the pencil sharpener in Julia's classroom was the highlight of his day. Had any of the kids still had pencils in their desks, he would have been a very useful little sharpener slave...

Lesson Number 443

Lesson Number 443: Be careful what you have on television - little boys are very observant!
Example: While at the grocery store, Matthew spotted a case of Labatt's Beer. It featured the new Labatt "Blue Light Refreshment Duo" on the box. He exclaimed, "Mom, those are the girls that can save us!"

Father's Day at Lake Ontario

Here's proof that we've been to Lake Ontario. Looks a bit like all the other Great Lakes (big). Also, we have proof we've been to the end of the pier at the Port of Rochester. The great part was when a guy fishing told the kids not to fall in because a kid had drowned here last week - really makes for a happy occasion!

The last two pictures are of two very tired kids, and two throwing sunscreen at each other because they are senseless. This was after playing in the surf, running up and down a pier in Matthew-like fashion (back and forth, in circles, occasionally falling down). We'd have done the carousel, except Matthew had a wet butt and it is against the rules to ride the carousel if you have a wet butt (seriously). We ate at a place called Schallers and then decided to drive out to Sea Breeze (and they have been asking ever since when we will go there - can we go tomorrow mom? Can we go after school is out? Or, we can go home and get our suits now, right?)

Hope everyone had a Happy Father's Day :)

Self Portraits...by Matthew

Here are Matthew's Self Portraits from November, January, and May. Notice the progression. To say we all had a good laugh was an understatement!

Lesson #442

The picture says it all.

Lesson #442: Do not allow you dog to sleep under your bed with his legs sticking out for you to trip on in the middle of the night. Unless, that is, you want to smash your face in...