An Eventful Beginning to July!

Well, as I start to write this 4th of July post, I need to write how exciting the very first days of July were! :) My niece was expected to arrive sometime in mid-to late-June but oh no, Miss Quinn Rosen Brown was much more patriotic than that. She chose to arrive on July 1 after a very long and anticipated journey:) They are coming back soon and along with everyone else in the Midwest:), I am so stinkin' excited to see them all! Here's some pics of my beautiful niece...

One of my favorite pics of Miss Quinn, what a cutie!

And, I am kind of partial to any pic with her Daddy. So sweet.

Besides being obsessed with my phone and catching pics and info on our newly-expanded family in Okinawa, we had a lot of fun for the 4th of July! Dave was unfortunately on call for the holiday weekend, but Mom and Dad came up to relax and play. The weather was generally good, the bugs weren't too bad and we had a nice balance of activity and relaxation. Since we couldn't go out on the boat over the weekend, we took the kids over to a supper club on the Adams County side of the lake on Thursday night. By the way, Collin loves the boat and does really well. His only issue is that he is happiest when he is on Daddy's lap/driving the boat. He will fuss and go over to the captain's chair and is totally content there:) So as long as Dave is cool with it, Kate and I get to relax! It was a gorgeous night and while we were still sitting out on the deck finishing up we got the text that Mom and Dad were three minutes from the house. It was a scenic but quick ride back across the lake:) and we arrived to Mom and Dad on a Face Time call with Tony, Tara & Quinn! 

Friday was spent on the back beach, playing in the sand, paddle boarding, picnic, and napping (oops, guilty!).  On Saturday, Mom and I played tennis and then Dad, Dave and I played a round of golf! There is a lovely course between our house and Mauston, but I'm sad to report that Dave and I rarely get to go. I was excited to play, though it was my first round in two years. How is that possible?! I had a blast, though I have to admit that is quite an active day for me. There was no soreness until the next day:) 

We did pretty good! Wish it was easier to get a sitter and play more.
Or had a husband who could play (ankle!)

Driving on #15
This is one of two open holes, otherwise it is very wooded!

We also cleaned up and had supper in town and then parked in the hospital parking lot to watch fireworks. We didn't time it perfectly and had a lot of time to kill, but the kids did great. The fireworks show was nothing to really write home about, but our kids loved it and so it was perfect:) I have no idea how Collin was still up at 9:45 p.m. He was pretty stoked to be walking around the back of the van and once the fireworks started, he just sat calmly in Gma's lap and would say "boom" after each one. Kate ran around and made a friend with another girl in the next car. She liked the fireworks but not the "big boomers," I have to admit that I feel the same way!

Gpa and Collin waiting for fireworks to start

Our family pic for this 4th of July:)

On Sunday, Mom and Dad escaped grandparent duty and played some tennis in the morning and we played close to the house as the sun hid most of the day. We ate on the deck and blocked the stairs so Collin could walk/run around and climb on the chairs on the deck. Dave and Dad found some projects to work on, of course! and Mom and I did some thinking on the golf tournament coming up.

Collin's words continue to expand! He is kind of like a parrot, repeating a lot of what we say, and added, "ruff" for a doggie sound as well. He is also doing this blinking thing that is beyond adorable. He is such a cheeser;  flirty and affectionate, mischievous...trouble:)  His car/airplane/tractor sounds are getting much more complex as well. In the last few days, he is loving Dave's old Matchbox cars and will vroom them around all over, crash them and say "uh oh." He has spent hours on the JD tractor (I may have let the kids watch a tractor pull on tv while supper was finishing up the other day. I think it had an effect.)

Started climbing in the sun room, had to move furniture around again

Driving his tractor!

Oh, he was just in to the doctor (July 8) for his 15 month well check (oops! a little late) and he is 23 lbs. 32 in tall and is running tall and skinny with a big head, as he always has. He did great at the doc (our friend, Ryan) and mostly just tried to climb up on the chairs, play with the curtain and give Ryan a hug. He had three shots which made him clingy and seemingly sleepy though he perked up at home. 

Shots:(

We are currently in the midst of some private swim lessons for the kiddos. Kate was expressing some interest in swimming without her life jacket but was in no way interested in going to swimming lessons. She freaks out any time we ask her to put her face in the water and then we recently had an unfortunate event at the pool that made her even more skittish. She came out of the bathroom onto the pool deck and forgot her life jacket was off. She went right down the steps and jumped in and started going down. She was panicking and I got to her pretty quickly but she was very scared. She was really not interested after that:(  The good news is she doesn't mind having her life jacket on! Which is something we have pushed a lot because of the boat, but we definitely need to get her trained to swim without it. Especially living where we do, so much water. 

So...I was trying to find information on swimming lessons in the area and was discouraged with the times/schedule and the sign up (already missed some). Dave asked around at the hospital and one of the daughters of someone he works with is a lifeguard and swim instructor at the Mauston pool. And she has babysat for us before! Twice a week in the afternoon, Stephanie comes to our pool and Dave or I take both kids over for about a half an hour. She was hesitant at first. Wanted to wear her life jacket (we didn't let her)! Every time Stephanie asked if she wanted to do something new, she would say no. But she ended up doing what she asked and loved it. She has been super excited ever since and has requested a kick board with Ariel on it like Stephanie brought:) 

We are bringing Collin as well, since I feel like it is good to start early (and just didn't with my first born, I guess!), he will be the one I am most concerned about, much more of a dare devil and his entire life is surrounded by water. He likes to splash and play, Dave got him to kick a little better last time, and then his last lesson ended with with a bloody nose. I was home getting supper ready and Dave took the kids over. They came back and he yelled for me to grab Collin (not panicked...) and then said that he took a bad tumble on the concrete around the pool. Apparently, he was standing by the steps or had just come out and Dave expected him to come right back in, but instead Collin flashed him a smile and took off running the other way. He got about three steps before he fell and landed on his face. He had a bloody nose and scraped mouth, luckily no damage to teeth. He stopped crying when Dave picked him up and he is still red around his mouth but it doesn't look too bad. Glad I wasn't there to see the blood! I am really fine with blood, but I'm guessing that seeing it coming out of my small child will set off a different reaction in me:)

You can't really tell he fell! And graham crackers fix almost anything:)

All's well that ends well. I imagine this tumble will be a mere scratch compared to what's coming in Collin's future. Good thing we know people in the ER:) We have lessons tonight, so maybe I'll try and grab a little video sometime. If someone can hold Collin!

Feels Like Summer:)

Hello! I feel like I have posted lately about the activities that we are doing but not on how our kiddos have been changing and their development! So, that needs to be rectified. 

Collin is starting to blossom, I think:) He has had a few words (uh, oh, da-da, various car/truck/tractor sounds, etc.) but now we are getting a "hi" and lot of "crac-ker" (his word for food. Everything is a cracker), "all-done" and many others that we've heard maybe just once, but I think will be popping up more soon. He can make three animal sounds, his first was a monkey, second was a duck and now after staying at Mom and Dad's last weekend, he tries to moo like a cow. Though it comes out as a "mmmm. Boo" :) 

He just started smiling for the camera and actually will walk over to a camera and start smiling at it - going to be a ham?!! He will also say, "cheese!" So cute. And I think with the praise that we are giving Collin when he smiles, Kate is getting a normal smile back in her repertoire:) Yay, bonus! 

Collin has started blowing kisses, something we usually do at night or nap to anyone who is around. He is waving bye-bye almost every time, it was very spotty before. He is pretty cuddly, and definitely needs cuddle time after nap...okay! His appetite seems to be better lately, he is certainly eating more and I think he is eating more of a variety of things. He is still weird about many commonly-loved toddler foods! But I'll take what I can get. He has a few different smiles - a kind of cheesy one, one that wrinkles his nose and and big one when he is laughing. He loves to do something he is not supposed to, he'll climb up on the couch and walk around, when I say "sit down," he will and then the second I start walking away/back up, he smiles and stands back up, waiting for me to come back and then he drops down and giggles. It's cute but I can see where this is leading...

The interactions between these two is certainly evolving as well. Collin is growing and asserting himself much more. Unfortunately for Kate, the way he often displays his displeasure or need for attention is through biting or pinching. Ugh. But they have even more time when they are playing nicely, enjoying something together, Kate sometimes develops some patience and tries to teach him something. Collin will look up at her all the time with this look in his eyes like he is observing her and soaking it all in:) Still my all time favorite (and I'm guessing all parents) is watching them make each other laugh. They really crack each other up sometimes, best sound/moment in the world. There are times when Kate is mad that Collin is wanting to join her or play with her, but very often lately, she gets upset when he doesn't want to play with her. Or when he wants to cuddle with Mommy and not her.

Building some duplos together

The big news for Kate recently is that she attended three weeks of summer school (4K Prep) at New Lisbon Elementary. Did I write about this already? She will start 4K (preschool) in the fall and they do a little summer session to help everyone acclimate. I'm not sure if Kate needed it, but I enjoyed it! I love the teachers she'll have, I am now familiar with the school and feel like my trauma will be decreased because of the summer session:) 

They didn't do much, it was just a couple hours in the morning, mostly playing, always an art project, songs, play outside and a free lunch. She had a locker and always went in smiling and left me begging for a goodbye. It was a big class, there were 36 kids signed up for the summer school, so she will probably have a good-sized class. One of my soccer kids was in her class, Evan came up to me every time I came to pick up Kate and said hi, so sweet:) 

Eating in the cafeteria! She always ate most of her lunch

Her locker:)

I did successfully make some strawberry freezer jam the other day! I was just determined to accomplish it this year and so we tried a very large batch:) I picked one flat of very ripe strawberries and I struggled with the exact recipe and method and finally just followed what was on the pectin that I purchased (a low/no sugar pectin). 

It all went pretty well! It passed the taste day the next day and I have quite a bit, so no buying jam for awhile -yeah! 

We had a very special weekend last weekend! Our friends, Angie and Ryan had wanted to see Decorah (we talk about it quite a bit:) and we also wanted to do a little escape without our children (four between the two families). So we arranged for grandparents to watch the kiddos and we had a wonderful trip to Decorah!! We had meals without interruption or screaming, we showered and got ready from start to finish with no interruption, we ate ice cream without needing 40 napkins, we spent the afternoon outside at Toppling Goliath without any sunscreen...we were BORN FREE......!!!! :) 

It wasn't long, but it was just a really wonderful little break. And we hit up most of Decorah's highlights. Beer at Toppling Goliath, dessert at Whippy Dip, shopping at the Hatchery, coffee from Java Johns, overnight at the Hotel Winn, dinner at Rubiayat, walked a bit of the trail, drove through Phelps and Luther...and we had tour guide Dave to give us the skinny on it all:) The conversation never stopped and we had positive updates from the grandparents scattered throughout the day - a success! 

When we returned to Mom and Dad's, we got the skinny on the kids' fun weekend! This just happened to be the same weekend as Laura Days in Burr Oak, so Mom took them to the parade and then to the museum, where Kate scored some loot:) It was a hot day, so when they returned they played in the sprinkler outside. Dad and Andy were working on a project (of course!) they were hauling rock and prepping for some concrete that will be poured this week for a patio off the south side of the house. The kids listened to the cows going crazy and practiced their "mooing" :) Kate made some delicious brownies with Mom...all the wonderful things you must do at Gma and Gpa's, right?

Parade!

Love her new bonnet! 

Well, today is the last day of June, it has been a very summery month, I think! Here is the link to the photo album, click here!

A Berry Good Weekend

Bam! Look at me go, another blog post...:) 

Last weekend, we had some friends from Iowa come up to visit! Amber, Cory, Kellen & Raef Hines came up from their new home in Cedar Falls. Amber and Dave started working in the SICU at UIHC back in the summer of 2004:) We've been friends ever since and went through anesthesia school together, went to the river together, went through our pregnancies together, and moved away at about the same time! 

Kate and Kellen - summer of 2011 on the Mississippi

Anyway, we hadn't met Raef yet and they hadn't met Collin, so that was pretty fun and watching Kate and Kellen is pretty funny. They play pretty well but also bicker like an old married couple at times. They've had play dates since Kate was 6 weeks old, so that is kind of cute. 

The weather didn't cooperate too well for us (as we all know around here!) We played out on the back pond (fishing, paddle boarding, playing in the sand), took some naps when it got dark and moody outside.  We went out on the boat and played on a beach, the little boys ate a lot of sand, Kate and Kellen moved a giant rock, it was a good time:) We capped off Friday with fish fry at Shipwreck, of course:) As they say, the state bird of Wisconsin (and Minnesota) was out in full force. We were all pretty much attacked by mosquitoes much of the time. It was kind of torture to constantly be swatting yourself or drowning in bug spray. And then another kind of torture for me to see everyone's bites swelling up and complaining. Not fun! It is not like that all the time up here, but at times it can definitely be a downer. I kept joking that they would never come back after being attacked like this, but they said they would come:) 

Our friends are here!!

I loved these action shots...it's just a more accurate reflection of the moment

On Saturday, the kids played outside in the morning and we planned a picnic lunch on another beach. We made it to the beach near Portofino Bay and just got our lunches out when the thunder started and our radar indicated we should head right back home:(  We were rained/sprinkled on during the ride back, but we are tough:) We regrouped/napped and then planned an evening in the Dells. 

These kids have been boatin' their whole lives!

Moving the rock...

The nicest weather we had all weekend!

The weather turned around and we enjoyed the Tommy Bartlett Waterski Show and then had another meal out! After supper, we showed them downtown Dells and walked the strip a bit. It was a Saturday night in June in the Dells - it was busy. Busy. The highlight was deciding to get the kids' picture taken at one of the Old Time Picture places! After awhile, we finally decided on a theme of Western Formal Portrait:) Kate wasn't sure about it at first, but when I got the dress on her, she perked way up. She saw some other women getting dressed up and wanted a hat like them:) So they gave her a "bonnet." She was in heaven. Kellen was too cute in his little outfit. They were adorable. Collin was super tired and so he didn't fight it too much. Once Raef was dressed, he kept running around the studio and he kept running into another picture! The cutest photo bomber ever. 

We were waiting for this bar background and when the natives (our children) were getting restless (running in every direction, taking all the clothes/props and waiting to try them all on) we decided to just do a simple background that we could do immediately! It was a bit tricky, the adults acted like monkeys to get their attention, I hid so Collin wouldn't try and come toward me and they got 6 photos. Victory. Honestly, the best part was just being there watching them:) But we picked a photo and took it home. Well, Hines' did. When I collapsed the stroller and put it in the back of the car, the photo must have slipped out. We don't have ours:( We scanned theirs, but damn it! 

After a quick ice cream stop, we headed home with some tired kiddos. And tired parents. Who am I kidding, here? They left on Sunday and I attempted to get the house in order again. Dave accomplished some work outside and cleaned the boat. He then took the kids to the pool so I could have some quite and uninterrupted time to clean the house. The rain cut that excursion short too! Oh well, a very fun-filled weekend in the books!

Other fun this week...

Picking strawberries! We ran out there to see if they still had some to pick and Kate and I picked while Dave walked Collin around. Both kids had strawberries and we picked enough for some ice cream at night. The crop is pretty much done, all the rain has made it a less than ideal crop, or so they say, I thought it was fine! I came back the next morning and picked another flat to make some jam:)

Collin inspecting his strawberry

Kate and I picking/eating:)

Quick trip to Madison! We wanted to go to the zoo and ended up needing to replace the rocker in Collin's room, so we dodged some rain/storm threats and had a nice little day out. 

The giraffes are definitely one of our favorites

What a trooper, no nap...we're going to the zoo!

Waiting for Baby Brown:)! Well, as most of you know, we are all anxiously waiting for our niece/cousin to arrive! I've been able to chat with Tara and email with Tony during the last week and have enjoyed that very much. It is such a special and crazy time! They will be heading back home soon as well, so we have a lot to be thankful for. Hopefully, I will be announcing that we are soon an Aunt/Uncle/Cousins for the first time!

California or Bust!

Well, I guess I am writing this over a month after our big family trip to California:( Considering all that is going on, I'm going to count that as a success:) Let's see how short and sweet I can make this....hahahaha..  Here is the link to the photo album if you just want a summary in pictures:)

Friday, May 16th, we were finishing packing up, loading the car and heading to the Twin Cities to stay with my aunt and uncle, Bob and Shelley. It was a wonderfully crazy day as we had some garage door repairs being done, a landscaping quote being done and my Dad came up to actually do some electrical work for our association:) Luckily, Dave got home nice and early and we were able to make it all work! We were packed, house and dog taken care of (house/dog sitter for the week), said goodbye to Dad on the way out of the neighborhood and happily hit the interstate. 

5 minutes into the drive to the Cities:)

We made good time, stopped to eat in Woodbury:) and then got to Bob and Shelley's house. I love it there, so peaceful and so much to see. We unloaded and figured out how our sleeping arrangements would be (often a puzzle to figure out what configuration works best) and soon Kate was playing Barbies with Shell, Dave was working on getting Collin asleep and I was watching the Twins with Bob and catching up. Since we had an early flight, we hit the hay early and prayed Collin would sleep well:) (he did!) 

Bob was our chauffeur in the morning and after finally getting the car seats out of the van, we said goodbye to Bob at the curb and headed into the airport! We did great, here is what we had with us: Three large checked bags, two backpacks, Kate's rolling carry-on, one stroller, two carseats, one purse and of course Kate and Collin! I think that was all. We could get everything up to the counter because Kate could push one of the large rolling bags. Collin stayed in his car seat in the stroller as well. We flew through check-in and started heading to our gate. We were pretty proud of ourselves, and it was rather adorable seeing Kate rolling her little bag through the airport:) 

She was a pro!

Getting through security was trickier, there was just so much stuff. We had gone over everything with Kate ahead of time, so that helped, though they said she didn't need to take off her shoes. So glad I battled her with her shoe choice cuz I thought they had to come off! Our bags went through and then they grabbed our big stuff (car seats and stroller) and hand checked them off the side, and then they let us go through the regular metal detector thing, not the big one. Kate went through fine and Collin actually thought it was fun and walked through himself (Dave and I and the nice TSA workers thought it was adorable:) Of course, it took us awhile to regroup and get everything back how we needed it, but again, pretty smooth! Our gate was right there, not long treks anywhere. Dave took off to get us some coffee!! and I stayed with the kids and watched the plane at the gate. Pretty fun and we tried to let Collin run around as much as possible. One trip to the potty, one diaper change and we were boarding. I was anticipating glares from other passengers but surprisingly most were really sweet. 

Daddy splurged and got her a hot chocolate.
You can stop looking so grown up anytime, Kate. 

Learning what happens to get a plane ready

We didn't pay for a seat for Collin, he was technically a lap baby, however, Southwest allows you to bring his car seat and give him a free seat if the plane is not full and our first flight was actually quite empty! What a great way to start the trip. Car seats have to be in a window seat, so Collin was by a window, in his car seat with Dave next to him and an empty seat next to Dave. Kate was in her car seat directly behind Collin (window) with me next to her and an empty seat next to me! Plenty of space, Kate was excited about flying, Collin fell asleep. Sweet! We are amazing! Where else should we jet off to? :) 

The flight was short and sweet, soon we arrived in Kansas City. It did take us awhile to unlatch the car seats, get our bags together and get back through the aisles, but we were in no hurry. At the end of the gangway, there was Gma Bobbi! Pretty fun to run up and see her there. She helped us make our way down to our next gate. Gpa Ron was there, reinforcements! We grabbed some food, let the kids run (probably the best use of having grandparents, having a person to just follow Collin, keep him safe but let him move). It wasn't long before we were boarding again and of course, right as we are gathering our stuff to move, Collin has an epic diaper. Dave just put him down right there and changed it. Sorry people at the gate waiting to board, but seriously, you didn't want us changing that on the plane:) 

Fresh and clean, we boarded and filled up two rows, this flight was full, so Collin's car seat was checked at the gate and he was on laps. We had Ron, Bobbi, Dave and Collin in one row with Kate and I behind, and another man next to me. I had packed multiple surprises...toys, treats to bring out slowly to try and keep them occupied. They were in Kate's new rolling bag and she wasn't allowed to look inside - how cruel! Bobbi had done some as well and it worked for most of the trip! Collin did get tired again and we weren't able to get him to fall asleep and so.....yup. Meltdown. Screaming, flailing, not happy. It was pretty awful for us, we felt bad, we couldn't help him. Dave was good and just tried to hold him and keep him calm. The people didn't seem to be too agitated, though obviously this is their worst nightmare. Many were parents and understood a bit, here's a tip = always pack your headphones!!  :) Kate did have to go to the bathroom and Dave also won the chance to take her to do that. I love you, Dave.  :)

But we did finally arrive in San Diego! Aunt Becky met us at baggage claim and Laurie too! The kids once again were pretty antsy and wanted to move. Dave went off to get the rental van and eventually we headed up to Temecula in two cars. We had both kiddos and they almost immediately fell asleep. Perfect! 

Ron and Bobbi had rented an amazing house in the hills around Temecula. It was very beautiful and fun to see the avocado groves and all the citrus trees growing, but I will say that I did not enjoy the super curvy, hilly road we had to take to get there! I spent the majority of the trip in the third row of the van and...uff da:) Anyway, the house was amazing. I didn't take any pics of the house when we arrived, I was pretty excited to get our stuff inside and get things set up so we could feel at home. 

Collin and Daddy checking out the backyard

The "backyard!" Hot tub, pool...gorgeous!

It didn't take long and we had family arriving to hang out! Aunt Becky was so amazing and brought up all kinds of groceries and supplies for us throughout the whole week. I won't be able to write up all the days in detail but here is the general way things went: 

We've arrived, Laurie and the kids get to playing and catching up...

The Super Aunts with a couple kids:)

Saturday (the day we arrived) almost all the family was able to come up and hang out. Becky and the cousins had brought up some toys so we had lots of fun things for the kids to play with. David, Carolyn, Julia and Anna Willett were able to stay with us that first night, and on Sunday, even more family arrived to visit. Sunday was the nicest day and it was the only time that anyone got in the pool! And the only ones brave enough to do that were Alexander and Kate:)  and poor Tim who was elected as the responsible adult to join them:)

Oh, I'd better give the rundown on who we were visiting or who was visiting us! 

Aunt Becky (Bobbi's twin sister!) and Martin Stahl live in Temecula. Their four daughters and their families all spent time with us: Katie, Dale and Paige (2yrs) Brech live in Arizona; Carolyn, David, Julia (3yrs), and Anna (8 months) Willett live in Orange, California; Kristin, Tim, Alex (5yrs), and Thomas (15 months and born the exact same day as Collin:) Woods live in Temecula; And Kellyn Stahl whole lives in Temecula! Whew! We also saw Bobbi's uncle, Irv and her cousin Mike. 

We managed a whole family photo!

Monday we went to Disneyland!!! Ron and Bobbi agreed to stay back and watch Collin. Aunt Becky came up to the house and watched Thomas there as well. It sounds like they had a pretty great time! Thank you grandparents! It is always fun to get some special one-on-one (or I guess one-on-two) time with your kiddos and I was so excited to have this whole day for Kate. Laurie joined us to see Disneyland through her 4-year-old niece's eyes:) 

We met up with Tim, Kristin, Alex, Kellyn, Carolyn, David & Julia at Disneyland. Quite the crew! Our first stop was Space Mountain:) and then we needed to get Kate to the castle, she could see it and it was killing her not to go there right away. She loved the castle and Aurora's story (we haven't watched it yet). Aurora was also the only princess we spotted walking around the park. At the castle, Dave noticed the Bibbity Boppity Boutique, and was hooked. Honestly, Kate wasn't really sure what it was, but Dave decided his princess was going to experience being a princess! So, we bought a dress and then had her go back with her "Fairy Godmother-In-Training" to become a princess:) She was pretty apprehensive about it and wasn't sure about all the attention. She broke down a bit right at the end, the big reveal! But once we got back outside and we were headed for the teacups, she perked up. While we were riding the teacups, she lit up and we saw the magic of Disney in our child's face:) Amazing. 

One of our favorite moments.
Would have been a little better if Dave wasn't spinning it so fast. In my opinion:)

We rode the teacups (twice), the carousel, Dumbo and Casey Jr. train. It was a Monday and the lines weren't too bad, but there were a lot of school buses and what looked like end of the year school trips there. Another highlight was meeting up with David, Carolyn and Julia (and the Woods') at a little restaurant place near the kid rides. They happened to be sitting at a table that was right next to the exit for the Anna and Elsa meet and greet. Oh. My. God. We could wait in a four hour line to meet them (and hope she would do it and not panic or get too shy. And I think they actually closed the line cuz it was too long) or we could sit comfortably and see them when the curtain was pulled back as someone exited. What Kate spotted them, she lit up again! I was very careful not to make it so blatant that we were trying to see them (I didn't want to get in trouble or have them adjust it so we couldn't see) but amazingly, the curtain was held back extra long once or twice and Anna and Elsa looked over and saw Kate and Julia standing/sitting there and they smiled/waved/said hello to them! The Disney worker guy was even smiling and seemed like they thought it was cute. Oh my gosh, what an unexpected treat:) I was thrilled. Then another mother noticed and brought her kid over, practically blocked the exit and was blatantly trying to have her kid do the same. She got in trouble:) 

Teacups!

Kate did really well during the whole day, we actually didn't purchase anything while we were there - food or souvenir, besides the princess stuff at the beginning! We stuck around for the parade and it was totally worth it. Kate was up on Dave's shoulders and she was able to see all the princesses, Mickey and Minnie...so fun to see her smile and scream out the character's name she was seeing next. After the parade, we left to find some very late supper. The Willett's decided to join us and we went to a Mexican place on the way home. Kate and I passed out on the ride back to Temecula:) A wonderful day and a lifelong memory!

ps - this dress was a glitter bomb. We are still finding glitter everywhere. 

On Tuesday, Katie, Dale and Paige came up to visit since Paige had been sick and missed the days before. It was a wonderful, relaxing day with good conversation and some fun out picking oranges from the trees in the front yard. Bobbi had picked some grapefruit earlier in the week and made fresh grapefruit juice, Laurie and I had hiked around and picked some oranges another morning, but this morning we went down at got some oranges and some Cuties! Yes, they had a Cutie tree. So fun. 

Kate and Gpa with quite the harvest!

On Wednesday,  Ron, Bobbi, Dave, Collin, Kate and I went down to Temecula for some breakfast and strolling around Old Town. After that, we met up with Woods' and Brech's for some time at a park. We split up and Ron, Bobbi and Laurie hit some wineries while Dave and I and the kids did a maintenance stop at Target:)  We grabbed some frozen yogurt and then drove out to Temecula's wine country and visited Miramonte Winery - a favorite of Tony, Tara and Mom and Dad's. After coming back home and dropping the kids, Dave and I had a date that night!  

On Thursday, Laurie, Dave and I finally got our butts up to the Santa Rosa Plateau and started on a hike. Well, we didn't make it far before Dave hurt his ankle. There was a loop in the trail and he took off running, we heard him fall/yell/swear and ran back to find him. Sprawled on the trail and very much hurt. The rest of that day Dave, Ron and I spent in the new and very nice Temecula Valley Hospital:) That evening Kristin hosted us all (everyone!) at her lovely house. A yummy meal and fun time playing outside for the kids.   

We visited the beautiful Temecula E.R., don't miss it on your next stop in California!

Katie entertaining the kids at Kristin's

Friday was beach day!! (And my birthday:) we loaded up and headed down to Camp Pendleton near San Diego.  Del Mar Beach is this wonderful place for members of the military and their families (Martin is a retired Navy chaplain). I was excited to go for many reasons, one of which was this was where Tony worked prior to Okinawa and I hadn't been able to visit him there. 

My "big kids" at the beach:)

It turned out to be a really nice day out there (I was a bit cold, but I always am) we had rented some cabanas and so that was really nice, especially with all the kiddos and my handicapped husband (on crutches). We were also close to bathrooms and our cars! We had a great time and it was topped off with very special homemade cupcakes for my birthday made by pastry chef extraordinaire Kristin. Yummy.....

The drive home from the beach was....an adventure. But we finally made it:) and we had to pack up. Since Dave was lame:) I had to tackle it all myself. Well, that might have happened anyway;) It took me quite awhile to pack up, but Kristin popped in to talk while I was holed up in the bedrooms packing, thanks Cousin!

Saturday was for packing, cleaning and goodbyes. Kristin came up and picked up Laurie earlier in the morning and the rest of us went down to Becky's for a quick visit/goodbyes/some doughnuts:) 

Let's just say it was a very, very, very, very long travel day back to Wisconsin. I didn't feel well, Dave was on crutches, we had Ron and Bobbi's help as far as Denver, and we got home around 1:30 am. Another thank you to my Uncle Bob for picking us up at the airport late on a Saturday!  That was a huge help. It was so nice to be back in our van:) Collin did NOT sleep much in that ride back ?!?!? and had a rough night adjusting back (thus I did too:) but the next night he figured it out. 

Thank goodness we had Memorial Day weekend to help us slowly transition back to reality, we definitely needed it! It was also a happy surprise that spring/summer had arrived in Wisconsin while we were gone. It was warm! A slight bummer was departing the Midwest which was pretty consistently stuck in the 50/60's, California was cool for us (high 60's, low 70s) and back home it was in the 80's! Oh well, that wasn't the true purpose of the trip:) and it has stayed warm ever since we got back.


A week of memories and quality time with family - what a treat! For many more additional photos....click HERE! There are actually even more, I need to get some off of Dave's phone and I haven't yet downloaded pics from Ron's camera....good grief! I think we took about 500 photos during the week between us all:) 

So Much to Say....

Okay. Dang. It has been way too long since I posted, too much has happened...ahh!! My brain is a little crazy right now and so, in an effort to help, I am going to just post some pics (from June) with brief descriptions in hopes of catching up a bit. I still owe a post on our California trip! And some fun activities I came away without photo documentation (what?!!! I know!) Anyway, here goes. Our life in pictures....

Kate playing with Grace (didn't get any other good pics of all the kiddos) when we were down in Decorah briefly to do a Face Time baby shower with our loved ones in Okinawa! Kate asked if we could take our boat to the ocean (which we had just seen) and drive over to see Tony and Tara:) So sweet. We told her that they were on the other side of the ocean when we were in Cali. 

Checking out Andy & Kylie's new (to-them) camper!! I didn't snap pics until they kids were fully worn out. They giggled and wrestled around in there forever. We can't wait to go camping with them!

Attitude. And soon after, she nose-planted off the bed. First good scar of the summer...check.

On a Sunday late morning/early afternoon we took the boat out for our first family ride of the season!! Had lunch at The Dirty Turtle. It was awesome.

We were getting a snack, apples with peanut butter. I left to do something for a sec and came back to this. "Mom, the apple is stuck!" She has her father's patience:)

Mr. Independent prefers to eat all by himself lately. With as many utensils as possible. And yes, that is cottage cheese above his eye. 

Our last day of soccer! One sweet little girl brought me flowers:) So cute. Collin is twisting the medal and slowly choking me...

Last game! Kate did great and scored a goal immediately!

My peeps!

Hopefully, I will soon sit down and knock out the California post and whatever else I am missing! I guess it is a good thing that so many fun and crazy things are happening to have the time to put down for posterity. Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather, we are!