The End

Well, folks...the time has come for the last post of the summer vacation...only 2.5 months after the fact. 

So, the rest of the vacation after July 4th was filled with plenty of fun for all...

The night of July 5th, Mom, Lexi, Jane and I had a girls' night!  We had dinner at a local restaurant.  And, of course, it was Friday, so we all had the fish fry.  Granted, I was the only one who took advantage of the all you could eat part of it and nearly made myself sick, but really? What else is new?  After dinner, we went to a jazz concert at the local concert hall.  It was, um....interesting.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy music and as some of you may remember, I was pretty freaking good at it back in the day.  However, I was never really one of those deep music types.  This band?  Wow.  I mean, I'm not kidding when I say that the drummer?  Well, not sure how to describe it. Let's just say, he looked like he was REALLY REALLY LOVING the music.  Like, it made me uncomfortable to watch him.  But, whatever.  It was a fun girls' night out and something I'm pretty certain most of us won't forget any time soon. :)

Then, the 6th was Uncle William's birthday!!!!  In sticking with tradition, the celebration dinner started with a glass of champagne and then we moved onto a large amount of red meat.  And, then , Mom made him Grandma Monnie's famous sponge cake, but added a twist and put frosting on it.  It was delicious!  The rest of the night was filled with laughs and presents.  Just as a birthday should be!

The next day was Miss Annabel's 4th birthday!!!! And, as it only should, the day started out with yet another one of Grandma's more creative moments.  The Hootananny came to visit!!!!!  This can only be described through video footage of the actual event. 

After the kids found the Hootananny, we all had a cookout and had lunch outside.

 Later that night, Annabel got to open her presents and got to eat her Rapunzell cake - created and made by Grandma and Lexi!

In between all of the activities in these posts, the kids just had fun being kids.  There were lots of scooter rides up and down Opa and Grandma's driveway...

 

 

 

Lots of pool and slip and slide time...

And, lots of hanging out with cousin and Grandma and Opa and Granny Jane time...

 

 

 

Yet again, another memorable trip to the farm...Thanks for everything, Opa and Grandma!

 

THE END!

Summer Vacay Part III

So... I realize that this is the most drawn out post about a summer vacation that ever was, but I can't just NOT talk about the rest of the time on the farm.  So, picking up where I left off...

The day after the big treasure hunt was the 4th of July!  As with every other year, our celebration starts with attempting to get a picture of all 4 kids dressed up in their 4th of July outfits.  And, as with every other year, it never really works out...

Then, it was off to the 4th of July parade!  Fortunately, it was not over 100 degrees like it was last year.  This year, I believe it was only 90?  Needless to say, a bit toasty, but that didn't stop everyone from having fun.

The kids loved feeding the animals...

And each other..

And, of course, there were the pony rides...

And, the actual parade.  SO disappointed.  This year?  No foreign exchange student.  I mean, I personally think that the fact that they get to be on display in the Green Lake 4th of July Parade would be reason enough to want to study abroad there, but apparently no one agreed this year...

 I thought this was a good shot of the Grandparents AND it was Jane's first ever 4th of July celebration, so she HAD to have a picture on the blog!  Not that it wasn't a memorable experience on its own, of course.  But, this will just help her remember EVERY detail - if she wants to or not!  :)

And, then came the best part of the day...the concert by the lake.  This is the thing that keeps getting better every year as the kids get older.  Our first concert started with us sitting by the lake, having one beer and attempting to inhale some fried cheese curds before the babies started to cry and before the music got too loud for their little ears.  Now?  We still sit by the lake, but we now allow our kids to listen to the loud music that is probably still hurting their little ears (but it's just one night, right?), we still drink beer, but the quantity has increased substantially, and we still eat fried cheese curds, but at a much more leisurely pace and now?  We've added funnel cakes to the mix!!!  What could be better than experiencing total gut rot while listening to music by the lake on a gorgeous night??

And, then we have the annual picture by the tree with all of the kids in their 4th of July outfits, which also never happens to turn out - even after taking 50 pictures within a 1 min. time span.  I'm including 3 of them because I think that it is really comical that someone is clearly trying to make the kids laugh and as you can see through the progression of the pictures, it is working...for the girls.  Al Man?  In his own little world with that ridiculous "Cheese!!!!" look on his face. 

 

And, then there were the frisbee throwing lessons using the frisbees that were thrown at the crowd during the parade (I guess they figure if they are going to disappoint us with no foreign exchange student, they will make up for it by throwing out legit prizes?).  I have to say, Al Man may have redeemed the cheesy "Cheese!!!" look with his frisbee throwing skills. 

 

and, I have to admit -he looks pretty cute in this picture with Opa.

Later that night, Opa shot off fireworks at home and we let Avery stay up to watch them. She was surprisingly very good and wasn't afraid - even though these fireworks were pretty freaking large, high and loud.  Impressive to say the least.  However, I think that the highlight of the evening may have been late night when Lexi, Will, Dad and I played our first ever game of pool as teams.  Dad and I were on a team and let's just say, the wine was flowing.  I do believe I now hold the record for number of times one can aim at the cue ball and just blatantly miss it by shooting the pool stick a good 2-3 inches above it.  I think it may have happened 3, maybe 4 times.  In a row -  the last one resulting in me laughing so hard, I ended up on the floor.  Fun times, my friends.  Fun times. 

And, here I am - yet again, another post on WI and yet, I'm still not done.  Next one will be the final one and will be very little narrative - I swear. 

 

When a "not so religious" mom sends kids to Catholic school...

It's official!  We have two kids in Catholic school!  And, more importantly (ok, some would argue with that comment), we have two kids in the SAME Catholic school (i.e., one drop off and one pick up!).  It is fabulous.  Granted, with my job now being in the opposite direction of the school, Josh is the one doing most drop off and pick ups, but for the few times that I do it?  It's fabulous. 

Al Man is doing really well so far!  It helps that there are about 5 kids from his daycare there- most of whom are his closest friends. Not to mention, he has been there several times with Avery in the past, so he knew what the classroom looked like, who the teacher was, etc.  The one thing that he has never been exposed to is the religious side of things.  In fact, he has NO clue.  Point being...

Last night we were at the dinner table and earlier, he had told us a few of the Spanish words he had learned that day..."Hola," "Adios," "Como Estas?"  We were thoroughly impressed, as this is the first thing that he seems to have retained enough to tell us about when he gets home.  So, then he tells me that he also learned a new song in Spanish and then proceeds to kind of mumble a few things and ends it singing, "AMEN!" followed by, "Mommy, Amen is Spanish, right?"

Pretty sure the big guy up there made a note of that one...