A Vacation for the Boys in Wisconsin

June 12th we headed up to my Mom’s for a visit. Saturday we had a family picture taken with my brother and his family and my Mom by Lake Michigan. We then went back to her house and had a birthday party for Chase and Anthony. My Grandparents came down from the lake, Aunt Cheryl, my cousin Sheila, my Dad, my brother and two of my Mom’s friends joined us. The kids had a great time playing outside until the rain moved in. Then they all had to be in the house. Eight kids in the house all running around got kind of crazy. My mom’s friend Kathleen rounded them up at the table. They did a craft and
played a game.

The boys are crazy about Monster trucks. So I ordered a cake with grass and dirt and asked them to make a hill. I then found Monster Mutt, which is a truck that looks like a dog. I found the brown one, after Eric went to six different Wal-Mart’s and two O’Reilly’s. So I put that one on the cake. They also make a white one. Justin went on-line and ordered the boys the white one’s. So they were so excited to each have one of their own. My mom gave them gift’s from the Learning Store. I thought they were all cool, but Anthony wasn’t very thrilled. I think once we work on some of the projects he will like it. She bought him paints that create dots. It reminds me of the ink you use to play bingo. However, Chase has used them more than he has.

Sunday was Father’s Day, and we headed over to my brother’s around 10am. My Dad brought ham and rolls and Justin made Bloody Mary’s. It was pretty warm out, so we let the kids play in the sprinkler. Then they started playing with Madilyn and Hanna’s water table. My Mom had given it to them last year. The boys were really digging it. My Dad hadn’t bought anything for the boys yet, so we went on-line and ordered them one. So that worked out great. Eric and I took off shortly before 1pm. We left the boys with my brother. They got to spend the day playing with their cousins. My Mom came and picked up Anthony and Hanna on Monday, and Anne kept Chase and Madilyn. The kids saw each other for the whole week. Wednesday afternoon they went to The Milwuakee County Zoo. They had the best time. All the animals had just eaten and were super active. The lions were roaring, the monkeys and penguins were all over the place. The elephants were even moving around.

I met my mom Friday afternoon at the Mississippi River to pick up the boys. It had only been 5 days since I saw the boys, but they were tanner and looked bigger. Our week without them flew by. I ended up working more, since I didn’t have to leave to pick them up by 5pm. We did make it over to Porky’s with the Camaro. That was a lot of fun. It was great to be outside and our friend Alan Robuck, that sings Elvis was there performing. Eric and I took a ride on his motorcycle and had a great dinner at IHOP. I ordered the Talapia. It was seasoned so wonderfully, I just couldn’t get over it. The baked potato was perfectly baked. I don’t know if it was just because we were eating without the kids, and I could really concentrate on the food.