State Fair AND a Trip to See Gramma!

Just realized I never posted any pictures of our day at State Fair since it was the day before we left on our vacation to my mom's house!  We had our friends from Chicago come up to go with us, it was a great day.  Ingrid walked the whole way and didn't even complain!  I think that had to do with the fact there were plenty of stops to get snacks, or at least to look at what was deep fried or on a stick (or both!) Both kids rode rides this year, and we all went on the Ferris wheel, which was terrifying.

 See how OPEN the sides are?  I imagined the kids falling to their deaths about a billion times.  It sucks to be a mom sometimes.  As a kid I found things exciting, now I just realize how every little thing is potentially deadly...

 

The next day bright and early at 5am we got up to take the ferry across Lake Michigan to see my mom.  I had taken the boat once before but no one else in the family had, so it was very exciting, even at the crack of dawn.

 We got to my mom's and promptly went down by the beach and made sandcastles, visited the horses, took a golf cart ride.

 The best part of the trip is that while we were playing outside, there was a campfire going.  So we got to roast marshmallows and hot dogs, just like camping!  In fact, the whole weekend was like camping but with real beds and showers, and as much coffee as I wanted!

 Brendan and my brother went fishing.  My brother caught this 34" pike.  It was scary and very toothy and Ingrid ran screaming off the dock when she saw it!

 It was relaxing and amazing, and as always a very good time.  I just love going there to visit, we all have so much fun every time!


 

Irish Friends

I have a good friend that married an Irishman, taking her to Dublin for good.  Wah wah.  I miss her something awful, I so wish we could get our kids together to play and drink coffee and all the stuff we used to do.  But, I know she's got a good thing there and has the sweetest little family ever.  She was in the States visiting the past couple weeks and I finally go to see her!  The last time I laid eyes on her Ingrid was about four months old.  Which means I had never met her daughter, she had never met Otis.  It had been too long! 

 

We met at her family's farm and it was perfect.  The perfect weather, it was both her husband's and my husband's birthdays, the kids had a huge expanse of grass to run on, there was a little river down at the bottom of a hill, they got to see a snake and some strange bugs.  We sat and caught up, the birthday boys (both scientists) talked geek stuff.  Just the best afternoon I could ask for!

We used to hang out, smoking our cheap Old Gold cigarettes and drinking coffee, talking about the day in the future we'd be married with babies.  Now here we are, even though we live in different countries, we're both married to DOCTORS of science that have the same birthday!  We both have little redheaded Irish babies.  It's so funny to me how things have worked out.

A Nature Walk

It was nice out this weekend so we went over by the botanical gardens to take a nature hike. It was gorgeous! We saw a deer, a turtle sunning on a rock, fish in the lagoon, and a huge frog. The kids thought it was pretty great, although damn Ingrid is a whiner when it comes to walking!! Every five feet she would whine about being tired. Meanwhile, little bro was running along the path like he had all the energy in the world...

Spring Weekend

It's so funny how a little sun and warm weather makes everyone so happy.  Especially when you have shitty weather for most of your year, like we do in the midwest.  This weekend was like all smiles and sunshine and fun, because it was nice out.  We got a lot accomplished!

Saturday morning we went to the zoo.  We saw the baby jaguars, they were playing with their mama, it was pretty cute to watch.  We had a picnic and then the kids crashed in the car on the way home. 

Brendan took off the front door so we could paint it.  By "we" I really mean "HE" since he ended up doing all the work.  I chose the color. 

Our door had a funny panel nailed on the front.  Brendan said hey, I think this is really a six panel door, they just covered it for some reason.  So he took off the panel and found that they had filled in the panels and then nailed a piece of cardboard over it, painted the whole thing an ugly navy blue color or black that faded in the sun, and called it a day.  So...hours later he'd managed to yank all the junk out of the panels and today he sanded and primed and painted.  It's still drying, but we will have a nice six panel, classic red front door soon!

We also got new house numbers.  It's amazing how something so small makes such a big difference!  Our neighbors were like wow, we never even noticed our numbers before but yours look so great!  And the best thing is, they were $6 a piece from Home Depot.  Next up is a new light fixture for outside. 

The kids got their fair share of play, too.  Chalk, tricycles, playing catch with the dads, going to the park, and popsicles.  Not bad for a weekend!

Art, Sewing, Shiners.

Coloring.  Chalk, markers, crayons, whatever they can get their hands on.

 I got some sewing done, with some help from Otis and baby emma the doll.

 We played cars.

Otis ran smack into the door jamb and got himself quite the bruised face.

 It looks way worse now than when it happened, as it has now turned purple, yellow, and green.  He looks like he's wearing eye shadow.

 He got sick on Friday and has been very clingy when sleeping.  He's been in our bed the past two nights, and his nap yesterday was like this:

 Ingrid decided all their coloring needed to be in an art show, so if you're in the Milwaukee area, be sure not to miss the Ingrid and Otis Art Show now at the Liddle Gallery. 

Oh!  And this morning, Ingrid and I went to see Mary Poppins!  There is a small theater that has matinees on the weekend of classic kid movies.  It was her first time going, she liked the popcorn and thought the seats were funny.  But Mary Poppins is long.  And some of it gets boring.  And it was nearing lunch time.  So we bailed right about the part where there's the bird lady singing about tuppence.  We still had fun! 

 

Bowling. And Underwear.

Sunday our friends invited us to go bowling, which we'd been wanting to do with Ingrid for some time.  We got a couple pitchers of beer, the kids ran around while we waited for our lane to open up, and we reminisced about the days of yore when bowling alleys were smoke filled.  (Ahh, the good ol' days.)

 They had shoes in Ingrid's size, it was pretty cute.

She had such a good time trying to roll the ball.  Otis had a harder time but he seemed to like it, too.  He just didn't want any help, and at one point his ball stopped mid-lane and we had to have the guy run down the alley and get it for us.  Ha!

zAnd in underwear news, we got some for Otis today.  He won't wear them, but we have them for when I decide to start.  I know you're supposed to wait for them to want to but I swear to god, Otis knows how to go on the potty, he just doesn't feel like it...So the underwear got played with today.  Many stuffed animals got to wear undies today.

I guess I should just think of in two years when he's totally potty trained and I can't even remember this time of having to work at it.  Right?

Family Photos

My friend Melanie's husband is an amazing photographer, so I asked if he would take a family shot we could use for our holiday cards.  And also, Brendan has been begging for a picture to put in his office at work and I have none to give him.  The last family picture we have that looks good is from when Otis was 3mo old.  Yesterday was bright and sunny, so we met Jack and his family at an old train trestle in the Third Ward.  It was the perfect urban backdrop for some fun family pictures!

 Pretty cool, huh??  I love having talented friends!!  Go visit his site here.