Summer Break in Wisconsin!

Grandma: Mon. July 5th - Here's what we have been doing. Yesterday (Mon.) we watched' Madeline Lost in Paris' video. Then, for supper we had pizza and veggies. Gramps took us for an evening ride to Hudson and we fed the ducks & geese down by the river. The river was really high and the ducks came right up to us wanting our bread crumbs. Priya did not like the big geese so close to her. They made hissing noises. We had custard at Culvers too. Just little dishes. Priya had kit-kat, Stephen had nerds, Grampa had raspberry and chocolate, Gramma had mini caramel nut. We vote Deegs and Pri's the best. Oh, forgot , Deegs loved the geese and ducks getting close to us. Priya says she loved the baby geese and the white goose most of all.

This morning we made two swings with Grampa and they are in the tree in the front yard. We filled bird feeders. We saw a small young bunny and Grampa almost caught it in his fish net but missed it. Then Priya took a sun flower seed from the bird feeder and planted it by the rhubarb
It's hot today. After lunch we are going to mow the lawn and maybe go swimming in the lake later if it doesn't rain. Tomorrow we are going to Megan and Amanda's house (might sleep over).

Grandma: Tues. July 6th - Here's what's been happening . Grampa and Stephen mowed the lawn . Deegs did lots of steering and helping. Priya and I went to the 'Treasures' store downtown. She found a cute little puppy in a case and an American Musical t-shirt. also picked out a dinasaur for the Deegs and an alligator t-shirt. the dinasaur makes noise. roar. It was really hot and muggy out . Wyatt (the neighbor boy) came over and we all played fooseball and the frog game then went outside and had rides on the lawn mower. great fun. We ate steak for supper and had short cake. Kids are eating well. Got to bed a little earlier , will go to Ann's in the morning.

Wed. July 7th - After breakfast got ready to head out to meet Annie and the girls at noon at Wendy's on White Bear Ave. Ate chicken nugget happy meals and frosty's. Ann and I had the chicken, apple pecan salad and it was really good.
So here it is Wednesday night and it's quiet around here. Forgot to mention, at Wendy's they all got a prize in their happy meals, a toy saxaphone, nice and noisey. As Ann drove off in the van with all of them, I could hear the orchestra playing. Lucky Anner.

Also , when driving up to meet Annie , Priya and Stephen and I played Bible guessing game. They are really sharp on knowing who’s who in the bible. Asked who had the coat of many colors. They got it right. Then we discussed the story and they knew a lot about it. So sweet. And they were real good little travelers. Will miss them but know they will have a good time with the cousins Megan and Amanda.

Anner: Thursday 7/8/2010 - We've been at Parker Lake in Plymouth. A very cute beach and park area. Caught alot if snails. Stephen said "smell it, it stinks!" after he stuck his head in the bucket of snails. They do stink! Haha! We are having a ball in MN, making memories for sure! We don't want it to end. I think we'll keep them one more night. If mom and dad will let us. :-)

Priya and Stephen do miss you but they are having a great time and very respectful little honeys. Love them!

Well, gotta wash off the lake and sand then off to soccer practice for Megan and Amanda.
Tootle-lou! -Anner

Friday, July 9, 2010

Grandma: Priya and Stephen coming back to Baldwin. Picked them up at early afternoon at Wendy's. Heard all the about the fun they had with Megan and Amanda and Annie and Jason. The soccer game was really talked about. Megan's team won by 4 points and it sounded like Megan made all the goals but then Priya said 'maybe not'. Love it.

Also, heard all about the new zuzu hammsters. Target has them . We stopped at the first Target we saw and they did have them , but no pink ones like Mander's has. Deegs found a great nerf gun too. On to the next Target at Lake Elmo area. This is a really nice new store. We had slushies here. The kids knew all about these , how to mix flavors ect. yum. Found the zuzu's but no pink ones here either so Pri took a black and white one and she is happy with it. These toy hammsters are cute. Pri says , 'I'm into zuzu's now not calico critters'; very funny. I wish I had invented these zuzu's.

Got back to Baldwin, made some supper then headed over to the parade at 'River Falls Days'. Thought maybe this might be stretching these little ones a bit far but they insisted they wanted to go. Almost fell asleep on the way over but made it and they had a good time getting a ton of candy and watching all the bands, floats etc. Home about 9 p.m. amazing they didn't fall asleep. wow. too much sugar?

Everything going well. PTL.

Sat. July 10th:
Grandma: Now then, this was quite the day. Stephen and Priya slept til about 8:45 this morning . Had breakfast then we all talked about what we should do today. Gramps heard that there was a carnival and pony rides at the River Falls Days so we decided to head back over to River Falls. Off we went. Couldn't find a carnival there or pony rides and no one seemed to know if that was going on anywhere. This was disappointing after the build up so we decided to head up to Como Park where we knew there were some rides. Amazing how we were blessed with a great parking spot near the rides and zoo. First thing we saw was the butterfly world then on to some animals , then to the rides also a blessing cause at 4pm you can get a special ticket deal; the kids wear a bracelet that gets them into all rides. A good deal, Priya's favorite was the Frog Hopper , will leave the details for her to tell. Deegs liked the train the best . The tea cup ride was least liked, Pri raised her hand to stop the ride. too dizzy. The weather was a tad on the hot side but had water and some juice with and found the shade and a bench to help endure.

Stopped at KFC on the way home. They loved it.(but they were starved) Ate chicken legs , corn, mac and cheese, biscuits and honey. If you have KFC by your house , recommend for it. We pulled the skin off the chicken and it was gooooood.

Had baths when we got home and watched some Toy Story (3rd time) ate raspberries and ice cream. Couldn't squeeze much more into this one. Nice!

The big excitement Sunday was going to watch the skydivers at the airport. Actually the divers stopped early due to a late afternoon storm. The sky cleared around 7:15 p.m. and it was a lovely eve. I thought I heard the airplane buzzing so we tore down there. The manager was so nice to us and he started announcing a final jump just for us to watch. The pilot of the plane took us over to the plane and let the kids go in it and check it out. We got the royal treatment. Nice. 8 divers suited up and we got to watch everything (how the parachutes were folded etc). There were no other spectators there, just us. Pri and Stephen really got a kick out of the whole deal. Me too.

Stopped in and said good by to Dave and Deb. Their Norwegians girls had arrived for the week. Real blondies. Didn't get home til 8:40 so bed time was a tad late. Started getting things organized for the ride to meet Shoji tomorrow. )o: Going to miss these little sweethearts lots.

Monday: Kids got up at 8:15 or so, still a bit tired. Had powdered sugar donuts (special because they were going) and milk . Grampa helped pack up the car and we were on our way by 9:20. They traveled really well. Put a movie in at Eau Claire. Had a little snack on the way. We played 'eye spy with my little eye' and the animal guessing game. Made it to the Dells by 11:55am---Shoji got there at the same time. Amazing. So great to see her. We all had lunch at Buffalo 'Phils'; so fun . Our food came around on an electric train that a guy in the kitchen was running. Deegs and Pri enjoyed this a lot (we all did).

After lunch we went into the arcade and Shoj and the kids had a wild ride on the roller coaster train. Wish I had a picture of their facial expressions as they whipped around on the track, priceless. Praise the Lord for all the fun, good health, safe travel, good food, a great week of memories. We're more than blessed.

xoxo Gramps and Grammie