It starts with a wedding - Alan's good college friends, Angie and Craig got married on July 3rd at a farm in Deerfield, WI. The wedding was simple and sweet. The ceremony was held in the yard and the reception was in a renovated barn. Very cute.
The sunset was gorgeous that night and it was an amazing view to see all of the families mingling and the children playing in the fields just behind the barn. We couldn't help but snap a family photo :) It was such a beautiful evening.
We were able to spend the 4th with both of our families - I do believe this is the first time we've actually gotten to spend a holiday with both of our families, due to geography. We chilled out all morning and headed over to Alan's Aunt's house in Brookfield for dinner. Alan's cousin Trevor and his family was up, we usually only see them once a year, so it's always fun to see how big their kids have gotten.
Trevor's daughter, Elliot stilled remember Penny from last year. She is absolutely smitten with her. She came running when she saw Penny and barely left her side the whole time we were there.
Playing "I spy" ? ...with Trevor's oldest child, Declan.
Big squeezes before we left!
After dinner at Sue's meet up with my brother, Ryan and his family in Port Washington for their fireworks show. They had a new beach that wasn't too far from where they were setting of the show in the harbor. We still had a great view and it wasn't as loud or crowded.
It continues to amaze me how fast children grow. When did my nieces start to look 13??
Penny wasn't terribly impressed with the fireworks. As with everything else she encounters for the first time, she gave her typical glare and then decided she didn't want anything to do with them...
...she buried her face into Alan's shoulder and fell asleep!On the 5th, they had "Kids Fest" downtown - families got free admission to Summerfest between Noon and 3:00pm, so Mikala, Penny and I went while Alan was at work.
(...oh, yeah... I forgot to mention... we have been super lucky to have my baby sister, Mikala stay with us for the summer to help watch Penny while we pack and enjoy our last summer in Milwaukee. We move to Santa Ana, CA on August 17th!)
Penny has discovered bounce houses - and LOVES them. So we were sure to get the "unlimited bouncing" wrist band and she was able to bounce to her heart's content.Mikala had never been to Summerfest before, so we had a lot of fun, despite the super heat. It got over 100 degrees that day! Thankfully, they had a fun splash pad with sprinklers for the little ones (and their mommies) to run through :)
On Wednesday, the 8th, Mikala and I took Penelope to her first Brewer's game! Mikala's youth group from back home had come down for the day to go to the game, so we were able to meet up with them for the evening to tailgate and watch the game.
Penny had loads of fun - Mommy let her eat all of the classic game day favorites... we had hot dogs, chips and, of course, COTTON CANDY! She sat really nice the whole game, which was a huge relief since we were in the very top row and the cement stairs were right in front of us. She loved watching the players and would clap and cheer with the crowd.
We also had our first family camping trip this week. Mikala, Penny and I headed up to Harrington Beach State Park in Belgium, WI on Thursday and Alan joined us after he was done with work on Friday... but we only stayed until Saturday Morning.
We had the perfect weather: no rain, lots of sunshine and a warm 75 degrees! The park was just beautiful, they had a mile of Lake Michigan beach that was split into two areas - one side was a dog beach, and the nicer side was for everyone else. They also had an old quarry that is now a lake that me and the girls hiked around before Alan came. My sister-in-law, Jenny also joined us on Friday with her two daughters for a swim.
We were able to break in our new tent, a purchase we made with a few of the many gift cards we received for our wedding. We love it! It has two big rooms - one can be split in half, so we make that our sleeping quarters, with us on one side and Penny on the other... the other big room, we use like a screened-in porch. It's nice to have an "indoor" place to put all of our equipment and for Penny to play in the shade.
We actually had a smaller tent that Mikala slept in, so we had plenty of room. Our site was really nice - it had plenty of trees for shade around it and was private. We couldn't see any of the other sites, since we were surrounded by tall grass and trees, which was nice. It was nice and grassy too, so we could walk around in our bare feet and Penny didn't get too dirty :)
Things have been getting ungodly busy around her, it's insane. Not going to lie, I'm starting to get freaked out. As excited as I am for this move, I'm just as scared. Mostly because we're not 100% sure of how things are going to be in terms of jobs and insurance and how everything is going to fit into the moving van... but things will be fine no matter what happens. The logistics of everything is just starting to hit me in these last few weeks. I've had to take two HUGE carloads of boxes to the Good Will these past few weeks. I have been selling many of our larger items and all of my wedding stuff on Craigslist, which is a full-time job in itself, e-mailing and meeting with people. We've been doing good and packing is on track.... hopefully. This house seems to be getting emptier and emptier and it's just a little sad to be leaving. We love Milwaukee and have grown to love this house, our home for the past four years.
I definitely know it would be a lot less of an emotional move if we were moving in the winter. Summers here are perfect... but I have to admit, it's just TOO hot a lot of the time. I'm looking forward to the milder temperatures, and I'm sure Penny is too. Wisconsin weather does horrible things to her skin. This summer has been the worse for her eczema because of all the humidity.
I know my asthma will be a lot better too.
I can't begin the think about how fast these last four weeks will go... as I am still trying to comprehend how the last few months have passed so quickly. It's just been such a whirl-wind, with the Wedding, our trips to the Dells, Florida and my Family's home up north, my surgery and having Mikala here and packing and trying to enjoy the summer and Milwaukee... whew!
I'm ready ready ready for it though :)
