Trip to Wisconsin--Installment V

Ben & Pei headed back to Pasadena on the Monday after the picnic, but not before Ben was reunited with his Beloved Lunch Box.Oh, and we had a lovely morning at Cave Point and lunch in Sister Bay. :-)

Mom & Noelle were actually along too, but aren't in any of these pictures because they dawdled picking thimbleberries (mmmm. . . . ) and Mother hasn't sent me her pictures yet. ;-PAl Johnson's had too long a wait so we decided to check out the Sister Bay Cafe, which had delicious Norwegian food and a fun little gift shop!Erik HAD to have a silly picture of me in the Historically Inaccurate Viking Helmet. . .But see what happens when we want to browse in the gift shop too long and Erik waits outside with the camera?Tuesday morning we met the Searls for breakfast at Al Johnson's on our way to the island (and before they left for home). It's always fun to see the goats on the roof and greet the trolls. Not to mention play in the gift shop, and mmm. . . Swedish pancakes and Swedish meatballs!!Then we headed up to the island!More on our time on the island to follow. :-)

In other news, I'm busy being overwhelmed and discouraged by job prospects. . . so if anyone has a great lead on getting paid to stay at home and putter, you know where to find me!! ;-)

Trip to Wisconsin--Installment IV

On Sunday, July 27, we pitted cherries and baked yummy things . . .Noelle (and the rest of us) lost Trivia to Erik . . .and (drumroll, please) Noelle & Andy got engaged!!Yay!!! Many congrats to them!!!

Trip to Wisconsin--Installment III

On July 26, we had our Wisconsin Picnic at Horseshoe Bay (Murphy Park, Door County). It was a beautiful day! There are far too many pictures to post of all 79 people who were there to celebrate, so I'm putting up a few, but you can see all of them at the website listed at the end of the post. Please do--there are lots of great pics!!Siblings and Significant Others. . . April & Ben, Ben & Pei, Erik & Christel, Noelle & Andy (stay tuned for exciting news about THEM in a coming installment!!)Aunt Susan and Tom surprised us by driving all the way from Massachusetts!The Ryder Family pic (several cousins we never see came, which was fun!!)The Freitag Family picture (everyone who was there. . . except April & Ben who had gone to get more water, so they got their own picture--oops!)Sunset
To see all the picnic pics, just click here:

http://ruddy.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php

Fence!

Eep! I was going to post every day and get caught up, and. . . I didn't. :-/

I'll get back to our trip later today or tomorrow, I promise! In the meantime, a couple of pictures of what's been going on HERE since we got home.

Our cat and dog are glad to be back together with each other! :-DErik got some chicken wire and other supplies, and Bill came over to help us patch up our wind-damaged fence. It's a temporary solution, but it means I can let the dog out without worrying he will get in the neighbor's yard; it also means I don't have to worry anymore about the giant, snarling head of a pit bull shoving through the boards at me when I go to get Pippin away from the fence. A huge relief!!
Also, we got all unpacked and did tons of cleaning and organizing and "tasking" yesterday, so it feels like home again!

Trip to Wisconsin--Installment II

Alright, that last post was loooong; I'll try to divide these up a bit better. I've been having so much fun looking back through pictures and remembering!

California welcomed us home with lots of heat and smog; my throat has been sore and swollen like when I first moved out here. . . followed by that weird light-headed, nauseating feeling when out and about too long. Gross. I'm missing clean(er) Wisconsin air!!! And swimming!!!!

Today's pictures are from the family picnic Dad & Jackie hosted on Friday night. April and I had fun taking some flora pictures of the gorgeous yard as well; had to put in a few of those.The Searls (excepting Andy who flew in late that night) joined the rest of the crowd for a beautiful evening in Green Bay.

Shirley & Don Coffin, Warren & Judy Searls, Mom Jackie, Collin, Ben & April, Erik & ChristelBen, Jackie, Ben, Dad, AprilPei and ErikPei & BenMom, April, DadBen, Collin and Pei--Tickle Chases!Ben pulled out his old motorized racing boats and the koi chased them around the pond while Collin and Megan drove.Sibs