Bringing Home Rio

Once we brought him home, he jumped out of the box and into our hearts!

We were amazed by how much bigger and fuzzier he had gotten since we picked him out.

He's such a sweet looking sleeper. 

This sums up the first few days: sleepy pup and reading puppy books.

 So quickly, he's turned into an frisky puppy!

We spend time outside to wear him out, and it invites moments to catch the beauty outside.

 Rio's happy to have Ben home from work.

 He's getting so big, 13.5 lbs at his 9 wk vet visit.

 The girls practice turning their backs to Rio when they need to disengage him. Despite that, they are both so in love with our cuddly puppy.

They are going to have a special bond.

Feast with the Beasts

Yay! Stacy called me up and we decided to make it a zoo day!

It was Zoo a la Carte or Feast with the Beasts all weekend. That meant good food vendors, music stages, and a big comfy red promo chair.

It was nice that Meijer printed a picture right there for us to take home!

The kids found a train show in the ape building. They enjoyed getting 'run over' by the train!

Aaliyah (5) & Lydia (6) still wet from the misting zone

 We caught a Wild Theater show, but the girls are still going to come up 2 shows short to filling up their summer zoo theater passport.

Family Farm

We endured the heat and had a fantastic zoo day!

August Adventures

August has served us a good helping of adventure.

It started off with Picking Day-we chose the all apricot boy out of the big rainbow litter.

Isn't he the cutest?! We can't wait to bring him home and welcome him into our family!

 That was on the way to dropping off the girls at Grandma Linda's so we could vacation Up North with Sarah & Matt.

Sarah was tipped off to Copper Falls by a coworker. It was on our way to Bayfield and had a great trail with falls and rapids (don't bother with the lookout tower)!

The major falls are behind us. Can't tell in the picture, but the water is copper-colored.

Taking a cozy rest along the trail with my best friend and husband of 9 years! :)

We stayed 3 nights at a B&B (Harbor Hill House) with a lake view. The hosts were great: friendly without being nosy and full of interesting stories!

We took a ferry to Madeline Island and walked around,

did Living Adventure's Sea Cave Kayak tour.

 It was a cool experience, and they made us lunch to eat on the beach.

We also got to eat at a few fun and delicious restaurants!

We had a great time visiting Bayfield and Lake Superior!

Not too terribly tired of driving since we carpooled and rotated, we drove down to meet Dan & Kaitlyn's wonderful baby Aubrey Lu! The girls wanted to hold her, but not more than about 25 seconds, ha!

 Our family is blessed with so many children. Had to get back to celebrate Quincy's 1st birthday!

A friend's birthday is fun too! Audrey had a fun water and safari party on a hot day.

Acting like safari animals here...

Another adventure we went on in August was at Country Springs Waterpark in Waukesha. Lydia won two tickets from participating in the Oak Creek Rec Selfie Contest, so I just had to buy two more.

 The girls have turned into water bugs.

They each went down the body slide and tube slide by themselves (carrying their own tubes too, yes!). And we had fun going on this 3-rider boat! 

At the end, just Lydia & Abigail rode it together over and over again after they discovered that they don't get a dousing splash at the exit that way.

Checking off another item on the summer bucket list: mini golf at Mulligan's. 

 Lydia was really into it and even counted her strokes. Abigail was not so interested in the game,

but she does love getting tickled!

Go Brewers!

Took the girls to their 1st Brewer's Game! Highlight was seeing Bernie slide down his slide with balloons and fireworks for a two-run homer! 

VBS- Cave Quest

Lots of time went into transforming our church into a cave, creating this:

It was the setting for Openings and Closings

and silly skits.

Abigail looked forward to seeing "Caver Carrie" every day.

Of course, there were also crafts, songs (Abigail's favorite), Bible stories, KidVid (Lydia's favorite), snacks, and games:

It's great to see our pastor so involved. He was great with the games!

 Ben was able to come for the closing on Friday and the picnic following. 

It was touching to hear the children sing with such passion.

 Abigail finds comfort in Jesus and her big sister.

 One of the coolest things from VBS, was going to Aaliyah's 5th birthday party, and playing the VBS CD because Aaliyah attended CaveQuest at her church, and another friend attended CaveQuest at her church!

 Quincy's birthday is next! Couldn't stop pulling on Aunt Sarah's zipper!