Pulley Weekend!

Dan, Kaitlyn, Will, Aubrey, Grandma & Grandpa came up for a visit this weekend!

On Saturday we went to the Zoo Spooktacular. The weather ended up being nice.

  The kids dressed up and there was a lot to see besides the animals.

 We enjoyed spending time and playing together! Aubrey is a precious little baby doll whom Abigail loves to dote on. Will gives the best hugs and can say 'Abigail' and 'Rio' quite clearly.

When the little ones hold hands or hug, 'it's so cute, it's scary!'

Fall Drive & Scenic Towers

Basilica at Holy Hill, Hubertus, WI

This picture captures the tip of the tall tower but distorts the scale.

Ah, yes. Down in front of it, you can't capture it all. Reminds me of Notre Dame. In fact, I dug out my old picture from 2009:

Haha, I couldn't get it all in so I decided to just go with the top!

 The total climb in the Notre Dame Cathedral (which we did) was 387 steps. The basilica scenic tower was 178 steps, but the basilica itself is on top of a hill and once you reach the top you get a breathtaking panorama of the Kettle Moraine area.

It was fun to take the kids on the climb and all see the sights!

It was windy, but there were corners where the wind couldn't reach.

 Walking down the the narrow stairs in the tower to lunch.

 Rio joined us for lunch.

We followed the Kettle Moraine Scenic Route to Parnell Tower, Plymouth, WI

This tower was just a stair climb, but Stacy, Sarah, Matt, Gma Linda and children met us there, and all the brave little children made it to the top!

at first of three platforms

the view

The trail had some structures to play in.

Someone found a really big stick; I'm not sure who had it first.

Abigail made a leaf bouquet.

QC: Pumpkins, Birthdays, Baptism!

"How Tall This Fall?" Almost 4 feet! 

Shady Knoll was the cutest pumpkin patch! Lots of photo op spots.

Grandpa Bruce helps pick out pumpkins.

 Loading up the wagon...

Sorry...not taking the giant this year!

Nathan, Kinsey, Kayla, Aubrey, Kailyn, Lydia, Abigail, Jacob, Will
Most of the grandchildren were there to celebrate birthdays.

Happy Birthday to Bruce, Kaitlyn & Jan!!

Autumn Beauties

A joy to see Aubrey Lu baptized!

October

What our walks look like sometimes!
Abigail always tires out before Rio.

And sometimes they look like this now that Rio's fully vaccinated!

Seeing the Festival City Symphony at the "fancy" Pabst Theater!
"Symphony Sundays"--Classical Music for All Ages, "Music for the Birds"
I love that we felt welcome to bring the whole family and could introduce the girls to live classical music.
They had pre-concert Children's Program Notes for what we were about to hear:
Overture to Die Fledermaus, The Birds, Overture to The Thievish Magpie, Swan Lake
There was an intermission, and then we made it half-way through Swan Lake before Abigail just got too antsy. 

A fun trip to the zoo in the fall. Little Baby doesn't get left out of the family picture ;)

Awe's Apple Orchard in Franklin has yummy apple cider donuts!

VU Homecoming

We went back to Valpo to celebrate our 10th Class Reunion!

It felt good to be on campus, show the girls where we went to college, and see all that has changed (Gellersen (engineering) addition, chapel addition, new union, new housing, new track, additional LeBien (nursing) classrooms, new science lab building, welcome center...there's been a total overhaul over the last 10 years, and it's not done yet).

That building in the back where we had science classes has not changed, but the human art installation is new. The girls were fond of it.

 After we walked around a bit we checked into our hotel and let Aunt Sue babysit while Ben and I relived a date from when we were just dating. Don Quijote still has the best sangria!

 Then we heard President Heckler's launch of the Forever Valpo endowment campaign and saw the first part of the Barenaked Ladies concert.

 They studied up and had a fair amount of funny comments about the university between songs.

 The next day there was plenty of fun for the kids and alumni at the Street Fair.

We caught up with and got pictures with as many old friends as we could find. (Snodgrass' not pictured)

Jesse & Jennifer Evans, Niki Stone & Cory Wood.

Erin & Jason Zdanio, Joanne Borchert.

 Wherever we could find them! ;)

Janelle & Miguel Mastache

 We had fun in the hotel pool, ran into Uncle Jim, met up with Britt Stoll, and found ValPlayso. 

It was interesting to go back and visit. And the girls will tell you , they had fun "at college!"

Bay View Bash

Just a few pictures from last Saturday. Bay View had a fun street festival.

This flipping and jumping group was particularly entertaining!

 Rather than eat on the street, we stopped in Classic Slice for the biggest slice of pizza ever seen. This is one slice cut in half, mind you.

They weren't sure how to handle it, but they did it! 

It was fun to explore this hip neighborhood in Milwaukee.