Our Midwestern Paradise

Our tradition for the past five years has been to vacation to our mid-western paradise, the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. So we concluded our southern trip, with a couple nights staying at our favorite place in the world. Over the years, some things have changed within the hotel, but the magic is still there. Somehow, this little town on the shores of Lake Michigan seems to give us our beach fix for the year.

Our kids were ready to have some fun at the beach.

We found this fun turtle sculpture.

The kids loved hitting the waves in the raft.

The waves this year were actually pretty decent and definitely "boogie board-able".

After cleaning off in the lake, it was time to get dirty.

Four little bodies in a sand pit ...what is next?

Daddy worked hard to make sure everyone would get a nice sand bath.

Before long, these little bodies disappeared and just little heads floated on the sand. I love this pic because it seems to capture the uninhibited emotion.

The finished product. As you can see, our more sensory-affected child started to lose patience!

Daddy did let these beach creatures out ... eventually.

As per tradition, Kyler enjoyed some flying.


Oh, how I love this little beach ... and hate leaving it.

For some reason, we always go to Sheboygan at the very end of the summer. It seems to give us a morale boost -- feeling like we squeezed every bit out of summer and can then start school and face the onset of fall.

Southern Hospitality

Our adventure south continued from St Louis to Memphis.  Reviews for this famous blues town were mixed. While Dave loved seeing the rich historical roots of the blues and Elvis, I was not so impressed with how rundown this southern city has become. Regardless, we were able to get a nice taste of Memphis with a quick visit to the Pink Palace museum.

The pink palace was originally a mansion built by the inventor of the modern "self serve" grocery store, Piggly Wiggly. The mansion has been converted into a museum with exhibits about the history of Memphis, Elvis, and civil rights. Our favorite exhibit was a replica of the first self-serve grocery store with inventory that replicated its original packaging. Who knew that early cereal marketers touted their cereals as "a natural laxative?!"

Dave wanted a sense of the music scene, so we strolled down Beale street for some afternoon entertainment.

On the way out, we stopped for some Memphis-style BBQ in the city.

As we ventured south from Memphis, we were amazed by how green and beautiful Arkansas, Tennessee, and Alabama were. Birmingham was our kids' favorite stop-off during the trip.  They loved the accents, big trees, and southern hospitality from everyone they met. While eating out for pizza, a 7-year-old girl walked up to us and introduced herself. "Hah, ahm Kailey," she said in her southern drawl. When we asked her what she recommended we could do for fun in Birmingham, without missing a beat, she said, "I would take yer kids to a store and give yer kids a quar-ter...they got machines with toys in dem, and they could get them--selves somethin' re-al nice."  When we asked for any other suggestions, she pointed out that we could go bowling... "On the Wii." We have been chuckling about this interaction ever since.

Despite Kailey's recommendations, we decided to bypass the toy machines at the local market and go to the city's science museum. This was perhaps the coolest science museum we have ever been to. The kids loved this exhibit which tracked your brain activity and moved the ball in the other direction based on brain-wave relaxation.  Crazy Ky did not beat anyone as his little brain is always bouncing all over the place!

From Birmingham, we headed to Nashville and made a stop at the Grand Ole' Opry.

The kids got a kick out of some of the country western characters roaming around.

The kids also loved seeing the "General Jackson" steamboat in Nashville.

As we exited "the south" we made one more stop at Churchill downs in Louisville, Kentucky.  The groundskeepers let us roam around the grandstands and the track area.

I love this pic of the girl's best "fashion pose" at Churchill downs.  Notice the individual "attitude" of Teyah, Aubrie, and Ellie.

Last stop on this leg: West Lafayette, Indiana, for a quick visit with my brother's family. We loved seeing the Purdue campus, sampling a peanut butter hamburger at the local burger joint, and relaxing from a long busy road trip.

Cartwheels across America

For two weeks this summer, our girls were enthralled with Olympic gymnastics and the US's run for gold.  Little did we know that Teyah, Aubrie, and Ellie would channel their inner "Gabby," "Jordan," and "McKayla" the rest of the summer as they then cartwheeled nearly everywhere they went.


As we traveled across the south, these girls were seen tumbling in St Louis, Missouri....

Lime Springs, Iowa...

Memphis, Tennessee (The Pink Palace)...

Nashville, Tennessee (Opryland)...

Louisville, Kentucky (Churchill Downs)...

West Lafayette, Indiana (Purdue University)...

Sheboygan, Wisconsin (Lake Michigan)...

and Birmingham, Alabama. Here's to cartwheels across America!

South to St Louis

We have started a fun tradition of joining Dave on his business trips and turning them into road trips. This summer, we turned a one day trip to Birmingham into a nine-day loop across the country! Our first stop: Hannibal, Missouri.

 Hannibal is where Mark Twain grew up, and this town was the inspiration for Tom Sawyer. The tourist town plays it up and created some scenes that help you visualize where Tom would have lived (Notice Tom's house in the background of this picture where he convinced his friends to white wash the fence). Growing up listening to tapes of the adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, I loved this stop! Seeing the town nestled on the wide Missisippi River, the caves, the buildings...it was like diving right into my imagination of where Huck and Tom lived. It proved to me that Twain's descriptives are clearly brilliant -- what an amazing author! I need to introduce my kids to his writing.

Stop 2: This was our first time visiting St. Louis. There are not many places that Dave and I have both not been to, so whenever we find one it is fun to explore it together. We were impressed by the Magic House, zoo, science museum, Grant's Village, and all the numerous fun children's activities offered. Classic family picture above-- there's always someone not feeling it!


This boy was all smiles at the fun fork lift at the Magic House. Everyone enjoyed the Magic House; however, Teyah had a bit of a mishap and got lost for just a few minutes in the climbing structure -- just a little drama!

The girls loved this replica of the Oval Office. Aubrie particularly loved giving a fake speech at the president's podium.

The free zoo was insanely busy, but definitely enjoyable.

Well, so maybe Teyah was a bit worn out from all the walking and people!

Grant's Farm was also particularly enjoyable. Good thing that kid was on a leash!


I loved seeing the Clydesdale horses close up and in their home. In my hometown growing up, these horses often visited our Fourth of July rodeo. They were always my highlight of the rodeo.

Seeing these horses was so exciting for me. Dave noticed my excuberance, and brought to my attention how much I have always loved horses. I loved them as a kid, but I haven't thought about it in a long time. When I was Ellie's age, I wanted to be a veterinarian, mostly due to how much I loved horses. My life certainly did not take that path, but I definitely still felt a connection to these beautiful animals.

The "goat experience" was another memory we will never forget in this family. We thought our kids would love the chance to bottle feed these baby goats. At first, Ellie tried to go with the fact that three goats were completely eating her dress!

But then the goats became a little more aggressive and not only ate their dresses, but started to jump up.

In a matter of seconds of entering the goat pen, three of our four kids panicked and started crying in total fear and desparation of the attacking baby goats!

Aubrie was tall enough that the goats didn't jump on her or eat her dress and had a hard time not laughing at the situation. Well, the others... not so much!

Daddy finished off the feeding job. If you look close, you can see where Teyah's dress is wet and eaten! To top it all off, when they came out of the pen, Kyler, Teyah, and Ellie attacked me, seeking comfort. I picked up Kyler and Teyah and hugged them. I then decided we all needed a drink of water to calm down. As I bent over at the drinking fountain, someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me my kids had left a present all over the back of my dress (from the bottom of their shoes). So at that point, I felt like joining the crying fest because I realized I was covered in goat poop and our car with a change of clothes was a walk, a wait for a tram, a tram ride, and another walk away. Needless to say, I was a bit stinky that day! Enjoy the moment below.

Annie revived!

While in Utah, we discovered Annie was playing at the community theater. We thought our girls might just like it.

 

Needless to say, we hit a home run. This summer will forever be known as "The summer of Annie." The re-creations of the Annie plays were incessant.  Nearly every day this summer we were treated to a new scene from Annie.

It brought me back to my childhood, when my sister and I also couldn't get enough of Annie. My sister, mom and I enjoyed seeing the Annie craze come full circle.

I think my favorite part of the Annie obsession is that the kids' plays now include music Enjoy a peak into the Annie highlight reel of 2012.