Kite Festival 2016

Milwaukee's beautiful lakefront was peppered today with hundreds of awesome kites during the annual Kite Festival held at Veteran's Park.

Kites and the downtown Milwaukee skyline

 

 

Kites of all shapes and sizes were flying in a very gusty wind. The temperature was in the upper 70's but the wind shifted abruptly and brought chilly Lake Michigan air into the park.

The Octopus kite was clearly a favorite. Most festival goers snapped a picture as they watched the kite toss in the wind.

 

 

 

Animal and fish kites also seemed to be popular-mostly due to the size.

Eagle Kite

Shark Kite

 

Circle Kites were interesting, as they continued to spin in the win.

On our way home, we saw an interesting site. A Pedal Tavern was directly in front of our car. A Pedal Tavern is a surrey that numerous people pedal on their way to various taverns. For a fee, they reserve a spot on the surrey, tour specific areas of the downtown, and stop at a few taverns. Judging from the laughing and singing of this group, they must have visited several taverns already!

Pedal Tavern on St Paul street in Milwaukee

We really thought this was a very cool event. Perhaps the most enjoyable thing was watching the Grand Flying at noon where all the kites were in the air and "Let's go Fly a Kite" was playing in the background.

Mother Daughter Banquet

Tonight me, Mom, Linda, and Agnes participated in the annual Mother/Daughter Banquet at my church. The theme was a Tea Party-"Out Your Spout."

Each year the theme dictates the decorations, inspirational messages, and entertainment.

Beautiful antique teapots were placed on each table, and one lucky person from each table walked away with it. Each person's place setting included an antique teacup and flower decoration. Tea bags had carefully chosen sayings about "mom" creatively attached to the back of the bag. Everything was so pretty.

The dinner was buffet style and served by the some of the men-just to give the gals a night off. Of course, Mom couldn't resist having a few desserts-even after swearing she could not eat one more bite.

The entertainment featured a comedian this year. He honored his own mom by providing a humorous glimpse into all her "mom" attributes.

We always have a great time at this event. At one time, we had 8 family members join in the fun.

 

 

I can't believe Mom ate all that food!

Happy Mother's Day!


Too many desserts make mature women sassy!

Roman's New Glasses

My adorable nephew, Roman, just got his first pair of glasses. He is only two years old and loves that he now wears glasses like Daddy.

Roman loves to see pictures of himself on the blog, so I wanted to create this post especially for him.

There are lots of cute kids that wear glasses, but isn't he just the sweetest thing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday, Lucy!

Today was Lucy's first birthday. We celebrated it at Jeremy's sister's house in Waukesha. It was a beautiful day-warm and sunny-and of course Lucy was the star of the show.

 

There was lots of wonderful foods, salads, treats and snacks, as well as little boys and girls and a few large dogs!

Wonderful food

Delicious Salads



Lucy was dressed for the occasion. Her outfit included a pink bow tiara, pink tutu, and silver shoes. She received beautiful outfits and toys, although she made mom open most of the gifts, as she was preoccupied with the pink and red balloons that were floating around the room.

Lucy practicing her "teenager" face

 

Pink Tutu

Lucy and her gifts

 

Pink cupcakes and a special birthday cake marked the special occasion.

Lucy's brother and sister were having fun at the party as well. They are always attentive to her needs.

Matt taking great care of his little sister

Mom and dad seemed to be having a great time with their little princess. She does take a little more effort to keep track of now that she is walking and running.


Mom and Lucy hanging out together



Stephanie, Lucy and Jeremy ( Stephanie doesn't have a blurry head-(Lucy explored my camera lens)

 

Mom has been busy with Lucy, but now is getting ready for girl #3! Let the fun begin!!

Stephanie and girl #3

Happy Birthday Lucy!

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Jackie's Surprise Baby Shower

Each year a few family members make the annual trip to visit Jim, Jackie and my 7 nephews. This year, with numbers 8 and 9 on the way, and one of them a GIRL, we wanted to give Jackie a surprise "babies" shower!


The Happy ( very busy) Couple

Lou and I, and mom and Linda brought lots of girl and boy gifts and clothes, and a cake. Max, Vince, and Molly secretly blew up pink and blue balloons in the basement.

Awesome Cake with Pink and Blue Booties

Opening "Baby B" (girl) Gifts

Mom Trying to Steal Baby B's Kitty

 

Happy Boys Love Cake ( and hopefully new baby sister)

 

Max and Molly were home from College, so they were able to join in the fun as well. It is amazing to see Max is now taller than Dad!


Max and Molly

Vince Playing one of His Many Guitars

We had such a great time watching each boy play piano. Vince has become quite a guitarist and can play Jazz, Blues, Blue Grass... anything. He also has taken up the mandolin and is proficient on the piano.

One of the highlights was listening to one of Jim's Direct TV music stations while watching the living room strobe light flash- and dancing as we tried to keep balloons in the air.

Of course, it is always a joy to watch the little ones play with their toys or blankets, or whatever is at hand. 

We are very excited to see the two new bundles that are coming later this summer.




Moore's Disco

Jack, Eddie and Victor

Aunt Linda Hanging out with the Boys

Roman Practicing Taking Care of Twins


 

RULER OF THR ROOST









Happy 82nd Birthday, Mom!

Birthday Girl

We celebrated Mom's  82nd birthday at Longhorn Steakhouse on Saturday night. Mom always enjoys the food there, so we decided to take her out and then have cake back at my house.

We had a group of 12 and the seating was a bit "cozy," but we had a good time.

Among the highlights were Rachel's Peach Sangria, which Laura decided to try and mom happily sampled, Adam's Watermelon Margarita and full rack of ribs-which he cleaned completely, and the Happy Birthday ice cream, whipped cream dessert which mom wolfed down-after telling all she couldn't eat another bite.
Of course, we had an awesome cake and ice cream, which mom found more room for-although she swore she just could not eat one more bite!

Hoping to have another big bash next year! Or maybe just an ice cream party!



Rachel's Peach Sangria
 

Mom loves fruit
 

Adam's full rack!
 



Happy Birthday treat from Longhorn

Jeff, Laura and Jeremy having fun



Ice cream and whipped cream-mom's basic food groups