Bay Beach

Wednesday we went to Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay. We met up with Sophia and Nora and their grandma, Greg's Aunt Beth.

Our first stop was something familiar and fun--the carousel. Ella picked a huge red bunny and Lucy was on a pink and purple horse.

Next stop: the train station. The conductor was a little crazy, but the girls loved every second of the train ride around the park!

Nora, Sophia, Ella, and Lucy

After a picnic lunch, we rode every singe kiddie ride available...a few of them twice. We started with some ladybugs...

...then moved on to another set of ladybugs.

Ella was especially pleased on this ride because she had "passengers." There were 2 girls sitting behind her in the ladybug and she loved that she was their driver!

The boats were next. They were awesome because they were really in water. Both Lucy and Ella decided Daddy would be happy that they drove a boat just like he was doing in Canada.

Race cars! Ella picked red so she could be Lightning McQueen and said "Kachow!" while she was driving. Lucy did great with the steering...the steering wheel actually lets kids zoom in and out while they are driving around the circle. Sweet.

The best ride of the day: the airplanes. Not only did they go around in a circle, but they went up into the air as well.

Ella was a little bit scared of one of the planes that had an angry face painted on it, but for the second ride, she HAD to drive the angry plane and she loved it!

Lucy was really bummed out when this little girl (who was so excited to share the car with Lucy)sat next to her. Even though they have their own steering wheel, there is only one rope to pull to ring the obnoxious bell. Lucy was a really good sport and had fun anyway, but we had to ride these cars again so she could have the bell all to herself.

The swings were great--just like the grown-up version, but slower. It looked so relaxing I wished I could have gone on with the girls.

The pony rides were a hit--Lucy chose Babe.

Ella chose Willy.

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After our very full day, we drove back to Shawano to get ready for the guys to come home. We had a little Welcome Home party and stayed up to hear stories about the trip!

Kids' Choice Day

On Monday we all needed some down time...we just hung out and played all day and night. We called it "Kids' Choice Day" and let the girls make most of the decisions. Most of the day was spent in and around the pop-up camper that Mark and Ellen had set up in the yard for Lucy and Ella. It was the perfect playhouse for them.

It was a super windy day!

Lucy found grass, flowers, weeds, and sticks to make "dinner salads" for Ellen and I. Mine was scrumptious. We ended the day with a very long bath and mint chip ice cream...the girls decided EVERY day should be Kids' Choice Day.

Party at the Farm

Sunday Greg's other set of grandparents threw a party at the farm. Grandmother gave Lucy and Ella a snowcone machine, and Ellen helped them set up a snowcone stand. They sold apple and grape, and had a big line of customers.

Lucy was really into it and completely played the part, asking each customer which flavor they wanted and thanking them for their business.

Ella loved it, but was definitely more interested in being a customer than a server. Once she got her own snowcone, she sat behind the table and continued to add juice to hers while Lucy served everyone else. Hilarious! It was another great day of swimming and eating--lots of thanks to Grandmother and Grandfather for their work on the pool, the wonderful meal, and of course--the snowcone machine!

4th of July

Saturday evening we headed back to Clintonville to Greg's grandparents' home on Clover Leaf Lakes for playing, dinner, and more fireworks. Lucy and Ella had a blast running around with Sophia, Nora, and Lily (Greg's cousins' kids). They played chase, "hopscotch," duck-duck-goose, and ring around the rosie--super fun!

Lily was sweet enough to share her hippo bubble blower--a huge hit!

Ella put on her sweet 4th of July shades for the pontoon parade.

A huge thanks to Ellen, Julie, and Patrick for all of your help with the girls--we had a great night with you! Thanks to Betty, Beth, and Jane for all of your work...it was great seeing you!

Maya's Birthday Party

Saturday morning I got Lucy and Ella all decked out for the 4th in the outfits Mark and Ellen brought them from San Antonio, and we headed over to Tina's parents house for Maya's birthday party.

Maya was hilarious and adorable...here she is on her new princess tricycle honking the obnoxious horn over and over and LOVING every second of it. Too cute...

Clintonville Fireworks

Ellen, the girls, and I drove to Clintonville (about half an hour from Shawano) for the fireworks on Friday night. There is a Culver's right next to the baseball field where the fireworks are set off, but when we pulled up, it was too crowded to stay and eat. We went through the drive through, found our parking spot, and set up in the back of the car. The girls were calling it "Opa's Truck Stop."

The fireworks were great--Clintonville puts on an amazing show! We sat very close, so the fireworks were REALLY loud...both girls ended up covering their ears for most of the show, but they completely enjoyed the evening. They liked coming up with names for all the different fireworks--the most original (and absolutely perfect) name came from Ella. She called one "string cheese," and she was right--that's totally what it looked like.

I LOVE this picture of my little snuggle bunnies.

Strawberry Picking

Lucy, Ella, and I spent a week in Shawano with Ellen while Greg took a trip to Canada with his dad, brother, and uncle. We had tons of fun and went on lots of adventures. Our first outing was to Glendale Farms to go strawberry picking. It was literally one of the last days for picking, but we were able to find plenty of yummy berries.

Lucy and Ella waiting for the tractor to take us out to the patch.

Ready to go!

We stripped them down for damage control...they were eating every other strawberry they picked! I can't blame them, though...there's nothing like a juicy strawberry warm from the sun.

Lucy claimed to have found the "most nutritious" strawberry in the patch, and Ella found all the "hugest" strawberries!