Trip to The Land of Cheese and home of 60 degree weather in July...

We headed up to Wisconsin last week for our vacation. It was quite an eventful week, so many pictures will follow. Ann had her 20th high school reunion in Eau Claire, so we made a little trip out of this event.

Above, Ann and Catie are burning up the water slide at Fairfax Park. Catie loved it and went down several times. Jackson went down one time, and that was enough for him!

Jackson enjoyed playing the mailman at the Children's Museum. Steve continues to encourage Jackson to be a doctor or a "leader," however Jackson is more interested in being an artist, mail carrier, or "bathtub cleaner."

Here we are at Big Falls, one of Ann's favorite places as a kid. The "Big Falls" weren't quite as big as she remembered, but we had a great time swimming in the rapids with Grandpa nonetheless. Abby stayed home with Grandma Moe.

Abigail was baptized at University Lutheran Church... the same church where Jackson and Catie were baptized. Although I don't think Jackson and Catie will be invited back anytime soon, as they were a bit mischievous during the sermon.

Abby was good during the baptism because she was distracted by her beautiful dress. She loved the feel of the texture and it must have tasted good too because it was in her mouth the whole time.

The main event!! Here we are, heading out to Ann's 20th high school reunion, a dinner at the Country Club.

It was great to see everyone at the reunion. Here is Ann with her best friend from high school, Mary. Ann was as popular as ever at the reunion (just kidding).

We then drove to Milwaukee to visit Grandma Schwartz. As you can see, once again, the kids are a model for well-disciplined children (NOT!). Actually, they were good and enjoyed their visit with Grandma Schwartz, especially the trip to Winkie's Variety Store. Winkie's is a special place to Steve... he got caught shoplifting there when he was 4 years old!

Steve had lunch with Dave Wright, his old friend and mentor. This is a picture of Dave's new convertible SMART car. This is quite ironic for Dave to be driving such a green automobile as he is a world-famous industrial chemical salesperson!! We all took turns driving it and it is actually quite a fun ride.

We headed to the new Bayshore Mall with our friends, the Cowgills. The kids enjoyed playing with Halle and had a blast running around. Catie is still asking about her "new friend."

Jackson, Catie, and Halle...

Thanks to the grandparents for a nice visit and helping with the kids so much. Hope you have caught up on your sleep since we left!

Grandpa Jim and Grandma Sandye visit

Catie and Jackson were playing airplane on their custom chairs and having a ball in anticipation of Grandma and Grandpa flying in for the weekend!

Grandpa Jim is mentoring the kids in the art of TV watching... As you can see, they got straight A's! For some reason, we didn't take many photos, and once again, Grandma Sandye evaded the camera. It was a short trip but we had a nice visit. Grandpa and Grandma were en route to pick up their new Scottie "Mason." On Saturday morning, we went to a birthday party at a park. We hung out at the house for the afternoon and then enjoyed an adult-only dinner.

Catie enjoying the birthday party balloons...

Jackson has been reading the books about Captain Underpants!! If you haven't read them, I would advise against it!!


Ann needed a "family photo" for her high school reunion this weekend up in Eau Claire, so here's what we came up with. Sorry Steve, but we needed someone to take the picture.

End of the Year Swim Team Party

We celebrated the end of the swim season over the weekend. Jackson seemed to enjoy it, although it seemed that the actual swimming was a distraction from playing with his friend Matthew.

Here is Abster, content as usual...

Jackson is proud of his trophy!

Here's Catie in her new pink swim suit, anxiously waiting for the awards to be finished so she can go swimming.

The night finished off with a parent vs. child relay. Here are mom and Jackson, getting ready to race.

Happy 4th of July!!

Photograph by Steve... Chamblee fireworks.

Early morning, on our way out the door to the Peachtree. Photo courtesy of Grandma Moe.

Another successful Peachtree Road Race. Our friend Brandie was talking about how every year, she is in front of Houston's, watching the Peachtree and cheering the racers on and to make sure we ran by so she could say hello ... So, we went WAY out of our way, weaving around many racers to get across the street to say hello, but no Brandie! (Later we find that she overslept from a Moon Pie hangover!!). We would have broken 50 minutes had we not had this detour. But, it was not a total loss. We got a tap on the shoulder near the end of the race, only to turn around and hear, "Hey guys, I'm your mailman!" Steve has thought that the mailman has been stalking us for years, and now I am starting to wonder.

After 3 years of wearing nothing but stretch pants and T shirts, Catie has decided that she loves dresses...

We enjoyed a 4th of July party in the neighborhood.

Catie was test driving a motorcycle from the local "CHIPS" precinct... That's "Chamblee Highway Patrol."

The Abster seemed to enjoy the fireworks... hopefully she does not have permanent hearing loss!

Jackson with Conner and Matthew, being silly as usual...

Race Day

We headed off to our 2nd annual Possum Trot this morning at 6am. The kids and Brown Eyes participated in the 1 mile tot trot. Abby seemed to enjoy the wind in her face from the speed of the stroller being pushed by Mommy during the race.


Jackson and Catie preparing for the arduous 1 mile run. Note Catie's high tech running outfit.

After a difficult race, the kids basked in the euphoria of a tough athletic endeavor. It's always a treat to get the T shirt after finishing a race!

At the medal ceremony, Jackson is awarded his first place for 6 & under by the giant possum. His winning time was 10:04.

To the victor go the spoils!! Jackson enjoying his post-race massage.

Check out my hardware!!

Dork party of 1 and the Abster...

The girls...

Catie started taking ballet classes. She loves it!! We thought that we would never get her outfit on her, as she usually prefers to wear T shirts and shorts.

Here's little Abby in her saucer... one of her favorite activities.

Stinky Zoo

We headed to the Yellow River Game Ranch this morning, otherwise known as the "Stinky Zoo." Jackson and Catie enjoyed all of the animals.

The kids both loved feeding and petting the bunnies.

These were the pesty deer that followed us through much of the park.

The kids loved the horse ride at the end of the morning.

Cheese!!

This is Jackson's kindergarten class picture that we just found and thought we'd post.