Green Bay Weekend!

A feat of amazing calendar engineering occurred for the Josephs family on Labor Day weekend - we had three FULL days off!  We took advantage of the time and made a trip up to Green Bay!  It was our only trip up this whole summer, so we made it count!

We made it into town by noon on Saturday, picked Mary up, and started off with activities right away -- at trip to Lambeau Field and the Packer Pro Shop!  Of course the kiddos have seen Lambeau as we drive by, but they hadn't actually been there.  We didn't go inside the stadium and take the tour, we'll save that for another day, but we hit up the Pro Shop for some Christmas ideas!  :)

On the way in we said hello to Coach Lombardi and gave Lambeau TWO BIG THUMBS UP!!

 Fun with Packer goodies!

 On the way out the kids did a Lambeau Leap!  (Check out Nate's new hat!)

Up next was Bay Beach!  It's a Josephs tradition to go to Bay Beach each year and I was getting pretty nervous that we were going to miss our annual trip!  Luckily Bay Beach is open weekends only through the end of September.  We had a great day with good weather.  It was warm, but there was a good breeze blowing all day long.

The kids wanted to ride the Tilt-A-Whirl first and Andrew got to be their riding buddy since I rode the Tilt-A-Whirl at the fair.  (A sign of getting old is trying to pawn off the rides on the other parent!)

 Daddy kept the spinning under control - enough to have fun, but not too much to get sick!  :)

 Once the Tilt-A-Whirl was done it was straight over to the Scrambler!  I told Andrew I would trade, but he was up for the challenge!!

 Weeeeee!  Zipping around:

 Waves!

 Mads was ready this year to take on a "big ride."  She was just shy of the height requirement last year - but was ready to roll this year.  (She was still barely able to squeak by on the height this year!)

I got to be her riding buddy!

 Heading up the hill - we're the ones with our hands up, waving:

 And here we go!!!!!  We're the 5th row back - by arm is straight up in the air:

 Weeeeee!

 Mads LOVED the ride.  There was a moment of panic on her face when we took a corner, but just as the train was pulling in she told me "I HAVE to do that again!"  Then she said it would be better with loop-de-loops!

Nate congratulated us with a hug!

 Since Nate had to wait patiently while Mads and I were on the Zippin Pippin, he got to choose the next rides.  First choice, the shooter planes:

 Somebody looks a little big for the little kid rides!

 This is his favorite ride - he rode it twice!

 Then he chose the race cars next:

 We surprised the kids with their first bumper car ride!  We didn't know if Nate would make the height requirement, and if he didn't we would skip the ride - but he was good to go!

Mads and I were bumper buddies, Mads was even able to do some of the driving:

 And Dad and Nate were bumper buddies!  Nate thought the bumper cars were great, Mads was indifferent.  :/

 It was time to finish up our trip so each kiddo got to choose one more ride.  Mads wanted to ride the Zippin Pippin again, but with Dad.  Nate took his ticket and headed over to the little kid rides.

 He took a spin on the boat - making his new friend do all the driving while he just lounged!  :)  Then he took his second ride on the shooter planes.

Dad actually diverted Mads over to the new Sea Dragon and they gave that a try.  Jury wasn't  overly impressed.

We ended our day with dinner out at Margarita's.  Such yummy Mexican food!  :)

On Sunday we had a low key day.  Andrew and I were able to sneak out for a couple hours to do some Christmas shopping with our Kohl's cash while the kids stayed with Grandma Mamie.  They were busy while we were gone - they baked up 6 dozen of Daddy's favorite cookies!

We then went to the movie theater and took in Shaun the Sheep.  Family friendly, yes, but it drove me bonkers that there was no actual dialogue!!

We then headed out to dinner at the Melting Pot in Appleton to celebrate Andrew's birthday a couple days early.  A fantastic dinner celebration!  

On Monday we left Green Bay around 10.  We stopped in Oshkosh for a little bit of Outlet Mall shopping, again for Christmas.  Pretty sure that baby Brantley is now covered!  :)

On the drive home Nathan was checking out the Packer Player Cards we surprised him with.  (Mads was busy reading her two new Magic Fairy books!)  He was so excited to read about his favorite players and share all the stats with us!!

We got back to Monroe around 2:30 and had enough time to take a bike ride on the trail before we needed to pick the dogs up from the kennel.  We made it 10 miles!!  Next time we want to allow a little bit more time so we can make it to the state line!  We were so close!

After the bike ride it was time to do some laundry, get the kids showered up, get to bed and get ready for the week to start!  We had a fabulous time in Green Bay!

Recapping the Randoms! (May, June, July and August!)

We haven't done a random picture post since April - so here are some extra snapshots from May, June, July & August!  :)

On Friday, May 22nd I was able to spend the day fishing with my Dad.  We caught a few fish and when we got back to town the kids were excited to help clean the fish!

Nater got up close and was helping Grandpa identify boy fish and girl fish!

 The very next day, May 23rd, the kids go to go fishing themselves with Grandpa and Grandma!  

 Helping Grandpa steer the boat:

 Cutie up front to navigate!

 Slightly windy!  :)

 A common sight in our yard - Mads swinging from the tree!

 There she goes again!

 We had a garage sale in May and we were able to fit the van in the garage!!  (For about 5 minutes until the mower and kid toys went back in! - But hey, it fits!)

 On May 10th we were able to visit the Duch farm for Nick's birthday.  The kids helped plant some trees:

 Dash loves to nap on Mads' bed!

 And Tater loves to nap in the van!  :)

  Look at this!  Mads got a call from her best friend, Shannon, one night.  The two girls proceeded to giggle on the phone for over 20 minutes before I made Mads hang up and get to bed.  She was just comfy, lounging on the bed and chatting away!

 When Mads brought home her art projects from the school year she wanted to show them to Amelia:

 Nate was showing off his projects to me later that week!

 Crazy kids with some Fun Dip tounges!

 How fancy are the kid cups at Red Robin - the straws have mustaches!  

 The grand opening kick off for the A-SQUAR-IUM was Saturday, June 13th.  

We found Nemo!

 SpongeBob Squarepants:

 King Triton!

 and Bruce!  Swim Away!

This is as close as these two dogs will ever get to each other.  They usually prefer their space while napping!

 So, I may have had to do a tiny bit of rearranging, but all three parts of Amelia's name were in the front row of the Coke case.  Enjoy a Coke with Amelia Ann(e) Joseph(s)  :)

 Look at those muscles and that tough Minion tattoo!

We went to our first ever Concert on the Square on Friday, July 10th.  The kids had fun dancing and playing with friends! 

 Mads is SEVEN and a HALF!  July 12th was her halfsies birthday.  We celebrated with a trip to the Sky-Vu!

 Thumbs up!

 Hey!  Sweet Ad!!  Stateline Vision Center...  you should check them out!

 We saw Minions - super fun!

 Friday night, July 17th, we were able to have a fun family night.  We went to Freeport to have some ice cream at The Union Dairy.  Mads' ice cream had Pop Rocks in it!

 Dash usually sleeps on Mads' bed these days - but he made an exception for Nate!

 On July 18th we welcomed our new nephew - Brantley James into the world!  The kids were so excited to meet him!  Mads was able to snuggle Brantley first.

 Tiny kisses for the baby!

 Then it was time for Nate to hold his new cuzzie.  Nathan is just enamored with babies.  He kept asking to see Brantley's feet and got upset when we wouldn't let him unwrap Brantley!

 So much love!

 We went to another Concert on the Square on Thursday, July 30th.  Nate got cozy in his chair with his Fun Dip!  :)  

While driving to Tunnel Trail for our camping weekend, we stopped in Black Earth at Rookie's for dinner.  The kids had meals that came with a treat - I was hoping that it would be a chocolate chip Rookie Cookie like it had been many, many years ago when my cousin Lisa stuck one in her coat pocket for an entire winter before realizing she left it there.  Well, the kids got a package of animal cracker.  No Rookie Cookie.  And that, my friends, is a big ol' Thumbs Down in our book!  

 The Monroe Park & Rec put on a "Date Night" on August 18th for the kids to bring a special guest for games and dancing.  We were the kids dates - group shot at date night!

 There were lots of fun games.  This one had the kids sucking M&Ms to the straw and moving them over to the other plate.  

 They both did a fabulous job!

 Then was a competition to see who could shake the ping pong balls out of the box tied to your waist the fastest!

 Hilarity ensued!

 Hula Hoops came out and Mads showed us how she could hula 8 hoops at once!

 

Look at this!  Tater was in the newspaper on August 19th!

Nathan has been battling his allergies pretty badly this summer so I set him up with an appointment to see the allergist on August 27th.  He had some allergy testing done, which wasn't super fun.  

Nate was tough, though, and we got through it!

Laying down, ready to be tested:

20 things were tested and Nate came back positive for cats, dust mites and mold.  It was indeterminate for dogs, trees and grasses.  We decided not to do further testing and to just treat Nate as if we know he's allergic to those things.

  Some tears were shed, but a green freezie pop makes it better!  :)

We have been so busy recently that it doesn't feel like we have much time for fun.  It's nice to look back at these pictures and see smiles and happiness in our eyes!