We are alive and well!

Thank you to Kerilyn for kindly enquiring if this was still our family Blog. It is and I am thrilled someone noticed we were gone. I am ashamed to see it has been almost 2 months since my last post. What upsets me most is that the past 2 months have been filled with family, trips out of town and the peace of the holidays, and I have shared none of this. I will spend the time in the upcoming days to tell you of our tails of feasts, weddings and travels. Please check back in soon and we hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!

The Kalahari

In what seems like a yearly pilgrimage to the Kalahari in October, we were there again during the Patterson Dental Seminar. As you can see the kids enjoy the perks and were in the water almost every waking hour we were there.

Kaitlyn was just jumping in, and Scott followed.Aahh, the lazy river.

The toilet bowl, is a ride Scott has never tried until this year. Can you believe I got him as he came out feet first? It is really him. He loved it and went down many times.

Good Night Kaitlyn.
There was a pumpkin carving contest in the Lobby, the head on the guy is carved. Scott thought it was cool, a white pumpkin.

We had a great time as usual and will probably be back next year...til then. Happy Autumn!

Little Farmer

On October 25th we got together with the Meyers family and had our Fall Family get together at Little Farmer just North of Fond du Lac, WI. It was a cold day with high winds which made the cold cutting. I wanted to get a good picture of the 4 cousins, but the hats tend to take away from it. it is a cute shot none the less. This is Kaitlyn, Aaron, Scott and Kyle.

Mr. and Mrs. Meyers

Barb and I took refuge in the craft barn where at least the wind was cut down. Everyone else was brave and went on a hay ride.
We are all trying to stay warm while the kids played on the hay mound and got filthy dirty.

Happy Birthday Mom!

October 24th was my Mom's Birthday. We had a nice evening. We went out to dinner to the Outback Steak House. The food was great, but the service slow. we then went back to Mom's and took some pictures. This is Mom, Kaitlyn and me.

Here is Mom and Grandma Sullivan. Grandma does not like to have her picture taken, so this was a compromise. I think it is a cute picture.
Everyone loves cake! Especially Cake and Bake! We always look for a reason to order cake. No black frosting, so no embarrassing pictures, darn.

Hello Scott!

We all gave Mom Packer tickets which she loved. Not sure if I fooled her with the mess with me box, but I tried! Of course the batteries in my camera went out when she opened them. Have a great time Mom and Happy Birthday! Love you

Carl in New Orleans

A few weeks ago Carl went to New Orleans for a CE course. He had a nice time and enjoyed the culture there. His hotel was on Bourbon Street which was loud at 3am! He asked what was the celebrations were for and people said, "oh, it is just a Friday night!"
He walked Bourbon Street and ate at a Jazz Club on Saturday Night. He even brought home some beads for Kaitlyn. I asked, "how did you get those?" He laughed and said they threw them at him. Sure Carl...

He was able to go on an Air Boat Tour which he really wanted to do. The Alligators were cool in the wild and he got many pictures of them. He brought Scott home a Gator head which is real.
On the boat they had a baby Gator, and everyone was able to hold it. The kids would have loved it!

Have no fear, no baby Gators were harmed in the making of this Blog. Carl's friend took this picture for Scott. I notice a trend...what is next?

Goodbye Scoobie!

I am very sad to say that we recently had to put our beloved guinea pig Scoobie down. He was 6 years old; I am not sure what that is in pig years but it is old! He developed a tumor and soon began having trouble breathing. I never would want him to suffer, so we had to say goodbye to him. The kids were understandably upset, but know that Scoobie is now in Heaven with Max and Papa Willy!

Horicon Marsh

Today was a fun Fall day. Carl was out of town in New Orleans, so the kids and I joined Mr. and Mrs. Meyers and went to Horicon Marsh for the day. It was a beautiful day, but it was so windy it felt colder than it really was. Here we are as we set out on our hike.

Kaitlyn and Scott at the first pit stop.
Me and the kids.
Here we are with Mrs. Meyers. Kaitlyn is cold and Scott is fine in his shorts. They could not be more opposite!
Scott and I with Carl's parents.
The always solitary Kaitlyn, I have many pictures where she "looks" deep in thought pondering life's challenges.

The kids took a few scenery shots. The Marsh is very flat, so not much in the way of topography. In Southern Wisconsin we are about 2 weeks past peak color. There are a few brilliant colors left in a few trees, but mostly things are looking dead. Winter is right around the corner!

When we drove in the park we saw a sign that read "Please do not run over snakes basking on the pavement"! We all laughed. Well sure enough on the way out I nearly picked off this poor snake. The kids just had to rescue it and relocate it to safer ground. They were so excited! They said after that the snake was the best part of the day. Simple pleasures...

Aqua Dog!

This afternoon we had every intention to do yard work since every weekend between now and New Years is booked, but the beautiful day got the better of us. We ended up at Little Cedar Lake with the dog. It was about 70 degrees with full sun, a Fall day to be taken advantage of. Cora has NEVER been in water deeper than the bathtub, so we were interested to see how she would like it. With a 50 foot lead on her and a 10 foot rope around her toy we ventured out. At first she just got her paws wet, then slowly went in deeper. It was so funny, she would hop on her back legs all the way out and back again. She would bounce in the air to try to cover more ground. What a Labrador!

Where is it? She would look and them come up so proud...with her leash in her mouth!

It was a great time. We will definitely do it again if the weather cooperates. Next time we will use a longer rope on her toy to try to coaks her out further. She loved it!

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my Dad's 66th Birthday. I sure miss him. We went out to a nice lunch with Roberta at Brisco County (their old hang out). It is such a nice day, so we decided to walk the Boardwalk down to the old Dockside. We had a nice talk and laughed at the fond memories; Dad would have done this or Papa Willy would have liked that. While the emotions are still raw I think we all put our best foot forward and made the best of the day. Thank you to everyone who has given support and understanding the past 3 months. All is well...Happy Birthday Dad!

DJ and Kelly's Wedding Shower

After the memory Walk we all went over to Brisco County in Menominee Falls and celebrated DJ and Kelly's upcoming December wedding. We had a nice time and the happy couple got a lot of nice gifts.

We were happy to have Dan join us.


Camouflage Mom, Camouflage!!!!!
At the kiddy table we have Ricky, Kaitlyn, Haley and Serin. Love you Ricky!!!!