Friday, June 30, 2006

I felt like a storm tracker last night, of sorts. We had decided to go to the "big bang" fireworks last night. They are always on the opening of Summerfest at the lakefront. Well we drove on Lincoln Memorial Dr. right on the lake and it was packed with cars. We decided to head north to Shorewood's Atwater park, still on the lake, and stake out there. We brought our folding chairs and sat down with 15 min. to spare to wait for the fireworks. Come 10:30, we expected to see the fireworks. We ended up hearing the makings of a distant thunderstorm, or so we thought. We soon realized with a large group of others also there, that we had picked the wrong location. We were hearing the reverb of distant fireworks and not seeing a thing! We flew to our car and starting driving back to the lakefront downtown. We get there and every entrance was blocked by cops. We couldn't get close enough. Trees were blocking everywhere and Sierra saying, "I can't see them" every other second. Finally on our way out of the city after many twist and turns we saw the top half of the finale. Steve pulled over for 2 min., so Sierra at least saw some of them. Oh yeah! Now I remember why my parents only took me once to see these. The opening of Summerfest (music) is the biggest thing to hit Milwaukee in the summer. Mayhem!The fireworks were low and right over the Summerfest grounds, not shot over the lake. Too many people, too small a viewing area. Now if you were of the richer sort, Bartolotta (expensive nice Milwaukee chain of restaurants) catered a meal on top of a building on the Pier for like $80 during the fireworks. Something tells me I'll only be reading about it in the paper :). Well if we ever attempt it again, we'll probably station ourselves on the top of a parking garage to see it. Maybe another year to dull the memory will get us attempting it again. :)

Tuesday, June 27, 2006


I love this picture of my booch and her daddy. Yeah weird nicknames have surfaced - boocha, boochalouisa that have no meaning behind them - just names that stuck for my little Sierra Elise Marie. 3 1/2 going on 4 but she says she's ready to be a big girl now and go to school--one more year yet. Wow how time flies!

Monday, June 26, 2006




They look innocent. These crazy cousins were going crazy on the dance floor after my cousin Ryan's wedding on Saturday. They were trying to do head stands in dresses and head banging while doing some very original moves :). We quickly exited the reception after the cake was cut and escorted out the overtired duo. They were a hoot to watch though. Sorry the camera is distorting their faces so much. I guess I need to upgrade my digital camera one of these days. Anyways, we had a good time with my mom's side of the family.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006



Here is one of our weekend adventures to Racine, WI. We went down for the free zoo and then stumbled upon this lighthouse. I truly love lighthouses ever since the summer tour with the Northern Lights out on the east coast. Though, I must admit when every other day you saw a lighthouse, it started to get monotonous. But now, I enjoy them again. I just heard from Julie not too long ago that she also took a break, after our trip, but hers was from sandwiches. To explain, we received sandwiches every day in a sack lunch for 3 months on the road. We could not look at them again for years afterwards, especially ham and cheese. Julie Churchwell (Grotzke) said that she just started liking them again - 9 years later! Good times!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006



Here's some pictures of us trying to do the Limbo. Oh the possibilities with an old roll of wrapping paper! I'm behind the camera and providing the background music.:)

Friday, June 16, 2006


I was so excited when Steve said he'd take me down to Chicago for my birthday. Steve's mom even offered to take Sierra overnight - thank you! We got there in good time, but ended up driving around downtown for 1 1/2 hours just to find the restaurant we were going to go to. We ended up paying for parking and then realized we were on S La Salle when we needed to be on N La Salle - good times! We took a taxi there instead :). We went to Fugo De Chao which is a Brazilian rest. like Steve went to in Brazil. They have men dressed like Brazilian cowboys (I think some of them were Brazilian) come around with skewers off all types of meat to your table. They carve it right there for you as much as you want. It was a very classy rest. with a hefty price tag even for lunch, but it was fun to see what Steve had been talking about when he went to Brazil. It was awesome steak with a salad bar and sides like polenta, potatoes and fried bananas (not my cup of tea). We were so full that we ended up walking to Watertower place. It was great to see Hard Rock Cafe & all the big shops along the way - love Crate n Barrel! We went from there by trolley to Navy Pier. It was not very busy surprisingly for a Friday, but it was cold. Everyone was in pants and coats. We were going to see the Broadway show Wicked, but it was sold out. It is the story of the witches on Wizard of Oz before the movie when they were friends, I think. I guess it must be the hit show right now in Chicago. Well we went from the pier in a taxi to our car. We left at rush hour - good times - and went to Ikea in Schaumburg. Steve bought me a cube bookcase with 16 cubes in it. I've been eying(sp?) it up :). Well we got home exhausted and thankful for a good nights sleep! Like our attempt at taking our own picture :)

Thursday, June 01, 2006

www.edhorn.info Please pray for Ed & Kelley Horn tomorrow. Ed will be undergoing a bone marrow transplant. He'll be in the hospital for 5 weeks after the transplant. Please check out his site and send up your prayers for him and his family on June 2nd. Thank you!