Our weekend - Part I
It was a very fast and yet long weekend, but a rewarding one. We left Thursday on the ferry. Well the "fast" ferry was 2 hours behind schedule (arrived 11:30, left at 1:30:). Once we got on, it was great. It was very nice with either airline type seats or sets of four chairs with a big table in between them. They had two movies - Shaggy Dog & Stuart Little while we were en route. They were a lifesaver to keep Sierra sitting down, even though we took frequent trips around the ship:). It was nice that you could go on the outside of the boat during the trip. It was really windy and loud on the top of the boat which freaked out Sierra, so she quickly went back inside. If we could have stayed out on the back, it would have been perfect--nice and cool and beautiful. The ship is pretty new, so it felt like we were being pampered. They also had a cafe on the ship with Alterra coffee ( I thought Alicia would like that :). We ended up getting to our destination 2 hours late (5:30/6 p.m.). Steve's aunt came and picked us up and we began our second leg of the journey. It should have taken at most 1 1/2 - 2 hours, but the roads we were going to take were closed due to road construction - yikes! Thankfully, we had a portable DVD player for the car ride - another lifesaver. 3 hours later we arrived at Grandma & Grandpa's. I cannot believe how well Sierra did. She was a trooper!

We are embarking on an adventure today. We'll be taking the ferry across Lake MI today for the first time. Sierra, Steve's mom and I are heading over to MI where we are going to see Steve's grandparents (who live on the western side of the state). Grandma just had knee surgery, so Nancy is going to help her for a week. On Friday night I will be heading to Ed's funeral in Plymouth, MI (suburb of Detroit) while Nancy watches Sierra at home. I've never really taken a trip without Steve before. I hope and pray my little girl turns on some angelic characteristics while we are gone. I am one who tends to stress out over too many things. It is good for us to get out and go somewhere since I'm not tied down with a job. Yowza! Here we go!

Ed did go to Heaven today. How glorious it is for him, but very hard for those left behind. Continue to keep his family in your prayers. Thank you.

Please pray for Kelley Horn and her family as it looks like her husband Ed may be seeing Jesus face to face soon after a nine month battle with cancer. Pray for strength and grace sufficient. Their website is www.edhorn.info . Kelley and I went to church and elementary school together. We are the same age. I can't imagine what she must be going through. She is going to need our constant prayer. Please lift them up before the Lord, including their two children- Aidan & Kya.

On Thursday nights we head out to the Boerner Botanical Gardens at Whitnall Park for a free concert. Normally it costs to get into the gardens, so it's nice to be able to see the flowers and hear the concert for free. My parents, my sister's family and my aunt Kay all have come with us. I think we might get Steve's family to come with us this week to the WI Wind orchestra & Classical guitarists. Last time, when we went it was a Caribbean/Reggae Concert. They had a local theater group providing entertainment while the music was going on and juggling and kind of providing a carnival feel. Little kids would go up front and dance in front of the band during the whole concert. Sierra kept trying to drag her cousins up there, but was too scared to go by herself. Finally, the last 1/2 hr. they had warmed up enough to get out there. I took a video of it - hilarious! I wish I could figure out how to post that, but I think the pictures will do some justice - I love Brooke's hopping on one foot, holding on to the other bent leg and jolting it towards her head :). Jordan was moving in a circle while semi-laying on the grass. Sierra was all in her own genre. I love all the free things that are going on in the summer. Other local parks have family movies in the park and free concerts almost every night of the week. Even the festivals downtown normally have some time in the day when you can get in free with cans of food to donate.

Steve has aspirations that Sierra will one day become a pro golfer like Anika Sorenstam (sp.?), and support us in our old age, etc., etc. Well on our first trip to mini golf, I think Sierra kind of squelched that dream. She was hacking at it and when she did finally hit, she would run and pick it up. Steve was trying to teach her how to hold the club - oh my! Quite an impatient and independent one we have here. He'll have to either fork out a lot of money for lessons or let the dream die with this one :).

We had a great but quick weekend up to Door County. It is cherry season, so we bought enough cherry merchandise to last us until next summer. We stayed on the Lake MI side of the peninsula, and boy was it nice and peaceful. Across the bay was a state park, so it was just trees and shoreline. Sierra wanted to just stay and swim in the pool the whole weekend, which we did quite a bit. We also love going to all the little shops in the towns, trying new places and visiting the old standbys--the confectionary, touch of the world (handmade bracelets and instruments), and Tannenbaum (Christmas store). On the way home we stopped in Green Bay at Bay Beach where they have an amusement park with rides for $.25-$1.50. Sierra loved it and had a hard time parting :). I love weekend getaways. It helps break up the mundane of day to day life.
Doesn't the little helicopter ride look like the Jetsons' car? :)

Here are some more baseball game photos :).

We had a wonderful time on July 3 at the Brewer's game. Steve's brother from South Carolina came up for a couple of weeks and stayed with his parents in Watertown. On Monday, they came over for lunch and then we headed to the game at 1:05. They were great seats for the price - we had a great view of the game, the breeze cooled us off, but we couldn't see the scoreboard - oh well! All the kids got cute mini-bats at the fan shop during the stretch, but started nailing each other in a mock sword fight afterwards. The sun started to beat down on us at the end of the game - it got hot! The kids liked the sausage race right before the 7th inning (guys dressed in mascot uniforms as a Polish or Italian sausage, a hotdog and a bratwurst). Sounds a little weird, but hey life in WI has its German roots! During the last couple of innings, the Brewers lost their lead, but saved the day in the ninth - woohoo! We piled into our cars and came to our house for Little Caesar's pizza - thanks to Tim & Heather:). All in all a great but exhausting day. In the pictures you can see Max, Nancy and Grandma Deaver--Steve's parents and grandma are in one picture, Tim (Steve's brother), Heather and Isaac are in another, Joshua & Sierra on the bleachers and Tim & the kids--Aaron, Caleb, Joshua & Sierra. Some of the pictures will come later.

Here' s some more pictures from our boat ride and ice cream jaunt to Grand Avenue mall. Can you tell how windy it was (Britt's hair)?

On July 1st we decided to take my sister's kids to downtown Milwaukee for a boat ride. We had never gone on one in Milwaukee before, but it felt like a gorgeous day to be on a boat and since we don't own one, this seemed like the ticket. I think the boat tour was called the Iroquois. It started on the Milwaukee River and then went out onto Lake Michigan. It was gorgeous! It was about a 1 1/2 hour ride and very windy --which kept us cool. (The picture of the four kids are Brittany, Jordan, Brooke and Sierra.)