Max comes for a visit

We had a change of plans due to out of control airline tickets to Seattle... 

Max and Tia came to visit us instead of us going out there! The girls love so much playing with their cousins!! What a top dog summer for them getting to play with both sides in June!! They are already excited for the Nienast tour in July too!!! This made it a little easier saying goodbye to Max... Always sad saying goodbye.. :(

Maya Fish's First Swim "Meet"

Maya just had her first swim "meet" this afternoon! She is a Little Ripple on our neighborhood swim team the Riss Lake Riptides.  She doesn't compete like the big kids, but the premise of the group is to ready them for competition in the future. She practices every day and they had a mock "meet" today after their first month. 

Her teachers are the "big" Riptides and she has learned so much in just a few weeks. She was very nervous as she missed the first week (we were in Wisconsin... so much more fun!!!! ) and was put with BOY teachers. " OMGoodness mommy.. I have a BOY teacher.. I want a GIRL.. PLEASE ask them to change me to a girl" were her words. 

Her boy coaches have been Incredible!!!  They have pushed her and been so sweet with her. She loves them to death now and says they are "so cool!!". And "cool" they are. At 2 she was afraid to put her head in the water. At 3 you really couldn't get her out of the water. At 6 we think she may have found her calling... She's pretty darn fast and most importantly I don't think a second goes by she's not smiling while swimming. (Daddy's already thinking scholarship possiblities here... ) And all she wants to do is SWIM... She truly is a little fish. She dreams of having a pool like Delaney, Peytie and Jack in her own back yard!!!  

Maya is the one in the pink suit and pink goggles... 

I'm attaching a video of the beginning of her first race.. and then the very end... Where she got FIRST!!! :) The coaches are also at the end to make sure they are okay as it's a pretty long swim for some of those punkins!

I've also enclosed a picture of her biggest fan... MIKA of course... who is a rock star for waiting 35-45 minutes in 90 degree heat to get in the pool... I have to bribe with suckers to get her to wait while the lessons and meets are going on.. :0

Happy Day to everyone!!  I don't think the last video worked... I'll try attaching later!! :)

The Camping Experiment

Well, we did it. We finally took a family weekend away. I booked a rustic cabin near Julian, in the mountains east of San Diego. Our cabin was a one room shelter with built-in bunks and a full frame. No AC, no screen door, but the windows vented (but didn't fully open).
The kids loved everything about camping: the campfire, the s'mores, the idea of the cabin...
Unfortunately we chose the hottest weekend in history to go try to camp. The extreme heat made it tough to do anything during the day. There was really nothing for kids to do at the campsite anyway. Sitting around and cooking things over open fire really only occupies so much time.
We ended up taking kids into "town" which is a one block strip of over-priced tourist shops. We had lunch, we hit the pioneer museum, and attempted to kill some time before heading back to the hot box we called the cabin. The highlight of the trip was the Candy Mine located in the cellar of the old drugstore. The kids loved this and it was cool down there.
And salt water taffy sold in bulk is always a good thing!

Who's HERE???

 Our video worked finally !! Yeah!! This is a video upon Lexie's arrival to the reunion... :)

More pictures from the reunion!!

I don't know what happened to all our other posts with our other pictures!! But here is a few more!! 

Run, Daddy, Run!!

Maya showing off Daddy's first 1/2 marathon medal!!! My Dad and Ryan... Is this before or after the race?? They had to get up at 3am to make the 1 and 1/2 hour drive there... Ryan did the 1/2 marathon and my dad did a 10k. 


Happy Father's Day once again! I just wanted to share another one of Ryan's life goals of completing his first 1/2 marathon this weekend!! Hoorrraaayyy Daddy!! He did it under 2 hours which was his goal! Yipeee!! We are so proud of him!! It has been such a pleasure watching him complete some of his life goals now that his life is a little bit more free with his new job! He has always been the best husband and daddy in the world, but now he's got a little more time to define "Ryan" as "Ryan" instead of Ryan the husband, Ryan the daddy or Ryan the Harley paint manager. We are in awe of him!! He is now pumped up for his marathon goal this October in Long Beach!!! My sister has been a great source for training, diet, etc. She has been one of Ryan's biggest cheerleaders! 

On a side note, our family is also in awe of my sister. You all know she's a marathon star.. First of all running them... a lot... Well.. last weekend she ran the Ranier to Rustin 50 mile race... Yes 50.. FIFTY. FIFTY.. I still can't grasp the thought. She ran it in 8 hours.. Yes 8 hours of straight running. Can you imagine??? We in no way could complain about our 10 hour drive of sitting on our butts back from WI!! :) Her hubby Mark was able to ride along side her on his bike the last 20 miles apparently acting out scenes from recent Days of our Lives soap episodes as the "serious John" to keep her laughing. Our family just shakes our heads in disbelief and Ryan could only come up with one word to say.. Incredible....

I am so proud of her for always making a goal... and reaching that goal... with no excuses.  She is so modest too.... she'd be ticked off that I am sharing this with you all... If I ran 50 miles straight I think I'd be wearing a t-shirt every day that said so. :0 Hee hee.. By the way.. She got 1st for women and 2nd overall in the race.... She's our hero... CRAZY CRAZY LOCA Hero, but a hero for loving the life she lives and living it up. 

P.S.She said she'll never ever do it again. :) The Ironman however she has yet to check off.... 

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to all of our favorite Daddies!!! This message was intended especially for Grandpa!!! xoxoxo

For some reason our video will not upload after several attempts... We'll call you live!! 

Our anniversary

We didn't take any pictures but we had a wonderful anniversary day. At first we thought we would go into Point and do some shopping and go out to dinner. But, then we decided we would really prefer spending the day at home. Everything looked so green and peaceful outside. It was just such a pleasure enjoying the view and resting in the peace. Dad made a delicious steak dinner (while I was on the phone getting our satellite system "fixed"!) The day was really a time of counting our blessings and marveling at the idea of being married for 41 years. Where have the years gone? Because of all of you they have been wonderfully happy years and we appreciate you all so very much. Thank you for all of your good wishes and gifts of support. So today we begin year 42! To me happiness is peace in my heart and trust that all is well always and in all ways. And that is what I wish for each of you as well.

PIctures Round #4

Family Fun-KC pictures

We had such a wonderful time playing and making memories!! We all miss you very much and feel so lucky to be surrounded by so much love. I'll make a few posts as I can only figure out how to add 4 pics and they are all too good to pass up!

Mom summed up all the highlights!! 

Where Did Lake Delton Go?

After a fun and relaxing weekend, Jeremy, Lexie, and I got home and unpacked. Then we ventured outside. We checked our rain gauge and cut the yard. We received about 5 inches of rain while we were away. We went around the yard are straightened up things that got blown out of place - the lawn chairs, the hot tub cover, the bird feeders, etc. No big deal. We were happy to see that none of the large trees in our yard were damaged or blown over. Within an hour of being outside, another big storm blew in. This storm gave us another 4 inches of rain! (You know it's bad when it's raining sideways and slapping on the windows. It rained all afternoon and much of the night. )

I traveled to Brookfield and back today and saw many flooded farm fields and overflowing river banks. Nothing too out of the ordinary after all the rain that we received. When I was just about home, I noticed two helicopters flying close together. I thought that was rather strange, but thought nothing more of it. (I later learned that they were surveying the lake near our house - Lake Wisconsin and the Wisconsin River.)

When I got home, Jeremy told me that Lake Delton in Wisconsin Dells was empty! What?! Rewind!

He explained that it eroded the bank by the dam and then overflowed. It took out the road by the dam. This was the road that we travelled on the weekend before! The lake that we took our Duck ride on is now empty! How crazy is that?!?!? The Governor has declared an emergency. All the water took out a couple of houses too yet! Here is a link to the local and national news videos:

www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/19523869.html - local news in Madison

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25060983#25060983 - National headline and video!

www.jsonline.com/site/photographerphotos/SlideShow.aspx?catid=1263&N=0&photoid=23057

We heard that authorities said that it would take several hours for the lake to drain out completely. The reality was that it emptied in about an hour or so.

Hopefully, the lake will be fixed and filled again real soon! The local economy will more than likely take a big hit. There will be no more Tommy Barlett Ski shows, Dells Duck rides, and fewer visitors at the 20-some resorts on Lake Delton until the water returns.

In a way this is kind of historic. We were planning on going to the Dells to go to Noah's Ark or Mt. Olympus over the weekend to celebrate Father's Day. I guess we will have to be local tourists and take some photos. I am not sure if the roads will even be open?? What a crazy event!

Stay dry!

The last car has left and we are missing everyone but the wonderful memories are in our hearts. We had so many fun moments watching the kids interact and even getting in a few "adult" games at night after the young ones were in bed. The weather was changeable and we beat a hurried retreat from the lake and boat rides in Shannon and Amy's boat when lightening started to make an appearance. We got back to the house without getting too wet. It was a little different for those who were manning the grills. A lightening strike not too far from the house had everyone jumping and a few seeing sparks. It took out one of our garage door openers and we thought the TV but Dad was able to jiggle and reconnect the cables and finally it worked. That was a nice gift not to have to think about replacing it. We certainly ate well and I'm sure everyone's meals will be a little simpler for a few days. I've gotten a good start at getting the wash going and the house cleaned up so I am looking forward now to some time in my new "antigravity" deck chair.

Family Hello

I forgot to add the pictures to the message so here they are!