Wisconsin

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs,

and returns home to find it."

Our family just got back from our annual trip to Wisconsin.

Our children had a lot of fun swimming, boating/tubing, golfing, and just hanging out with their cousins.

We've been doing this for many years and I have enjoyed watching my nieces and nephews grow up. I am so glad my children know their cousins and get to spend this time with them.

4th of July was spent playing volleyball at the lake with a firepit and live band. The fireworks were awesome!

Then we went back to the place we were staying and my brothers helped all the children do their own show with bottle rockets and such.

The scariest moment this year was when my nephew opened up the door so some of us could go to the "other side" of the place we stay and there was a bear right there in our yard. At first we all thought he was joking when he shut the door and announced that there was a bear. But then we all saw him through the window. After that night, no one was allowed to cross over alone in the dark. We found flashlights and made sure we made lots of noise.

On our last day we did our trip to the big candystore in Hayward.

Our children got to each pick out a pound of candy (Tommy too) and I gathered

up a bunch of taffy to bring home to share with our neighbors.

That night we went to mass and out to dinner. The restaurant had a live band in the bar area. The dance floor was filled with children dancing - including a few of our family members. It was a lot of fun - a great ending to our family trip.

The drive home was long, but it was nice that we all could fit into our new 12-passenger family van aka "The Church Van."

(The name it received in Wisconsin.)

We stopped at one restaurant for a late lunch. They gave us the long table right by the entrance. 3 different customers came up to us as they were leaving. They told us that we had a beautiful family and that we should be proud of how well-behaved they are.

Again, love to hear that from people and love to have our children hear that.

Our trip home was filled with some sadness.

While we were gone, our wonderful kitty Moose passed away.

We gave him a nice little funeral the day after we got home.

Our children decorated his cardboard casket and his body is now buried between our fruit trees in our garden. Moosey will be greatly missed. He was very loving and let our children crawl all over him. He was like a big baby. When you held him, he'd wrap his paws around your neck.

Best cat ever!

 Rachel & Moosey