I had a little free time at work last night, so I started composing a blog post. It's harder than you might think to capture the moments of almost 2 weeks. By the time I left work I had almost 3 pages of thoughts. So it's probably a good thing that when I emailed it to myself to publish on my home computer, it got lost in translation and is useless now. It was way too long anyway!
We managed to attend German Fest on Milwaukee's lakefront last weekend. Maggie and Katherine were most excited about the massive playground. Abby decided that Daddy's empty beer cup was her favorite. Chris and I enjoyed a cool breeze and warm sun.
Katherine started a bedtime stalling technique a few weeks ago. She asks, every night for "Cold water, cold ice, in a sippy cup, the purple one, with the flowers." And every night I tell her the same thing, if she's still awake I'll bring it to her when I go to bed. Only once has she still been awake. On Saturday, she asked for a cracker with her drink. When I gave her my standard response, she asked if I was going to stay up "Really late, or not too late?" I told not too late because I was tired. When I went upstairs about 1 1/2 hours later, I found this.

It was Chris who had to point out the obvious, "She was waiting for her cracker."

Sure enough, when I asked her in the morning, she said "I was looking down the stairs for you, and then I got a little sleepy, so I got my 'Green B' to snuggle and I guess I just fell asleep!"

Abby is still not walking independently. But she is a master at getting where she wants to go. And she's finding more and more ways to cause trouble. Today she managed to pull the kleenex box close enough to do this damage.

Last week I was declared "Best Mom Ever!" Because after rest time the girls found that I had inflated the shark pool. I wasn't sure what Abby would think, but she was thrilled and didn't cry at all until I pulled her out after an hour. Maggie and Katherine were very patient and careful of Abby. But they were also very excited to have Abby out of their way so they could turn on the spraying spout and jump and splash without worry of bothering her.


We had quite the adventure almost 2 weeks ago on a simple day trip to Appleton. I had planned a day of fun with friends, visiting a college roommate and her girls. But our outdoor plans were thwarted by a persistent, heavy rain. Just as we were leaving their house, the rain subsided and I was thankful that I might make it home without the wipers on full speed as they had been on the drive up.

HA! About 45 minutes into our 2 hour trip, Chris called to ask if I was in Dodge County? I wasn't, but would be within about 10 minutes, why? Oh nothing except a Tornado warning with confirmed funnel sightings. Fabulous.

The next hour was the most terrifying driving experience ever. Torrential rains, and wind. The radio telling me where the latest funnel was. No place to safely get off the road as many exits were flooded, and we were in the middle of nowhere, no major truck stops to seeks shelter in. All the while, the questions were coming rapid-fire from the back seat "Is this a tornado Mommy? Is this a flood? Are the booms going to get us? Are we in a tornado like Dorothy?" I tried to be calm, but not truthful. We were indeed in the path of a funnel, but I told them it was just rain. As I reached the point of total panic, I saw a sign for West Bend.

That was the answer I'd needed. We pulled off the highway and made our way slowly to Chris' grandparents' house. They were delighted to see us and insisted that we stay for Tombstone Pizza and ice cream. It was a wonderful visit and after dinner, the sun was out and I started to pack the girls to continue our journey home.

And then Chris called. "You're watching this on TV, right?"

"No, we're packing up to come home."

"You're not coming home. Not now, and probably not tonight."

As it turns out, the storm that caused me so much trouble, had settled over Milwaukee County where it dropped almost 8 inches of rain in 3 hours. Both of the highways that could have taken me home were shout down because of flooding, and the radar screen showed more and more rain coming from Iowa. Chris was right, I was stuck in West Bend for the night.

Luckily, Rita was now home, so we went over to camp out at her house. She even had a stash of brand new jammies for the girls, so at least they didn't have to sleep in their clothes! By morning, the roads were dry and we were able to finish our trip home without incident. Our house was dry through the storm, Thank goodness! The rain gauge in our yard was overflowing, and it's height is 6 inches. CRAZY!

This week we finish swim lessons. In 2 weeks Maggie will be done with softball and Chris will finish his last class of the summer. Just in time for him to go back to school for inservice in 3 weeks. I can't believe how fast the summer has flown by. I'm not ready for it to be over! Good thing we have many exciting adventures planned before it is! I wonder if I can keep up with blogging about our fun times? HA! We'll see!