Kenosha Park

Lake Michigan is truly a magnificent thing to behold. Blue water as far as the eye can see, but with tiny, peaceful waves. Fresh water disguised as an ocean. We took a trip over to Kenosha Harbor Park and had a peek at the water.

David seems to be having a shouting contest with the water here.

The water itself was actually quite replusive---simply swimming with refuse--which Stevie insisted on picking up.

I was trying like mad to get a picturesque shot of Steven with the baby---but this RANDOM KID insisted on getting in every single shot. So I guess he'll forever be a part of our vacation memories.

I got so ticked at him after awhile, I started thinking about using this:
But I restrained myself.

Beginning Somewhere...

I'm becoming so overwhelmed at the enormous number of things I need to blog about that I'm almost frozen by writer's block. But I've decided that I need to start somewhere, and I have a billion pictures that really should be seen somewhere besides my memory card. So I'm going to blog every day until I'm finally caught up, begining with wrapping up our trip to Chicago.

We spent a lot of time running around with Phil and Jess on the trip and their new little baby boy. One day we headed up to Milwaukee to go to the Museum of Science and History--and it was suprisingly awesome! One of the highlights was the live Butterfly reserve. The boys tried very hard to be quiet and still enough to have a butterfly land on them.





They also had a cute little section where the kids could pretend to be butterfly sized---sitting inside a chrysalis and hanging out alongside a caterpillar.



The bug section in general was pretty interesting. Lots of real bugs to look at and compare, complete with a giant bug picture photo op at the end.


My favorite part of the museum was a little section called the European Village. They had a bunch of little rooms stocked with items from different countries. You could peer inside and see what life might have been like in Germany or Poland or Denmark. I absolutely loved it and could have spent all day there. So quaint and fun to see. Hopefully we'll be able to go for a return visit next time we visit.

Once Again---Grundbergs Rule.

I just love visiting Steven's family. They are so loud and boisterous and entertaining. Sunday night we all gathered at Peter and Aimee's house for dinner and dessert. I'm always sad that we don't get to spend more time with Pete and Aimee and their awesome kids, but last night was wonderful. Pete is just hilarious and Aimee is one of those amazing gals who can do everything under the sun and is totally modest about it all (she's a blackbelt in Taw Kwan Do, for crying out loud). Anyway, dinner was delicious and the company was, as always, tons of fun.

Here's a pic of the Grundberg Men (but realize that 3 brothers and 3 nephews are absent. And it seems like everyone one of them is ten feet tall).
These are my lovely sister-in-laws Aimee, Jessica & Jenny, each one of whom I completely adore. (Why do I look like I'm ready to sprint away?...really I was just focusing on sucking in.*sigh).
Here are the crazy grandkids. It was almost impossible to get this picture with all the hyperactivity in the air. And David kept escaping every 30 seconds.
This is a slightly more accurate portrayal of the boys' hijinks last night. Do you have any idea how loud it gets with 5 hollering boys running around? It was AWESOME!

We Made It!

After just a brief 23-hour jaunt in the car!

Seriously, what were we thinking? I'm pretty sure we weren't thinking it was going to take us 23 hours to take an 18 hour trip. But hey, Que Sera Sera.

I'd just like to once again thank the geniuses who invented the portable DVD player, even if we do have to use packing tape to make ours work for longer than two seconds. And believe it or not, leaving at night meant the kids slept a good 14 hours, so that was a plus.

Last night after we FINALLY got in, we visited awhile with Grandpa Ron and Steven's sister Jenny (yes that's right, her name is Jenny Grundberg too...and she's my exact age...and she's blonde). Then Jenny made the kids one of their favorites--Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup.


Today we've been out and about a bit and BRRRRRRR!!!! It's cold! I love it, but realize I greatly underestimated the insulating power of my new coat. I'm definitely going to need a supplementary hat and scarf. I am totally Stevie's completely pysched about the left-over, dirty snow on the ground, and somewhat unsuccesfully attempted a snow angel (really he was just rolling around on the frozen ice).
(It's suppose to snow for realsies on Tuesday!!! WOO-HOO!!!!)