Happy birthday George!!

All Kellen wanted for his birthday was to go to Como Zoo with his cousins. Well, that was pretty easy for all of us for once. Chris and I got up and headed to the zoo early as we had to be home for a early dinner with the GG's. We got to the zoo about 1130 only to find out that the birthday boy and family was stuck in traffic on 94 and had a ways to go still. We rolled with it and decided to hit some of the exhibits first.

Miss Quinnie on her first visit to Como Park.

Ry and I went into the butterfly house and it was insane! You have to wait outside and have "the rules" explained before you can enter. The rules are: don't touch the butterflies, if one touches you have a staff person remove it, don't swat at a butterfly, watch for them on the ground so you don't step on them,etc.... We finally got in and Ry was in bug heaven. She loved them but I had to repeat several times that she couldn't touch them even when one landed on her arm. That day there were so many people there that they onyl allowed us 5 minutes in the exhibit so it was sort of a short and sweet visit. Quinn and Chris waited outside with the stroller and our stuff- no strollers allowed.

Quinnie and I visiting the baby Giraffe- Willow! We love giraffe's and Quinnie has a ton of stuffed ones at home. She by coincidence has one named Willow!

Rylee and her favorite cousin at the moment- Miss Haley on the teacups! You couldn't pay me enough money to sit in one of those things- I would get sick too easy. It didn't seem to bother them at all, Ry squeeled with delight.

Uncle Chris and the birthday boy (Kellen, aka George) on the roller coaster. Kellen was the only one that wanted to go on it and was excited that Uncle Chris went with him!

Ry being a goof ball. They had a firefighter ride (that was broken) but the kids had fun trying the boots on

The look on thier faces are priceless!!
Jack, Colin, Kellen adn Rylee loving the Frog Hopper

Henry, or Hank as I like to call him (not what his Mom likes me to call him) being a cutie pie. He looks just like Joel- super scary I know!

Miss Rylee sharing the train car. She was alone in her car but was very good and let another little girl ride with her. We were very happy she was so willing to share!

It was a very hot day and the kids enjoyed running thru the mist thing- have no clue what it is really called. In the background is Jack and Kellen.

It was a fun day but a tiring one. The girls fell asleep not far from Como on the way home and had a good nap until we got to GG's for the birthday supper. They did great there too and when we got home is way time for bed (an early one :) )

What a Weekend!

The weekend of July 4th was a busy one to say the least. My nephews, Colin and Kellen were down from Wednesday night on and they got to spend the time with Grandma and Grandpa at the camper. Rylee was so exicted that they were coming she sort of crashed the party for a bit on Thursday afternoon and ended up spending the rest of the weekend there until Saturday when we headed to Balsam Lake for the fireworks. She had a great time, spent almost every waking moment either playing with all the kids there or being the little fish that she is.

Uncle Bill gave the kids some money to buy a treat at the store and all 3 ended up choosing a pair of googles for swimming. They were so stinking cute in them- even though they had the hardest time using them they still had a great time!

Kellen and Rylee being silly! I love the expressions on their faces!

The Three Amigos! Rylee, Kellen, and Colin at Grandma's Lake

5 of the grandkids sitting still for a few seconds to please Grandma and Grandpa for a picture- not an easy thing to get them to sit still for


Rylee loves fireworks even though she refers to them as "the parade". Chris's family was at the fireworks so we all sat together. Rylee lap hopped the whole night, spending time with almost everyone at some point.

Here she is cuddling up to her cousin Paige.

Miss Quinnie enjoying her first time watching fireworks!

Rylee on Auntie 'Cole lap enjoying a caramel sucker from Grandma Williamson

Quinnie and Grandma Williamson watching the ooh ahhs!

Balsam Lake has great fireworks!

They are big, loud, and long. Some of the best in the area I think!

Quinnie couldn't hold her eyes open long enough to see the Grande Finale- I think Grandma has the touch for putting kids to sleep.

I have the same picture of Rylee sleeping on Grandma's lap at this age.

Rylee starting to lose some of her steam. She was following Haley around all weekend and couldn't resist the chance to cuddle up on her lap too! I don't think Haley minded one bit- she's quite the Little Mama in the making!

Another beautiful firework! I have to say I was a little disappointed that they didn't have very many of what I like to refer to as "side show bob" fireworks. If anyone has ever watched the Simpsons, I love the fireworks that look like Side Show Bob's Hair!

After a late night of fireworks we got up and made it to the Balsam Lake Parade in the nick of time. Cousin Naomi, or Nami, as Rylee calls her was crowned Miss Balsam Lake this year so we all made sure to wave and make quite the scene when the float went by.

Quinnie enjoying her first parade! She like the floats that had music playing the best. She was not sure what to think of the fire trucks with the sirens blaring.

Miss rylee sneaking some parade candy before Mom and Dad could say no!

Wow- Grandma sure enjoys having Quinnie on her lap and I think Quinnie enjoys it just as much!

Rylee and Quinnie in their matching dresses that Grandma Bonnie found them. Don't they look super cute! I know the day is coming that Rylee doesn't want to match with Quinnie so we are taking advantage of it while we can!

A New Williamson?

Over the weekend we got some good news- there will be a new Williamson soon (well, sort of)! No.... we are not having another baby. Molly got engaged to her fiance Joe so there will be a wedding in the works. Not alot of details out right now as it just happened. The few tidbits I know include a motorcycle ride to Couderay, a proposal down by the water, an answer of YES! and then some music and champagne later (all the while Joe's Dad and Annette are behind a tree taking pictures of the whole thing as it occurred). Congrats!

On the move

Quinn figured out how to crawl backwards in the middle of June and over the 4th of July she finally figured out how to go forward. Since then- she has been on the move and into everything. I forgot how much I have to move when there is a baby in the house. I was finally able to put stuff back on the lower shelfs from Ry and now they are in the process of getting moved back up and out of reach. Not only can she crawl- but Tuesday morning she figured out how to pull herself up to standing. I went to get her up in the morning and was quite surprised to see her standing in her crib, shaking the railing and laughing her head off. She was pretty proud of herself!!

Ready...

Set...

GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quinnie on the move after her new favorite thing- the remote control for the TV. I think she is taking after her Daddy already! Oh- did I tell you all that Quinn said her first word. It was "Da" of course and she only says it when she sees her Daddy!!

You better not have...

Chris loves Texas Roadhouse and that is where he chose to go for his birthday dinner. We went for a late lunch/early supper. Ry enjoyed all the peanuts on the table and the lemonaide she got to have with her chicken. Not long after we sat down the loud music quieted down and the whole staff began to wlak towards us and were clapping thier hands. Chris flashed me a dirty look at started to say "you better not have F**** told them it's my birthday!!" Boy, with the reaction like that I am glad I hadn't told the waitress- Yet. Turns out the staff was performing a line dance to the Texas Roadhouse song and not coming to sing to Chris. Ry was disappointed- she really wanted to see Daddy ride the big wooden saddle and wear the oversized ( and I mean huge) cowboy hat while the staff sings to him.

Hmm, what do I want to eat? Everything there is excellent-everything!
Happy 31st Birthday Daddy!




Quinnie getting to enjoy some of Daddy's cake


After cake- we ran over to Kopp's for some frozen custard- so worth it. If you are ever in Milwaukee, get on Blue Mound Road and look for Kopp's Frozen Custard- you won't be disappointed.

"Rang-Tang"

Day 2 of our Milwaukee weekend consisted of the best zoo I have ever been to- Milwaukee County Zoo! It is a wonderful zoo and I look forward to going every year. This was the girls' first time to the zoo and I know they had a blast!

The girls at the start of the day- we almost didn't bring the double stroller but it was a good thing we did. It is a huge zoo with lots of walking and Ry got pretty tired walking so it was nice that she could ride and we didn't have to carry her all over.

Rylee loves the aquatic exhibits. She gravitates towards them wherever we go. She wanted to swim in the big tank with the fish adn was a little ticked that she couldn't. The weather was quite warm outside and this exhibit was dark and cool. It was a great break from the heat and Quinnie was so comfortable she took a little snooze- Daddy must have made 100 laps around it so Quinnie could sleep.

I know it looks like Quinnie is upside down, but I took the picture from behind and above the stroller- hence the wierd angles. She slept about 40 minutes total which was a good thing. She woke up not long after we left the aquatic exhibit and just in time for the pony ride.

Rylee loves horses and was very happy to get to ride the ponies. Look at the big smile- how she fell in love with horses I don't know but she is head over heels for them.

Quinnie loved the elephant exhibit- there were two elephants but she seemed to only want to pay attention to Ruth- the smaller of the elephants but the boss of them. Sounds a little like Quinnie at this point.

I think Ry's favorite part of the day was when she got to go for a camel ride. She had the choice of riding with Mom or riding alone- I guess I wasn't cool enough to ride with her. She told me she was a "big girl" and could do it alone. Wow- Momma kinda had hurt feelings for a second. If you all remember she rode a camel with Grandpa Williamson when they went to the circus so she was familiar with what to do. $4 and one lap later, the camel ride was over but Ry had a smile for the rest of the day-almost.

As we were about to leave the park Ry managed to cut her leg on a button that is on the stroller frame. All of a sudden she was screaming and Chris and I had no idea what was going on until she screamed she was bleeding. It ended up being a pretty good cut that was deep and required lots of bandages. Not enough for stitches, but enough to make Mom and Dad feel so bad that we hit the gift shop and she got a treat. She ended up picking an orangutan that she got to stuff- like a build a bear thing. She enjoyed it and ended up naming it "Rang-Tang". Quite original huh? He kept her company the rest of the trip.

Are we there yet? I can't see Bernie!!

Every Year we head off to Milwaukee for a weekend of ballgames. This year, we combined it for Chris' 31st birthday and a family getaway. We left Friday at 10am and headed for the land of Beer. The girls did very well on the way down- taking naps and reading books. We did a quick stop for lunch in the car (Quinnie fell asleep) and continued on. We made it just about to the hotel- 10 minutes away when Quinnie lost it and was ready to get out of the car. She was screaming her little head off and we couldn't do anything to make it better- the freeway was a parking lot. After a stressful 15 minutes, we were at the hotel and able to stretch our legs and relax for a bit.

Rylee having her first sight of Miller Park! Can you tell she's excited? She LOVES the Brewers and will tell you that Cory Hart is her guy!

Rylee and Daddy at the entry to Miller Park

As we were parking- the Hotdog, Brat, and Polish Sausage were out walking around and Rylee really wanted to get her picture taken with them but as we got closer to the park they of course went in and were getting ready for the Big Race.

Momma and Quinnie at Miller Park! We were going to get Quinnie a shirt prior to the game but ran out of time so we bought one inside- Rylee said Quinnie's guy is JJ Hardy so that is the shirt she ended up.

I absolutely love this picture of Rylee and Chris walking into Miller Park. They both LOVE the Brewers and watch the games together all the time. It is such a Daddy time thing for them both. Ask Rylee anything about the Brewers and she could probably tell you.

Quinn's face is priceless-She was actually watching the field. The Big Race was about to start. Rylee picked the Hotdog who was winning until the Brat beat him at the end

Our cute little family picture close to the end of the game. Quinnie was a trooper the whole time but started getting tired right before the final inning.

The game got over super late and there was only time for bed when we got back to the hotel. Come to think about it- I think that the girls were sleeping before we even got out of the parking lot. We had a great time and hope to do this every year. I know Rylee had a blast!

Off to sleep as we get ready for day two- Milwaukee County Zoo, Texas Roadhouse, and Kopps' Frozen Custard!