Babysitting at Grandma's House

Aren't they cutie pies?





















This morning Missy needed a babysitter for an hour so Dave and I volunteered. HA!



Anyway, the kids came and helped us move some bark mulch. They were great helpers....


I have to admit, the mulch made the edging look even better. Neighbors are stopping and asking about the edging. It is very sharp!


I even went in the back yard and put in 6 tomato plants and 2 green peppers. All of my flowers and vegetables are finally planted!
















I took the kids on a walk in the backyard. We found the lily of the valley patch that I love. They picked a handful of flowers for their mommy. I wanted a nice photo,, this is all I could get. When I asked them to smile, all Savannah would do is look down and say "no".





Oh well, the thought was there.

Memorial Day Cook-Out

Happy Memorial Day! The weather is so perfect!

Savannah found the doll stroller to play in. And Tommy found the dirt. Just like my Al did when he was little.

Charlotte was so sweet, helping Grandpa cook! He always has to embarass her! I got creative with my watermellon! I never did this before, it turned out pretty nice!

The little kids needed baths when they left from playing in the dirt. Missy and Thom got to do the scrubbing!

New Glarus Motorcycle Ride

8 am Saturday morning, of a holiday weekend... my husband and friend Jeff decide we need to leave for a nice motorcycle ride.



Our first stop was the Capitol Harley Davidson in Madison. We had a beautiful drive in central Wisconsin.


Off to New Glarus, a small community that was originally settled with immigrants from Glarus, Switzerland. It is a quaint little town that Dave and I drove through last year and were determined to come back for a day trip.



We had to stop once to double check the map...but we were on the right track!




























About 1/2 mile from New Glarus Jeff and Ellen had some sort of mechanical problem. It is a mystery though, we don't know what they hit or what fell off their bike. We walked the road a bit but didn't find anything.

After lunch we went to the New Glarus Brewing Company for samples.....







The air had warmed up quite nicely. The drive home was so much more comfortble than the drive out. Lilacs were in bloom and a couple times you got a great whiff of them as you were riding down the road. In a little town called Marshall we drove past a dairy farm right in the downtown area.... Didn't smell nearly as good as the lilacs.



We put on about 205 miles today.

Congrats and Good-Bye Casey

We are very proud of Casey. He came here 2 years ago from Hawaii hoping to finish college in search of his Doctorate of Physical Therapy. Through a couple of trials and tribulations, (including the second worst snowiest winters in history...) he hung in there and graduated, Cum Laude, with a Bachelor of Science degree from Concordia University in Mequon. His Dad, Sunday and Will came to see him! We had a wonderful celebration at Buca di Beppo's in Milwaukee with Dave and Lori, Katelyn, Karly, Cassidy and Zach, Mom and Jerry, and of course our hosts, Al, Sunday, Will and Casey.
There was so much food we all had multiple "doggie bags" to take home. Thank you so much Al and Sunday for a wonderful celebration!

Afterwards Will wanted to go back to Zach's house to play with Zach's toys. We decided to join them to visit for an hour or so. We had such a nice visit with everyone. The kids are all growing up so much.

As Casey would tell it, he lucked out and got to live with Uncle Dave and Aunt Lori and family for his final year in Wisconsin. As Dave and Lori would tell it, they were the lucky ones. Casey became a part of their family, they will miss him so much as he leaves to fulfill his dream for grad school in Loma Linda, California. I told him we will be there for his Doctorate Degree in 3 years!

Here are two handsome brothers, Casey and Will.

Finally I got a nice photo of Sunday! She was always running around with Will.

Good luck to you Casey! And of course we are glad you are all living half the distance from where you used to live!

Dave pulls off a surprise!

Dave is going to do his own "journal" of his first solo motorcycle ride.




Took off from Wisconsin at 5:30 on Friday May 9th at 5:30 am with the goal of making it to southern Missouri. 14 hours later, after 685 miles, and 3 hours of rain, I pulled into a hotel in Blythesville, Arkansas! It was a long first day, but 2/3 of the way to Hattiesburg. The next day I made it to Hattiesburg at 2 pm. There was plenty of daylight left, and the weather was in the 80s, so I dumped the leather jacket and headed for the Gulf of Mexico. I went though Gulfsport, Biloxi, and Kiln, and after dipping my toes in the ocean, I made my way back to Hattiesburg for the night. I had now ridden 1260 miles. I accomplished my goal of seeing the ocean and was very happy because after visiting with Clint on Sunday would be heading back up north.

Every stop along the way someone would stop and ask me either where I was from, or where I was heading. Riding alone makes you very approachable to people who otherwise would never walk up and talk to you. I met some very nice people along the way, including a Honda rider (deputy sheriff) that took this photo for me.


















Sunday morning I got to sleep in a little as I wasn't able to visit with Clint on base until late morning. Got onto base without any problems and the military police station was more than helpful. They located Clint's unit on the base at an area called Dog Lake. As it was a few miles into the base, the were even nice enough to lead me there so I wouldn't get lost. Camp Shelby is an enormous complex that houses multiple units and covers several square miles. I was lucky enough to be able to visit with Clint for over 2 hours. He was definitely surprised to see me as he did not know I had permission to come there and see him. I also got to meet Captain Billings, and 1st Sgt. Brown. Capt Billings is Clint's commander and gave me permission to see my son on base before they deployed.


This is a photo of his friend Yang who he served with in Korea. I guess this is the photo pose for the 2228th!! The unit was having lunch at the lake and I got to join them for a great chicken barbecue. It wasn't what I expected for army food. I now understand why Clint doesn't complain about eating!




While I was sitting with Clint, Capt Billings came up and told me what a great soldier my son was. He stated that the Army has Challenge Coins that are given out to soldiers when they do an exceptional job, much like someone in my profession would get a commendation. Capt Billings presented the Challenge Coin to Clint. The captain told me that Cint has taken on a leadership role in his squad. The Captain had planned on giving the coin to Clint earlier, but knowing that I was coming down, waited until after I had arrived. As I was leaving, Clint passed the coin on to me for safe keeping, and to thank me for coming down to see him. I was very honored that Clint would give me the coin and I will keep it safe until he returns.


Getting to see Clint before he left for Iraq was well worth the trip. They had work to do, so Clint had to leave and at 2 pm I was heading back out for the highway. I made it to Batesville, Mississippi for the night and the next day made the run up to Bloomington, Illinois. Finally made it back to Barbie, and her two best friends (Gunner and Zeus) on Tuesday around noon. I went a total of 2261 miles in 5 days and told Barb that she had just lost me to my motorcycle for a trip every year as this was even better than I had hoped it would be.

Mother's Day by Melissa!

Happy Mother's Day to me....and Melissa! This year she got to do the work, and I certainly appreciate it. We had a wonderful ham lunch!

The little ones were tired so they went down for their naps so we had a relatively peaceful lunch.

Missy and I tried our hand at cutting Savannah's bangs! I thought Missy would never do that after the haircuts I used to give her. And Al! I remember when I would cut Al's sideburns and it was really hard to get them even....

Melissa has shown herself to be an incredible mother! I couldn't be prouder.

Mother's Day

I am torn this year between happy Mother's Day feelings with my Mom and children, and missing Dave who left on Friday for Mississipp to surprise Clint before he ships out to Iraq.









I will write about Dave's trip when he gets home tomorrow! I do know it was wonderful in more ways than he will ever be able to express. He was torn between enjoying his long distance motorcycle ride, with the sad emotions he is feeling as he watches his son go off to war. No parent could be more proud. This young man received his orders, put his life on hold, went back to train for the past 4 months, and now, ships overseas to a group of nations that hates everything he stands for. But I digress....more about Dave's trip later.









On Saturday Missy and Tommy and Savannah met me at my Mom's apartment. I had gotten there early and sat and visited with Mom. She seems to be doing relatively well. Jerry wasn't sitting in the living room when I got there so I asked her where he was....she didn't know where he went to. A number of minutes later Jerry walked out of the bedroom where he had been reading.









Mom really seemed to enjoy the little kids when they got there. Tommy is quite a talker and Mom kept the conversation going with him. She loved Savannah's curly hair. She was always amazed at the thickness and curls of Missy's hair as she grew up.































The kids gave great hugs goodbye!

Clint is home on Leave!

Today Clint got home for his 3 day leave. He spent the afternoon having lunch and running some errands with Dave, Gina and Ben. Zeus was so happy to see him. Clint said at first Zeus was growling at him, but then Zeus heard his voice and got excited! They visited Roxie and Grandma and Grandpa Beguhn. Then Clint took Zeus and went to Oshkosh for some R&R with his buddies.

Here is the gang, including Gunner.

Bike Blessing In Nenno

As far as Dave is concerned, today, being a beautiful Sunday morning, was the perfect day for a motorcycle ride. Friends had invited us to a Bike Blessing at their church up in Nenno, Wisconsin. We had to leave at 8:30 this morning.... The first half of the trip up there wasn't so bad, but I was pretty chilly by the time we got there. We attended the service and after a nice cup of coffee and conversation, we met about 75 mototcycles outside for the blessing.

The pastors for the Church came around and blessed each motorcycle with holy water. Then they came around and said a special prayer for each couple and their bike, for safety.

Kenny, Sandy, Ron, Rita, Bob and his wife were all there. Jessica and Cole joined us too. Cole will be 3 years old in June. Jess is expecting their second baby in August!

Afterwards we went for a scenic ride through the Kettle Moraine. We ended up in New Prospect at the Fin and Feather for brunch. The weather sure warmed up for our ride home!