Gunner's First Boat Ride

Today is a beautiful Saturday morning and we wanted to go out on the boat and put the new ladder on. I guess Dave doesn 't want me to be embarassed again not being able to climb back up in the boat after a swim. Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to take the dogs along. Afterall, there is plenty of room. By the way, I didn't have my camera...I took these photos with my camera phone. They are wonderful!
Didn't take long for Gunner to get up the courage to jump in! Dave went in after him. He didn't go far though. Both dogs were very comfortable on the boat and relaxed the whole trip. Zeus just laid in the shade.
Gunner kept me company up on the sun deck. I had to keep a hand on him as I wasn't sure he wasn't going to jump in after one of the boats going by. We were getting ready to leave and a salboat regatta was getting set up. Gunner did not like one of the sail boats when it got very close and he barked!! So, that was time to come home.

Up North---Girl's Style

Ooops....the drive up to beautiful Lakewood took an unexpected turn. I guess our friend Trooper Al wasn't just pulling us over to say hi....lucky for us that is all he did.

Missy's mother in law Kathy invited me for for their annual girls weekend. This is my second year and I have looked forward to it all summer. Missy and I left early Friday afternoon. When we got up there gracious Tom took us all out for a delicious fish fry at MJ's. We ate every bite on our plates. Might have been because we were awfully hungry, and had a cocktail or two before our names were finally called...
Saturday after a wonderful "fiber rich" breakfast, we left for the fair! It was so nice. We all had such nice purchases. We were again famished after all that walking and shopping in the heat we went to the Sandtrap for a fabulous hamburger!!!
When we got back to the house, we all were ready for a little nap. I chose to take mine down by the creek. It was so peaceful down there.

We had a bon fire which was the perfect backdrop for nice conversation. Thom's sister Amy joined us, along with a childhood/lifelong family friend, Ellen.
Then to our fun filled Saturday evening. We went to the Waubee Lodge for a drink. Our drink turned into a couple lemon drop martinis (not for me, I learned my less about lemon drop martinis...) and besides, I was driving.
We were so pleased. There was a wedding reception down by the lake. And a pontoon parade, we chose to think it was in our honor! This was the pirate pontoon, which I thought would be a perfect idea for our pontoon.
Oh boy, the conversation is getting interesting....
I had the most wonderful time, one on one with Melissa. We don't get to do that very much anymore. I just am awestruck at the wonderful woman/mother she has become!

Thank you Kathy and Tom for your kind invitation. Your home is so beautiful and you made us all feel so at home.

Sunday on the Boat

Today was our first time to take the boat out with all the kids. Luckily the weather cooperated, it was so beautiful out there. It was so hot and humid I think that on the boat was the only way we could have enjoyed the day!

Tommy and Dave drove the boat most of the day, but somehow I only got a photo of Savannah while she was driving.
Ha, bathing beauties. Cute how our swim suits match. Good job Char!
Sugar treats...not sure that was such a good idea...

Getting ready to swim.

We anchored at a sand bar and spent most of the afternoon there.


Nice looking couple!
In case you were wondering how the tattoo turned out....

Twisted Sisters 2008

There are 9 children in Dave's mom's family. Of that, 6 are girls. Every year for many, many years the girls all get together at a place sponsored by one of them, either up in northern Wisconsin (as most of the family lives either in Menomonee, in Janesville, or Oconomowoc) or down here. This year it was in Oconomowoc. Kim sponsored it and made all the arrangements. She did a fantastic job. Friday night we all met for fish fry and Fiddler on the Roof at the Kettle Moraine High school. Saturday morning we all met and drove down to Genesee Depot for the Ten Chimney's Estate. You can take full tours of the estate which are about 2 hours long and go throughout the 60 acre estate.

It is the estate of Alfred Lund and Lynn Fontanne.
This is the sitting room of the ladies room!!!
You can go backstage of a real stage. There are props, clothes, lights. It is so beautiful.
More of the bathroom. It was our favorite room. The phone actually works and is available for local calls!

Walking to the parking lot is beautiful.
They have a wonderful gift shop. This feathery hat was my favorite thing there! Only a tiny bit over a hundred dollars!



In between we drove down to the Elegant Farmer for a train ride to East Troy and lots of good food. I brought home apple pie!

Back to Duane and Kim's. Here is a table of desserts.... Thanks Auntie Esther! Roxie made her lovely triffle again!
Mom had a happy visitor!
Thanks Duane for cooking a fabulous dinner.Kim and Honey.
Eleanore, Margaret, Esther, Jean and Missy. Missy was a great help for Mom with Dad not here. She got her up all those stairs at the train depot.
Dave and Terry, Lois and Cathy.
Breakfast tomorrow at Olympia and then someone has to start planning for next year. It will be up north somewhere.....

Summer on the Lake

Dave is way too good to me! I think he would rather not boat than buy a pontoon boat, but he knows I love boating on a pontoon. We bought a used boat and some friends had told us about a lady who rents out some of her land for a dock near our home, on Lac LaBelle. Today Dave picked up the boat and we tried her out, oh, I was in heaven!!!! Thank you Dave!
See, he is even smiling as he tells me how slow this boat is...
This is the lake lot where we are keeping the boat. The owner feeds the ducks so there are alot of them all over the yard. Luckily we are parked over on the side of the yard so we don't have to disturb them.....
We needed to install some pipes to tie the boat up too. Al came and gave us a hand. Thanks, Al.

Happy 76th Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom! She loves blue so Dave found some beautiful blue flowers in a vase, her other favorite thing, flowers!
Missy, Gina, Roxie and Mom eating lasagna. It was fun to sit and visit.
Al and Jessica.
Time for birthday cake and candles. We had a wonderful chocolate cake and fruit triffle from Roxie! She always outdoes herself.
Great Grandma got lots of help blowing out the candles!
Can you tell who is mother and who is Daughter??? Here is Gina dressing up her favorite dog Zeus. He doesn't look too happy with the pink boa!! Gina stayed over night, for the last time for awhile as her and Ben are moving to Indiana (boo for us...), but happy for them of course. While we were eating breakfast we had a nice surprise, Clint called.

HA! Dave got caught sneaking food to Zeus..