Friday, December 14, 2012

Wrestling Tournament

Connor participated in his first wrestling meet this past Sunday.  Brian and I were requested to help with the meet and silly me, I signed us up for the early shift.  We got up at 6:30 AM and got to the High School at about 6:50.  Connor's first match wasn't until about 10:20.  It really ended up being a long day with a lot of waiting. 
 


Connor's age/weight bracket was made up of four boys.  They were going to do a little round robbin arrangement with each boy wrestling three times.  His first match he was paired up with a boy from his team.  I don't believe they have practiced together so this match turned out pretty good.  I was quite worried that he would lose right away but he fought through all three rounds.  He did end up loosing 12-4 but he sure tried hard. 



His second match he won due to receiving a forfeit from the other boy.  His third match was against a boy that seemed very good for their age.  He was pinned within 30 seconds but he didn't seem to bothered by it.

Since there were only four boys in his bracket and one boys forfeited two of his matches Connor ended up placing third.  He got a metal and got to stand up on the podium.  He really seemed to enjoy that.



Overall I think he had an enjoyable time but like I said it was a long day as we didn't leave there until 3:00 PM.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

"O" Date

Brian and I went to the Overture Center in Madison for our "O" date on December 1st.  We enjoyed the Madison Symphony's Christmas program.  It was a fun night to relax and listen to some good music and also a fun reason to dress up.
 

 

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

November Photos of the Kids

Here are some photos of the kids from November.
 
Angela
In the pink shirt on the end getting ready for her first band performance.


Connor
Posing on his birthday with his friend Dane and his teacher Mrs. Wilson.


Looking rather pleased with the guitar present his sister gave him.


Emeric
Posing during our family photo shoot.


SUPER HAPPY that Dad gave him a pickle to eat!!!


All Three Kids
Santa Claus flew into the Portage airport, on Black Friday, so that he could participate in a few weekend activities.  We drove out to watch his plane land and to visit with him.  It was a very windy and cold morning but we stuck it out and the kids enjoyed a picture with him.  Santa told them that it wasn't cold at all compared to the North Pole.

 
That Saturday we got to go and see some of Santa's reindeer.  This was Vixen.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Thanksgiving

We spent a very relaxing Thanksgiving "in" this year.  It was kind of nice because we all got to wear our comfy clothes.  Since it was just the five of us, we did not need a huge amount of food.  We made half dishes of everything and still had many leftovers.  We served up a turkey, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, pretzel salad, rolls, pumpkin pie and a cranberry/apple pie.  While I made most all of the meal I did give Angela the job of making the green bean casserole.


Here she is getting a little bit of help from dad, while Emeric watches.  Connor is playing on the iPod.  She did a wonderful job with making the dish. 

Taking a break to smile at the camera.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Hero's Program

Every year Angela and Connor's school puts on a program for the Hero's of the community.  This includes and active serviceman or veterans and others who serve in our community.

Connor's class sang a couple of songs.

The red arrow is pointing at him.
 

Looking proud that he did a good job.
 
Angela also had her first band performance.  She has been working hard since August practicing her flute.  It started off pretty hard but it has been great watching her get better and better.  She said she was super nervous before she went to school that day but when I watched her walk onto the stage you couldn't tell.  I have attached a video of one of the two songs they played.  I am so very proud of her!!
 

 She is on the end in the pink shirt.
 
 Playing "Surprise Symphony"

Saturday, December 8, 2012

SIX Years Old

Connor turned six years old.  What a special treat for all of us.  He started off his school day with a great birthday crown from his teacher and he got to stand in front of the school while everyone sang Happy Birthday to him.
 


 Legos
 
 A new iPad game.
 
 Pure excitement in opening presents.
 
 What a cheesy/handsome face.
 

He had fun searching through the birthday cake book and picking out this 'dirt bike racer' cake.  I think he is more than ready to get his own little dirt bike and got our riding with dad.
 





His name written on the birthday balloon at school.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Chi Town (aka: The Windy City)

We have been wanting to take a train trip with the whole family ever since Angela, Connor and I took the train from WI to WA.  The kids were scheduled to have a couple of days off of school at the end of October so we plan a trip to Chicago. 
 
We got the train on Thursday October 25th.  For those that know train travel, the train really does run on it's own time schedule.  It was about an hour and a half to two hours later than intended.  Once on the train the trip was very enjoyable.  When we pulled into the Chicago suburbs it was raining rather fiercely.  Our hotel was just under a half mile from the train station and we had been planning on walking.  With this weather we decided to get a taxi.  So we walked out of the train station and the kids and I waited under a cover while Brian tried to hail a taxi.  The rain slowed way down to the point it was a lite mist and the kids started to get a little restless.  We called Brian back and decided to walk in the rain.  How fun that was to walk through the rain with all our bags, we were all wet and laughing by time we got to the hotel.  After getting things to our room we went back out and got a traditional deep dish Chicago pizza for dinner.  We didn't realize that it takes 45 minutes to cook the pizza and we had already got to the restaurant late so we were really throwing the kid's schedule off.  Emeric actually crawled out of his chair after two bites of pizza, he crawled into my lap and told me he was tired and then fell asleep. 
 
Each morning we got up and enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and then swam in the pool.  Emeric thought this was the best part of the entire trip.  Our first full day we caught a bus to the Science and Industry Museum.  We got to visit the exhibit of the captured German U boat (a submarine) U-505.

 A view of the outside of the boat.
 
 Inside the boat.
 
We enjoyed viewing lots of different exhibits at the museum.  We visited the trains, planes and automobiles. 
 

The miniatures; which included a replica of downtown Chicago.  You could follow along from Chicago over hills and valleys, plains and mountains until you reached Seattle.  I liked that exhibit.
 

We learned about wind and tornadoes.
 

The kids got to help in an experiment to help the vortex spin clockwise and then turn in around so it spun counter-clockwise.  Emeric wasn't too sure about getting into the wind but Connor and Angela liked it.
 

After we were done in the museum we caught the bus and headed up to Navy Pier.  We had a lot of fun looking out into Lake Michigan and seeing some of the large boats moving on the water.  We also saw a very large one that was docked at the pier that had a helicopter tired down to the top of the boat.  We took a ride in the Ferris wheel the sits on top of the pier.  The Ferris wheel does not stop moving for you to get in or out of the cars.  So we had to hop in while it was going.
 



That night we ate at Bubba Gumps at the pier.  We then walked about a mile to Forever Yogurt for our dessert.  Their website lists they have over 80 rotating flavors of yogurt.  When we were there we had our choice of about 20 flavors.  Then there were candy, fruit, syrup, nut and cereal topping and many others as well.  You take your dish and fill it to your hearts desire.  Then they weigh each one and you pay per the ounce.  It was a great treat for the kids as they each got to make their own special creations.  After dessert we had about a two mile walk home which was a great way to see the night lights of the city and to wear the kids out for bed.
 
Our next day started out with a visit to the aquarium.  It was a lot of fun seeing all the different animals.  There was a children's play area which helped to burn off a little of the kid's energy (do you see a common theme here?). 
 

 Our Two little penguins.
 
We enjoyed a animal presentation at the aquarium.  We got to see how they train the dolphins and the beluga whales.  We even got to see a very new beluga whale calf.  They calf had been born in the late summer and had been in seclusion with it's mother until the weekend we arrived.  It was a lot of fun to sit and watch it swim.
 
As we were walking back to our hotel we stopped in Millennium Park to have a look at "The Bean" (more correctly known as Cloud Gate). 
 



I have been to Chicago three other times and I had never seen it and I was really glad we got the opportunity to see it.  I think it is a pretty remarkable piece of art.
 
The rest of that day was spent relaxing around our hotel room.
 
The next day was our final day in the city.  We decided to visit the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower).  It stands 110 stories high making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.  We rode up to the 103 floor which is called the SkyDeck and saw some wonderful views of the city.  The views were especially great from the glass observation boxes. 
 

 
As you may be able to tell Angela did not want to step out into the box for the picture.  She said she wanted to slowly inch her way out there but we had a super huge line behind us with other people wanting to take pictures.  Even though she was not comfortable she was a very good sport.
 


After that we returned to the train for our trip home.  We all had a really good time getting away and having some family time.  The kids are pretty excited talking about where our next trip might be.

Monday, December 3, 2012

October Photos of the Kids

Here you go. (A lot late, sorry.)
 
Angela
Watch out for those "funny" mirrors the really streeeeetch you out.


I am not ready for this (combine or not), yet she keeps reminding me that we have five more years.


Chillaxin' in the wheel.


Connor
"Don't bother me, I am planting corn."


Playing in the wind vortex.


Emeric
"Do you like my footwear?"
 

I guess you sleep a little more cozy when your feet are tucked inside the cushion.


Gum 'Stache (nuf said)


Getting ready for the aquarium show to start.