The Week Ends

My parents have been here for the past week and are leaving in the morning. Time has really flown by! I do not feel like they have been here that long at all, it only seems like a few days have gone by. We have been able to do a lot of things and also have spent some time just hanging around the house.

This afternoon we went to Downtown Books because I wanted to look for some Chinese history books to prepare for a graduate student colloquium this fall on the art and culture of the Chinese Bronze Age. I just recieved an e-mail from the professor saying that she will permit me to take the class (I am an undergrad, so I needed permission from the department and the professor to enroll in the course) and she suggested that I do some reading beforehand to prepare. I am doing this colloquium in place of an internship to, hopefully, graduate this December (keep your finger crossed!).

Downtown Books is great! It is two and a half floors of every genre you can think of! It is like a maze in there, you can literally get lost! Here are some pictures of Amelia's first visit to the neatest bookstore in Milwaukee:



Here a few other pictures from this afternoon:


Amelia reading with Grandpa:


Amelia checking e-mail/Facebook with Nana:


I don't have any pictures of Jason from today :( He had to go to work and we didn't take any pictures this morning!

Jason's sister (Liz) and her boyfriend (Kory) are coming this way tomorrow sometime, so we will also have visitors this weekend! I am not sure what we are going to do with them, but I do know that Jason and I are planning on going to the markets this Saturday and hopefully they will come too! That is at least one thing that we can do out of the house :)

First Trip to the Zoo!

Today we went to the Milwaukee County Zoo. Our Brewer tickets last night came with free zoo passes (terrace level tickets recieved a free zoo pass good til the end of the year). As we expected, Amelia liked the fish the best (she also liked the fish at Discovery World). She giggled/smiled at a few other animals as well, but the fish captivated her.

We realized when we got there that she didn't have a hat (we thought there was one in the car, but then didn't see it in there) so we ended up getting her one there. Jason went to go get it, without Amelia to model it, and this is what we ended up with:


(it didn't fit too well, good thing it was clearance and didn't cost too much!)

This is Amelia looking at fish; the flash was on, so you can't actually see the fish, but you can see her fascination:


Here are some of the other animals we saw today:




The Milwaukee County Zoo is one of only 12 zoos worldwide to have an American moose exhibit:






Here are Amelia and Jason as giraffes:



Here is picture of Amelia on our way out of the zoo, with her new toys:


We wanted to get her a fish toy, since they are her favorite, but oddly enough we could not find a fish toy in two different gift shops! I bet there was one somewhere in that zoo, but we didn't find it.

My parents are at the Oriental now, watching Public Enemies so Jason and I going to use this time to (hopefully) pick up around here. We have been so busy, in and out, all weekend that the house is starting to show it!

Birthday with the Brewers

Today was my 24th birthday. I got some great gifts, including a new point-and-shoot Canon (my Olympus is 5 years old and in rough shape, hence, the reason we use the Canon SLR all the time lately), some new SVU seasons and a Prince Fielder jersey from Jason.

After going to school and taking a mid-term we had lunch and went to the Brewers game against the Washington Nationals. It was my sister, Jason and Amelia's first time at Miller Park. We had the highest seats possible...and I mean the HIGHEST. It was nice though. Where we were we had a bank of seats all our own (6 seats) and there was even a spot where we could keep all the baby things etc. It was a bit hot up there, but all in all the location was perfect for us!

Here are some pictures from our night at Miller Park:






Amelia was out by the 6th inning...


But she was woke up in time for the sausage race...


(for those of you who have been to a Brewer's game, this is a crowd favorite...Hot Dog won tonight)

Amelia woke up on our way out of the stadium...

The Brewers lost, horribly. I am not sure on the final score (we left in the 8th) but it was bad. The Nationals got 2 grand slams...by the same guy, what are the odds? It was just not a good night for the Brewers :(

(there is a lack of pictures of my parents because they sat a few rows away, where there was a nice draft. The stadium was REALLY hot tonight!)

This morning Amelia has more rice cereal and it went over better this time. Sometimes she even helped me with the spoon:


Hopefully everyone had a great start to their week!

So Much To Do, So Little Time

There is a TON going on in Milwaukee this weekend! There is the Milwaukee Air and Water Show, German Fest, today was the Brady Street Festival and as usual there was the East Side Green Market and the South Shore Farmer's Market (this is the one a couple blocks from our home).


We started our day out at the South Shore Farmer's Market, which is a few blocks from our house. It is big and busy! When we go next time we will not be bringing the stroller with us, way too hard to maneuver! My parents each had a ten minute massage and we got some fresh produce, including Door County cherries! There were also Middle Eastern dancers there, doing demonstrations:


Amelia liked watching them and listening to the music!

On our way out of Bay View (to the East Side) we stopped at a couple rummage sales and among other things, got this play kitchen for Amelia (for when she can stand, supporting herself):


I saw it up on the hill, from the street, so we stopped and by chance it was a kitchen, which made Jason happy!

I had to go to work at 11, so I got dropped off and Jason, Amelia and my parents had a few hours to kill on the East Side, so they walked to the East Side market and there was another person there selling handmade stuffed animals and he picked this out for Amelia:


(his reason for getting this is so that she learns now to not stare at people with missing limbs and/or one eye...)

They also watched part of the Air and Water Show, from up on the hill overlooking the lake. Here is one of the better pictures that Jason managed to get:




After work we came home, I showered, Jason went to work and my parents and I took the bus to the third ward and walked to German Fest. It was pretty crowded there (as expected). There is a lack of pictures from there because it was sprinkling rain on and off and it was just pretty crowded, so I was busy maneuvering the stroller and didn't bother to take the camera out. We did however take a picture of the pig roast. At 730ish there was a twilight air show (part of the ongoing Milwaukee Air and Water Show). They did this show right over German Fest though, so we were pretty much right under them during parts, otherwise they were just off the shore over a small bay. Before they show started there was a fighter jet flying RIGHT overhead of us, making circles and Amelia was NOT a fan of that AT ALL!!! The poor thing was terrified. We have been hearing these jets the past few days as they have been making their way into the city. One even shook our house it was so low on Friday morning! (we live a few miles from the airport, so it was getting ready to land) Here is a picture, to give you an idea of how low it was passing over us tonight:


Here are some favorite pictures from the air show this evening:





Next the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team did a demonstration. Here they are jumping out of the plane:


They had something on them that made them look like sparklers. Here is a somewhat close picture of one of them:



I don't have pictures of any of the rest of the air demonstration for many reasons (it started raining again, it was too dark out and images were blurred etc). It was a long day! Tomorrow, right after I go to work, my dad is going back down to the lakefront to watch the Thunderbirds demonstration at 330. He was hoping they'd be there tonight, but they weren't! I am just glad that the thunderstorms in the forecast for this evening held off...hopefully they come soon so I can fall asleep to the sound of rain!

Lastly, here is picture of Amelia late this evening, when she should have been asleep!!!

Oak Leaf Trail

My parents arrived today and will be here a week. With them around and staying with us, I have an opportunity to work a couple extra shifts, so that will be nice!

Amelia and I have been enjoying our new running route. We run on the Oak Leaf Trail which is 108 miles of paved trail that goes all around Milwaukee county. I mostly ran around the residential areas here in Bay View and didn't like it all that mch because the sidewalk isn't too smooth most of the time. On a walk with a friend last week I discovered this southern portion of the OLT and have been running it since. I ran on the OLT when I lived on the East Side but didn't ever think to run on it here in Bay View.

Here is a view of what I see while on my run:


Can't complain about this! It is almost like we are not in the city anymore :)

First Rice Cereal Experience

Here is Amelia and her first encounter with "solid" food...



As you can see she is not a fan. We are in the process of tyring again, this time with formula used in it (instead of water). We will see how this goes.

Target Trips

The past few weeks I have been making a run to Target on Mondays because that is when she starts to run low on formula. We run there, literally. It is between 1 and 2 miles away (the neighbor thinks it is about a mile and a half and I know it is more than a mile, but I am not sure exactly how far). Today I got a little carried away...and ended up having to walk home because I bought so much. I had a case of diapers resting on the canopy of the stroller, the basket was full and I even stuck a few things in with Amelia. I like running or walking there. Amelia and I get some fresh air and exercise is always good.

However, I do not like Target employees basically following me around and getting asked every other minute if I need help finding anything (our Target is not known for their helpful employees, it is a recent development that I get offered assistance). I can only figure it is because I am walking around the store with the stroller, which I guess to some could be suspicious. I don't like it though, because I make sure to NOT put anything in the stroller basket because I don't want them to think I am trying to shoplift. Oh well. Some of them are getting used to seeing me on Monday, so hopefully they eventually realize I have no tricks up my sleeve and I can shop without feeling like I'm being watched.

Here are some pictures from our day: