Successful Move

Wednesday was the big day. We had a goal to leave by noon but in reality we didn't leave until 3:30! We were pretty organized in packing and loading until the end...in the end we just kind of threw things in and even threw things away just so we didn't have to deal with them. We even left a TV because there just wasn't room and we figured someone will get use of it. The downside to that is that we will need to purchase a new TV when we move into our next apartment!

Jason's friend, Ben, drove up with us to help Jason unload everything and so he could visit Hudson. He and Jason met in Hudson and it was coincidence that they both ended up in Milwaukee, where they got back in touch. I felt pretty sad as we drove across the Hoan Bridge one last time and I caught one last glance of the city:


We had wonderful driving weather and arrived in town just at dusk.


We were greeted by family and unloaded only what we would need for the night. After visiting for awhile we all went to bed, exhausted.

Thursday we went to our storage unit to unload our things. We sorted out what we would want in the coming months for sure, put things we might need towards the front and things we definately would not need in the way back. It went fast since we had lots of help unloading!



After returning the truck we all had lunch at a new place in town, Shanghai Bistro. Jason's siter, Liz, just got a job there - bartending. They have $4 lunches and it was pretty good and just the right amount of food!

We have been slowly getting into the swing of things here again. I am missing Milwaukee a little more than Jason but I know that will pass. I did live there twice as long as he did after all! Next week I start my job search so hopefully something will come up, fast!

Ben left yesterday.


He has been such a help to our family these past few months and it was nice he could make the trip with us.

I think Amelia is enjoying life at grandpa's house:


Maybe that is what we will call this blog now, "Life at Grandpa's"...?

Final Weekend

Today started our final weekend in Milwaukee. It was very bittersweet at work today. I have always enjoyed working Fridays. I usually work alone on Fridays so I get more of a chance to talk with "my" regulars etc.

Another thing I love about Fridays is getting to talk with my friend, Bill.


Bill plays the organ at the theatre on Friday evenings before the 7 o'clock film in the main house. He is 93-years old. Don't let that fool you, he gets around amazingly for his age! He drives himself all over town and knows all the best places to eat. We talk about food a lot.

Today, he finally got to meet Jason and Amelia. I had Jason come in for a visit so Bill could meet Amelia before we left. I will miss seeing him every week and just talking about nothing! He is very happy that we will be near our families though. We exchanged addresses and he assured me he would write. I know I will write him when I can. He has been a good friend to me the past two years!

After I got off work, Jason and I decided we wanted Oakland Gyros one last time before we left Milwaukee.


It was great, as usual! Where else can you eat for $12 and be stuffed? Not many places for us! After we ate we went through the DQ drive-thru and got a small strawberry golden oreo blizzard to try since the ads are plastered all over TV! It was pretty good. Jason still prefers regular oreo blizzards but I think I'd order the strawberry one again.

We are home now. It is incredibly humid in our apartment. I think we will probably crawl into bed pretty soon!

Our Week in a Nutshell

Things have been busy around here. There is so much to do in the next 13 days that I don't know if it will all get done!

Monday Jason worked late and we had laundry to do. Since he worked late we were at the laundromat until closing time and then we had a vey filthy baby to bathe...at 10 p.m.! I just couldn't let her go to bed looking like this:



Tuesday Amelia and walked to Target for a few things and she fell asleep...


Doesn't look to comfortable to me!

After dinner we took a walk to the park since it was so nice out. Amelia finally decided that the swings are fun:


She also practiced her walking a little:


(she is happy in this picture, I promise)

Tuesday night, Jason's friend from work, Ben, came over so we could go see a movie together at the Oriental one last time. We saw Exit Through the Gift Shop and enjoyed it! Click here to see the trailer if interested! We really enjoyed it!

Wednesday we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum. We decided to skip the exhibit - The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible - because there was no way Amelia was going to make it through there. It takes about 90 minutes to go through and strollers aren't allowed and babies must be worn facing forward. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen for us! Oh well, we saved a bundle by just seeing the regular museum!

Here a few pictures from our museum visit:




We had a good time exploring the museum!

For dinner we went to Amelia's, because we have our own Amelia! It is out by the airport and it was good!


Last night I worked the midnight premiere of Sex and the City 2. It was a late night. Enough said.

Today I am feeling under the weather - congested and such. I have been taking it easy and Amelia played with her Ducky all afternoon.



He just follwed her around from room to room (or vice versa) and they hung out.


I have been working on Amelia's table skills and today she ate from a bowl with success!


That's all for now. I am going to take some Sudafed and lay down so I can feel better!

Catching Up

We have been so busy this week! So many things are getting crossed off the ever-growing to-do list!

Tuesday was our final class for Financial Peace University and we took Amelia with us... That was interesting, to say the least. By the time we got home she was ready for bed so we let her sleep in her t-shirt:


Wednesday we were running all over town getting things done. We were able to pick up Jason's car, finally! It even cost $200 less than we were quoted at, which was a great feeling!

We had lunch at Beans and Barley since Jason had never eaten there and we are moving soon! Amelia was so loud while we were there. She loved listening to her voice echo in their tall, windowed dining room! She also kept turning around to "talk" (ie-yell) at the ladies behind us. They were good sports and talked back to her. Finally, right before we left she dumped an entire glass of water onto herself and the floor. I bet they were glad to be rid of us! Here is an interesting picture of her we took in the parking lot:


(that is a straw half in her mouth)

Jason had an appointment after that. While he was at his appointment, Amelia and I walked to look at the lake.


It was so beautiful! It made me a little sad to be moving next month :( I tried to take some pictures of Amelia but it didn't really work out too well:



I think the grass, the other people in the park and the shining sun were just too much for her to be able to look at me and smile!

After Jason's appointment we went to the UWM bookstore to find a diploma frame for me. We have talked about doing this for some time now and figured we better do it before we move! We settled on this one:


It was one of the less expensive ones but we thought it looked the best. It is also made out of 100% recycled wood! We put it right back in the box for safe keeping until we have a new place and can hang it up.

Yesterday afternoon we spent way too much time watching the squirrels on our neighbors roof. We have discovered that they are living in his roof which can't be good. Jason tempted them out with some snacks so we could watch them. That, and Jason really loves squirrels it seems. I do not want to bore you with all our squirrel pictures but here are a few good ones:



Today we had an errand to run and after that brought Poopy outside with us while we switched Amelia's car seats.


We finally decided to forward-face Amelia in the car. We kept putting it off but she has passed the age and weight recommendations they say are "ok" to forward-face, so we did it. We put her in my car to see if it would be any easier to get her in and out and boy, it was so much easier! Here she is checking out the new views:


And this is my new view of her:


I think this change will be good for us all!

I think that about gets everyone caught up with our busy, but not very interesting week! I do plan to share the details of our move soon. I just have some other things that I need to get done right now!

Auntie K is Here

Yesterday my sister arrived in Milwaukee around lunch time. Later in the afternoon we headed over to the Mitchell Park Domes since the weather was gray and misty. We got there and I had brought my good camera but I forgot the memory card on the microwave! Luckily Kim had her camera in her purse so we got some pictures while we were there.




Last night Jason and I attended Financial Peace together, which was nice as it was on mortgages and such!

Today we headed to Miller Park to see the Brewers take on the Braves!







It was in the 40s out today and rain was expected so the dome was closed:


And of course, we enjoyed the sausage race of the sixth inning:


Chorizo won by a lot this afternoon. (click image to enlarge it!)

Amelia had a bath and a bottle this evening and is now getting some rest after her long day!

Farewells and Birds

Today, Amelia and I met up with our friend Sarah (Amelia's birthday buddy) and went walking by the lake. It was such a gorgeous day to be on the lakefront. Eventually we met up with another friend, Chelsea, and had slushies at Bella's.


Chelsea is leaving for CO to work at a summer camp in a few weeks and Sarah is doing some traveling before she moves to Mankato in July, so today was likely the last time we will all be together for awhile.

On that note, I am sure most everyone has heard but just in case...we are moving back to MN soon. We don't have a timeline but we do know it will be this summer and likely towards the beginning vs the end. There is so much going on right now, so much for us to think about and so much for us to do! Be patient with us, we will have details when we have them. No sooner.

We went on another walk this evening as a family and found something very cool! We walked down to the ferry building and looked out at the lake and towards the city. Jason noticed some killdeer birds and their behavior and realized we were close to their nest. He found it and we were able to see two unhatched eggs and two new baby birds. It was pretty cool!



It was really cool to observe their behavior when we were near their nest. They act injured and try and lure you away from their eggs/babies. Here are some pictures of this behavior that we got:



I thought it was pretty cool. You can go here and read about the killdeer!