Wisconsin Trip!

We just got back from our yearly Wisconsin trip a few days ago so I better blog about it while it is still somewhat fresh in my mind!

We left Idaho on Wednesday at about noon and drove to Glendive, MT the first night. (about 9 hours)
We stayed at a nice hotel called the Astoria that I will have to remember about. Then day two we drove as far as Minneapolis and stayed at a decent hotel (not important to remember about. lol) Then Friday we woke and up and drove about ten minutes to the Mall of America! We spent from about 10am to 2pm riding the rides at the amusement park and I did a very minimal amount of shopping. ;) Seriously, I only bought like one shirt, some socks, and a wallet. $30 tops. ;)

Then we hit the road and got to my mom's house by about 7pm on Friday night. When we got there, Rachel's new boyfriend, Jake, and his daughter, Rain, were there to greet us! (surprise!) Jasmine was gone to Carlos's for the weekend so it was just our kids and Rain playing! Oh! And Brayden! How could one forget him!? He is one crazy ball of energy that kid. Talk about into everything! He was our constant source of entertainment! It's so much more fun when it's not your kid. ;) Jake was very nice and I hope he and Rachel do stand the test of time. But we will see…. ;)

During our week there, we slept at my grandma Dahlke's basement, but weren't there much except for sleeping. We went to the Children's Museum in Fond du Lac, Josh went to a Badger game with Jesse, Josh and Norb Schmidt, we went to the Little Farmer (twice), went shopping at the Outlets in Oshkosh, spent a night at the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells and did all the indoor watermark stuff (just our family, not Rachel, etc.), and ate out a LOT. I actually think between Josh and I we gained like 15 pounds. (5 for me, 10 for Josh) Culvers, Gilles, Chinese Buffet, Johnny Rockets, McDonald's, Applebee's, and more… oh my. We also got to eat dinner at the Schmidt's house one night and see my best friend, Gini, who happened to be home just for the weekend for a wedding. That was a real nice surprise. I was glad that worked out. And she is pregnant with her third baby! They are still living in Eurpoe doing the basketball thing but I think the end may actually be in sight… maybe two more years.

We also loved getting to spend time with Grandpa Bestor and Grandma Dahlke and Grandma Sue. It's too bad they live so far away. One of the funniest things was when we went to my grandpa's house, the kids walked in his back door and were like, "Ohhh what's down there?" (pointing to his basement) Like they were so excited to see a tour of his basement! lol He kindly obliged and showed us around some of his basement treasures. (a pool table that I for some reason never knew was there, an old doll my great grandma Wagner apparently made, and a huge pile of "fix-it" junk that my grandpa tinkers around with. Gabe's favorite was the vice. He squished a metal lid in it.) At my grandma Dahlke's house, Avery was super excited to see her storage room which looks like the back room of Hobby Lobby with all it's seasonal decor organized on shelves. She really got rid of a lot of things when she sold the farm, but her holiday decor takes up the majority of her basement storage room. She has a weakness for holidays. ;) Avery wanted to of course touch everything from the ceramic animals to the silk flowers. We tried to keep her away from that room…

In all, it was a great trip! Loved getting to meet Jake and our friends and family. It was a fun change to be there in October this year and see the changing leaves and do the Fall stuff versus the Summer stuff. I did miss the rummage sales, but that was okay. I did enough damage at the outlets and TJ Maxx to make up for it. ;) Now onto some pictures…

Getting Into a Fall Routine

Well the boys have been back to school now for a few weeks and we are starting to figure out the busy Fall schedule with three kids. I don't remember if I talked about this last time, but Avery will be going to TWO different preschools this fall - kind of by accident. I had signed her up for the waiting list for the one that's at the elementary school where the boys go, but the the list was so long I was told in July she would not get in. So then I signed her up for a different one at the BYUI campus, which starts at the end of September. Meanwhile, in the first week of September, we got a call saying someone had dropped out and she was next on the list for the elementary school one so she DID have a spot! So, she went ahead and took that spot (since that was the one I wanted her in in the first place!) and now she is also enrolled in the BYUI one which starts in about a week and a half. So she is going to be a busy lady. She also is in dance class on Tuesday afternoons and gymnastics on Wednesday afternoons. The boys are finishing up flag football this week and then they may be taking a rock climbing class through the rec department. Other than that, they just have their homework and Gabe has Cub Scouts. We are thinking of putting Caleb into guitar lessons as well! ;) We are trying to raise well-rounded talented children, so hopefully I can stay sane driving them to everything. ;)

Here are some pictures that we just had taken a couple of weeks ago (early September) for out traditionally family pictures. I have told Josh to just get used to it. We are taking yearly family pictures from now until forever. ;)
And then there are also some of Avery's first day of school and dance and some random ones!

That's all for now!