The kids and grandkids-

This whole Gramma thing is a serious hoot!  And I am so in love with these little people!!  Everytime I get a picture of one of them, I just melt a little.  I got a pic of little Greggy with his mama last week, and I seriously teared up.  He is such a cute little thing and wow is he an observer of his life!  Interesting how you begin to see things about their little personalities already at 2 months of age.  Anyway, visits with the kids have a whole new dimension, now!

Playing the piano with dad

Anyway, I digress.  I was fortunate enough to hang out for a day or two with both of my farther-flung children and their off-spring.  I stopped at Jon and Sarah's on the way to Missouri and at Greg and Sarah's on the way back.  I know Missouri to Park Falls by way of Waukesha may seem unusual, but there was a grandchild to see, so there was no missing that little trip!

Ella likes her block towers

First time she crawled into Manny's kennel and opened and shut the door!  LOL

Good morning!!

Things are looking good for both sets of parents and children, and it was a nice trip.  I helped Sarah and Jon with their garage sale, hung out with little Miss Ella and in general had a nice time being with them.   After the trip to Missouri, I stopped back in Janesville to pick up some things that I decided did not need to be dragged all the way to Missouri and back (like some extra tomato plants) and the things I picked up for the MA at Menards (or maybe it was Home Depot- they all look the same to me) and I drove ANOTHER hour after putting in 6 on the road before that.  Little Greg is doing so well, getting so big!!  

Morning selfie with Ella!

Morning selfie with Little Greg

LOVE that little furrowed brow

And we had a nice time snuggling.  I also got to snuggle with these two- what can I say, I am very popular.  :)

It was nice being in Waukesha and spending a little time with Sarah and Greggy and helping out where I could so the parentals could do some things that are hard to do if one person is on baby patrol.  I also babysat the little guy when Sarah had an event to attend and Greg was not getting home from work for a few hours.  He has his fussy times still at night, but it was fine.  We all have our fussy times!!

Full disclosure:  I was so tired from traveling, I only got phone pictures of Little Greg and NONE of my Greg or Sarah!  I was horrified.  Lol. It was a surprise to download those pix and figure out what I did.  Oy.

I could die this is so cute.

Whew he's sleeping!  :)  He was a lot of fun to be with, he does like being held!  

You will notice that Gramma Debi likes to take morning selfies with the little ones!  It makes me happy!!

I stayed through Saturday morning, and then drove home. I had exactly 3 days to then prepare myself, my home and my refrigerator (I was gone for 9 days) for company for the 4th of July.  Jon and Sarah came up on Wednesday night, so we could go for a little trip to the Wildwoods on Thursday and they stayed through Sunday.  That was a very nice amount of time for them to be at our house.  I wish I had a pic of what Ella learned to do!!!  Climb the stairs!  Lol, and she was darn good at it too.  

Learning to negotiate the little step between the kitchen and living room

She loved sitting in the little chair that Great Grandpa Oswald made for her dad and uncles

Grandpa snagged her as she was crawling by!

What is this thing, Grandpa Fred? 

LOVED swinging!

The Wildwoods in Minocqua is a little zoo that I have blogged about before.  I like it there, especially the tigers and the aviary!

Not sure about the goats

This picture cracks me up!!  "DAD WHAT ARE YOU DOING, HERE??"

Ella LOVED feeding that camel

Crackers are much appreciated by the camel

Thinking maybe the goats are ok

This partially albino deer was happy to get crackers

I dogsat Manny when the kids went to visit friends

The boy still smiles on cue for the camera!!

And they are headed for home!  See you soon!!

Anytime spent with the kids is a time of joy!  Until next time, be a  joy giver!!

Company Calling - The final chapter

Wouldn't you think that going to a sheep ranch, on a boat tour and having a campfire, complete with toasted marshmallows, would be all you could hope for in a visit to one's favorite aunt/sister???  You would think so, but you would be wrong!

I let the poor dears sleep in a little on Thursday morning, but then we packed ourselves up and left by 9 am to drive over to the nearby touristy town of Minocqua!  That really is pretty relentless to get them going at that time of the day, but hey!  Time is short and we had a lot of great stuff to do.  We don't have to consider rush hour traffic here, we can come and go as we please!

Swans in the trout pond

Donkeys grazing on the shore of the fish ponds

We went to the Wildwoods Wildlife Center, which will ALWAYS be known to me as Jim Peck's  Wildwoods.  The WWC is a wonderful little zoo and education center that has a ton of great stuff to see and experience.  There are the musky and trout ponds where you can play spot the fish- or if you want to fish for the trout, you can do that too- there is a little boat ride thing- but we had been on a big boat ride.  There is a pretty garden area, nice gift shop and snack shack, too, but the reason you are there is to see the animals!  And take animal pix!!!  w00t!!

Sleeping baby goats

Emily with the tortoises

There is a big variety of animals in this little zoo.  Other than the petting zoo animals, the wildlife is disabled in some way, they have been injured or compromised, and are unable to return to the wild.  My kids all went there for a couple of field trips as they were making their way through elementary school, and I have a fond place in my heart for it.  They have recently added lots of educational elements to their zoo, lots of great signs and interactive places.  They now have a mini auditorium where they do educational segments.... very cool.

Look at all of these beautiful guys!

Lovely little jewels

Feeding the budgies with a seed stick

Rose with an acrobatic one!

A fantastic recent addition is an aviary!  We were absolutely enthralled by the multicolored budgies and their funny antics.  We stayed there at least a half hour, it was a wonderful environment.

Lynx

Prairie dogs

Burrowing owl

Tortoise

Lemur

Barn Owls (I think)

There are a lot of different animals from cats and birds to lemurs to a zebra, a camel and a llama.  There is a little petting area with a bunch of goats running amok, deer that you can pet, turtles who were  - ahem- being a little personal with each other-  and bunnies, pot belly pigs, etc.

Amazing colors!

Crane of some sort

The best part for me is the Tigers!  Their names, as far as I can tell are Shertan and Shetan!  One is orange and one is white.  Soooooo gorgeous, so dignified.  LOVE them!!  Behold the beauty!

Rapture in orange

Look at that face!

When I was finally able to tear myself away from the Tigers- after 2 return visits- we went to eat at the Island Cafe in Minocqua.  It is a little Greek restaurant that has an outdoor eating area, and we were fortunate enough to get there at just the right time to get a seat.  I had a fantastic Greek salad, iced mocha, and awesome pita and hummus.  Emily said their chicken tenders were some of the best she ever had!!

Mocha at the Island Cafe

We finished up our afternoon by doing a little window shopping, buying some yummy saltwater taffy and then doing a little clothes shopping at Upper Street in Park Falls.  Later in the day we had a supper made 85% of our homegrown veggies, plus burgers on the grill and watched us girl's favorite show:

YAY!!

It was a lovely way to wrap up a lovely visit from the Mad-Sistah and my one and only niece!  (I have a step-niece who is a wonderful girl, don't want to leave Kristen out!)

The joy was out in full force!  

Thanks Rose and Emily, I love you!

One more look at a tiger.........

Aw, have a good nap!