Friday, July 31, 2009

4th of July and Wisconsin trip

We celebrated the 4th of July and our 11th wedding anniversary with a party! We had about 20 friends over for all-American food, red, white and blue crafts for the kids and sparklers around sunset. Our guests included fellow Americans, Canadians and Chinese. It made for a very eclectic group to enjoy a very American holiday. I've included a picture of a plate of sweet rice dumplings that are apparently a staple of many Asian holidays. We made them American by sticking US flags into them! I'm all for starting new traditions! 
Shortly after, we drove to Wisconsin to visit Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa. We survived another 16hour drive by breaking it up with a hotel stop that resulted in a very poor nights sleep but was still a nice break. We made many special memories with our family and had a great time despite the cruddy weather. Most days were rainy and cold with a few days stuck in between that actually felt like summer. One of the items on Will's "to do" list for the summer was to camp and that was accomplished at least! Wayne and Will took the canoe across the lake my Mom and Dad live on and went over to the island across the way. It has a nice camp site that they set up our tent ( we apparently have a tent) and Mom, Dad, Zanna and I went to visit and roast hot dogs for dinner before heading back for home and leaving the men to pee in the bushes and sleep in the great outdoors for some serious male bonding. 
Other highlights for the guys included much time spent riding motorcycles, an unfortunate game of golf and killing bats in the house that made my Mom scream like a bad horror movie. Highlights for me was enjoying my Mom's good cooking, spending time with my parents and grandparents and shopping like a maniac with my mother after a 31/2 hour drive to Appleton/Oshgosh and back. 
Wayne celebrated his 34th birthday while on our trip and he requested my Grandma's ribs for his birthday dinner. She obliged and we feasted on a delicious meal! 
Summer's flying by and it's been lovely. As we head into August we have a Calgary trip to look forward to but not before VBS and Wayne's trip to NC to be in friend James' wedding. I'll be preparing for the upcoming school year and updating the bathroom and painting trim. 

No comments: