What we've been up to, this and that!

Hey It's been a while, we have had a couple of relaxing weeks. Last weekend was Community Memorial Hospital company picnic. At the last minute another traveller couldn't go and she gave us her tickets. It was a free day at the zoo! And all the extra stuff was free for us. It was a lot of fun. We rode the train which was quite relaxing after being on our feet most of the afternoon.

We spent the majority of the day watching the lions, tigers and bears, Oh MY! Actually we got some awkward footage of these three male bears that appeared full grown suckling on a female bear all at once. Very odd, I'll spare you the video, unless you are interested. We also enjoyed the spider monkeys, there were a set of three that looked like a clan and one of them looked over grabbed the others face and kissed him on the lips, at least that is what is appeared in human terms, it was quite entertaining!

We got to pet sting rays. We did this in Denver at the aquarium in Feb, but I was scared of them, this time I wasn't!!

The food was great with all you can eat cotton candy and popcorn, barbecue and live music!



Another evening we went to a art showing by some artists from our church, then went out with a couple from our Sunday school class. This is Marcia and Greg. We have actually hung out with different people from church the past few weekends. It has been great getting to know some people and having people to hang out with, as we occassionally get bored with one another, ha!




We also spent an evening at Cedarburg. It is a small historic town just north of us with 50 some odd registered historic buildings. Very cute place. They had this unique brewery and winery on the river, unfortunately they didn't serve food and we needed food so we didn't hang out there, but it was a busy place.






Amy's candy shop was fun, it was all homeade candies and you could watch them making the candy right there.


We are doing well, can't believe it is almost August. My job is going great, I really enjoy working nights and can't complain about much. I don't mind going in to work, which is nice and the people have been great to work with. If only all places will be like this, I doubt it, but we'll see. I am learning a lot, am challenged and am building confidence in my nursing abilities which is all very exciting and encouraging. Talking about going to the East coast next, maybe Maryland area. We'll see. Still a little homesick but I guess that is what it's like being on the road. So we miss everyone and God Bless!

An afternoon at the Audubon Society

We had a very relaxing hike today at the Audubon Society, which just happens to be about 15 min down the road from us. Their beach was wonderful, the perfect breeze and temperature.

Their observation deck. They have lots of trails through the forests and a lot of educational programs as well.

A Saturdy in Madison, WI

We ventured out of Milwaukee on Saturday about 1.5 hours west to Madison. They have a nationwide renowned farmers market, but this Saturday they also had an art fair in the capitol square, So needless to say there were a ton of people and activities going on all day. We decided it would be best to park a few blocks away and bike the town. Madison is very biker friendly!

We sampled real WI cheese curds! They kind of turn my stomach just because of their name, but they are just the shavings that are left over when they make blocks of cheese. I sampled some cheeses though that knocked my socks off! Meaning they were probably the sharpest or most pungent flavored cheeses. We settled for a nice mild smokey flavoered goat cheese for our lunch, it was very nice.
Farmer's market, we got some amazing bread, WI cheese and fresh rasberries for lunch.

Lunch at the lake observation deck!

Capitol steps overlooking the art fair.

We took a couple of hours to bike around the lake. Madison is a town built between and around two lakes. We biked the smaller of the two, got lost in some neighborhoods, had a friendly biker lead us back to the trail and made it all the way around. It was a fun adventure.

We kept getting turned around in downtown Madison, this was not a staged shot, he was actually trying to figure out which lakeside we parked on. We sort of jumped out of the car ready to go, but then forgot we had to remember how to get back!

The downtown neighborhoods reminded me of a typical college town, sigh I miss college life and KSU! We came home very tired but had a great day





Art Fair funness!

Jelly Belly Days

So we took a free tour of the Jelly Belly factory in Kenosha, WI. It was fun, would be more fun if we had kids. I learned that the first candy Jelly Belly marketed was Candy Corn in the early 1900's. They are a family owned company to this day and at their factory retail store you can try and buy flavors like snot, vomit, skunk, macaroni and cheese, toenails, baby wipes and lots of disgusting ones that reminded me of those candies from Harry Potter!

We also learned what a Belly Flop is in Jelly Belly Land. A belly flop is the beans that don't make the cut because they aren't the perfect size for their standards. Some of them are two stuck together or lopsided etc. They sell belly flops in their retail store for less. We bought a 2lb bag and are enjoying them immensly. They also make some fabulous malt balls which we inhaled.

I made the mistake of finding this road that runs along lake michigan that I thought would be a great scenic drive on the way down to Kenosha. It ended up being an awful drive, not scenic at all, going 25 mph through small towns and you got to see the lake for maybe a 1/4 of mile and it just kept weaving you back and through these towns. There was road construction along the way. Needless to say it took us 2 hours to get there and about 40 minutes to get back via the major highway. So we have learned to better investigate those so called "scenic routes" better and any time I say scenic route Matt sort of growls now... I spent most of the day telling him I was wrong.. But we got over it and had fun while we were there.

We found a church!!

Just wanted to update to say that we found a church that we are super excited about. We haven't been this excited about a church in a long time. We visited on Saturday at an evening service and enjoyed the people and worship, so we went back on Sunday morning. After the service we went to their coffee shop and was introduced to this awesome couple and we ended up visiting with them for over an hour. The church is in Milwaukee proper and is very multicultural with a variety of ministries going on. The pastor had just returned from a 2 week trip to China and shared his heart about the power and peace of God's prescence. I just felt that this could be a place where we can plug in easily, be challenged in our relationship with God and learn a lot. It is a lot more than I ever expected to find for our time of travelling. We are very thankful that God led us here and are looking forward to what he will do. The church is called Eastbrook church!

4th of July, part 2

So the next part of the day we went downtown to the lakefront. .Unfortunately the big fireworks display was on the 3rd of July down on the lake.. but we still got to see some good ones. We rode our bikes again, and listened to music from summerfest along the way. We stopped at the marina to gawk at the boats we would love to go out in and watched lots of people having picnics and barbecues in the park. Just for the record Wisconsin does not allow you to shoot off your own fireworks... bummer for Matthew.

We went down on the beach to play some frisbee at dusk.





While we had a great and relaxing day we couldn't help but miss our families and friends and good food! We really didn't plan our food well for the day, we ate kraft macaroni and cheese at home with boiled hot dogs (appetizing eh?) and ended up at the fireworks display hungry and wishing we had brought snacks or had barbecued earlier in the day as everyone around us had, bummer... But we now know to better plan our meals!
Happy 4th of July everyone!

4th of July, a day for exploring part 1

So I started the day at midnight working! Then came home to sleep for 4-5 hours, woke up with a much needed cup of jo and off we went to explore! We started out riding our bikes through Menomonee falls. We are liking this place the more we learn about it. The town has a quaint charming feel, the neighborhoods have mature trees with unique houses. Not the cookie cutter housing of many suburbs. Downtown is a local coffee shop John harbors that has become a regular spot for us. They sell food, coffee, gelato, and wine! They also have live music most weekends. The town has forests spread throughout with biking trails. There is a farmers market each week downtown as well.

John Harbors coffee shop on the corner

The falls of Menomonee falls. Right on Main Street

Summerfest!

Okay so last week we went to Summerfest, the world's largest music festival and it's on Lake Michigan. It was fun, overwhelming but fun. There were so many stages and bands playing out of the back of touring vans and artisans to keep one busy for a loong time. We went mainly to see the bands Red and Skillet, who were both awesome and we got to see them for $16 for the two of us, can't beat that deal! Matt says it wasn't as good as rockfest (although he has never been to rockfest...) Summerfest has rock, alternative, country, classic rock, soul etc. There is a stage for everything, and tons of great food options. So here are our pics...

So Harley Davidson had this awesome stage with Harleys all over it. I got a picture!



a fountain that I really wanted to run through, but resisted for fear of slipping and falling on all the little children.
A fun fire juggling dude

Skillet has this awesome violin player who is up on that box. They also have a girl bass guitar player who is the wife of the lead guy and a girl drummer. They were a great band. They played at the zippo stage. I did not know what zippo was, so matt educated me by buying a zippo lighter, because he loves to carry a lighter around PYRO. So I learned that a zippo is the lexus of lighters. He even had it engraved.