Thank you to the Long Family!

This past weekend we (the kids and I) went to Madison for an impromptu family gathering. Mike, Jen and Gwen were in for a wedding, and Benjamin and Rachel came up for a visit as well. It was nice to see everyone again after just seeing them at the cabin a few weeks ago, I think it was great for Gwen and the girls, there was no getting to know you time needed this time they were off and running the whole time!! It was so nice to see how well they all played together. On Sunday while Nana, Papa, Mike, Jen and Gwendolyn were at the wedding Rachel and her family were kind enough to invite us to join them on there sail boat for an afternoon on the lake. The girls had a BLAST!! They loved everything about the trip, the kitchen below deck, the potty, the sails, the snacks (Rachel’s mom shared her popcorn with Eileen and since it was such a special day Olivia got to have 3 pieces-since she’s 3 now) and of course swimming. Rachel thank your for helping the girls in the water, they feel so comfortable with you (her dad called them her "fan club"). Joseph liked the ride as well and was just fine pulling on all the different ropes until he realized that people were in the water and he thought that might be fun too, so I took him down below and let him run around there. While we were busy in Madison visiting, boating, and relaxing poor Daddy was back in Milwaukee putting a new floor in Grandma and Grandpa’s bathroom. We haven’t seen his handy work yet but from what I hear it looks great and most important Grandma and Grandpa are happy (we can’t wait to come see it!).

Rachel helping the girls in the water, you can see what a "Big" help Uncle Benjamin was

Olivia was a little less comfortable in the water, Rachel was so good about staying right with her the whole time.

While the rest of the gang was swimming Rachel's mom took this picture of Joseph and I, what a beautiful day we had out on the water!

It's official I am in my 30's!

I had a really nice birthday on Friday. Bryan had the day off so we were able to go out for lunch, all the kids took great naps, and then out for dinner at Mama Mia's mmmmmm, garlic bread! We were not able to stay to eat the dinner however since the service was so slow, Joseph was great for about 45 min. and then when we still didn't have our food we asked for it to go. After we put the kids to bed Bryan and I enjoyed our dinner and a glass of wine. On Saturday after swimming lessons we went to Madison since Bryan had arranged for Nana and Papa to watch the kiddos so we could go out. We had a nice lunch with them before going to the Fireside for dinner and a show. It was a great weekend, and now we get to gear up for Bryan's birthday in less than a month!

I love this picture, you can see Joseph peeking over the table while I opened my cards.


Bryan put on some music for the girls to dance to while we were getting ready to go out for dinner.


Joseph drawing me a picture at Mama Mia's


The girls helping me blow out my candles.


Thanks for a great birthday everyone, although I almost feel like all I did was eat!!

Botanical Gardens

Last week we went to the botanical gardens in Franklin. We had a very nice walk through the gardens, the flowers were amazing!! Of course the kids liked the sprinklers the best, I could have saved myself a 40 min. drive and the cost of admission and just turned the sprinkler on at home! The kids did enjoy seeing all of the beautiful flowers, fountains, and koi ponds.

We are STILL trying to get a good shot of all three of them!

Almost, we just have to get Joseph to look the other way...
not that far, girls look at me...
oh, forget it lets go eat our picnic!

Happy 60th Birthday Nana!
We all gathered in the North Woods at the cabin to celebrate Mom's birthday. It was great to have a long weekend up there with the family (we were missing Jonathan and Sigan-next time!). We all had a wonderful time; out on the water be it in the kayak, canoe, or row boat, eating all of the great food, sitting by the huge fire Benjamin and Mike made in the fire pit, but mostly just spending time re-connecting as a family and creating memories.

Gwendolyn and Joseph taking a little stroll around the cabin, there was no rain (at least not when the kids were up) but they couldn't get enough of the umbrellas!

Benjamin and Mike almost rolled Benjamin's car trying to go to the store rather than making Bryan and Brian come in from their fishing trip!
(Brian had the only set of keys to Mom's car and it was blocking the drive way!)

We had a small birthday celebration while we were there, the plan was for it to be in honor of Nana's 60th but we ended up covering a lot of the summer birthdays. I made a chocolate cake called "La Bete Noire" a recipe from the Wild Roast Cafe in Minneapolis.

I was surprised how much the kids liked the cake, since it was not a traditional cake with frosting. It was a flowerless bittersweet chocolate cake with lightly sweetened fresh whipped cream, you have to start them early on the good stuff!

We had a great time playing "Holie Board"! Gwendolyn wanted to play but she wanted to play her way, it was really cute she wanted to throw the washers sitting down!

Olivia' s turn with the umbrella...

I LOVE this picture of Eileen and Benjamin! They were waiting their turn to play holie board.

Bryan and Papa even got to play some horseshoes.

And some cuddling in the hammock after a long day of boating, hiking, playing, and eating!

Within 20 minutes of beginning our drive they were all out! If only they had stayed asleep the whole drive rather than just half! It was a great trip and we can't wait to get back up there!

Celebrating 100 years of UPS!

This weekend we went to the big Wisconsin celebration for the UPS centennial. The kids had a lot of fun seeing where Daddy goes to get his truck. It was a very nice family friendly party. They had the food brought in from Saz's, snow cones, cotton candy, face painting, balloons, and much more that we didn't even get to! The kids had a great time and Joseph just ate his way through the place, the only time he wanted out of the stroller was when we were getting balloons!

Riding in style.

Eileen and Bryan in front of one of the original UPS trucks, a model T Ford

Olivia eating her lunch, I have no idea why she was standing up to eat...just glad she didn't fall (we did have her sit right after I got the picture).

Eileen getting her face painted

Olivia getting a star on her arm, it was cute a lot of the little boys were getting the UPS logo on their arm!

Eileen driving a truck just like Daddy's, except this one has a Mercedes engine, power steering, etc...

Happy 4th of July!!

We had a nice day puttering around the house today. Bryan was not feeling well so we didn't do too much, but by the end of the day he was feeling well enough to have dinner (crab legs-isn't that the all American dinner, he keeps insisting that we settled in New England and those guys were eating lobster and crab!) and sparklers after dinner.
Bryan and his girls ('lil firecrackers!)

Our happy little guy

I think we took over 15 shots and this was the best one (even though you can tell Eileen is done having her picture taken)!

At around dinner time we heard firetrucks and ambulances going past our house, when we went to check it out this is what we saw!! I hope everyone is OK, but this was a very teachable moment for the sparklers we were about to light.

Eileen and Olivia enjoying their 4th of July Oreo (an Oreo with whipped cream and red sugar on top).

Olivia holding her sparkler, she didn't enjoy doing them too much this year.

Eileen really enjoyed them this year though, she was as close to fearless as she can get when it comes to this type of thing!

Bryan caught a lightning bug/fire fly in a jar to show the girls, they LOVED it! Before we came in we let it go and Eileen had to say "Good night" to ALL of the lightning bugs in the yard!! (nice stall tactic kid!)

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Independence Day.

Giordano Family Reunion!!
This Saturday we had a family reunion (with Bryan's Grandma's side of the family) at Wirth Park. It was great to see everyone and a lot of fun, not to mention all the amazing food! Unfortunately we didn't get too many pictures, Bryan was responsible for taking the pictures and it appears as though after the parachute games he forgot to take any more!

Joseph getting batting lessons from Uncle Vic


Olivia LOVED the parachute! She had so much fun pulling it up and down, thanks Matt for brining it, the kids sure loved it!

We had a great time, we are looking forward to the next one and we will try to take more pictures (possibly a group shot?!).