FINAL DAY IN WISCONSIN July 25th

Happy Birthday, Michael! My brother turns 60 today (brother number 3, not the one I’ve been traveling with).

but I won’t see him. I dropped a card off for him at my sister Gail’s as he’s temporarily staying with her but he was off working for the day. We had stopped to see him up in New London on our way out of Wisconsin 3 weeks ago so we already visited.

I also got a short visit with Gail who is soon (Oct. 20^th or so) to be a new grandmother (Sara lives down in Louisiana).

 We did some photo ops and went on to Oshkosh to pick up the picts Rod had put on a CD. It’s been great to have my laptop with me as I can go into Word, type my blog entries in the car, when perhaps the scenery is repetitive or boring, and then upload to my blog at night when we stop at a hotel. Usually they are wified. I can also sort through the pictures form the camera and put them in a file, label them and add them later. That takes more time to do than the blog. And I don’t seem to be able to add them to the blog BEFORE I upload it, so the pictures come in too. Still lots to learn about this blogging but it works better for me than trying to keep a notebook that I can hardly read later. It’s much easier and quicker for me to type. And I’m hoping to be able to print out a hard copy of blogs with pictures to put in a notebook to read at my leisure when I’m 85 and no longer traveling!! Help jog my fading memory by then of what I did!!

I also got a visit at 9 this a.m. of my niece Samantha (Kelly’s daughter) and her 18^th month old today daughter Erinn.  She’s a toddler and so cute!! And shy! Maybe it was my glasses! And I didn’t get a picture! Bummer! I could have used Rod’s ipad but didn’t think of it – and he was gone with the camera to get the cd made. Anyway, we had a nice visit – she and her husband Alex are both working 2 jobs while they try to save for a house maybe next year. And she is still trying to get a teaching job but they are scarce. She is certified 6-12 in Social Studies. Most of the jobs are in elementary. She was a wonderful student and I’m sure would be a great teacher, if she ever gets the chance! Erinn finally let me hold her while mommy went to get a fresh diaper from the car! Very cute!

Wisconsin wind farm 

So off we head again south to Wisconsin Dells to meet up with niece Shannon, who lives in Whitewater, and is visiting with her 3 boys with her brother Rob, Sharon, and 3 kids (whom we had dinner with in Portland, OR before they left for their Illinois vacation!). Then we’ll find a place to stay for the night maybe on the Wisconsin border and Rod will drop me in the morning for my flight from O’Hare back to Boston!!

We arrived at the Dells around 3 and met up with Shannon. Rob, Sharon, Shannon, Rod and I sat around an outside table while all the kids – Kalob, 17, Cristina, 15, Isabel, 13, Jimmy, 15 I think, Tommy, 13, and David, 9, all ran to various water things like the wave pool and the Thunderball! They will be exhausted tonight! Sharon, Isabel and Kalob are running a race down in Moline, IL, on Saturday before they go home. Oh, to be young!!

Happy group of family!

Tubing down the Lazy River!

We had a nice relaxing couple of hours, took a photo op and  Rod and I headed south nearer O’Hare in Janesville for the night. Home tomorrow!! Or at least to Foxboro!

Parents relaxing while kids are off in the water park.