We had a fun 4th of July weekend this year.  It was a very hot and humid day so we decided to hit our local waterpark to cool off, with a friend of ours.  The kids and Hubby had a great time.  I think they went down the slides about half a dozen times.  It rained for a lil bit but hey, we are at the waterpark... so we just kept on playing in the water.

Later that night, we watched the fireworks display at our city.  This is the first time for both Jeb and I to watch our local fireworks display.  Each year, we tried doing it, something comes up, we are out of town or we get there too early (thinking it was done and then head home).  Also, normally we would head out to Jeb's grandma's place to see their own fireworks display, which is pretty neat as well.  We were quite impressed with the display of Fond du Lac's fireworks... it looked awesome!  We had a pretty good set-up as well to view the fireworks.  We sat by the lighthouse (by the rocks and the lake) at the Lakeside Park, and we can even see all the other fireworks going off in the distance by the lake shore.  It was pretty cool.   I took some videos and pictures of it.  The kids did well too, didn't get scared or cried.  We were glad for the breeze that night as well which made the warm weather bearable and kept the mosquitoes away!

This year has been very bad with regards to mosquitoes.  Living out here in the woods is not making it any easier, either.  The kids are just speckled with tons of mosquito and/or other insect bites (as you can see from the picture of Amberly).  Every night before I go to sleep... I would go back and forth between rooms (ours and the kids) and hunt down mosquitoes and bugs.  It is a mosquito vs me-with-the-flyswatter war every night!  We even went out to purchase an insect trap (called DynaTrap) device that will help get rid of some of the bugs and insects in the house.  Anyway, that is beside the point.  But we did have a very enjoyable weekend.

Before the week is over, I'd like to let you know about another fun weekend that we had last Sunday (6/27).   One of our Fil-Am friends invited us to a beach party in celebration of her coming birthday.  I have had been looking forward to this event since she sent out the invitations.  I missed it last year because something came up at the very last minute.  This year, we were able to make it and how glad we were able to go.  We had so much fun!  Even though it wasn't a real beach that most of us, Asian / Pacific Islanders are used to, I was quite impressed about the beach.  We went to Sheboygan Beach which is part of the Michigan Lake.  We had perfect, beautiful weather that day... sunny warm with a nice breeze.  But hey, was the water ever so COLD!  After a few minutes being in the water, your legs get numb from the cold.  It was that cold.  I was just able to dip my feet / ankles in the water since I have to watch Amberly that time.  I am more than content to just watch the kids and my hubby have fun in the water, building sand castles from afar while I sit down and relax in a beach chair holding my Peaches, enjoying the warmth, breeze and fine sand under my toes... and of course, taking pictures of everyone.  I truly miss the beaches, even if I don't have to swim in it.  It is just so relaxing!  I miss the Philippines beaches, but this is definitely sufficient enough for me, for my beach cravings. :)

For the third year in a row (maybe a tradition by now), we spent Fathers Day (June 20) at Bay Beach (Amusement Park and the Nature Wildlife sanctuary) in Green Bay.  We had a full, fun-filled day.

In the morning, we went strawberry picking at Prellwitz Produce in Ripon (same place we went to last year).  They had a great strawberry crop this year.  They were huge, sweet and bountiful.  Last years strawberries were in the smallish side (we only harvested 2 containers).  This year, we doubled it... we harvested 4 (worth about 38 lbs total)!  What to do with all the yummy strawberries!  We gave away one of the containers to a friend of ours, so I only have 3 containers to work with, which is still plentiful.  I plan to make freezer jam out of most of it, bake some strawberry goodies and freeze whole the rest.  Currently, I have 17 jars of freezer jam already made and freezing nicely in my freezer.  I'm going to do another batch today (hopefully!).  Thanks to my Hubby for finding me more Sure-Jell (reduced sugar recipe) pectin.  And maybe do a little baking today as well.  We'll see how that goes with all the list and plans I have made for today.

Anyway, going back to my original topic...

Later in the afternoon, after we dropped off the strawberries at home and manage to fit all 4 containers in our already-packed fridge, shower, changed and cleaned the kids' strawberry-streaked, stained faces and clothes, we headed out for Bay Beach.  We invited a Fil-Am family friend (Tim, Wilma and their kids) of ours to come with.  We all had a great time, as you can see from the pictures. :)  The kids and even the dads had a great time riding on some of the rides.  Jordan got to ride his first bumper cars this year with Jeb.  It was about 9pm already by the time we got home and everyone was tired, but it sure was a very fun and happy fathers day.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to see the Walleye Weekend festival in Fond du Lac and then, go to the train museum in Green Bay for a Day Out with Thomas train ride.

We really didn't see much for the Walleye festival at the park.  I was a little disappointed.  It was not what I expected it to be, but at least it was not too busy for Jeb (he can not stand crowds).  Besides the fact, we had to park far from the main parks' event... there really wasn't much to do (maybe since it was the last day of the festival and we were there in the morning). There also was a bad band that was playing that was agonizing. LOL.  Some rock bands can sing, this one... CAN'T!  It was like someone was dying... all you hear was screaming, and not a comprehensible word but agonizing pain in the ears.  Good thing, they were down to their last 3 songs when we came in.  The kids were covering their ears, it was that bad.  We had fun walking around though, and looking at people fishing, and had a rather relaxing time (after the band stopped playing).

After the park (and walking almost a whole mile ore more back and forth to our vehicle), we went out for breakfast at IHOP.  After breakfast, we headed on to Green Bay to the National Railroad Musuem for the "Day Out With Thomas" special event.  We really had a great time there, and the kids loved it.  They enjoyed the train ride, but I think most of all they enjoyed looking at all the different trains and going in and out and playing "engineer" at the control room.  I think the Thomas train ride was not what they expected.  They were a bit disappointed that they did not actually ride on the Thomas engine (like in the shows & movies), and it went super slow (like 5 miles an hour).  At one point they asked why the train had to go around 2 times (I think they were bored), and then they wanted to train to go faster.  It was interesting too that, they would rather go back in the train museum and look at more trains, than wait in line to have a picture taken with Thomas the Train!  But they still got a kick out of it and still enjoyed the Thomas train ride and the whole train learning experience.  It was a fun learning experience for them about Trains.

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