Summer 2007 - Summer of the Hoola Hoop King

June 2007: Grandma’s visit and Birthday party:

Grandma came to visit us again in Peoria. This time the weather was better and we did not put her to work shoveling. Instead, she helped prepare for Jackson's birthday party complete with jumpy toy in the backyard and pirate ship pinata. Brian outdid himself this year. He made homemade treasure maps complete with burnt edges and wax seals. I'm sure the details went unnoticed by the children, but I will always remember the love he poured into every detail. We enlisted the help our our babysitters to help corral the kids from one activity to the next. Little did we know how involved they'd be! They showed up wearing pirate attire! Nice! We had so much fun and hope that Jackson remembers the fun parties when he grows up. After the party, Brian, mom and I recovered on the porch with some cheese, crackers and a nice glass of wine.


Our normal days in Peoria during the summer consist of the lazy days at the club pools. A great payoff for suffering through the cold long winter. The pool opens at 11:30 and we show up with our cooler and stay until around 4:00 or 5:00 - just in time to clean up a bit before Brian comes home. Jackson adores the pool and I am so glad to be able to give him the freedom and fun of a great childhood summer. He flits from one pool and group of kids to the next. He's not afraid of the water anymore and his swimming lessons seem to be helping him.

Washington State:
Jackson and I headed off to Washington on July 19th. After a delay in Peoria, and another delay in Atlanta we finally arrived in Seattle around 2:00 a.m. We waited and waited for our bags until it was clear that they were missing. After filing our missing bag claim, I headed out to the car where dad was entertaining Jackson. Leaving the car doors open while waiting for me to get the bags drained the battery, and we sat in the car for another hour waiting for God to miraculously start the car, or until Jackson exclaimed: “I’m tired of this!” Dad finally sought help in jumping the car and we made it back to Mercer Island around 4:00 a.m. – just enough time to get about three hours of sleep before the Nordstrom Sale.

The weather in Seattle was dreary, but Jackson’s family birthday party was a success. Little boys dressed as pirates is too much fun. After the party, Grandma and Grandpa took Jackson and Brandon to the Lake Fair Parade. Grandpa Eldon was being honored, so they braved the rain to watch the parade.

Bend, OR:

Just as we settled into the Lake House, we were off to Bend, OR to visit Stephanie and the kids. What a whirlwind! The trip down with Jackson, Brandon, and Hailey was a real nail biter. Every Semi-truck on 1-5 seemed to be on the road that day, along with terrible drivers.

Once we finally arrived, we had a blast playing with the kids, horse-back riding and playing at the pool.

The trip ended too quickly, and we were back on the road. This time, we were NOT going to take 1-5 with all the Semis. Instead, we were going to head North up through Yakima etc. However, that plan didn’t work well, and we found ourselves taking a scenic route past Mt. Shasta. It was pretty, but with small children pretty isn’t enough to get you through.

Lake House -- Olympia, Washington:

Back at the lake, Jackson took swimming lessons and played in the lake with mommy and Grandma and Grandpa. He took his first inter tube ride, and was cautiously excited.

Alyssa and Kevin’s wedding was just days away, and we got Jackson ready with his tuxedo and pictures at Falls Terrace in Olympia. On Friday, the Hicks family arrived, along with Brian, to join us at the rehearsal/tailgate party and wedding. The kids had a blast.

At the lake house, Jackson asked Grandpa for some Kool-aid when they were at the grocery store. After getting back to the house, Jackson experienced this new refreshing drink for the first time out on the deck. He opened the door into the kitchen, held up his drink towards Grandma and Grandpa and said: “This is damn good Kool-aid”.

Walking through the mall in Olympia, Jackson asked Grandma “why don’t people know my name”? As if he’s extraordinarily famous and EVERYONE should know his name.

Some of Jackson's memorable moments were asking Great Grandpa Eldon why his teeth were messed up. Grandpa Eldon, replied: “You’re teeth aren’t so great either” in reference to Jackson’s missing tooth.

Jackson also began his fearless statements of the obvious, yet not so tactful remarks such as commenting on a person's age, weight etc. He informed me that Great Grandma was “really old”.

Being close to the bible belt apparently paid off. We caught Jackson and Brandon outside one day at the lake praying to God. Hilarious. I'm not sure what they were praying about or for...but I can only imagine that it had something to do with candy.

During our stay in Washington and at the Lake House, Jackson mastered the art of the hoola hoop. The boy can swing those hips! Not only is he adept at swinging one - but he can swing two at a time whilst jumping up and down. Grandma would cheer him on by chanting: "How low can you go!" I think we have some video of this -- I certainly hope so!

August 2007-- Peoria:

Returning home from Washington was nice – nice and HOT that is. Temps reached the mid to high 90’s as we watched the news reports of other areas of the Midwest getting hit with flash floods.

Jackson started his Joy Kids class, and we geared up for back-to-school activities. With a travel ban in place from CAT, we were looking forward to spending some quality time together as a family.

Door County Wisconsin- Labor Day 2007:

When living in Wisconsin, Brian and I traveled to Door County, Wisconsin. We instantly fell in love with it. We spent Labor Day 2002 in Door County, and our first year anniversary there as well. Now that we were back in the Midwest, we decided to take a quick trip up to Door County again.

Driving north to Door County took about 5 hours. After crossing the Wisconsin boarder, I made sure we stopped off at an old favorite: The Mars Cheese Castle. That's right! It's great! Right off the freeway, the Mars Cheese Castle sells every type of cheese imaginable - sometimes in the shape of cows, the state of Wisconsin, Badgers...whatever. They always have samples, which we are not shy about testing out. We stocked up on some cheese, crackers and mustard and continued "forward" (that's a little Wisconsin joke...). We passed Milwaukee, pointing out where Brian use to work and some other highlights. We also took a small detour and drove through White Fish Bay and looked at all the Grand homes along Lake Michigan.

Past Greenbay and off to the East is the peninsula known as Door County. No chain restaurants etc. are allowed up there. Only local stores, boutiques and restaurants. We stay in Egg Harbor this time. The previous times we stay in Fish Creek. The hotel was great -- until we figured out they screwed up our reservations. We stayed there one night and then moved to another place, which was nice as well.

Door County is known for the cherries. We shopped around Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim and Sisters Bay. The antiques are cute up there and it is quaint and charming. Over Labor Day, Sisters Bay has a big Swedish festival. They have water skiing out on the Lake, and all the other fare that goes along with festivals. We grabbed hot dogs, a beer and sat on the rocks watching the water skiing.

Later that night we headed off to the White Gull Inn in Door County for their famous Fish Boil. http://whitegullinn.com. The White Gull Inn is beyond charming. Brian and I stayed there in 2002 and 2003. This time, Jackson was with us and loved watching the Fish Boil. He pestered the guy doing the fish boil by peppering him with a million questions. We enjoyed the show -- and the resulting meal. I especially loved the dessert -- homemade cherry pie.

As with all good vacations and summer - it came to an end all too quickly. We headed back to Peoria in time for Jackson to start pre-K.