Bits and Bobs

Random Happenings in October.

The end of baby teeth for Stinkerbell!

Helping me set up for Halloween.

This humidity has given Stinkerbell so many curls!

This made me picture Don Johnson in Lederhosen.

Pretending to be scared at the Halloween store while picking out costumes.

MadHatter is taking band this year.  With a ton of other kids so it seems.  She got picked to play the Saxophone (alto).  Nope, the kids do not get to choose their instrument, the teachers do, and it is an interesting way that they do it.

All A's for the first grading period of Middle School for MadHatter!  Don't have Stinkerbell's grades quite yet.

 I don't know if you can tell from this photo, but the grass in between the skeleton's limbs is super long, and the rest is cut short by our gardeners.  Almost like his body fertilized the ground.  I giggle every time I see it.

She had to dress as an idiom for school.  Can you tell me what she chose?

MadHatter's project on Phobia's for Language Arts class.  Yep, she is afraid of Toilets.  Not the actual fear of going to the bathroom, but the toilet itself. :)

Fall Fun in Fifth

As a room mom for the last time (a little sad about this but mostly relieved that I don't have to do this next year), we were tasked with planning a Fall Party for our double class.  (Teachers work in pairs in our school - one teaches Math and Science, the other Language Arts and Reading).  We had 2 hours to fill and 46 kids to entertain, so we needed something to keep them busy but still happy.  Enter the escape room.

We found The Lost Mummy online and printed it all out.  And then, we tried to solve it as adults and found it to be a bit challenging for us in our time frame, so we made a few modifications.  We were hoping it was enough.  And since we couldn't have 46 kids working on the escape room at the same time, we also decided to have a "sugar" room with bobbing for donuts and cupcake decorating.  Through in some pizza and fresh fruit and you have a 10-year-olds dream party.

We had a great time, as did the kids.  But we also learned our lesson for the Holiday Party - nothing too complicated and nothing that involves math.

Waiting to get into the Mummy room.

Hard at work solving the mystery and how to escape...

Their team did it!

Pizz and cupcakes.  I missed her decorating hers.

Bobbing for donuts.  Not as easy as it looks.

She finally got it but had powdered sugar everywhere (even her ears)!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

A Wisconsin Whirlwind

I lived in the midwest for a good number of years with said years being split between Illinois and Wisconsin.  I enjoy the midwest; I also don't enjoy the midwest.  Truth be told, the weather is what gets me every time and when I graduated from college in a record setting cold year, I got the heck out as soon as I could.  But I do like to visit every once in a while so when my cousins wedding came up we booked our flights and headed "home".  Again.  Because we were just there last month for the Packer game.

We took a late flight on Thursday night to Chicago and chased the setting sun the whole way...

Those clouds!

The wedding was not until 4 pm on Friday so we had some time to kill.  Being as we were only about 30 miles from my alma mater (and where Dad went to school for his first year of college) we hopped in the car and drove over to see how it had changed (or stayed the same) over the past 25 years.

Our scenery the WHOLE way!

Whitewater is a small town (only about 14,000 people live there full time with most of them being employed by the school) and a small college with a big college feel and gorgeous campus.  I absolutely loved my time there and being there brought back a lot of wonderful memories.  And MadHatter loved it so much she said that this is where she wants to go to school too (check back with me in 6 years and we will see how that stands up).

Wellers Hall.  My dorm for the first two years.  Yep, all students have to live on campus for the first two years.

The backside of the dorm.  My room was on the first floor right next to the door.  More times than I can count, I was woken up in the middle of the night by friends wanting to be let in because the door locks at 11 pm and then you have to go all the way around to the front and walk all the way back.

The Quad.  Much bigger now than when I was there.

The oldest building on campus - Hyer Hall.  It is the only link to the original building that was the college when it first opened. 

I spent more hours here than anywhere else on campus.  Stop laughing.  Nope, I didn't study here, I worked here for 3 1/2 years.

The house I lived in for the last 18 months.  Good times were had here!

I told you it was a small town.  This is Main Street.  We do have stoplights - but only 3 - and that is one more than was there when I lived in town.

Our way home.  It looks a lot like our way there.

And then it was time to get ready for the wedding.  We had just enough time to get everyone showered, changed and across the street to the wedding venue.  Again, small town Wisconsin where nothing is farther than a few feet away.  It was a pretty ceremony, and thankfully the snow held off until 2 days after we left because it was outdoors.  You take that chance when you live in the Midwest.  I didn't take many pictures as I was just catching up with family and enjoying the time we had.  But I did manage to catch a few...

And suddenly it was Saturday morning and we were on our way back to the airport so we could catch our flight home.  But not before we stopped and got the best Cheese Curds ever...

They squeaked so loud (and only those who know will know).

Fun Fact:  Because raw cheese is illegal in the US you can only find fresh cheese curds in Wisconsin as they have a by on that law for curds.  Now, you can find them elsewhere but be warned, they have been aged for 60 days to make them legal and will not have the same flavor, nor will they still have their squeak.

Disneyworld

A long-ago planned trip to Disney World almost didn't happen because of my suddenly scheduled surgery.  But, after a lot of careful thought and an o.k. from my surgeon, we decided that we simply must keep our plans.   Since Nana and Grampa were coming with us, the girls would have someone to ride the faster, bumpier rides that I was not allowed on, and for the fastest, they could just ride alone.  And I would get some much needed fresh air.

Thursday, just after noon, I gathered both girls from school and headed up the coast.  We were walking through the Hollywood studios arches before 4:30 pm and spent some time riding the Rock 'N Roller Coaster, wandering through the new Star Wars area (didn't ride the rides as I couldn't) and had a quick dinner before heading out to rest up for Friday.

The next morning we were off bright and early as we were hitting up the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot.  First stop, getting the girls Hide and Squeak game (which we played last year also).  This is where they have to go to 15 different locations and find where Remy is hiding.  Once they find them all, they turn in their cards for a prize.  This year, they got official Disney water tumblers.  And while we were all searching for Remy, we also did what we really came for - ate our way around the world.

Pulled Pork Poutine from Canada.

Mini cupcakes from Norway (Frozen themed) and a Frozen Mezzo Mix from Germany (her favorite).  We also had sausages (Germany), Tacos (Mexico), Cheese filled pastries (Carribean), and various other snacks I just forgot to take pictures of...

A quick stop to chat with Mary Poppins.

And we finished just in time for dinner in France!

Another fabulous day at Epcot.  That ended in pouring down rain.  Thankfully we were already home by then.  But the rain continued into the morning, so we switched up our plans.  We had been headed to the Magic Kingdom, but with it raining cats and dogs, we figured it would be better to take it slow and head off to the Animal Kingdom instead.  

Fast passes all switched; we made it to the park at the crack of 11.

One perfectly placed bow on her shirt!

And I even ran into my college roommate!  Who I have not seen in almost 20 years!!!!

The rain did let up (only sprinkled a few times), but the day did stay overcast and gray.  Which was fine with me because it was still hot.

Lunch included Chilean wine flights - with wines that I have not been able to source outside of Chile but are some of our favorites.  Trust me on that, Sauvignon!

We pet a bunch of animals at the Conservation Station.

And then tried our hands at drawing like the pros - 

Stinkerbell's

Nana's

Grampa's

MadHatter's

Mine

And what it was supposed to look like.  I think we did just great.

And after that, we were off to ride some rides (Avatar, Dinosaur, Expedition Everest) and head home to rest up for our final day at the Magic Kingdom.

Sunny and blue skies all day.  So thankful we switched days as the Magic Kingdom is and always will be my favorite park!

And with that, we called it a trip and headed back home, happy and tired and a bit Disneyed out.  Until next time Walt and Friends.