Since I'm behind with editing the photos from last Wednesday... I'm posting this "bonus" video from last Tuesday :-)
After the corn maze and dinner, I took the kids to the pool at the hotel. However, it started to lightening so they closed the pool. We ended up in the hotel's arcade and the kids were playing driving games (I was playing Ms. Pacman). Needless to say, I'm dreading their 16th birthdays (perhaps one child's more than the other)...
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Tuesday...
Tuesday started out with wandering up the coast through all of the little towns. We shopped along the way... Alex got a Beatles t-shirt at the Made in Britain store in Egg Harbor, Clara got MORE stuffed animals in Fish Creek.
We were just driving along when we spotted the goats!
I had noticed them the last time we were in Door County, but we didn't stop that time. This time we did!
The goats are on the roof of Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant.
We had already eaten lunch, so we just stopped, admired the goats and browsed through the "butik".
Next to the restaurant, was a little park with new friends to meet...
:-)
(FYI - I did not dress my daughter, I'm not even sure what to say about the outfit she chose to wear...sigh)
Ever classy... Clara decides to stick her finger up the poor girl's nose!
The kids, my dad and their new friend...
Okay... now they're all looking at me....
A stack of blondies...
After that, we headed back toward Sturgeon Bay and decided to make a stop at Schopf's Hilltop Dairy for ice cream and the corn maze!
We all decided to do one together...
It was a detective type game where you found clues and eliminated suspects at each checkpoint...
The corn was tall!
Clara needed a little break to study the map...
Speaking of the map... look at this thing....
... the maze was just incredible!!
Shortly after that photo we lost Alex in the maze... but somehow he made it out before the rest of us did!
I made the kids pose for a few photos before they went back in on their own...
Can you see how dark the sky started getting? We let the kids do the short maze since it really looked like it was going to storm at any moment.
However, while they were in the maze, the storm blew over...
And the only rain we got (while we were there) was a few sprinkles as the kids came out of the maze.
Here's a little video of our adventures at the dairy...
We were just driving along when we spotted the goats!
I had noticed them the last time we were in Door County, but we didn't stop that time. This time we did!
The goats are on the roof of Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant.
We had already eaten lunch, so we just stopped, admired the goats and browsed through the "butik".
Next to the restaurant, was a little park with new friends to meet...
:-)
(FYI - I did not dress my daughter, I'm not even sure what to say about the outfit she chose to wear...sigh)
Ever classy... Clara decides to stick her finger up the poor girl's nose!
The kids, my dad and their new friend...
Okay... now they're all looking at me....
A stack of blondies...
After that, we headed back toward Sturgeon Bay and decided to make a stop at Schopf's Hilltop Dairy for ice cream and the corn maze!
We all decided to do one together...
It was a detective type game where you found clues and eliminated suspects at each checkpoint...
The corn was tall!
Clara needed a little break to study the map...
Speaking of the map... look at this thing....
... the maze was just incredible!!
Shortly after that photo we lost Alex in the maze... but somehow he made it out before the rest of us did!
I made the kids pose for a few photos before they went back in on their own...
Can you see how dark the sky started getting? We let the kids do the short maze since it really looked like it was going to storm at any moment.
However, while they were in the maze, the storm blew over...
And the only rain we got (while we were there) was a few sprinkles as the kids came out of the maze.
Here's a little video of our adventures at the dairy...
Monday, August 29, 2011
House on the Rock
Monday morning started out with a trip to the House on the Rock in Spring Green, WI. The website doesn't have a ton of info so here's the wikipedia page link as well.
The first thing you see as you follow the drive to the main building is this crazy collection of amazing flower pots (??? somehow that doesn't seem like the right word to describe these things). They're covered in dragons....
and giant lizard looking things...
Here's Alex saving his sister from one of the giant lizard things...
(they would both need saving soon after this when they riled up some bees that were living in the lizard's foot)
A lizard-less flower pot...
... but still incredibly cool.
We went inside and bought our tickets so we could start our tour....
The Infinity Room was really cool! Although I wasn't a big fan of the fact that it moved as you walked out into it! :-)
There was lots of stained glass throughout the house....
This panel was a favorite of Clara's and she asked me to take a photo of it...
Then we started getting into all of the crazy coin operated contraptions. This was a coin operated magician....
And one of the first coin operated music machines we came across (many more would follow)....
This was one of our favorites "The Mikado". The moving parts were amazing! This guy right here...
... would turn his head and his eyebrows would go up and down.
It was dark enough in there that it is hard to see all that was going on... but you can see the drummer move and the girls fanning themselves with the golden fans...
The next big favorite was the giant carousel! Please forgive the video... I was trying really hard not to fall over! It's harder than you think to walk forward in a dark room while watching a brightly lit carousel turn in front of you! It still makes me a little dizzy to watch the video :-)
There were no horses on the carousel (some unicorns and such, but no horses). We had so much fun looking at all of the different creatures.
Of course, the kids' favorite HAD to be the bulldog...
Some of the other crazy creatures....
The amazing red chandelier thing in the next room....
And the three tiered doll carousel...
... which Clara found appealing and creepy all at the same time :-)
There was one bathroom in the place that was full of doll displays. She started out loving it but shortly, she couldn't get out of there fast enough after becoming convinced that the eyes were following her!
Another favorite was the band and orchestra...
It filled a room!
The House on the Rock is amazing! I think we spent close to four hours there! You have to go realizing that it's more art gallery than museum though. But crazy, off the wall, art gallery. We totally loved it.
After that we loaded up and headed for Door County which is where we would spend the bulk of our week.
Of course, the kids had to hit the pool as soon as we got settled in....
The first thing you see as you follow the drive to the main building is this crazy collection of amazing flower pots (??? somehow that doesn't seem like the right word to describe these things). They're covered in dragons....
and giant lizard looking things...
Here's Alex saving his sister from one of the giant lizard things...
(they would both need saving soon after this when they riled up some bees that were living in the lizard's foot)
A lizard-less flower pot...
... but still incredibly cool.
We went inside and bought our tickets so we could start our tour....
The Infinity Room was really cool! Although I wasn't a big fan of the fact that it moved as you walked out into it! :-)
There was lots of stained glass throughout the house....
This panel was a favorite of Clara's and she asked me to take a photo of it...
Then we started getting into all of the crazy coin operated contraptions. This was a coin operated magician....
And one of the first coin operated music machines we came across (many more would follow)....
This was one of our favorites "The Mikado". The moving parts were amazing! This guy right here...
... would turn his head and his eyebrows would go up and down.
It was dark enough in there that it is hard to see all that was going on... but you can see the drummer move and the girls fanning themselves with the golden fans...
The next big favorite was the giant carousel! Please forgive the video... I was trying really hard not to fall over! It's harder than you think to walk forward in a dark room while watching a brightly lit carousel turn in front of you! It still makes me a little dizzy to watch the video :-)
There were no horses on the carousel (some unicorns and such, but no horses). We had so much fun looking at all of the different creatures.
Of course, the kids' favorite HAD to be the bulldog...
Some of the other crazy creatures....
The amazing red chandelier thing in the next room....
And the three tiered doll carousel...
... which Clara found appealing and creepy all at the same time :-)
There was one bathroom in the place that was full of doll displays. She started out loving it but shortly, she couldn't get out of there fast enough after becoming convinced that the eyes were following her!
Another favorite was the band and orchestra...
It filled a room!
The House on the Rock is amazing! I think we spent close to four hours there! You have to go realizing that it's more art gallery than museum though. But crazy, off the wall, art gallery. We totally loved it.
After that we loaded up and headed for Door County which is where we would spend the bulk of our week.
Of course, the kids had to hit the pool as soon as we got settled in....
Sunday, August 28, 2011
One week ago today...
... the kids and I joined my parents for a trip through Wisconsin. All five of us in the "family truckster"! :-)
We had a really great time together and I have lots of photos and videos to share. But for now, here's a little video of the kids in the pool at our hotel on our first day together....
We had a really great time together and I have lots of photos and videos to share. But for now, here's a little video of the kids in the pool at our hotel on our first day together....
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Radtke Cousins...
On the Sunday of our weekend in Michigan, we went to the Radtke Family Reunion. The kids have been before (with their grandparents), but this was the first year we were all there as a family.
Here are the cousins...
and the girl cousins plus Alex...
It was good to catch up with everyone! We had to sneak out pretty early as we had to drive back to Chicago that night. There's a traditional water balloon fight each year (from what we've been told). It had started before we left but I think we missed the main battle.
Here's Clara holding her little cousin....
... whether her little cousin wanted to be held or not :-)
Here are the cousins...
and the girl cousins plus Alex...
It was good to catch up with everyone! We had to sneak out pretty early as we had to drive back to Chicago that night. There's a traditional water balloon fight each year (from what we've been told). It had started before we left but I think we missed the main battle.
Here's Clara holding her little cousin....
... whether her little cousin wanted to be held or not :-)
Saturday, August 13, 2011
day 2... the video...
just a little sampling of the jumping, tubing, swinging, ambushing grandpa and the end of day pizza feeding frenzy...
Friday, August 12, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
day 2 in michigan...
Day two started with the kids in the water again by 10 am. They began with a little fun with the pink ring...
... it matches her feather well, no? (oh... I forgot to post it here... Clara got feather extensions last week... one pink feather, one purple).
They decided to try jumping into the ring from the seawall.
Alex was up first...
Almost!
Clara went, but I recorded it instead of taking photos... still have to transfer the videos to my computer.
Alex is up again...
.... getting closer!
Now Clara...
Bull's Eye!!
Alex looking rather macho with his new mustache....
Jeff came out after a while and took the kids tubing behind the wave runner (lots of video of this).
They love it... especially Alex...
Clara getting ready to go....
And her trip back in after a successful ride...
By then it was time for lunch. But that didn't keep them in long. In no time at all, they were right back out in the water. This time over at the rope swing....
From there they met a friend and ended back over on the canal side to slide and go off the diving board. Grandpa and grandma supervised so I have no photos or video.
Then, it started to pour! We all came inside and played cards for a while, waiting for the rain to let up. It finally did and at about 6:00 some friends pulled up in their jet boat to take the kids tubing and knee boarding! They were out another two hours before finally calling it a day. They were so exhausted, but extremely happy!!
... it matches her feather well, no? (oh... I forgot to post it here... Clara got feather extensions last week... one pink feather, one purple).
They decided to try jumping into the ring from the seawall.
Alex was up first...
Almost!
Clara went, but I recorded it instead of taking photos... still have to transfer the videos to my computer.
Alex is up again...
.... getting closer!
Now Clara...
Bull's Eye!!
Alex looking rather macho with his new mustache....
Jeff came out after a while and took the kids tubing behind the wave runner (lots of video of this).
They love it... especially Alex...
Clara getting ready to go....
And her trip back in after a successful ride...
By then it was time for lunch. But that didn't keep them in long. In no time at all, they were right back out in the water. This time over at the rope swing....
From there they met a friend and ended back over on the canal side to slide and go off the diving board. Grandpa and grandma supervised so I have no photos or video.
Then, it started to pour! We all came inside and played cards for a while, waiting for the rain to let up. It finally did and at about 6:00 some friends pulled up in their jet boat to take the kids tubing and knee boarding! They were out another two hours before finally calling it a day. They were so exhausted, but extremely happy!!
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