Memorial Weekend

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Memorial weekend. We spent the holiday weekend with families. It was wonderful! Below are pictures of our weekend!

Saturday we went to Bay Beach and met up with my sisters Houa, Annie and later on, Choua.

My husband shaking the cherry blossom tree...petals falling everywhere.

Selina, trying to shake the tree...ah...no petals fell!!

Princeton being a monkey as usual!

Finally after waiting for everyone, we decided to go on the Ferris Wheel first.

We took the little ones on the smaller rides while my husband, Beetle (my brother in law), Selina and Chyna went to ride the roller coaster.

Sunday: We spent time in GB with my In-Laws fishing, playing games and drinking!! We went fishing near the New Zoo in Suamico.

Monday: We cooked, ate and went fishing some more!! Even my father in law and mother in law went with us too which was very nice! We went fishing in Kewaunee.

Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to fish we go!!

 Uncle Carter...he was the very 1st one to catch a fish. Look at his litto bitty small fish!!

My mother in law and father in law

 Aunty Ka fishing.

 Uncle Ming fishing.

 Even Paris's barbie went fishing with us but managed to do a little photo shoot! LOLs!!

 My Princeton decided he wanted some action and went into the water all by himself.

 My baby and his fishing pole that his Aunty Ka and uncle Joe just bought him!! Spoiled brat! But thanks Ka and Joe, he loves it!!

 My father in law caught this huge fish!! I think they said it was a sucker.

 One of the uncles found a little nest nearby with 2 litto eggs in it. We didn't touch it....although it was very tempting!!

 Joe......his first fish...right before we were going to go home! Lucky him, he just made it!! LOLs!!!

We left the fishing area about 7:15ish and went back to my in laws to cook dinner. We didn't get back home until almost 10 pm. It was a nice weekend. The weather was so awsome too. Thank you Mother Nature for such cooperation this past weekend!

We sure need to do this more often!


I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich.  ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, "Identity Crisis," M*A*S*H

Fun places to visit/do with your kids this summer

Every summer, my kids would complain that they are so bored at home. Told them that I would put them in summer school but then they all screamed and yelled and said "heck no". Well, then don't complain. So, to stop them from complaining less this year, lols, I have some few agendas up my sleeve for them. Done a lot of looking online trying to find activities to do with them during the week and on the weekends that it's not already filled with other activities.

So I've decided to share with everyone who has kids or grand kids, nieces, nephews on all the cool and some inexpensive ideas that you could do this summer. Some of these ideas/activities we've done in the past as family already. So, take your whining kids out and hope you enjoy the short summer together! I know I will definitely do that!

I got this information from a FB friend Stacy after complaining how expensive tickets were for Great America and for Wisconsin Dells. She referred me to check local Children's Museum for discounts on the tickets. Boy oh boy...she made my day! Tickets were almost cut in half from the original tickets!

Check below!!!

Below are just some other suggestions:

1) A very inexpensive family activity is to take your children for a walk at a close by nature center trail. We try to do this every year. Sometimes they complain about it but in the end...they get a good exercise!

2) Beach. We take the kids to Manitowac beach and Sheboygan beach at least 1x or 2x per summer. We usually just pack some already cooked food and then eat there. This saves us time, that means more time splashing, frolicking in the water and trying to build sand castles!

3) Visiting lighthouses. We haven't done this yet but would love to try to visit one this summer! We have a light house in Manitowac in mind. Can't wait!

4) Local park. Try to find a park that has a man made pond or even a stream, etc for the kids to go fishing. We have one here in Appleton. We always go to Memorial Park and have the kids fish there. There is also a small botanical garden right in the park too which is a double plus! You can find some kites at your local Dollar Store and take the kids out to fly kites too. We've done that in the past and kids had a blast!

5) High Cliff State Park

6) Devil's Lake

7) Petting Zoo at Plammen Park in Appleton. They also have trails there too and a perfect place to fly kites!

8) Door County...Penninsula State Park and other local parks nearby. EVERYONE has to visit this area. It is an absolute beauty!

9) Local fishing stream or rivers. We usually take the kids to fish at Oconto...about 15 minutes away from Green Bay. River is very shallow so the kids can play in the water and try to catch cray fishes as well as fish. We bring lunch and just eat there whenever kids are hungry. This is always fun for us!

10) Library!!! People always tend to forget that the library is always open in the summer too! I know for sure I do! This summer, I will try to take my kids to the library once every week.

11) Bay Beach!! Ticket $.25 per tickets. I believe most expensive ride will cost you about 4 tickets which is $1.00 for a ride.

12) Cherry, raspberry and strawberry picking up in Door County. This is always a delight for the family!


You can always google up ideas/activities that is around your neighborhood too!!

 I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and enjoy it while it last because here in Wisconsin and the bordering states, our summer does not last very long.

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.  ~Celia Thaxter

 

WHAT A BUSY SUMMER!

Looking at my calendar for the summer...I can't believe how almost every weekend is filled with activities. This summer is going to fly by so fast!!

Tuesday June 7th: Last day of school for Menasha school children

Thursday June 9th: My birthday!!! Meeting with a friend for lunch (Vennessa). Dinner with my hubby and children for my birthday!

Saturday June 11th: Wisconsin Dells !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday June 18th: My sister-in-law Hlau's pre- hmong wedding (money talk only, not official eating yet until 2012 as my other sister-i-law Ka just got married this year).

Saturday June 24th: My parents "hu plig" at my brother's house. Us sisters are all contributing $200.00 each to surprise them on that day!

July 4th weekend: Tournament...Maybe going to MN this year. Not sure yet but if not, will go to Green Bay's instead and then fireworks in the evening in Oshkosh!!!!

July 16th and July 17th weekend: My sister Annie and Houa's baby shower! They are both having girls and due almost the same time! How cool is that?

August 6th weekend: My sister Choua's american/white wedding in Milwaukee!!!!

Somewhere along this calendar...I still have to find a date/time to fit photo shoots, take kids to the beach, camping, devil's lake and tubing down the wolf river.....not to mention I HAVE TO VISIT A WATERFALL (Somewhere) !! We need a longer summer!!

Summer all filled!!

Below is an update on my red riding hood outfit. It's not done yet as I still need to do a lot of hemming and adding on the jewels, accessories to it! The red cape is also not done either. Will probably have it done by end of next week!

Weekend Recap

It was going to be a beautiful weekend so we thought that we would go fishing on Saturday and afterwards go to Green Bay to my In-Law's house to eat some pho (noodle).

We went fishing early in the morning. We did not catch any white bass nor any kind of fish. Oh well, I think we caught enough from last weekend's fishing extravaganza. I was kind of getting sick of fishing anyways. After about 3 hours and not a single bite, we decided to head to Green Bay. On our way there, we decided to stop on by Bay Beach to check out the new ride which was the Zippin Pippin roller coaster that was brand new this year. Also, we stopped there because my oldest daughter Selina was there already along with my sister and nephew. She didn't go fishing with us but instead left early in the morning to go to Green Bay.

Pictures below of our little fishing trip early in the morning.

My son Brandon fishing. It wasn't even cold but he wore his coat.

 Below: My baby Princeton. Goofing around as usual.

 Look how naughty he is...constantly touching the little minnows and getting himself wet!

 Below: My niece Heaven went with us too.

 Below: My daughter Paris...playing very close to the edge of the water. Had to yell at her and Heaven constantly to move away from the edge of the water.

 Below: Princeton again.......he can't seem to get enough with playing with the water and the minnows.

So after fishing, we stopped in Green Bay at Bay Beach.

The new roller coaster at Bay Beach!! Zippin Pippin!! FYI: Each ride will coast 4 tickets per person. Which is $1.00 per ride because tickets costs $.25.

 Below: The younger kids waited as well as I to watch their dad and older sisters Selina and Chyna take a ride on the Zippin Pippin. Kids had to be 48" in order to ride. Brandon didn't want to ride it because he was scared. I could care less for it either. I'm afraid of heights!!

 Below: Hubby, Selina and Chyna waiting patiently in line to get on the roller coaster.

 Below: After the roller coaster we decided to take the whole family to ride on the Farris Wheel. Princeton got impatient and crabby.

Below: Princeton does not look too happy.

It started raining when we got onto the Farris Wheel. That was fun riding on the Farris Wheel while it was raining!! Princeton LOVED it!! I on the other hand.......was a chicken and I still am!! I will refuse to go on it by myself!! They had to all talk me into riding that sucker!! I just hate heights!!

After Bay Beach, we headed to my In-Law's house to go eat some pho (noodles). Boy oh boy, was it super yumi! Thanks Ka for the pho!!!! After eating, we all just sat around, talked and watched movies. Later on, we decided to spend the night there so that we could do some drinking and playing cards. It was nice to have the somewhat whole family there. Missing were Tong, his wife and child. It was a jam packed house...which was awsome!

Pictures from spending time with the in-laws.

 Below: Okay....I didn't take this picture! Jo took this of my hubby's butt! And yes, Jo was proud of taking it too!

 Below: Jo and Ka. My sister in law and her husband.

 Below: Hlau and her step child eating ice cream with Paris and Heaven.

It was a fun filled Saturday! Woke up on Sunday at about 7:30 am and came home. We did some lawn work and was going to go for a nature trail walk afterwards but they sky turned on us....so we had no choice but to hold off on our walk. Maybe next time.

There were tornado warnings in our area...the sky went from bright and sunny to dark and scary looking clouds hoovering between Menasha and Appleton. We live in Menasha near the border of Appleton so our side was bright but Appleton was pretty pitch dark! Look at the pictures below:

Picture below: Sky towards Appleton...very dark clouds rolling into Menasha. Beyond the tree is Appleton which it was pitch dark!!

 Below: You can see the dark clouds trying to push itself in.

What a weekend!! I had fun, the kids had fun. Life is good......lols!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too! This coming weekend is memorial weekend.....can't wait!!