Liberty Belle:)

Painting the house:P

Spent most of today scraping, priming and painting the exterior, while trying to dodge the sun. Paul hauled brush this afternoon from next door, and Eva spent the day at Holy Family filing music. Elle, Aliyah and I are walking to the store to get some salad fixings, and then home again to swim. Water temp is around 90 now, warmer than the air. Starting to think about packing for the trip...what to bring, etc. Can't wait for the big parade and fireworks in Philly. James and his vocal group are in the parade. Fun. Get to tromp around and see the sites with little Belle:)

June 28th. 1952

Remembering Grandpa Gilbert and Grandma Mare on what would have been their 58th. wedding anniversary:)

Puppy Love

We are enjoying having little Lily over for the weekend. We've always had large dogs, so this is really different. She's smaller than all of our cats:) Henry is hilarious. He says, "Is it a kitty?" and "Here Kitty." Elle and I spent the afternoon yesterday helping to paint lattice strips at JoJo's. It was very humid with mosquitoes, but we got most of it done before leaving at 5. Elle wanted Jambalaya for supper, which was good as usual, even though Chilton Supermarket didn't have andouille. We ended up using smoked sausage instead. I had to hunt again for the pool toys this morning. It's the second day in a row they all blew into the neighbors yard. Hopefully we'll dry out now.

One more thing...

Oh yes, and we're dog sitting Lily all weekend! Mom Theresa should not worry. That dog's been very spoiled already...2 long walks, a swim, a backyard poop, met 3 kitties, and went to work with Eva so far:)

Making the most of it...

Wow. 50 mile per hour winds and power outages. The storm early this morning was severe. Even with the storm and the flood last week, we are making the most of this summer. We're able to swim and hike just about every day, and the gardens are growing well. Today we travel to Chilton to see if there's anything we can help with in preparation for Ty's wedding on the 10th. I imagine there will be some clean up after last night's storm. Paul is busy replacing a toilet at one of the rentals...a favorite job of his! Then he's playing for 2 weddings. Aliyah is heading up to Appleton for a dress fitting for her cousin's August wedding, and she's super excited. Also got a phone call from Mary Jo in Atlanta, planning her visit in late July. In a few days we leave for Philly! Looking SO forward to seeing everyone, especially Baby Belle:)

Belle is 7 months old today:)

Eva, Elle and I are hiking the Peebles trail today, then Eva's heading to Holy Family to work for a few hours. She's been sorting and filing music...a big job. Aliyah is on a field trip until 3, and then will join us for working out and a swim. The progress on the new street improvement is painfully slow. Lots of noise and commotion from 7 am until 5 pm. We'll be so happy when it's over.

A cool surrealistic pic of Elle thanks to friend Jaime!

Carrot smile:)

Fun at Starbuck's!

Pics today are of Elle and her friends enjoying coffee drinks at Starbucks after acting class. Yesterday Aliyah and I spent the day in Manitowoc with Grandma Mare and NeeNee. Friend Kim is having a hard time right now with vertigo and nausea. She went to the Dr. but returned later to the ER when things got severe. Docs thinks some kind of inner ear infection. Poor thing...can't drive or work for a while:(

Eva and friends...volleyball fun in Neenah:)

views east and west

What a mess. The city is putting in a new road, gutters, approaches, lamps and posts, and pipe and sewer lines. They say they won't be done until September. Ugh. We've been lucky to have a house on Ray street with a long drive to park the 3 vehicles, but it's been a burden for lots of folks on Maple. And it smells bad. Paul said it must be like living on the Gulf:(

fun:)

Sunday was a great day to see friends and relax. Also tried out a new raspberry bar which was delicious! Later Eva, Stacy and Michael joined us and got in a few hours of swimming:) Elle and I are setting up the big tent in the backyard, and sleeping in it tonight...a tradition...to welcome the first day of summer in style. Sunrise at 5:18 AM and sunset at 8:41 PM.

Remembering Dads:)

Today we remember our great Dads who are with us, and those who are not. Pictured are Grandpa Dallas Duebner, Grandpa Gilbert Rochon and Grandpa Les Thelen. Will drink a toast to your honor today!

Help if you can:)

Happy Sunday to everyone & Happy Father's Day to all the Dads! I'm forwarding an e-mail from Jack at church, and for those of you who can help please do! Paul and I plan to host a breakfast early for the members.

This past week I received exciting news from the GATE! This year over 50 people are planning to come to visit with us! The excitement and joy of these mutual visits is encouraging more and more GATE members to come to FDL. Let's show our appreciation!

As we plan for another great visit, we invite you (people of all ages) to join us!

1) Most urgent! We are looking for a few more people to host for breakfast on Sunday morning! You can host 3 or 4 or even more if you wish. Breakfast is of your choice! Ask a friend or neighbor to join you in hosting!

2) Upon their arrival on Saturday (around 11:30am or 12noon), we are greeting them with lunch - currently planned for Sacred Heart School. We would like to have a good old fashioned Wisconsin cookout!
---- We cordially invite you, your spouse, your family to join us! Bring some food and we will cook it up! Just let us know that you can come!
---- If you are unable to attend but could help provide the meal - brats, burgers, chicken breast, hot-dogs, buns, or a dish or some of the fixings, please let us know.

3) Following the cookout on Saturday, we will spend time meeting with our guests from the GATE. Also, we will be boxing up food that has been collected for the GATE food pantry and for our local food pantry. Help is needed!

4) Join us at Liturgy and the social which follows. We are putting together the final numbers for the socials. - We are planning for 100-125 people for each social so let us know if you can come! If more wish to come, that would be great! The grocery store is not far away - if you let us know now, we will provide plenty of food! - Please consider joining us and sharing conversation with our friends at the GATE. To sign up for the social, just give one of us a call.

If you wish to participant in any way, please contact any one of us!
-- Jack Braun at the parish office, 921-0580, x119 or by cell 948-3392, or by email at jbraun@hffdl.org.
-- Sara Roltgen at 924-6801 or by email at sorshie71@yahoo.com.
-- Carol Braun at 922-8177 or by email at cabraun@charter.net.
-- Monna Flannery at 602-0106 or by email at mflannery21@yahoo.com.

Theresa's party:)

TGIF

Looking forward to a busy few days. Today Eva, Elle and I are hiking the Eldorado Trail for a couple hours, followed by some shopping in Appleton. Tonight we enjoy a bonfire and some great people at Theresa's house...bringing homegrown strawberries for Margaritas:) Tomorrow in Hingham, niece Krissy and Justin and their ski team perform. We may not stay for the evening show, but plan to see the earlier practice. On Sunday, we celebrate Father's Day with our good friends, Donna, Clyde, Tony and Robin. Paul wanted a taco bar...so we'll oblige him. I said I'd be happy to make anything he wanted, but he chose tacos. He likes them HOT. Also thinking about strolling over to Farmer's Market in the morning to see what's available. Thanks to Elise for the photo and the video of baby Belle, who will be 7 months old a week from today.

A few more nice pics from Nellie and Rick's wedding

FDL musicians exemplary awards are posted:)

School Name Instrument/Voice

Fond du Lac High School Christopher Delica Piano
Fond du Lac High School Catherine Chung Piano
Fond du Lac High School Ellie Thelen Alto Saxophone
Fond du Lac High School Jake Bertram Parade Drum
Fond du Lac High School Grant Postier Concert Snare Drum
Fond du Lac High School Travis Worth Euphonium
Fond du Lac High School Shavana Talbert Alto Voice
Fond du Lac High School Ellie Thelen Soprano Voice

the clean-up begins

The basement was spared by the drain plug which held this time, and both sump pumps working. We only got about 4 inches, versus 4 feet 2 years ago. Much less to clean up and most everything was off the floor anyway, after the last flood...including the washer which is on a pedestal. Just lost a few items. 2 of the rentals on Park were also affected, but no major losses there either. Got lucky. On a lighter note, Eva returned today from a week in Nashville; we have her to thank for the new pics. Also Elle is enjoying a month of acting camp, so we don't see much of her during the day. This evening is the first Symphonic Band concert in the park, so we're looking forward to that. We have less than 2 weeks before the Philly trip, so lots to look forward to. The garden continues to grow by leaps and bounds...you can see the difference every day:) Summer's good!

Unbelievable...NOT AGAIN!

Phone pics of Maple Avenue (in front of our driveway) this afternoon with more rain on the way:( This on the second anniversary of the 500 year flood.

Stylish Babe

3 day weekend in Michigan:)

GREAT time visiting with the Nixons in Traverse City, and celebrating with new grad Erik, and soon to be married couple Kylie and Rhen. It's always nice to 'catch up.' Kathy and Bob have some great friends...we laughed SO hard last night, we hurt!