Sight Seeing with the Jamaican Family!!

 

We were so excited that this summer we were going to met Steve's brother Errol and his family from Jamaica.  Errol is the oldest of 10 kids.  His daughter Lesley-Ann and her daughter Briana were also there from Indiana.  We hit the streets to do some sight seeing with Peter, Brenda, Lesley-Ann, Skye, Briana, Jennifer and Shannon.  Here we are at the Hollywood sign!

 

Joelle always has to strut her stuff.  Where does she get this from?

I love this photo of her!

 

After the Hollywood sign, we went to Beverly Hills. 

 

We had a great day hanging with everyone.  I really enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with Peter and Brenda.  Hmmm, wonder whose father is over 6 feet tall?  Megan towers over the other girls. 

 

Rodeo Drive anyone?  This was actually a spot I never got to when I lived in LA, so it was pretty fun to experience it with everyone else. 

We are a good looking bunch if I do say so myself!  Poor David, it was a good thing that Uncle Peter was there.  David, Joelle and I rode with Peter and Brenda.  It was hilarious because Joelle was just singing away and making up songs.  The only way we could get her to stop was to play the quiet game.  She had never played it before, but when I told her the person who stayed quiet the longest won, she got so excited because she loves a competition!   It kept her quiet for a little while. 

 

After our sight seeing it was time to get to the main event....the reunion!

 

 

 

 

 

Feeding Ducks

 

After we went to the Children's Museum, we went to feed the ducks at Bukholt park with Grandpa Bob.  Aunt Tracy and kids were coming too.  The ducks were rather nice, but the geese were CRAZY!  They were very aggressive.  They followed Joelle around everywhere she went.  She wasn't sure what to think!

 

 

 

 

 

Diving Board!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joelle is so funny in this video.  As Terre is counting she is jumping on the board, but initially does jump off.  When she does and comes up, she is so happy and proud of herself.  After this there was not stopping her! 

 

 

Terre and Eli

 

Each year I visit my friend Terre.  She has a son (Tre) between David and Megan's age and another (Eli) 2 years younger than Joelle.  Joelle loves to go to Terre's house because she gets to play with all of Eli's toys.  This year we went to Terre's parents house and swam. 

 

 

As you can see she was not sure about the slide.  I thought for sure she would be all over it, but it went into the deep end and she was a little nervous about going in and not being able to touch. 

 

Joelle and Eli played. 

 

 

Then she thought about the diving board.  Eli gets right on it and runs and jumps off, but Joelle again was a little nervous because it went into the deep end.  Terre and I had to do a little coaxing but in the end she DID jump off the diving board.  I was so proud of her.  Before the summer started she wouldn't even get in the pool without floaties and now 2 months later and she diving off a diving board.  She was so proud of herself as well.  She also ended up going down the slide.  I will have a video of the dive in the next post.

Children's Museum

 

She wasn't born in Wisconsin, but she sure loves to milk the cow at the Children's Museum!! 

 

Joelle loves to go to the museum.  There is a lot for her to play with and interact with.  Each year it seems as though they add as well. 

 

She loves to paint, but she doesn't like the mess! 

 

Every child likes to play with a cash register.  Joelle made me be the shopper so she could check me out!

 

This stage area was new this year.  There was a section of seats that I could sit in and Joelle had a box of costumes to put on to strut her stuff.  She was in her element. 

 

The new desk was new this year as well.  She did a good job telling about the weather, probably better than the real weather man. 

 



This was her favorite part.  It was an interactive game at the dentist office section.  She had to jump around to brush the teeth and have the mouth eat healthy foods.  She played it over and over again. 

Concert in the Park

 

Another Tom Pease concert at the park.  Except it was raining most of the day so it ended up inside a shelter.  We love meeting up with the Niekamp and Hopp kids to party!  They give away free books and sno-cones and popcorn, it is every kids dream!! 

Dexter and Sarah even got to go on stage. 

 

 

Sno-cones! 

 

Joelle had a blast with her cousins.  She loves to sing songs and even makes up her own.  The lyrics don't always make sense, but she will sing at the top of her lungs and until her heart is content.  There is nothing better than watching your child have a good time!

More Cousin Time!

 

After my brother and sister leave and head back home, Paul and Judy's family usually goes to the cottage to stay.  This works out wonderfully because not only do I get to see them and hang out, Joelle gets to play with my cousins' kids! 

 

The kids had a blast with marshmallow shooters!  They were running all over the place.

 

After that it was time for a few games of bean bag toss.  Joelle wasn't very good at that, but she sure kept trying!

 

 

Roasting marshmallows for the first time by herself.  It was a little nerve racking with all the kids making their own marshmallows! 

 

And no night with Brad could be complete without some type of fire.  Tonight it was sparklers.  I swear there were like 100.  The kids just kept going back for more!  Brad had it all set up right.  There was a 5 gallon bucket for the spent sparklers and the kids had to get into a line to get their next one.  It was actually pretty organized!

 

Swimming!

 

 

We went down to the dock and Joelle just swam off the dock.  She loved it.  She had a noodle and got into the little boat a few times.  She went pretty far, I think it helped that were other kids out there.