Not much needs to be said about what we did on the 4th. We headed downtown and set up camp at Harbor Park. I only got one picture though. I know, pure laziness and what a terrible mom I am to not capture the memories. The show was actually pretty good. Mike was a wonderful husband and got us a funnel cake to munch on while we waited for the lights in the sky. Is it sad that that’s about all I remember from the night? Oh, the girls and I did spend a half an hour in the port-o-potty line. Pure excitement!

Without further ado, here’s the one picture I shot from the night. Daddy and the girls are standing on the rocks overlooking Lake Michigan.

Tonight we will be camping out with other people from our church. Mike could hardly contain his excitement for this upcoming event. So in preparation we did a practice camp-out last Friday night. It was very windy all night and a thunderstorm blew through around midnight. Mike insisted it would be fine to remain in the tent. However, around 3:00 a.m. the storm picked up again with numerous lightening bolts very close to us and winds demanding that our tent fly away. Mike made the call to have us move back into the house.

The next morning Mike discovered that we would have gotten quite wet had we stayed in our hobbit hut.

Annie’s new thing is that she wants to name every object/animal/person. So we told her she could call the tent Coleman. Clever, huh? The next day when we were at REI in Milwaukee gathering up more camping supplies Annie noticed many other things with the same name. “Look, Daddy, that thing is called Coleman, too,” she exclaimed. Poor child just doesn’t get it.

We still carried on with the camping out theme and used the camp stove to cook breakfast, scrambled eggs and oatmeal. I took my meal inside though. What a grouch I was! I actually was quite grouchy that morning with only 4 hours of sleep the night before.

No worries about us though if any rains try to deter us on this evening’s camp-out. Mike spent quite a bit of time re-waterproofing our tent. Wish us luck!

Wait! One last thing. Just had to share this. Something we saw on a recent grocery trip…a banana hammock. Gotta love it when I remember to keep the small cam in my purse.

We’ve been here a little over a month. It’s probably time to share some pictures that we’ve taken of the area. The first weekend we arrived and Mike was here briefly we spent a couple of days downtown.

It didn’t take long to discover the ice-cream parlor. The girls wanted a flavor that matched their outfits.

Of course, we had to ride the trolley car. And at only $.25 per person, we would have been silly not to.

There are a few museums, the Kenosha Public Museum, Civil War Museum, and Dinosaur Museum.

The downtown area has several cute shops.

And look at this darling park nestled between a corner of buildings.

Each Saturday from May through October the Harbor Market takes place at Harbor Park along Lake Michigan. Local artisans, food growers, and businesses set up booths to sell their goods and services. There is also a fabulous fountain in which the lake breeze helps the spray the water around the area. The kids loved it.

We’ve been keeping busy going to the RecPlex most days. The girls love to go to “Kids’ Court” while I sweat away in the fitness area. On occasion, we’ll go to the little water park they’ve got in there. Hopefully soon we’ll visit the private “beach” located on the grounds at the RecPlex. It’s actually a man-made lake (fairly large though) for members only. We’ve seen many people out on the lake windsurfing and such. Looks like fun, but I doubt I’d ever do it.

Still many projects to do around here. We started unpacking the basement last week, and it still haunts us with it’s never-ending piles. A rather large pile is growing, the future-rummage-sale pile. Man, we have a lot of junk.

It didn’t seem possible that 2 more years of schooling for Mike would fly by so quickly, but they did. Mike was not as excited about the graduation as the girls and I were, but I considered it sort of a passage into a new lifestyle (or at least getting back to an old lifestyle) of having my husband home in the evenings and able to give us his undivided attention. If you think about it, us girls really haven’t had much of that these past 3 years. Remember when Mike went to Iraq for 7 months? He returned only a few months before we moved to D.C. for him to start endo school. So now this new chapter begins for us where we get to enjoy the American way of life.

The graduation ceremony was peppered with musical numbers, speeches, and passing out of awards. All the sailors looked quite handsome in their uniforms especially my own, little sailor. The girls and I tried to coordinate as closely as possible in our white outfits (well, I had a black and white skirt on). Of course, there was a bit of a feast after the service. And cake, too!

Mike receiving his graduation diploma (is it still called that at this level?).

Here are the graduates being applauded by the audience.

We’re so proud of Daddy!

Brady even showed up decked out in his sailor outfit in honor of his daddy’s graduation.

Of course, the boys had to be themselves and pester fellow classmate, George.

As I mentioned before I had mixed feelings about leaving D.C. My family was certainly in need of a break from the big city, but we also had to part from many good friends. It is my hope that we will get to see all those great people again soon.

The guys had a roast to attend on my birthday, so Janet and Trang took me out to Guapo’s to celebrate. I had a wonderful time and indulged in good eats. The girls were giddy to get the opportunity to put on the big hat one more time (the grownups, not so much). It was the last hurrah for just the ladies to get together:(

Christopher wanted his turn with the hat, too (or not so much).

Could this mean that Annie will be a good babysitter one day?

The guys then felt left out that they didn’t get to attend the above dinner date. What better way to make that up to them by going to Red Hot & Blue. We met up with the Cheslers and Parks for a feast of ribs. Everyone had a thoroughly good time.

Stay tuned. I’ve got some pictures from Mike’s graduation. Who can resist a man in uniform?