Bay Beach Amusement Park

On Monday, June 11th, the boys and I drove to Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay with my friend, Linda and her grandson, Tyler. This park is free and the tickets cost $.25 each and each of the rides only require 1 or 2 tickets. We bought $20 worth of tickets and they lasted for 4 hours. The boys got to ride most of the rides twice!

The Merry-go-round

The Ferris Wheel
I had to go on most of the "bigger" rides with Kory because he wasn't tall enough. I had tears running down my face riding the ferris wheel with him. He was fine while we were going slow with the loading and unloading. However, when we got going up to speed, his eyes got really big and every fiber of his being was tight. He pulled his legs up to his chest and tightened his stomach and then would just start giggling. It was hilarious.

Kory's race car

The boys flying helicopters

Kyle and Tyler on the Flying Trapeze

Kory in the bomber plane

Looking out over the bay of Green Bay. It was beautiful.

My friend Linda has more pictures of Kyle and Tyler. When I get those from her I'll post them. I experienced the Tilt-a-whirl and the scrambler again. Haven't been on those for years. I took Kyle and Tyler on the Tilt-a-whirl and we had that car spinning so fast. Kyle got a stiff neck from trying to keep his head from flying backwards. I have found out that a 32 year old spinning around in endless circles for 5 minutes is not a good thing. I totally felt like hurling. But, I didn't.

It was an awesome time and the boys left saying, "We have to bring dad here". I think it was a successful adventure!

Father's Day Trip to Minoqua

We spent a leisurely father's day in Minoqua, WI. It's an hour drive from our place and our first stop was at Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty. When we saw the obnoxious sign we, of course, had to stop and try it out.

Paul Bunyan and his ox, Blue

(can't miss this sign!)

This restaurant is a "family style" restaurant. This means you pay before you're seated and they bring out three different meat plates, corn on the cob, smashed potatoes, stuffing, bread and drinks. I don't think we put much of a dent in the food. Kory had "chicken on the cob" (a drumstick), while Kyle enjoyed pot roast. The best part of this restaurant was the host. He had pants that defied gravity. The man was in some serious denial about needing a bigger waist size. Seriously, the only thing holding those pants up were some very tightly stretched suspenders. If one of those babies broke, well let's just say, we would have seen a little more than we bargained for!Look at this mess of food!

Sadly it was raining when we exited the restaurant so not sure what to do we just started driving. We came upon a Wildlife Park and decided to stop since the rain was letting up. Good choice, the rain completely stopped and we had a fun time.

The boys on our nature walk

Can you believe this buck is just sitting there letting the boys pet it. They were pumped!

There was a pen of dwarf rabbits and Kyle was able to grab hold of the tiniest one in the pen.

This is the fattest rabbit I have ever seen! This thing had to weigh 40 some pounds, it was huge!

This pot-bellied pig was a little hornory, but the baby goats loved to jump on her back and make her squeal. This too was one of the fattest pigs, I have seen.

There were goats every where and many warning signs like this..."Goats eat anything so please do not leave strollers, purses, bottles, cameras, hats and clothing unattended". One of the goats took a liking to Kyle and tried to nibble on his shirt as he walked around.

Jason and Kory petting another buck

This was the only fawn I could get up close, but there were quite a few running around.

There were so many more animals there like, tigers, zebras, peacocks, emus, bison, black bears and so on and so on. You get the idea. The boys had a blast and it was just so nice to be outside.

After the Wildlife Park we drove back into town and walked down main street. There were tons of little antique shops, a old-time candy store. We decided to stop for ice cream at an old soda fountain shop. It was such a neat place. They had it packed with arcade games, an indoor mini golf course, billard tables. Every kids dream. In the back of the shop was the soda fountain shop, which looked like a scene from the 50's. It was awesome and they had the best ice cream ever! I ignored my latose intolerance and pounded down a single scoop cookie-dough waffle cone. Well, my latose intolerance reminded me that it was still there and I could only eat half of it. After our ice cream we played some mini golf.

This was the boys' first time playing mini golf. They loved it and did really well actually. We are still not sure how Kory hit most of his balls into the cup, but he managed to get a 3 or 4 on just about every hole. Of course dad was the big winner with a score of one over par. But, it's mini golf, does it really count!

We then drove home, the boys slept most of the way. After arriving home, Kyle challenged Jason to a game of baseball on the PS2. Kyle was I'm sure thinking that he would beat his dad, but sadly he did not. I believe he lost 38 to 7. Ouch! After getting over being beat, they joined me upstairs and we all watched "X-Men, The Last Stand together". All in all I believe Jason had a wonderful Father's Day. It was just so nice to have a day with nothing on the schedule to do with what we pleased!

Good-bye Kansas...Hello Wisconsin!

It's official, we are now permanent Wisconsin residents. The decision was made in January that we were not going to move back to Kansas when the Weston 4 project was finished, but were unable to say anything until now. Last Friday was Jason's last day as an employee of Black & Veatch. It was a day filled with mixed emotions, he was sad to leave a great company, but excited to start anew with his new employer. He was very blessed to have worked at Black & Veatch for 8 years and is thankful for all of the friendships he made and the experienced he gained, which has only prepared him for his new venture. He has accepted a job with a local company, Miron Construction, and began working there today. He will manage projects and develop an internal structural engineering capability within the company. It was a difficult decision for him to make, but we feel that Wausau is the best place for our family.

Now for a little catch-up on what has been taking place in our house for the past two weeks. I chaperoned one of Kyle's field trips to the EAA Muesem in Oshkosh, WI. So for a day I was responsible for keeping track of eight 3rd graders in a muesem filled with airplanes. I think it went rather well, but was exhausted when we returned home. Exhaustion and all I was glad I was able to do this with Kyle, I know it meant the world to him. (also I'd better do now, while I'm still cool!). Kyle was in as close to heaven on earth as possible. He is absolutely enthralled with airplanes, how they work, etc. and then add history on top of that. I don't know if his brain could have taken in anymore information. We took alot of pictures, which will make an awesome page in his scrapbook (whenever I get back to that!).

We made another trip to Grandma and Grandpa's for Memorial Day weekend (see I told you we would fill that weekend up with something). It was so relaxing...pontoon rides around the lake, campfires with s'mores... The boys did tons of fishing and we had a fish fry one evening. And discovered that I too have a mild allergy to fish. So I will join ranks with Kyle and avoid all fish products! We ate some fabulous mexican food before going to see "Shrek the Third"...funny, but still not as good as "Shrek 2". The animation in those movies still amaze me.

Last Friday, Jason and Kyle went to a Brewers game with a bunch of people from church. They began their trek in a school bus (a bus that is much too small for a grown man to ride in for 4 hours) at 2 p.m. on Friday and ended at 2:45 a.m. Saturday. They had a wonderful time and the Brewers won! Saturday started out a little slow...Jason and Kyle weren't vertical until 10:30.

We spent the day outside on Saturday doing yardwork. We first had to go and purchase the plants, flowers and bird feeders, which took a couple hours. Jason mowed the lawn and hung the bird feeders, while I planted the flowers. Jason is very disappointed that the birds have not found the feeders, only the squirrels and deer. However, he has been getting some target practice with Kyle's BB gun and the squirrels. I have to go purchase a couple more flowers that became a deer's midnight snack! My project for the evening is to mix up my "Deer Away" recipe and spray all of my plants. I truly hope it works. I know I certainly wouldn't eat anything that contained eggs, milk, vegetable oil and dishwashing liquid.

This is the boys' last week of school...yahoo! We are very much looking forward to some lazy summer days. We only have a couple trips planned this summer. Jason is going on a 10-day missions trip to the Dominican Republic in July. While he is away, the boys and I are planning on making a trip to Kansas City to see my sister and her family. So those of you who read this and live in Kansas, I'll be coming to see you!

Well, that's all the news from the Rieth family. Have a great week.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Jason came home with this beautiful boutique, a frappacino and Starbuck's gift card. What a wonderful gift! I'll be frequenting Starbuck's for awhile!


Can you guess how old?

My friends Ali (baby Carter), Emily & Jessica (and Alaina) helped me celebrate my day by taking me to lunch. It was very thoughtful of them. They even sang "happy birthday" to me in the middle of the restaurant (those of you who know me know that this makes me really uncomfortable and embarrassed. I did survive however)

Alaina

Kory

Carter

The rest of my day was filled with the duties of "normal" life...washing clothes, cleaning house, etc. I spent my evening at the ball field watching Kyle play.

After Kyle's baseball game last Thursday we took off for Grandma and Grandpa's (at 8:30 p.m.). It is a 3-hour drive and Jason having been up since 5:15 a.m. was just a little delirious by the time we arrived at 11:30 that evening. Apparently he was waiting for me to offer to drive and I was waiting for him to just stop and say, "you have to drive". Aside from the delirium and misunderstanding we arrived safely. On Friday we spent most of the day with my dad and his wife, Sheila. They have 5 horses one of which was a week-old colt. They are beautiful horses and the boys loved petting them and feeding them hay.

Abby & Sheyenne

Sheyenne

The boys and Grandpa petting Sheyenne

Annie

Haas

Raindrop

Annie & Raindrop

The boys playing on the hay

My mom and I spent Saturday together at a Mother/Daughter brunch hosted by her church. We had such a wonderful time together. The boys spent the day helping dad and grandpa build sections of a dock and put it in the lake. After all the work was done Dad and Kyle did some fishing.

Oh and Friday night Jason, Kyle and I went to a Phillips, Craig and Dean concert in Minneapolis. How awesome!

Have a wonderful week.

Happy Mother's Day

Mom, I'll love you even when...

I'm all grown up, Happy Mother's Day!

(This is the card I received from Kory today. It made

my heart melt completely.)

A MOTHER...

When you're a child she walks before you,

To set an example.
When you're a teenager she walks behind you

To be there should you need her.
When you're an adult she walks beside you

So that as two friends you can enjoy life together.
~Author Unknown~

As I reflect on being a mother and the challenges that go with it...Will my child ever be potty-trained?...Will he go to school with a pacifier? And as I am trudging through the stage of indifference (you know, the "I don't know" and "I don't care" answers to every question). With fear and trepidation I will enter the years of puberty with an eye-rolling teenager. But I will ever be thankful that God has given me and my boys (Jason included) the ability to laugh. Without it, I might just go crazy! Laughter soothes the soul and is the best medicine.

God's blessings to all the mothers that are in my life!

A Visit From the Hedlunds

On Friday the Hedlunds (my sister and her family) left KC for a visit to Wisconsin and after 10 hours they arrived safely. Grandma and Grandpa also made a 3 hour trip and arrived in the afternoon. The weather was amazing, which the kids took full advantage of. We hardly even knew they were around, except when they needed something, like food :) I was only able to get a posed group picture on Sunday morning. Every other day they were scattered about and always in motion. Us girls, of course, escaped for awhile on Saturday for some shopping. On Sunday we were actually able to get 11 people showered and ready to go with time to spare. That hardly happens with just the four of us. We even had time to enjoy Jason's scrumptious breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage and potatoes. We had such a wonderful time of catching up and relaxing. Although, the time was short and it was sad to see them leave on Monday, we are very thankful for this moment of time we had together.

Kayla, Kyle, Blaine, Brian & Kory

Kory & Auntie Tara

Jeremy & Tara

Me & Tara (have to update the "sister" photo)

Baseball season has begun

Kyle had his first official Little League baseball game last night. It was freezing! They played a team comprised of mostly all 11 & 12 year olds. They were huge compared to our team of mostly 9 year olds! Kyle played right field, but only a couple of hits came out his way. His team did lose, but overall I think they did pretty well and held their own. I am hoping to get some much better photos of him. Last night was too cold, I didn't want to get unwrapped from my blanket to get up and walk around the other side of the field. I figured it was okay, I have 16 more games to take pictures at.

This evening we have kindergarten orientation for Kory. It's hard to believe he is almost done with pre-school and will be beginning his official school career in the fall. He has loved pre-school and has made some great strides...he can actually say all of his A,B,C's now. This is huge progress! This is the child who will not do, say or learn ANYTHING until he decides for himself that it's a good idea and worth his time. I'm glad that somebody could convince him that knowing his A,B,C's is a good thing. Now let's see if being such a "drama queen" can be curbed :)

I completed filling in our calendar for May today and there are only 5 days in the whole month that are empty. The first three weekends are filled with either us going somewhere or someone visiting, which leaves the last weekend, Memorial Weekend, with nothing planned...yet. I think that May in going to fly right along. At least I'll have plenty to write about :)

Check in with us when you can, we would love to hear from you. Have a blessed week.