A day at the Milwaukee Zoo

Before I knew that Tim was going to be in CO, my friend, Debbie, had invited me and the kids to go to the zoo with her. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. We all needed a distraction from the fact that daddy was away. Plus, Sonya had never been to a zoo before! It had been over five years since I had last stepped in the Milwaukee zoo. Don't worry, we hadn't been depriving Caleb of the zoo experience for five years. We always go to the St. Louis Zoo when we're down in southern IL visiting Tim's family. :-)

All buckled up!

Watching the apes

Sharing the double stroller

SHARK!! The kids all liked the aquarium

Mr. Bear poking his head out of the water

Sonya and Jonathan watching the bear

Caleb posing for the camera

Moose! He decided to lay down right as I was taking this photo

Mr. Elephant

Taking a ride on the train!

Sonya didn't want to pose

Debbie with her kids

The tiger

Mountain goat

Monkey! -- wait, that's Caleb :-)

Obviously you know that this is a zebra, right?

We all brought bag lunches along and ate a picnic in the park. Sonya and Jonathan both wanted to run off, but we managed to get them to eat a little and not run too far away. It was just a fun morning and afternoon. The weather worked out just wonderful for us -- not too hot, but nice enough to walk around with shorts and T-shirts without being cold. Jonathan fell asleep in the stroller shortly after eating, but Sonya was too excited to sleep until the car ride home. It was a fun day! Thanks Debbie!

In loving memory of...

Charles P. Nikolai 

January 11, 1931 - August 20, 2011

Today, we celebrate the life of Tim's grandpa, Charles "Chuck" Peter Nikolai. The funeral service was today in Colorado. I wish I could've been there with Tim and the rest of his family. It was easier to just have him fly there while I stayed home with the kids. I miss Tim so much and I especially feel the pain that he and all the friends and family of Grandpa Nikolai's must be feeling.

At our wedding

Four generations of Nikolai's

Grandpa Nikolai with all of his kids (Eric, Greg, Paul, Sue, Julie, and Terri)

It seems like yesterday that we were saying prayers that Grandpa Nikolai's bladder removal surgery would go well. Well, I guess it was about a week ago. We were all so optimistic that this would put a stop to the bladder cancer since they had tried scraping the lining previously and that wasn't working. We were under the impression that the cancer was contained in the bladder and by removing it, he'd be able to get back to the active life he had been leading. He had fought two different types of cancer once before, he could do it again!
We got a call that night -- expecting to hear that the surgery was completed and that grandpa was in recovery. That wasn't exactly the news we got. After they opened him up, the surgeon saw that the cancer had spread to his other organs. There was no point in trying to remove his bladder and having him undergo more hours of surgery especially at his age. They said he had a few weeks to live, maybe six weeks at the most. The next day it changed to 3-6 months that he'd have left. That sounded too good to be true! There were plans made on which family members he'd stay with and there was a slight chance he'd be able to head back down to Yuma, AZ where he had been living and say one last goodbye to his friends there.
He never got the chance. Early Saturday morning, he went to be with the Lord. From what I've heard, it was from a heart attack. I'm just so glad he's not in pain anymore and that Tim was able to do that road trip from AZ to CO with him just one month ago. It really meant a lot to both of them.

One of the views in Colorado during their trip

Fueling up! - The last photo Tim took of his grandpa

I thought I'd share a few memories to lighten the mood a little bit:
1) Tim had always referred to his grandpa as Grandpa Nikolai. For some reason, I thought it'd be more fun to refer to him as Grandpa Chuck... just never in his presence. I found out later that some relatives called him "Chuck" but it still always made Tim and I smile whenever I said it. :-)
2) At our wedding, Grandpa Chuck presented me with a hollow chocolate apple that had a gummy worm in it. He recited a poem something about a moment on the lips and forever on your hips. Tim's mom was worried that I might be offended by the poem, but I thought it was kind of funny and very sweet.

3) During Tim's road trip, he learned that his grandpa sounded like Johnny Cash when he sang. Also, when they were in one of the hotels, Tim was flipping through channels and ended up finding "The Mummy." In Tim's opinion, it's an ok sort of movie, nothing too great, but not horrible enough to change the channel. Grandpa just sat and watched and didn't say much until the movie was over. I'm going to get this quote wrong, but he basically said that was one of the stupidest movies he had ever seen. haha!

4) At the end of the road trip, Tim and Grandpa Nikolai got pedicures from Tim's younger cousins. I'm hoping that Aunt Paula has photos of this because the image in my head doesn't do it justice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, tomorrow the family is all going up to Cripple Creek, CO where Tim's grandpa and grandma had lived for a good chunk of their marriage. They're going to spread his ashes up there in the mountains in the same place where they scattered Tim's grandma's about 10 or so years ago. Praying right now that God makes His presence known and comforts those that are grieving during this sad time. We love you Grandpa (Great-Grandpa for the kids) Nikolai and you will be greatly missed!!!

Mountains in Cripple Creek

Where the ashes were spread

Rest in Peace

Carnival Fun

The Hatfield Birthday Party

It was a joint party for all four kids and had a fun carnival theme! There were tickets to play games, a balloon lady, and carnival music. We had LOTS of fun. 

Sonya pushing the toy lawnmower

Caleb climbing on the swing set

Nicole painting faces

Annabelle getting ready to play a game

Testing out his sword

Beep, beep!

Sword fighting with Jack

En guard!

Lily showing off her balloon flower

Munching popcorn at the craft table

Sonya LOVED the duck game

There's the balloon lady!

Chaos after the pinata was broken

Rock the Lakes Milwaukee

Rock the Lakes Milwaukee was a fun and free event that we went to. We parked at Tim's work in downtown Milwaukee and walked over to Veteran's Park from there, right along Lake Michigan. The weather was absolutely perfect for an afternoon/night filled will laughter and good, Christian music. We even treated ourselves to some funnel cake for dessert! There was a man and his family sitting near us that kept our kids pretty entertained. He had a little ball and was playing catch with them and hiding the ball in his pocket. I'm so glad he was there otherwise Sonya would've been running off! As the event was wrapping up, we left a few minutes early to try and beat the rush out of there. With stars just started to light up the sky and Michael W. Smith playing in the distance, the walk back to the car was just as pleasant as our evening.

Rock the Lakes!

Charlie Daniels Band

Mom and the kids

Franklin Graham (Billy Graham's son)

Dad and the kids

Listening to music

Caleb doing a silly dance

Michael W. Smith

Listening to music

MWS!

Maritime Heritage Festival

Pride of Baltimore II 

Niagara

Friends Good Will in the distance

Caleb by the lake

Daddy and Caleb

Posing in front of the ship

Sonya looking out over the lake

Walking with mommy - purse in hand!

Doesn't she look all grown up?

She just cracks me up!

Around town and Lake Geneva

Saturday - around Port Washington
Tim's aunt and uncle from Green Bay came down with their two kids to spend the day with us. We had initially planned to go to the Ozaukee County Fair, but it was pretty warm out and some of us weren't quite up to walking that much either. So we ended up sticking around Port Washington and giving a little tour of our quaint town. After showing off our new house, our first stop was Tello's for lunch. (p.s. The spanakopita was really good! -- spinach and feta in a filo crust -- yum!) I think everyone enjoyed their meals. We decided to take a short walk down to the marina and on our way back to our cars, we stopped at the Chocolate Chisel for ice cream.

The Possibility Playground was our next stop. Tim's cousins had never been there. They actually had the water mist going -- the kids all had fun getting wet. Sonya was wearing her hat backwards and kept sticking her fingers over the spout where the water came out. From the bluff, Lake Michigan looked so clear so headed down to the beach until it was time to go home. I think we were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day - especially Sonya who didn't get a nap in at all. All in all, it was a fun and relaxing time with relatives.

Caleb, Hana, Erin, and Sonya

Sonya liked the cool mist

Digging in the sand

Posing by the water

Sunday - in Lake Geneva
After church, we took a road trip to Lake Geneva. I had to meet my friend, Liz, who is getting married in September. She had picked up my bridesmaid dress from the bridal shop near her and we met half way so I could get it from her. We met up at Walmart in Lake Geneva and did some perusing since the rain was still making up its mind on whether or not it wanted to come down or just stop altogether. Since it was only sprinkling here and there, we drove to Big Foot Beach State Park where the boys did some swimming and the girls chatted while eating grapes. We walked around a little bit - watched the fish in the lagoon, walked over the bridge, got bit by the mosquitoes, and then took a drive along the lake. We ended up eating at Culvers -- one of the more reasonably priced and kid friendly places there. It's always nice to see Liz and act goofy together. :-) Lake Geneva was such a cute little town that we'll definitely have to visit again.

Making Blog Changes

Hello everyone --
I've been working on a few changes to my blogs to try and make it a little easier on keeping track of things and to separate posts about my family vs. my personal thoughts. There are tabs on each blog homepage so you can go from one to the other without having to remember each URL.

Family Blog (Like a Sunflower)

 -- http://thenikolaifamily.blogspot.com --

This blog will solely be for documenting anything family related such as trips, milestones, funny stories about our day, etc. Recently, I've been adding posts from earlier months and post dating them so they're in order. So be sure to check the archives for new ones!

My Story (Grace Like Rain) 

-- http://nikolaigracelikerain.blogspot.com --

This blog is where I've been sharing my testimony of faith. Some of the information is extremely personal so the blog is private. If you're interested in reading and would like an invite, please send me a message with your name and email address or leave a comment with that information. I'd appreciate that any information shared in this blog remain private. Thanks!

Personal Thoughts (Personal Thoughts)

 -- http://nikolaipersonalthoughts.blogspot.com --

This is a new blog where I'll be posting my personal thoughts. I just changed the privacy settings so that it is open to the public. It's a place where I plan to share what's going on in my mind - faith, dreams, goals, questions, answers, passions, feelings, recipes, and whatever else that I think up. This will be a safe place to share my ideas. Feel free to leave a comment -- they encourage me to continue writing. :-)


Note that the URL for Grace Like Rain has changed! Sorry if I've caused any confusion. Enjoy reading!

-Michelle