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

Visiting the Villa Loretto

Great Grandma Pauly lives in the assisted living at Villa Rosa (an extension off of the nursing home, Villa Loretto, where Grandma Pauly works as an RN). The facility is run by nuns and one of them, Sister Steven, has a passion for animals. So she created a working ranch that has expanded greatly over the years. So whenever we go to visit Great Grandma, we usually have to see the animals too!

Search for fish

On the bridge

Great Grandma Pauly with Grandpa Pauly

Caleb with the pig

Goats

A very pregnant donkey

Grandma Pauly and Sonya

Llamas

Family

Grandpa Pauly and Caleb

Sheep

Walking with Sonya

Switching hands

Ever seen a "naked" llama? They sheared this one

Donkey

Llama coming to say "hello"

He's very photogenic

Emu

Llamas again

Getting a ride from Grandpa

Shadows

Walking along the fence

Did I mention that Caleb has an obsession with cars yet? Well, that along with garages. He loves being able to ride in other people's vehicles. This time, he got to go in Grandma and Grandpa's van. He was THRILLED!

Caleb was excited to ride in Grandpa's van

Once we got back to the Pauly house, we played Uncle Wiggly and Chutes and Ladders while Grandpa grilled some hamburgers, peppers, and zucchini. It was delicious! So was the cherry/raspberry cheese torte that we had for dessert. After lunch, we played Wii bowling and took a few photos with Great Grandma. These were the ones that turned out the best:

Three generations photo

The kids sitting with Great Grandma Pauly