4th of July

On Monday, 4th of July, we headed out to the Whitefish Bay 4th of July Parade. Whitefish Bay is the town my cousin Brigid lives in & is a cute town. Lots of green, yards, and quite suburbia!






These Sausages are the sausages that race each other at Brewer's games!

After the parade, we went over to a park where there were vendors selling food & beer. We stopped near Lake Michigan to lounge.






After this, we went to a 4th of July picnic at my cousin's house. We took NO pictures there. Oops!! She had a ton of food including wings, salads, desserts, and candy. Super cute red, white & blue candy throughout the backyard. We spent the afternoon at the party and then headed back to my Aunt & Uncle's house. We just chilled out in the yard & it was a great ending to the trip.

We left the next day and were able to get on an earlier flight! We got home at 430PT which was awesome!! We were able to relax and get ready for the next day.

Summerfest

On Sunday morning, we took another Coffee Toodle! We all had a swim in the lake, too. Erik also swam from the boat to the shore a few times!






After going out on the boat & packing up, we headed back to Milwaukee. While Kaitlin did some errands to get ready for the 4th of July picnic, we head to lunch. We went to a great pub called Three Lions. We were able to sit outside and have a nice lunch with of course, more Cheese Curds!


After lunch, we headed to Summerfest!

Summerfest is an 11 day music festival with over 700 bands. For only $15, you can see 10-20 bands in ONE DAY. There is also a big music hall where they have a daily headliner (Britney Spears!) but that is a separate fee. There were also a ton of different beers and food to try.




Erik and I had to try the fresh corn! Delish!


We nabbed a perfect picnic table in front of one of the stages.

We stopped and heard the Nikhil Korula Band for a little while. They sounded a littttle bit like DMB but they were pretty good.

Everyone was waiting for the sun to go down to see the Fireworks!

The last show on the stage was Ben Harper!

We saw a long fireworks show - it must have lasted 45 min to an hour. It was great!

A Day at the Lake

On Saturday, we woke up to a beautiful view of Fox Lake. Fox Lake is an inland lake about 1.5 hrs from Milwaukee.


We had breakfast and then went on a "Morning Toodle". Toodle is affectionately defined as a boat ride around the lake. You can go on lots of different toodles on the Pontoon Boat. You should also always wear your swimsuit on a Toodle because it may always turn into a Swimming Toodle. haha. Love it!!


My uncle at the helm while the rest of us relax....

Kimmy & Scott

Erik in his cool sunglasses

Halfway around the lake, we all jumped off the boat for a swim. Ok, I didn't jump in but everyone else did. haha.

Kaitlin, Kimmy, Me, and Brigid



Erik & I


After boating, we came in and had lunch outside. Everyone loved the beers from New Glarus Brewing Co! After lunch, we went back out on the water. We took the speed boat out so we could get pulled on the tube and also do some wakeboarding. We have some videos of the tube rides that I will have post later.

Erik wakeboarded on the lake



After boating, I came home and took a nap in the hammock. It was wonderful!!

Soon, it was time for dinner. My Aunt made us beer can chicken. You basically place the whole chicken over a can of opened beer. It was delicious!

After dinner, we went on an evening toodle. haha. We were able to be out on the lake as the sun went down & the fireworks started!


Scott, Kimmy, & Chris

Beautiful sunset

We finished the evening with s'mores! We made some of them with Reese's peanut butter cups & they were so yummy!


During the day, we also re-created the photo we took 20 yrs ago!

Then

Now


Fun Day!!

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

We woke bright & early on Friday, July 1st to make our 7am flight out of SFO. I was excited to fly out of Terminal 2 because it was just re-done and there were new restaurants & shops there.


First we made it thru security but I had to tease Erik about taking a long time.

We stopped at this Napa Market for coffee. Within the shop there was a Tyler Florence restaurant and a wine & olive oil shop.





Cat Cora has a place in there, too!

There was also a great candy store, but it was a little early to eat candy.

There was also a great bookstore that I wandered around in, finding books to put on my reading list!

Unfortunately, our flight was delayed and we left an hour later. We arrived in Chicago around 2pm and we hopped on a bus to take us to the Milwaukee airport. When we arrived at MKE, Kimmy, Kaitlin, and their boyfriends were there to pick us up. We went directly to...The Lakefront Brewery!


We went on a tour of the brewery. To kick off the tour, we each got a little tasting cup to have tastes along the way. One beer I really liked was:





We had a really funny tour guide named Mark who was great!


The brewery was right on the lake in a great location!


Erik & I outside the brewery. It was wiiindy by the time we got out of the tour.


Chris & Kaitlin

After the brewery tour, we went to a local spot for dinner, Culver's. We had to try Cheese Curds! I would explain them as fried mozzarella cheese nuggets but I'm sure I am disgracing the state of WI by saying that. Yummy!

After that, we made the 1.5 hour trek to the lake! We made it & it was so great to see everyone. We were tired & ready to crash but excited to start our vacation!