Girls' Day Out and Date Night

We had friends over today, and it's always a special treat when we can get together! There were only 11 of us, with Liz being on a birthday trip to Idaho, and we were all scattered. Logan walked to his basketball game. Jim took Steve and Sam to the game. I took Amy, Anna, Bethany, and Katherine out for the day (a couple hours, anyway), while Brett and Elijah stayed home. It was a sunny afternoon, and I knew that I did not want to spend it indoors. I asked where they wanted to go. Bethany said, "somewhere awesome." Since that didn't narrow it down any, we stopped at sites I thought they might enjoy.

First stop was the Wisconsin Humane Society (www.wihumane.org). We looked at all the puppies and dogs that were up for adoption. You can click on the site above to see the ones we saw. Once we left there, we drove down Wisconsin Avenue and got to see various landmarks along the way to the lake.

Our next stop was the Milwaukee Central Library (http://www.mpl.org/File/branch_central.htm). It is a very impressive building, and I think we could have left Amy there all day. She loved the fact that she could touch and read the books, unlike at the Library of Congress! We walked up and down and in different parts of the library.

*outside the Central Library

*Katherine, Bethany, and Anna in the lighthouse, which is in the Children's Library

*the girls on the staircase in the library

How rude of me to make the girls walk on such a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon. We parked down at the marina and walked to the Milwaukee Harbor. There was a ten year old who couldn't believe we were getting out and walking, but we all had fun walking on the icy path and looking out at Lake Michigan. There were many geese and one beautiful swan. We didn't walk the whole length, because it was getting late. I promised the girls that we could pack a picnic lunch this summer and come back to the area. Anna is holding me to it!

After driving past amazing houses on Lake Drive, we made our way to Trader Joe's. Anna found Millie right away, and all the girls got lollipops. We picked up a few things and got yummy samples. Anna asked, "how many samples do we get?" Are you kidding me? One, please!

Then it was definately time to head home for a quick supper of Chinese food before our friends left.

I am thankful that these four beautiful girls spent part of their day with me!

Tonight, Jim asked if I wanted to see a movie with him. As most of you know, I am not a movie person but spending time with my James is always nice. We saw "Blindside" at the Times Theater. We loved it! To quote a famous cucumber, "I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob!" We highly recommend all take time to see this movie. Take your family. Take your youth group. It is based on a true story.