Birthday Palooza!

Quinten is chasing Charlie down the slip-n-slide!


Early Birthday gift of an excavator.



Janet made this train cake. Quinten only wanted one candle and one gummy bear in the train cars.




Mark received University of Illinois patio lights for the camper!

Quinten and Mark decorated a birthday cake for me!

August means a birthday palooza for the Zappe family. As most of you know, Mark and I share the same birthday. Quinten has his own day three days later. I hired a sitter so Mark and I could go out to eat at Eddie Merlot's restaurant. It was beyond delicious! I had the Chilean Sea Bass and Mark had the Filet Mignon. Both of us were very happy with our choices. We exchanged our gifts the previous day.

Quinten was allowed a party with four friends. We kept it simple hosting at our house and using outside water fun. I was a little nervous not know exactly what I was doing with the kids and activity. Quinten was beyond excited to host his friends at his home. When the kids all came in for cake and ice-cream, the noise level was loud! It was wonderful to see the kids come together and play and play. We were also fortunate to have my parents, brother, s-i-l and sister Patti join us. Mark's father and b-i-l came and made the day perfect for Quinten.

Dells Part 2

Our room view from Madison!



The waterfront on the UW campus in Madison.



We finally found a train in Wisconsin. This one never went faster than 15 MPH and only lasted an hour with a break!

We had some silly fun with our new friend at Mexicali Rose!

These acrobats were very high in the ski. Mark had to leave the show it made him so nervous!

Wisconsin Dells

We took a summer trip to Wisconsin during the 1st week of August. Yes, we are traveling again Uncle Jim! Originally, we decided to take the train for the experience. Amtrak has limited service which meant we traveled to Cincinnati for a 1am departure. Arriving at the train station at midnight Amtrak called saying the train hit a tree in West Virginia and would not be arriving on time. Amtrak arranged a private bus to drive us to Chicago which was our final train destination. By 2am it became clear that there was never going to be a train and there was no bus. Mark started driving and drove through the night stopping only after we were in Milwaukee! Heavy rain and construction added to the difficulty of the drive (don't ask me as I fell asleep!). Looking at the bright side, Lauren and Quinten were wonderful-stayed positive and no complaints. I was disappointed as I wanted this experience for Quinten but moved on by morning. We did have a memorable trip to say the least! There are so many pictures and I will attempt to post the ones I think you will enjoy.

Tommy Bartlett ski show. Rather cheesy but the giggles coming from Quinten were priceless.



Lauren and Quinten loved horseback riding. They loved it so much that we went two times. Lauren rode Jett both times and Quinten and mommy rode Elmo and Smoky Joe.



Quinten found a cave at the Dells during the boat ride and the hike.



Quinten awaits teh train that never came!



This does not look as bad as it might appear. We were at the feeding area and Quinten wanted the goat to look at the camera!

The Firefighter!

Studying the fire!


Getting the hose prepared.


Putting out the fire!

Quinten has moved into the fire fighter/fire truck/ambulance interest stage. He received these cool boots from Grandma Carolyn and bought the hat at a garage sale. When we hear a siren, Quinten can instantly tell me if it is a fire truck or an ambulance!