The Circus

Pete took me to the circus with Amaya.  I have mixed feelings about the circus.  It was amazing and fun, but on the other hand I can't imagine the life of a circus gypsy.  That would be an interesting reality show.


 There were so many awesome acts.  One of the more memorable events was the motorcycle cage.  There were two different motorcycles going around the cage and then they topped it off by having a woman stand in the middle.

 I don't have any actual pictures of the show because you weren't allowed to take pictures.  There were numerous acts with clowns and what I would considered old tom and jerry type humor acts.  There were lots of acts with ponies and dogs, and even a dog that was trained to walk on two legs.  My favorite act, which I think was also Amaya's, was the elephant.  It was wearing a black and sparkly silver outfit like the elephants from dumbo and they trained it to dance to the music.  Elephants otherwise known as "el-noses" were always one of my favorite animals growing up, along with monkeys, which were known as 'munk-a-dunks."




 To be completely honest I'm not sure who was more thrilled to ride the elephant.  I hope Amaya always remembers that we rode the elephant together.  Although it was probably one of 50 elephant rides she has had in her life.Amaya loved the circus and loved the animals.  She is so smart... Peter was surprising her about where we were going, but as soon as she smelled horsies and saw the popcorn she knew where we were.  She loves all the animals and as you can tell is absolutely not afraid of any of them.

And now for the sad, happy news.  Amaya and Pete and Sara have moved out to Washington D.C.  Of course I am excited for them and all the opportunities and fun things they will do out there, but I will miss them and especially Amaya!  Thank God for facetime :)

Out at the Lake

My favorite Destination this spring has been Devil's Lake.  It is a wonderful state park about 2.5 hours northwest of Milwaukee.  It's a simple day trip that can be planned on a whim;  It takes you away from the city just enough to forget about everything, but not too much that it empties your gas tank.  Last weekend we went out for a day.  I was very excited to be out there and in particular with an old friend from high school who I discovered also climbs.

We had a good group out there. We ran into a lot of people from the climbing gym, imagine that- they also like to go to Devil's Lake to climb.

 David brought along a rubiks cube, which unfortunately I found difficult to put down.  It's good to know that despite the 5 years that have passed since school my brain is not necessarily dumb.  I worked on the cube between climbs or while belaying....

 David has been injured so he told us that he did not bring along his harness in order to avoid the temptation of climbing and aggravating his injury.  Instead, he just hiked around and started climbing things without his harness or a rope.......Climbers are a special breed and climbing is an addicting sport.

 Greg styling up the rock:

Don't be surprised to see more of "the Lake" (as we call it) in the upcoming months.  Summer is coming and all I want to do is play outside!

My first runway show

I put seeing a runway show near the top of my list for this year.  I was thinking more along the lines of Chicago or New York, but my mom suggested I start in Milwaukee and someday work my way up to the fashion height of the nation. 

The show was a Boston Store preview of the Anne Klein line.  It was a lot of bright green and blue with white, at least that is the part that appealed to me.  It was quick, but quite enjoyable....I could have watched and critqued the clothes and the models for much longer.   I could never be a runway model.

Hoppy Easter

A late happy Easter to all.  We celebrated the resurrection of our Lord with a traditional hunt for the Easter Bunny treats.   At the Collins house he left eggs filled with marshmallows and candy for the little kiddies and beverages for the big kiddies.   

The weather was perfect for the hunt. 

 Amaya represented the little kid division, single-handedly finding every single bright egg.The competition in the adult division was high as everyone raced to get their beverage of choice....That is, except my mom- she raced to get any beverage so that she could just trade them with us, knowing that we would all surrender our wine to her. 

Where's the beer?

I would have to say that Mark wins the prize for the greatest hunt.  He was the last one out there searching after everyone had collected all their treats.

Winter is over!

You can guess what I have been up to on the weekends lately..........

6 months later.....

Greg finally graduated!  After his 6 month intensive training course he is now back and working in Milwaukee.

 

I went down to the graduation with his wonderful family to see the ceremony, and since we were down there, we decided to celebrate in the warmer climate. 

 

Greg was happy to graduate and leave his dorm room and the chow hall to come back to the real world.  As all transitions seem to be, it was bittersweet leaving all his new friends and family, but of course we must move on and he is excited to have new friends across the nation.  More adventures and friends to visit!

And off we go to celebrate....
When I moved back to Milwaukee from Spain I realized that I had a huge life dilemma.  I came home to Milwaukee because of all the ties I have to my home, mainly my family.  On the other hand, after living in warmer parts of the world, I have grown to absolutely disdain the winters and snow and dark and cold of Wisconsin.  In order to overcome this dilemma and happily live close to my family, I have made a very serious pact with myself: Each winter i get 1 trip to somewhere warm. 

Last year it was Mexico and this year I decided to combine the warm weather trip with Greg's graduation and we all hopped on a cruise ship to the Bahamas. 

We drove 4 more hours south into Florida and left out of Port Canaveral.  The ship left on Thursday afternoon headed to Nassau, capital of the Bahamas, and returned to Port again on Sunday morning.  This left us just enough time to drive the 20 plus hours home to Milwaukee and get situated before returning to work on Tuesday.

Now, I'm ahead of myself.... First, we made a quick stop off at a joint called Souther Soul for some Georgia Barbeque and fried oreos!  I guess the WI state fair is not the only place where you can find such delicacies.

Once we had our bbq & fried oreos we were ready to head to tropical weather and put on our bathing suits.



Greg and I with Mr. & Mrs. Martin and Dustin (a good friend of the Martin family, basically he is a Martin)



Nothing says cruise like towel animals!  Greg's Mom and sister even went to a class to learn how to make them....

This is the whole group: Greg, his family, myself and some of Greg's friends also joined the celebration.







 



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Greg's sister Michelle

At the end the pictures are a little out of order.  It's simply that i've spent about 10 minutes trying to rearrange them and I've lost my patience with blogger.   :)

Roman came to Visit

Roman was here not to long ago and took over the Collins household with his smile, charm, laugh and non-stop in your face ENERGY!  He is a sunshine kid and of all the little ones we have romping around lately, he is definitely the loudest.  He never stops.  I'm sad he is gone, but thank God for facetime.   

Last time Roman was in town, I taught him the joys of Redi Whip in a Can.  This time I took the liberty of teaching him how to 'steam roll' things with his body.  He started by steamrolling Anne. (Picture below)  He also expanded to steamroll all his toys... with his face.

SinceRoman happened to be in town for the big annual climbing competeion, he came to cheer on all the climbers.  

Roman also organized a Birthday party with cupcakes (yay!) and presents (woo hoo!)for my oldest brother, Adam.  Adam doesn't really like his birthday and probably will kill me for mentioning that he turned 35.  But we all know that birthdays are good for you....whoever has the most lives the longest.  

Happy Birthday Adam!

Henry likes Birthday parties too! He helped to blow out the candles, unwrap the presents, and of course eat the cake.

Roman played with the cars, his cousins, Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Mark, and of course Grandpa.  Since all the rest of us are grown ups now, Grandpa had so much fun having Roman around to play with him!