California Trip

Our Sunday morning in Seattle started out with intentions of getting to Sacramento late that night -- well you probably know that didn't happen. We were grumbling that Jackson needed to go to the bathroom again and pulled over at a stop we know in Portland only to get back into the car and discover that the car was having problems. Long story short -- lots of phone calls and over 2 hours in a Shell station parking lot and the Puller Family came to our rescue. I felt a little bad for being annoyed as Jack's little pit stop probably saved us the headache of spending that time on the freeway. God takes care of us even when we don't deserve it! :-) After a night of good food, visiting and lots of loving care we got the call that the car would take a week to fix. It took us a little time to work it through in our minds, but we decided that we didn't want to miss out on the planned trip so we rented a car and all in all we ended up just about exactly 24 hours behind schedule. We are so grateful to Karen & her entire family for helping us out in our time of need. We got to Sacramento and had a great time with Bob and Suzanne and their kids Jeremy and Julia. They had just moved in just a week or so earlier and we were amazed at how settled they already were. They were FANTASTIC hosts -- Bob making great meals (as usual), the kids having so much fun playing together and swimming, and Suzanne being the warm hostess who always makes us feel so at home when we visit. We had a wonderful visit with Uncle Dick and Aunt Carline -- they are both so incredibly sweet. Bob & Suz hosted a BBQ on our last night so we could get together with Maynard & Carolyn and Linda and spend a little more time with Uncle Dick & Aunt Carline. It was a fun vacation and we are looking forward to many more visits to California!!

Mariner Moose

We got to the game a little early so we took a walk around and found out there are things we've never taken the time to notice on other trips to Safeco. We got a free picture taken with the Mariner Moose and let Jackson play in the playland for awhile. Found a great deal on a kid's meal and took some pictures of Seattle from the deck (the ones in the slideshow below). It was a great way to end a fun filled family reunion!!!

Part 3 - Saturday

We had the reunion on Saturday at my Aunt Shirley's church. By her count there were 64 of us and we were missing 16 others. We took a trek out to see the Freemont Troll and The Ballard Locks and then those who were going headed off to the Mariner Game. We are so grateful for all the work that Shirley put in on this get together. I missed my Grandpa Harold's presence the most and know that others felt that as well. I sure hope when I am gone that I am thought of and missed as much as he is!! :-) The whole weekend went by way too quickly and hopefully we won't wait as long before the next time.

Petersen Reunion Part 2 (Tysen's)

After the ducks some of us headed to Orting, WA to have a 4th of July BBQ at Tysen & Toni's house. We had time to visit, ate great food, did a few fireworks, and watched a bunch more. Thank you for having us all over -- you can tell from the pictures it was great fun.

The Souvenir Shot

Petersen Reunion Part 1 (Friday)

My mom's family had a reunion in Seattle over the 4th of July and the weekend began with the "Ride the Ducks Tour". I will admit I wasn't sure what to expect, but we honestly had so much fun I am so happy we got to go.

~Headed for home~

This slideshow is approx. 2 minutes. For instructions go to the 1st slideshow below titled "On our way".

The final Wisconsin entry. Chris, Angela & Silas flew back home so here are pictures of Jason's parents Rod & Jane & our little family's journey to home...I added captions to highlight our stops on the way back. I hope you enjoyed seeing our vacation!!

We've Arrived

This one is approx. 5 minutes

This slideshow begins with our day at the Wisconsin Dells -- we stayed at the Raintree Resort which had a great indoor & outdoor pool set up. Then we headed on to Jason's mom's family reunion in Sturgeon Bay. They get together every 3 years and always pick an interesting new place to visit. We got to see Jane's mom (GG), sister Jacque & husband George, cousin Sheila and her kids Alex, and Adam as well as many other relatives. We had lots of fun around the resort as well as in nearby towns (the goats on top of the building were one thing we saw on our day trip out from the resort). Also the beach pictures were the same day--we found a spot on Lake Michigan to let some swim and some play in the sand! The food was good the whole reunion and the last day we got to experience a tradition of the area..a fish boil. Those are the last photos of this slideshow. For more reunion picts you can check out my sister in law (Angela's) blog or our cousin Sheila's blog with the links menu on the right.