A month of birthday outings

August has flown by.

Birthday festivities began on August 2nd when Coryn picked Discovery World as our family outing destination for fun and Kopps as our destination for food. As luck would have it, Turtle Sundae was the flavor of the day.
On Monday, Aug. 4th Coryn was officially SIX years old. We spent the day with GG. First shopping at Winkies for playmobils, then lunch at City Market and lastly cookies and playtime at GG's house.

In place of a party, Coryn and Jo picked one friend for a special friend birthday outing.
Coryn decided on Yo Mamas for build-your-own frozen yogurt sundaes with classmate Molleigh. They started with vanilla frozen yogurt and added gummy worms and M&M's and chocolate peanut butter cups and animal crackers and sprinkles.

Jo decided on mini-golfing with classmate Ceres. Tessa came to watch the little ones while I took Jo and Ceres to a Tee Aire for mini-golf and Culvers for lunch. The girls finished the 18 holes neck and neck.

The next weekend we met up with Pop Pop TM and Grammy BB at Irish Fest. We watched dancers jig, talked to a leprechaun and heard Papa's beloved Billy Mitchell bagpipers. We ate pizza and fried eggplant strips.
Sunday we met up with the Meschers for a memorial mass in honor of Grandpa1i. Aunt Terri and Uncle Mike hosted brunch after mass in honor of Grandpa's birthday.





This Saturday was GG's 85th birthday. Uncle Ben organized a tailgate for the Van Raalte clan outside Miller Park. We ate in the rain. The skies cleared just in time for the first pitch of the Brewer's game. We lasted 90 minutes inside the ballpark. Mallory covered her ears and snuggled close with Pop Pop TM. She wasn't a fan of the sporadic crowd uproar. When the fireworks shot off for a homerun Gloria woke up and it was our cue to head home.

This Sunday for Jo's family outing we went to brunch at Machine Shed where we feasted on bacon and chocolate eclairs and waffles and fried chicken. Just before we rolled out the door the wait staff delivered apple pie a la mode with a lit candle and sang Happy Birthday country style. While the little ones napped Matt and Little Gram took Jo and Coryn to see Planes in the theater and pick out new books and shoes for school.




Today was Jo's 8th
birthday and her first day of THIRD grade! Matt came home from work early so we could have a weeknight family dinner. Jo requested mashed potatoes and tilapia. Mini-cupcakes and birthday cake ice cream for dessert.



Mallory caught wind of all the birthday festivities. With a twinkle in her eye she declared Jo was turning "two-and-a-half." And when Matt asked Mallory how old she was, Mallory paused dramatically and proclaimed: "Fifty-seven!"