Saturday, June 13, 2009

A Cheeseburger-ific Weekend So Far


You definitely can’t accuse us of being vegetarians. Among the immediate Hinz family, we must have eaten an entire cow this weekend.

Friday night, Brillion had a parade at 9pm. It was really nice. The parade included lots of school bands, tractors, and emergency vehicles. Aristana seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately, that led her to an 11:30pm bedtime again. I’m starting to see a trend this season. Winter, bed between 6:30-7:30. Late Spring/Early Summer, bed between 9:30-11:30. You know what though? This girl is LIVING LIFE! I love seeing the smile on her face while she experiences so many new things. Sometimes things get rough around naptime, but it’s totally worth it.

So anyway, we ate a dinner of burgers, nachos, soda, and popcorn.

Saturday morning, she woke up at 8am. Mike was already out the door by 7am, to help set up for the Bellevue Community/Firefighters picnic. I grabbed a sippy cup of milk for Aristana, and threw her in the wagon. We walked to the corner to cheer on all the runners in the Bellin Run. It’s always exciting to see a familiar face in the waves of runners and walkers. Rumor has it that there were over 17,000 participants this year.

From there, we headed back home . After some cereal, play time, a change of clothes, and new rubber bands in Aristana’s hair, we walked back to the corner, to Zesty-Fest. They had a bunch of classic cars to view, free ice cream, a DJ, and some drawings. We had a lunch of cheese curds and a cheeseburger. That’s two cheese burgers in 12 hours (I know, no big deal yet). We were surprised when a clean smelling, very good looking man joined us at our table while we ate. Dada! He came over to meet us, which was really cool.


After our walk back home, Aristana went down for a nap. I had to wake her up after 3 hours and 15 minutes. She normally sleeps about 1 ½ to 2 hours at a time. She was in a very deep sleep when I woke her too. I bet she would have slept at least another hour.

Again, change the clothes, fix the hair…off we go! We went to the Bellevue Community/Firefighters’ picnic, where we immediately enjoyed hamburgers, French fries, ice cream, and cheese curds with Grandma and Grandpa Hinz, who also came to support Mike. We played at the park, danced for an hour, ran around, watched the water fights and games, and had a great time. Even after lunch, we went through another two burgers and French fries. Uncle Matty & Uncle Nate also stopped by. Again, thanks for the support!

Among Mike, Aristana & I, we, as of Saturday night, have consumed eight burgers in 24 hours. Include the rest of the Hinz clan, and our total comes to 17 burgers. Moo…

Tomorrow, we head to Allouez-fest… I’m guessing salad will not be on the menu there either.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

A great girls day in Manty!

My plan this summer is to do as much as possible, while spending as little as possible. Aristana is such a blast at this age, and this is the last summer we have together, baby-free. I look forward to the new Hinz, but will definitely miss the "just-the-two-of-us quality time" together.

So far this month, we've gotten to play at Bay Beach, the N.E.W. zoo, numerous parks, Grandma & Grandpa's farm, Grandma Gobble's beach...not to mention the fun we have just in our own backyard. I thank God EVERY DAY that I am able to stay home with her. She is such a sponge right now, and I'm so glad that we can utilize that ability to learn, instead of letting it pass.

It's 4pm, and I just put Aristana down for her nap, after a long, fun day in Manitowoc. Our Auntie Mitzi was in the hospital, so that's where we started. Praise God, just as we got to her room, they discharged her...early! We visited with her for about 15 minutes, until RJ got there to pick her up. After helping them pack her up, we all walked her to the car. After our goodbyes, we headed back to the van, and on to the next stop. Thank you God for watching over her, and healing her. She is such a special woman!

Stop #2: The Lincoln Park Zoo
In comparison, the Lincoln park zoo has nothing on the NEW Zoo. With that being said, it is a nice little spot for the kiddos to go. I imagine there is nowhere near the same financial support that the Green Bay Zoo has. We started off by visiting the wolves. Aristana is in a new "Awwwwww" phase when she sees furry animals. How girly! So she "awwww"-ed, and said "Hey big guy big guy," and we moved on. We saw the prairie dogs, which are always so fun to watch. I seriously could sit at a zoo, and watch prairie dogs, lions, giraffes, and otters for hours at at time...no kidding.

From there, we saw some deer, bison, black bears, and ducks. One thing that was awesome though, was a male peacock that was angry. It was BEAUTIFUL! At the NEW Zoo, the peacocks walk freely, which is nice, but they never have their plumes in full effect.


Stop #3: Lake Michigan (A.K.A. The Big Water)
Aristana is blessed to have grandparents who all have something different to offer her. GPa & GMa Hinz have the farm. GMa Gobble Gobble has the Bay of Green Bay. Jimmy & Boppa have Kelly Lake. Aristana loves the water, big or little. We took a walk down the pier, to see the waves and the boats. It' was pretty windy, so we didn't go out too far.

We had perfect timing though, because we got to watch the Lake Michigan Car Ferry leave the shore and head back out towards MI.

Stop #4: Cedar Crest Ice Cream Factory & Parlor

What kid wouldn't love to eat Blue Moon ice cream next to a HUGE cow? This is the second time Aristana has been here in a month. Needless to say, she's a fan. She likes to look at the cow, but doesn't like to get too close.

Stop #5: The Old Kiel's Drive-In
Back in the day, my mother and father owned a little drive in on the corner of Viebahn and 10th, called Kiel's Drive In. I love hearing stories about it, since I was too young to remember them personally. When I was born, it was the first place I went, when we left the hospital. Stories of pizza burgers and car-hops gave me an idea of what this place was like. It sounded like lots of fun. We moved to Green Bay in 1980, when my father accepted a position with the Ashwaubenon Public Safety Department, saying good by to the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department. From there, Kiel's drive in changed hands and names many times. Sometimes a drive in, sometimes chinese food, sometimes empty. We went to take a pic of the building, and found that a BP gas station took over the lot.

Stop #6: Gass Lake
When I did live in Manty, I lived on Gass Lake Road, on the outskirts of town. We took some time to see the old neighborhood, again, not that I remember it personally. My dad built a kick-butt tree fort for Brady. See pic.


Well, the trees grew and grew, because we could barely see the old house. My grandparents lived in the house next to us, and the design my mom painted on their garage doors back in the day is still there.

After staring at peoples' houses, we went down the hill to Gass Lake. It was so peaceful. Just us, throwing little pebbles in the lake, listening to the frogs, and the wind in the trees.

So there we go... What a great day! Thank you Aristana, for being such a great Buddy! You are always such a trooper.