Wisconsin Trip

The last weekend in December, we headed north! Long story: a year ago, I sent JKK's DNA off to be tested for ancestry and medical info.  Since he's adopted, we don't have any of that information and I was curious where he gets his olive skin because he passed it on to Millie.  So he gets the results back and nothing on it is super obvious where he gets the darker skin tone (53% british & irish; 22% french & german; the rest random european).  However, it did link him up with some relatives that shared DNA, including a first cousin.  The cousin ends up getting JKK in touch with his biological father, Jack, who lives in Iowa!  One year later, we finally meet him face-to-face. The resemblance is undeniable - pretty cool.  In the course of the year, JKK unfortunately found out that his biological mother had passed away from cancer in 2011.

We also got to meet two of Jack's four sons, two of Jack's four grandkids, and his wife, Peggy.  It was a lovely evening!

They are lovely people.

Then we did a little hotel swimming, of course.  

The girls live for hotel pools, especially if there is a hot tub involved.  Gotta remember the goggles though, with the large amount of chlorine.

Next up: another dad!  We traveled next door to Wisconsin and stopped at Tom & Carol's house for a visit.  So way back in the 60s, Tom & JKK's mom Annette had a baby, Michael (aka Uncle Mike).  Then they adopted two babies from a catholic orphanage in Madison - Kathy and John.  The babies were not biologically related.  Then 5 or 6 years later, Tom and Annette divorced.  Later, Annette married Bill (aka Bubba) and they had Colleen (aka Aunt Coco).  While Tom went on to marry Carol.  She has her own kids, but they did not have kids together.  It's a complicated family tree on JKK's side. ;)

Nick, Kathy, Jack, Mike, JKK, Syd, Millie, Tom (Carol in previous picture)

Moving right along through snowy, cold Wisconsin, we finally headed to Aunt Midge's for NYE!

Phew!  Made it just in time for game night with Midge and Ridge.

They built a gorgeous new house in a suburb of Milwaukee.  It's lovely, and Kyle was proud to show off his house and stuff, especially his new Nintendo.  The kids play so well together!  

On NYE, the kids made pizzas - see Millie's smiley face pizza?

We worked a puzzle - melted popsicles turned out to be quite frustrating.

And then it was time to party like it's 2019!

Midge and I love to use our Instax cameras, and now that Papa gave the girls each one for Christmas, we have lots of little pictures floating around.  They are so cute though!

dogpile!

This gal is the queen of champagne - it's her love language.

New Year's day we woke up to a lot of snow!  The girls couldn't wait to get out there!

sweetest little face <3

Funny story: it hasn't snowed here in Arkansas for years, so our snow suits/boots are a bit old.  I brought them along, just in case it snowed, and when the girls put them on, they were a bit small.  Syd's boots were two sizes too small, and Millie's snow bib was hilariously small and short.  But hey!  They got to play in the snow, so who cares?!

snow cat building

After a good romp in the snow, we had to pack up and head out.  Back on the road again...

When we stopped to get gas, we found that Midge had put this sticker of a dog on our window.  I couldn't quit laughing. 

Then it was back to school!  The first day back, they made these hats.  When Syd got in the car, she said in the most monotone voice "it's 2019".  Ha!  Writing it just doesn't do it justice.

Always feels good to be back in our routine - and the cats missed us!

This section of the fridge makes me so happy though

While we were driving, JKK and I came up with our list of top ten from 2018!  Can't wait to see what 2019 brings...I love our little family and the memories we are making!