And energy is something our children have in abundance.
The City of Green Bay does a wonderful job offering family activities during their summer (although summer may last only three weeks in the land of frozen tundra) so we made a visit to Bay Beach - not the wildlife sanctuary, but the amusement park across the way...
Grandpa was teaching Kekoa how to drive...
But Bretty and I kept bumping into David's car...
Thankfully, Malia and Nalani are much better drivers...
When it comes to moving around, however, Bretty and David really love those crazy rides that spin them in circles...
Bretty's was always thumbs up and ready to go...
But as you can see in the left part of the picture above, Cari had to join in so that Kekoa could ride as well.
And Cari wasn't quite as fond of feelings like this...
And I think she was ready to quit right about here...
Why is Cari on all those crazy rides with the boys?
Because Daddy is a coward.
We also made a trek down to Manitowoc to pay our respects to my mother's parents. Here is the final resting place of Arthur and Martha Deering with six of their great grandchildren crowded around...
And if we're in Manitowoc, we have to catch up with my mom's family. Aside for the usual suspects of the Bicoys, here is my cousin Cheri, Aunty Dorothy, and Cheri's niece Rebecca...
Oh, and the least brown little boy in the front row isn't one of mine - that's Cheri's grandson John.
For the most part, things are basically as you'd expect, but there is one great conundrum which still befuddles the family.
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle was in Howard to announce the "Wisconsin Covenant" - a promise to 8th graders that if they work hard and graduate, there will be a place held for them at a Wisconsin college or university.
As my father-in-law is a State Senator and in the Senate leadership, the Governor was making the announcement in his district.
Nothing mysterious about any of that.
Well, our whole family was invited so we sat in the audience politely listening to the Governor speak (with my father-in-law to the right side of the picture near the 8th graders below)...
I kept watching this scene and something just didn't look quite right.
If you look realy closely at the bottom of the Governor's tie in the picture above, you'll see a bit of blue peeking from behind.
Here's another look at it...
So while most folks were taking pictures of the Governor, I was zooming in on his tie.
Or rather, two ties...
Look carefully!
The Governor is wearing a blue tie behind his red tie...
Cari and I figured he was going to make some metaphorical statement about how his tie symbolically represents the covenant he is creating. We thought maybe he'd remove it in some grand theatrical gesture only to show that another tie lay below the first. You know, sort of a statement of the perpetual nature of the covenant.
But no. The Governor finished speaking and continued to hide his blue tie beneath his red tie.
Maybe this is an easy way to switch from red to blue. He can wear the red tie in regions that lean Republican and quickly switch to his blue one in Democratic areas. Who knows?
It's the great Mystery of the Governor's Two Ties!
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