More Rain on the Menu

Apart from the very inartistic rain drop on my camera's screen (a.k.a. the blob in the lower left hand corner) I think this picture is pretty cool. It was taken as a rain shower passed over the grounds of my old school, Thomas More High School, at sunset.

At the Cottage

Here's my cousin Everett jumping in a rain puddle, his dad Tim fixing one of my cousin's bikes, and their dog Otis running from some very ominous thunderstorm clouds.

Ethnic Festival Adventures

So I went to Polish Fest this weekend, one of the many ethnic festivals that goes on every summer in Milwaukee. In a very helpful book in the genealogy tent, I found out that contrary to my father's favorite story, our last name does not mean "by the side of the road." Our original last name, Przepierski, actually means "quail." Pretty cool tidbit. Of course, the polka dancing was pretty spiffy too.

Lawnmower Escape Artist

How did he do it? All the other dandelions got plowed down by a big Parks Department mower to a convenient 3/4 of an inch.

The Quick Ride

While chilling out in Veteran's Park I spotted these people on segways. What most confused me is that the leader had on one of those orange crossing guard uniforms that you usually see by elementary schools. Maybe this was an elementary segway-ing class.

With More Energy Than a Caged Animal

My second cousin Samantha has more energy than any of us know what to do with. I actually caught her sitting still (but giggling like mad) inside some sort of child-safe plastic tunnel toy. I felt more secure with something sort of solid between me and her, otherwise her next move could have been to tackle me to the ground.

Cake and a Silly Hat

This is a picture of my cousin Madelynn, who turned one just last week. We celebrated her birthday along with Father's Day (her chances of being intelligent look promising: her dad is the one who got locked out of his house...). By the time we ate cake, she was already ready to hit the sack.

Happy Father's Day, We Locked You Out of the House

It isn't a family holiday in my family until someone gets hurt or locked out of their own house. Here's my Uncle Steve, locked out of his own house on Father's Day. Luckily, his house is a split level ranch and he only had to climb 1.5 stories to break in, and also luckily, the master bedroom window was unlocked. The kicker is that about 3 hours before getting locked out, his wife has asked if they should maybe think about putting a spare key in the garage. Which he said was unnecessary.

Night Shot

This came out a little fuzzy, but it's the Riverwalk through downtown Milwaukee, taken on Saturday night right by John Hawkes pub, or whatever it's called. There were lots of people out on boats and eating out on the riverside terraces, and it was all quite nice and summerlike.

Just Another Building Picture

A nice sunset in Downtown Milwaukee. I took this while hunting for a delicious Chinese restaurant on Broadway and Kilbourn that apparently is no longer there. I went hungry, but at leas the scenery was nice.

All That Rain, and Finally...

There's the payoff to all that rain. This was actually taken on Saturday, June 15th, but I think by now you all know I've been fudging the dates on all these pictures :)

Downtown Driving

I have never thought of my hometown, Milwaukee, WI, as a one horse town but driving through it sure makes it seem a little dead. This is a shot of Wisconsin Avenue looking East from the river towards Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee Art Museum (which you can see as the tiny white thing sticking up at the end of the street).

In Style

A silly picture to be sure! This is the inside of one of the dressing rooms at Milwaukee's Urban Outfitters store. To me, the dressing rooms seem awfully nice and pretty considering Urban specializes in clothes that look old or dirty or thrown together. In fact, while my friend Claire and I were there I bought a shirt that looked purposely old and thrown together.

Driving

On my way home (the same night as the Leon's picture below) I decided to see what Lake Memorial Drive would look like in the rain if I didn't use my windshield wipers. It looks cool, but puts your life into serious danger (therefore, not recommended for the faint of heart or children).

One of Many Rainy Days

My dad and I were eating dinner at Noodles & Co. on 27th Street when it started to pour buckets of rain. I thought this shot of Leon's Frozen Custard across the parking lot was pretty cool. It didn't turn out as nice as I was hoping, but then sometimes my camera likes to be ornery.

While it was raining...

If this video plays correctly it should be the Pridefest fireworks exploding from last night, the last night of the festival. It was also thunderstorming during this display, and I was driving over the Hoan Bridge while I took this video--driving safety at its finest.=

Buttons, or my roommate's Cat

This is my new roommate's cat, who looks like my cat Heidi and is just as friendly. I'd been calling her whatever mind hit my fancy (hence buttons) but her real name is Callie, I just learned. =

Monsoon Season

This has been the weather for the last few days: a whole heap of rain, with side orders of thunderstorms, tornado watches, and flash floods. I took this picture right after I remembered that there were open windows all around my dad's apartment, and had to attend to open windows and the accompanying puddles all along the floor.

Bone Breaker

This here futon almost broke my toe. Here's how: it came in a big, big box that had to be carried up the tiny stairway to my apartment. In an effort to try and tell Dan how to carry his end of the big, big box, I dropped my end on my toe. It turned black and blue for a few days but seems to be making a full recovery. This picture shows the futon fully assembled in my new subletted bedroom on the Eastside of Milwaukee.

All the Pretty Lights

Dan checks out the 20,000 light bulbs on the carousel at the House on the Rock.

A Little Sunlight

The weather has been crazy here but I got a few rays of sunlight through this window set into the roof in a room at the House on the Rock, in Spring Green, WI. This house is basically a crazily built and imagined private home that was turned into a tourist attraction and oddity.

Family Round Up Part 4

Here's little Everett again playing with some of those stackable colored rings. I really liked something about the way he would very methodically tell me what color each ring was as he took them off the stack and put them in a line....and the way this game amused him for a good half an hour, too.

Family Round Up Part 3

The third of family cook-out pictures...this one is my cousin Cassie about to bounce into a cartwheel.

Family Round Up Part 2

The second of some family pictures from the weekend cook-out, this picture basically proves that I have loads of cousins. If you notice that there are two girls pushing that yellow ball in the background, then you'll count 8 in this picture alone. There are 2 more who weren't in this shot but were there as well.