Wisconsin Part 1 — Fireworks, Family, and Baseball

When Anna and I stepped off the plane from Germany back in Wisconsin (after almost a 2-year absence for me), we were met by my parents. It was the 3rd of July and Milwaukee had a huge fireworks display planned. So, we hopped in the car and headed to the Lake Michigan shore to watch the festivities.
Once we arrived, the Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum greeted us. It’s a beautiful addition to the museum created in 2001 by architect Santiago Calatrava.

Here are a couple images from the 10,000 explosions that reportedly cost over $400,000 over 45 minutes with three distinct segments.


It’s amazing what you can find in your own back yard. Especially when you have parents that have a green thumb!

This next set of images are from Anna’s family. We spent the day with Sarah and Jason, Anna’s sister and brother-in-law, along with Susan, and her children, Anna’s oldest sister.
This is Caidub, Susan’s oldest son with a monarch butterfly.

Here is Grant, our Godson.

This is Griffin and he’s quite a character already!

This is Jason, my brother-in-law looking quite dapper in a image made by Sarah. 🙂

Another image by Sarah: Anna consoling Grant…

This is Gracie, about to release another new-born monarch butterfly.

This is the wonderful Miller family in their bi-annual family portrait I helped capture.

The Six Miller girls, although all but two have new names these days.

Sarah being silly, as usual. 🙂 Aren’t the Miller girls cute??

Another image of the Miller girls with their matriarch, Chris.

The eternally effervescent Emma.

The leader of the flock and my mother-in-law, Chris.

The most beautiful woman in the world…

Since it had been a couple years since I was in Milwaukee, my parents wanted to take me out to the ballgame. I hadn’t been to the new Miller Park (no relation to my great in-law family). We watched the Milwaukee Brewers take on the Colorado Rockies.

It was a great game with lots of intensity.

Unfortunately, the Brewer’s late-game surge was insufficient to win the day, but it was a great game to watch.

My parents were very thoughtful and requested a giant screen message to me, my Airmen and Soldiers. We are currently training for a year-long mission in Afghanistan (for those who don’t already know). It was a great reminder that everyone back home is pulling for us.

I will finish this post with a couple classic Wisconsin images. Although Wisconsin used to lead the nation in % of over-weight people, they have slipped to about middle of the pack. Currently, Mississippi leads the way with overall fatness, and Colorado is the leanest. However, that didn’t stop a number of large people from attending the game. It was quite a contrast from Europe.

Drinking Miller Lite in Miller Park watching the Milwaukee Brewers.

It has been too long since we were in Wisconsin. I really enjoyed my first few days back in my native state.
Next up is the our trip out to the lakes and most importantly, Julie and Michael’s wedding.
So, until then…
–Jim