Catch Up

So much has happened since the last time I have posted....probably because I don't post as often as I should. Anyways, so here is a quick catch up of what Alec and I have been up too these past few weeks.

1. Days after we got back from camping with our family we went camping for the weekend with some friends from church. So we came home, sort of unpacked some things, did a TON of laundry, then packed it all back up. We camped at Governor Dodge State park in Dodgeville, WI. It was a HUGE park, we really liked it! We camped with 4 other couples: Ben and Leah, Brad and Jessie, Preston and Jennifer, and Shane and Jody. We had an amazing time!

The whole group, minus little Josie who napped back in the tent

This is Cooper, Brad and Jessie's dog; he is from the same breeder as Josie, just a few months older though

2. The next event was our 2 year Anniversary! Yes, we have made it 2 whole years now and have not killed each other :) We were so happy to celebrate it together. We went to Bayshore mall, which is an outdoor mall that we just love going too. We had dinner at one of the restaurants there and then went and saw Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was a great night!!

3. Our good friend Dave and Alyx Arends came to visit us for the weekend. They live in Grand Rapids and made the long drive all the way here just to hang out with us! We had such a good time, we did the Miller Brewery tour and went to the beach. They brought their little dog, Foster, he and Josie had a great time together. Also while they were here, Alec decided that he wanted to shave his head....and so Dave helped him accomplish that.

4. This past Thursday (July 22) Milwaukee got hit with a HUGE storm. We received 8in of rain in the matter of a couple hours. According to the news this was the most rain we have received in this area since 1986 (where they received 11in). We get a ton of water in our backyard if we just get a little rain, so you can imagine what kind of ocean we had back there with this. On top of the rain making us have lake-front property it also gave us a few issues in the basement. The sewer lines backed up and we got raw sewage in our basement. Yes, actual poop and toilet paper in our basement. We noticed it was happening right away and Alec was able to plug up the hole it was gushing out of, which slowed it down. We began water vacuuming right away and trying to clear the mess. We were able to get a bunch of it done that night, I knew it was nasty when Alec came upstairs and said "I think I got all the big chunks taken care of". Neither of us went to work on Friday so that we could clean up (especially since we had guests coming that afternoon!). Steve Hull, a friend of ours, came over and helped Alec sanitize the basement. We went through a ton of bleach! Thankfully we do not have a finished basement and so clean up was pretty easy. We lost a few random things, but nothing major. All down our street, all across Milwaukee for that matter, people have HUGE piles of things that they need to throw away. Basements ruined, cars ruined, people had to walk home from their cars because roads were so flooded. Tons of people were stranded on the highways because of all the flooding, it was a nightmare. We are thankful we didn't have many issues at all!

We suddenly had lake-front property.....unwanted though

You can see the water pouring out of the gutter

Alec had to go rescue his lawn-mower and snow blower from the shed so they wouldn't be ruined, look how deep the water is right off our deck

Our garden did survive, had to cut back a bunch of pumpkins though

4. Lastly, we had some family members travel to stay with us for the weekend! Alec's sister, Kate, and her husband Steve, and their 3 girls (Claire-9, Sarah-9, and Jenna-20mon). We were able to go to the zoo, play some Wii, and have a great time together!