DAYS 9 – 11: Amazing Toy Collection!
I worked on Tuesday morning while Richard took the boys to the “water park” at this particular campground. They had a good time but I am always concerned about Richard getting too much sun. He’s so sensitive. (Sssh…Don’t tell him I said that.)
Late in the afternoon, we drove to Jim’s house. Jim is one of Richard’s old school friends and the one with the huge Star Wars collection. How huge? See for yourself…
Jim gave all the kids (our two youngest boys and our niece and nephew) souvenirs. They were all beyond thrilled, and happily played Star Wars using their imaginations for the rest of the evening.
On Wednesday, we worked in the morning (that’s the day we send out our weekly issue of WritersWeekly), and then met up with the family to head to the Dinosaur Museum in Kenosha, WI. It was very small but quite impressive for its size.
Scott’s wife, Kelly, who’s a friend of mine, met us there. We split from the group after the museum so we could get groceries. Kelly and Scott had invited ALL of us (13 people total) to their place for dinner. Kelly wanted me to see Woodman’s, a huge grocery store with three whole aisles of candy. Yes, I bought the “big kids” at home some goodies!
Kelly made a fantastic dinner for everyone (and she even let me help some!) of stuffed burgers (stuffed with cheese and bacon – aaaahhh!!!) and baked red potato chunks swimming in oil, butter, salt and pepper. She also made a beautiful fruit pizza for dessert that was gluten free. We ate the whole thing!
Thursday was our last full day in Racine and everybody was kinda bummed about that. We woke up early and drove to Richard’s mom’s house. We were excited about eating at Frank’s Diner in Kenosha, WI, which was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Channel. I wanted to take some pictures for Ali (our daughter, who’s majoring in Culinary Arts) and, of course, do some taste-testing (ahem…). Richard and I both had the garbage plate and, yes, it was as amazing as everybody says it is. I got the half-portion and still couldn’t eat it all. Highly recommended!
After that, Grandma Cindy wanted to take the children to Toys R Us for a spoilin’ session. Max got to pick out his birthday present (he turns 9 soon) and the other children got to choose something for $10 or less. They were quite happy about that!
I worked in the afternoon while Richard and his sister took all the kids swimming. Cindy/Grandma was shopping and cooking up a storm for us as she’d invited everyone to dinner at her place. We had amazing pork loin sandwiches, delicious cheesy potatoes, corn on the cob, green beans, and homemade cherry pie for dessert. (One more week until I start my post-trip diet!!)
We all had to say sad goodbyes after that as we’d only see Chris (Richard’s friend) the next day. 
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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.
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