July 19, 2015
We were awakened by a noisy crow about 7 AM, but layed around for awhile before getting up. We readied the trailer to leave after breakfast. The day was bright and sunny with a light breeze. Perfect for the ride to Madison.
We took some group pictures–one on the deck….
another one on the dock….
and the ladies in the teepee. Oops! Where’s Mary?
We had a have a picture of our wonderful hosts–Dave and Jean! Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful lake home with us!
We pulled out of the driveway at 9:30 and were on our way.
John would be driving Steve and Janet back to town. Dave, Jean, and Mary would lock up and soon follow. Tonight we would all meet up again at Sara’s house (sister) in Middleton for a reunion of all the 9 brothers and sisters. Traffic was fairly heavy on this Sunday morning. We could see Rib Mt. near Wausau (now known as Granite Peak), in the distance with all the ski runs.
We haven’t traveled this stretch of highway in many years and parts of it have grown up a lot and look very different. John’s truck passed us around 11:00. Say, “bye”!
From the bridge over the Wisconsin River, we could see people enjoying this beautiful day on the sandbar.
We entered the outskirts of Madison about 12:45 and headed for our campground on the north side of town. We would be staying at Babcock County Park in McFarland. Traffic was heavier now as we got closer to town. We saw a few new buildings and changes as we entered the city limits. We arrived at our camground at 1:00 and proceeded to the dump station to empty our black water and fill our fresh water tank.
We set up camp and hung out for a couple of hours before going to Sara’s house for the family party. Suzanne came from Denver with her 3 kids and brought with her beer samples from their nano-brewery, The Three Freaks.
Russ brought games for the adults and kids to play in the yard.
Sara had the food catered in and we had some delicious choices to choose from! It was a culinary treat!
Chloe and Sara made the desserts. They looked absolutely delicious and tasted that way too.
We celebrated Chloe’s and Ryker’s birthdays!
Grandpa Bob and Izzy were enjoying the festivities!
It was such a beautiful night and everyone enjoyed sitting outside.
Mary wanted to get some family pictures before people started to leave. It’s always a momentous occasion to get all the Shaws together and this was a one of those times. The first group were the 9 brothers and sisters.
The next group were the spouses or “outlaws”.
The last group picture was of the kids.
This is the Shaw family! Don’t you love it?
We got to see a beautiful sunset from the deck. The picture doesn’t do it justice.
We said our goodbyes and made plans to get together at Jenny and John’s place on Tuesday. Bob and I got back to the campground and Auggie got his evening walk. We turned in early. It was a very busy day!
