TINCAPS

Last night we took a break from research, and went to the baseball game-the Ft. Wayne TinCaps vs. the Quad City River Bandits. We've been driving by this new stadium and were curious about the name of the team and their logo. This is the place where Johnny Appleseed died and it's the name of our campground. The logo is an apple with a tin pan on, but it not only has a handle, it also has a tree branch protruding-it looks like a tin cap. They have there own version you can buy, similar to the cheesehead hats. Anyway, the stadium is fantastic and the tickets are cheap. The game was great and the TinCaps won, but the audience partcipation was fantastic. They had something for kids going on at every break, and it was nice to see families having so much fun. The game the night before was rained out, so we got to see the end of that game also-and they won. The first two pictures were before the scheduled game started-it was almost full on a Monday night.



A bunch of people who were celebrating their birthdays got to pitch a ball to the catcher-one of them was a little guy who waddled like a duck-he was really cute!

Here are some happy fans appearing on the screen.

Here's Johnny!

It was a fun evening. After the game, they let kids run the bases-how neat!

CINDY'S DINER

We've found an interesting little place for lunch-emphasis on the little! Cindy's diner holds 15 people with very little room to spare. The food is good and the interaction between the locals is interesting-middle America at its finest! Since we decided to stay for another week, I'll bet we end up there for a third time.

Looking to the left.

Looking to the right-a doughnut machine.

BOTANICAL CONSERVATORY

On Sunday afternoon, we went downtown to go to the library, but it was closed, so we ended up at the conservatory. There are three main parts to it, one was tropical, one was a desert and the other had annuals and perrenials.

There were some pretty flowers. I couldn't help but think of my mother-she loved gardenias, and dad bought her many plants over the years.

Some areas were quite colorful.

Here's an interesting container.

The tropical area had a small waterfall.

The desert area had a huge prickly pear in bloom.

It was like being back in Arizona.

GOOCH'S GREENHOUSE

When we were in Dubuque, we camped at the Rustic Barn, about six miles across the bridge in Kieler, WI. In talking with Don's brother Marvin and sister Barb, we learned about a good place to get pizza. It's in the small town of Kieler, which is too small to have the population listed in the atlas, so Don figures there's probably a couple hundred people. The pizza was good, but we laughed at their claim to fame.

If you blink, you'll miss downtown Kieler!

WHERE ARE THEY?

For those of you that expected to see us in Grinnell or Omaha-we turned the wrong direction and are in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. We're here for a week at our second favorite genealogy library. I found about 65 documents today on various relatives, so I'm happy. Since we're in the area, we'll probably head to Cincinnati next week. We did have a real small town experience before we left, but it's midnight, so you'll have to wait to hear about it. Just thought the kids should know where we are.

MORE PARTY

The party went on all day with other relatives and friends joining the group. Here's Grandma with her younger sister, "Pete".

A group of Mulerts.

Like other families, the youngest member is "passed around" all day since everyone likes to hold babies! Here's Emily with Jenna.

Even Jake took a turn with his Dad and Uncle Jerry looking on.

And my favorite picture-Aunt Linda holding Emily while her sister Anna gives her a kiss.

It was a lovely day. Hopefully the photographer's pictures of the whole group will turn out good for Grandma!

GRANDMA'S 90!!!

On Saturday we had a party for Grandma at Eagle Point Park with almost all of Don's family. We had a good time and hope Ida did too. Here she is with all of her great-grandchildren except our grandson Lucas, who was in Omaha running the 800 in a regional race after winning state. The kids range in age from 16 to 5 months.

Then they got to have a "silly picture".

I gave my camera to someone to get a picture of our family, but it's not very good-obviously we weren't ready. I hope the photographer did better.

We have two families with five children. It's interesting to listen to their mothers comparing notes. Carrie has a chance to remember when hers were little and Wendy gets a look at what's to come. Our son Russ, his wife Carrie with Jake, Dan, Jenna, Brian and Joe.

Pat and Jerry's son Ted and wife Wendy with Joey, Tommy, Jack, Anna and Emily.