Trips to DC and Wisconsin/Michigan

After my quick trip to Wisconsin for a funeral and the summer dig the next week in western Arkansas, my summer actually got even busier...  First came a week-long trip to Washington, D.C. as a part of my leadership training I am receiving in the Forest Service.  Not surprisingly, then, I had a chance to get around the US Capitol (above) and other parts of the National Mall, including the Lincoln Monument:

the new monument to Korean War veterans:

the Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool:

the chambers of the US Supreme Court:

among many other sites.  Most of the time I spent in DC was focused on learning how my agency operates at the national level, and how it interacts with the administration and Congress.  After quite an adventure getting back home to Arkansas following flight delays, Bragg Family South immediately piled into the minivan and headed out to a couple weeks of R&R (at least for some of us) in Wisconsin and Michigan.  I say some, because we actually put Hope on a flight to Bozeman, Montana, so she could attend a week-long training on bringing archeology to teachers and students.  While Hope worked in Montana that week, the kids and I joined my parents in northern Wisconsin.  Below, the kids were given a birthday cake by my mom (since we aren't around during their birthdays):

We also had the chance to sit around a campfire in the backyard and went fishing a couple times (Beth was so proud of this catch):

One rainy day we went up to Minocqua to do some antiquing with Mom, who literally bit off more than she could chew with this mondo ice cream cone:

Stephen and Kenny also went exploring along the nearby railroad tracks and collected taconite pellets that had fallen off passing trains years ago:

After about 5 days in Montana, Hope flew into Minneapolis, where the kids and I (accompanied by my sister Lisa and some of her family) met her at the airport.  While we waited for her flight to come in, we went to the huge Mall of America.  Below, my boys spent some time in the amusement park in this mall:

The also had a blast horsing around with their cousins Emma and Leila:

Hope may have "missed out" on the mall fun, but she got a nice surprise the next day while we visited with my sister and her family in western Wisconsin--our niece Susan and her husband Jay paid an unannounced visit (they live in eastern Kentucky), bringing along their children, including their newborn son August:

After a short visit with Lisa and family, we headed back to my parents' house, and Hope got a brief (one day) visit with my folks (including a couple walks in the woods) before we piled back into the minivan to begin the next part of this trip:

Stephen was doted on by my dad:

We stayed the night with my brother Bob and his significant other Nancy, fishing for panfish from the pond:

We couldn't linger long at Bob and Nancy's, as we needed to head to Milwaukee to meet Hope's dad Rick at the high-speed ferry:

Rick had parked his car at the dock in Muskegon, Michigan, earlier that morning and crossed over Lake Michigan to join us for a Milwaukee Brewer's baseball game:

Love this panoramic picture!  After the game we joined my brother John and his husband Jim for dinner and drinks.  Below, Jim takes a picture of the huge pretzel appetizer we shared while my brother John (in the Packer hat) looked on:

The following morning, we went back to the high-speed ferry, drove our car aboard, and joined Rick on the trip over to Michigan (this picture is from the deck as we are just about to leave Milwaukee):

We had to hurry back to Rick's home near Ann Arbor because that evening he hosted much of the extended Pruden family for the 4th of July:

The next day we went to Toledo, Ohio (about an hour from Rick's house), to see Toledo's world-class zoo:

Unfortunately, our visit with Rick was very short (only a few days) as both Hope and I had to return to our jobs and get Kenny to a swim meet.  En route to Arkansas, we did take advantage of our proximity to visit the site of a couple historical battles and a fort name Fort Recovery in extreme western Ohio:

This weekend we're trying to catch up from being gone for a couple of weeks, which involved mowing the lawn between rain showers and working through a pile of mail while dealing with our lonely cats.