Milwaukee and Today

Today was a pretty good day. It started out well, since I got to sleep in. Thank you, dear husband!

The only down-side to this morning was pulling out my sandals that I have been waiting to wear (I really dislike with a passion panty-hose, tights and the like) and finding out that my feet are too swollen to fit into them.

Sigh.

After church we went to a park to feed the ducks.
There were significantly less ducks and geese this time than there were in my memory of our previous outing. And they seemed exceptionally well fed this time. So most of our bread went to the fishes.
Luckily, Noah wasn't too disappointed by the disinterest of the ducks and Ian, well, he found a better use of the old, nasty, stale bread we had brought.
I think he is working on a growth spurt.

After we fed the ducks and ate a snack (not old, stale, nasty bread!) we went back to church to attend our friend and neighbor's baptism.

It was the first one that we have taken the kids to. I worry a lot about how disruptive they can be during a small gathering of family and friends trying to enjoy a spiritual experience.

They were not the most well-behaved children there but I think we made it through without Ephraim or his family wishing we hadn't come:) As for me, I really enjoyed it. There were lots of kids there, friends and cousins and siblings, and yet in that moment, as they all gathered around to witness this special ordinance, it was quiet.

Totally quiet.

And the Spirit was there. How sweet and joyful was that quiet moment!

***

Thursday afternoon Chris drove up to Milwaukee for an interview with Bucyrus. They are a mining equipment manufacturer. Chris had a phone interview with them a few weeks ago and came home so excited about the things that had been discussed.

What was so exciting? I wondered.

Perhaps I should have guessed but really I had no clue. I mean, who did/does know that Bucyrus (have you even heard of them before?) make some of the world's largest machines?

But what person with a Y chromosome would not LOVE to work on one?

Even if you don't have a Y chromosome this is pretty amazing to try and comprehend. Check out this representation of scale:

The office building is the headquarters of Bucyrus and is 7 stories tall. The numbers listed at the bottom are model numbers of machines that Bucyrus manufacturers. The 8750, called a Dragline, is the largest machine they make. They make less than 2 a year and have 90% of the world wide market share.

The 495, an electric rope shovel, small by comparison to the Dragline, will only cost you a mere $100 million. It is built on site, transported to site in pieces, by 70 rail cars. Once the mine is closed some parts are scrapped and the rest is left to rust or buried when they fill in the big hole, too large to be moved. Caterpillar's largest excavator weighs 100 tons and could be picked up in the bucket of the 495.

Chris' cousin John and his family live in Milwaukee. We recently found out that they will be staying to do his residency there as well. Family!

They were very generous with their time and hospitality while Chris was there. Thanks, John and Karisa!!

They showed him around downtown and some of the burbs.

This is a statue of Abe Lincoln but for me the interesting this was in the back-the whale fin sculpture that moves. Apparently it doesn't move all the time, but it opens and closes, changing the perspective.
Milwaukee does border Lake Michigan. It does not get a lot of swimmers but, supposedly, the beaches are well used.
This was a restaurant that John and Karisa showed Chris-the "spy" restaurant called...can you guess from the sign?
Did you guess it? Safe House.

They entered through a revolving bookcase, after providing the secret password, of course, and exited through a phone booth into an underground tunnel that led to an alley. Pretty cool, huh?

The wait to eat was an hour and a half so they moved on after checking out the inside.
They saw where the Brewers play, with its retractable roof. Tickets to their games are said to be fairly affordable. Sadly, property taxes, if they don't keep us from owning a home outright (should we be offered a job and should we accept it), would definitely keep us from attending any games.
Chris really liked the area and thought the interviews went well. We hope to hear from them within the next week. But if things don't go our way, the best part of the trip for Chris was still enjoyed- spending time with John, Karisa and their son. Thanks again, guys!