St. Patrick's Day Parade - Fitzgerald Style!!

About 2 weeks before St. Patrick's day, Dad brought in the newspaper clipping announcing the upcoming parade in Manitowoc, along with the float entry form.  His suggestion that we put a float in the parade, materialized into a great (hopefully annual) event!!

About a week before the big day, Kelly and I took to designing signs for our float.  Here she is working in the shop.  We were quite please with how they turned out, especially after finding out to have something professionally done would cost $100 - $200!!  And yes, that is John Deehr green paint...finally founds a use for that stuff on our very "red" farm!!

  

After celebrating the Irish Mass in Manitowoc, it was off to the float.  The picture below shows our "Clan"

- from left to right - Patrick (cousin), Sandie (Mom), Clara (our green calf!), Brooke (neice), Hailey (daughter), Austin (nephew), Kelsey (daughter), Brenda (employee), Julie, Nathan (nephew), Brittany (employee), Kelly (sister) and Jim (Dad).

Even Mom got into the spirit of the day, allowing us to use the same green hairspray on her that we used on the calf!!  We passed out cheese, dairy coloring books, key chains and recipes to the parade attendees.

By far, the highlight of the night was watching the kids faces light up when they realized it was a real, live calf that they were seeing in downtown Manitowoc.  Clara was so very well behaved (shown here with Brooke) - it can be somewhat scarry to take a living animal, on the top of a hay wagon, knowing she may or may not decide to cooperate!  The event was a complete sucess, a chance for us to share our pride of our Irish heritage and our passion for farming.  We look forward to doing this again next year!

 



Welcome Liam Patrick Klotz!!

 At 9 pm on Monday, March 14th, Liam Patrick Klotz made his debut as the littlest Soaring Eagle Crew member, weighing in at 9 pounds 8 ounces and 21.5 inches long.  We are so very happy for Stacy and Jeremy!  Here's a picture of Stacy about 6 weeks before Liam's arrival.

 Liam is a beautiful little boy who seldom goes a day without a visit from an extended family member.  I have to say my girls are a bit obsessed  with seeing him.  The record is 1 hour after returning from a visit to see him, they asked "When are we going to see him next?" 

A cute little story about Liam is that Stacy and Jeremy had a hard time settling on his middle name.  They had originally told the nurses his name would be Liam Aidan Klotz.  About an hour later Jeremy's Mom suggested Patrick for a middle name since he was born 3 days before St. Patrick's Day.  The proud parents both LOVED the name and luckily there was still time to make the change.  Definitely a story for the baby book!

Congratulations to Stacy and Jeremy.  Our family is truly BLESSED with another member of the next generation!!



Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As I have become older, my fascination with my Irish Heritage has too.  (Funny, I never boast about my Bohemian ancestry??)  We've already been celebrating this year.  Mom brought Ruben's for the crew at Soaring Eagle Dairy last week - since Stacy insisted that if she wait until the 17th, she may be out on maternity leave.  We're still waiting for Baby Klotz to make his arrival!!

Additionally, today my daughter and I got in the Irish spirit of things when we built this snowman.  Proof that Old Man Winter truly is Irish!!

A few years back, all the Fitzgerald Women, spent St. Patrick's Day in Chicago.  We took in the parade, saw the river died green and had the best time ever!!

But the big deal this year will be our first every participation in Manitowoc's St. Patrick's Day parade.  We will have a float and the Fitzgerald Clan members will be handing out cheese and coloring books.  If you're from the area and you attend the parade, please be sure to watch for Clara - our green calf!!  The parade starts at 6:30 in downtown Manitowoc.  For those of you who aren't local, not to worry...there will be pictures to follow!!!