Goodbye, Summer

This past week, we sweated our butts off in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. And it was great. Harry was barely dry, taking every opportunity to take a wallow in the water. C-man swam and watched Cartoon Network and shot his BB gun and ate sugary cereal.

We made s'mores. We geocached. We slept in. We played in the water. We kayaked. We fished. We ate pie.

It was a really, really great way to say goodbye to the summer.

We interrupt this hiatus...

To let you know that lazing around all day, eating good food, swinging in the hammock, kayaking around the lake, and giggling at a sheepdog playing in the water is pretty awesome.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Gone Fishin'

And kayaking, and napping, and s'mores eating, and swimming, and reading, and hammock swinging, and BB gun shooting, and... See you in a week.

Serenity ahead

It's Friday. Which means I am heading home early today to mow the lawn and finish the laundry. Tomorrow, we'll load up the minivan, dog and all, and head north to serenity. It can't come soon enough.

Summertime smiles

The warm summer nights make me so happy. As much as I miss our little man in the house, it's been nice to not have to run anywhere or have any commitments. I've been taking a lot of photos outside. Many of the photos look the same, I realize, but it's nice to be able to play a bit with some of my lesser-used lenses. Overall, it's just been nice to have a week that feels like summer. And next week - a true northern Wisconsin lake vacation. I need to finish the laundry, mow the lawn, and pack the s'mores. Ahhh... I don't want to see it end.

Wordless Wednesday: Mmmm... Biergarten...

Thisses and Thatses

• 4 more sleeps until true vacation starts
• We're taking advantage of being kid-free by heading to my favorite local beer garden tonight.
• The garden is next to a disc golf course, and Beerman is so stoked, he already put the discs in my car.
• Who thinks I have an ice cube's chance in hell of doing well at that game?
• I also took advantage of being kid-free to purge some things yesterday. I got rid of an entire bin of C-man's crap stuff. Shhhh... don't tell him.
• Since we're getting close to vacation, I suppose I should start thinking about packing doing laundry.
• I've been loving spending time in my gardens lately, eating still warm cherry tomatoes while I take photos of buzzing bees. The pollen's a killer, but it's totally worth the trouble just to be that calm each night. Plus, I've been really digging my 85 mm lens, and it's perfect for that.

5 more sleeps

It's the last few weeks of summer, and I'm feeling a bit anxious knowing we aren't going to get all of our "summer" in. I'm feeling all wound up because I don't know when we'll fit it all in. I think my anxiousness bled into my dreams last night, because they were all really creepy nightmares. That is my clear indicator that I need to slow down and bring the crazy down a notch or two. September may be a total loss being double committed every weekend, but there's always October, right? And most importantly, next week is our vacation - one whole week of nothingness. Only 5 more sleeps.

Week ahead

C-man went north for the week while Beerman and I went to the awful Brewers game. At least it was a nice day. And I can breathe again, which is a huge improvement. Now it is time to get ready for the week ahead before vacation starts.

Busy bees

I got a massage first thing this morning after breakfast. I hate to complain about a massage, but I had to ask her to do my lower back. Just sayin.

I also got a pedicure today. She cheese grated all of NYC off. Those ladies do not get paid enough.

I also sprayed a bunch of wasp nests today. Beerman is super allergic, so I become the killer. I can't wait until I get my beekeeping certification done so I know better what to do with all of these.

C-man is heading to Camp Grandparent tomorrow. That means today is the only day he has to spend with his neighbor - the kid with whom he is inseparable and who has been gone for 2 weeks. They have definitely made the most of their day together.

I got most of the school supplies today. Hard to believe it is that time.

I also can't believe I a watching Packers on the TV. Seriously?

Weekend bound

I've been too busy and too sick to write anything coherent. Thank goodness it's the weekend.

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset Moo

I'm rounding up to 28

• Today is my Dad's birthday. Happy birthday, Dad!
• I've been back to reality for 2 days, and my feet still hurt.
• I calculated how far we walked according to an online distance mapper and it came up to 26 miles. Which means we walked further because we zig-zagged, and a few times got a little turned around.
• I'm rounding our mileage up to 28 to account for that.
• Unless you take into account how much I ate. Then it goes down to about 2.
• We always talk about our trips in terms of Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Now that I've had a few days to reflect on the most memorable moments, I'm going with Gold: High Line Park, Silver: Brooklyn Bridge, Bronze: Walking through Central Park and then eating lunch in Uptown. Honorable mentions go to the Comedy Cellar, eating in Little Italy, and my half-pitcher of sangria at Nai Tapas.
• Now it's back to the regular ol' stuff. Well sort of. I need to get C-man ready to go to Camp Grandma and Grandpa next week due to my little screw-up where I missed the fact that I had no care set up for him next week. Whoops. August has 5 weeks, not 4.

Back again

I made it back from New York and raced to State Fair in time to see C-man's second judo match. I didn't see the first one that he came from behind to win. Unfortunately, he got thrown on his can the second match, which is the one I saw. It was the first time that'd ever happened, and he was really disappointed.



Since he won one match and lost one, in a bracket of four kids meant he got second overall. He wasn't really that happy with a second place medal until we told him it was time to get a cream puff.

We stopped for corn first.

But then, as promised, a cream puff came second fourth. (We had a corndog second and an an eclair third.) Overall, it put a smile on his face. But the loss renewed his urge to practice. I do love that.

My feet hurt - A truly good time

Day 2

Day 1 in NYC

We made it to NYC today. Our first job, after we made it to the hotel and checked in, was to get to Lady Liberty. The subways are not Tokyo subways. They aren't even Parisian subways. They're difficult to locate, and if you're on the wrong side, you have to exit and re-enter on the opposite side - there's no going over the tracks. Lame.

Anyhow, Lady Liberty is always amazing. Today was no exception.

It rained on and off, but we managed. And it made it cooler to walk around, which was nice. 

We got to the Freedom Tower and the 9/11 memorial, which was nice. St. Paul's Church was a nice memorial to the event, too. It was a new thing for all of us, so it was nice to experience. Although I was a little weirded out by the families taking smiling pictures by the memorial pools - it didn't seem very appropriate to me.

We only came across one subway performing group, and didn't stay to watch, because it was loud and hot and annoying.

Overall, a super fun day that ended with loads of laughs and delicious desserts in Little Italy.