Big day for our big guy: we assembled his bunk bed. He's been dreaming of this day for so long. Unfortunately, we don't have mattresses to put on the beds quite yet (who knew the bed would arrive so quickly?!?), so no sleeping there tonight...but soon!
No mattresses didn't keep the boys down, though. We threw the toddler bed mattress up there and the two kiddos spent a significant amount of time going up and down. Up and down.
Lots of happiness in the house today.
Spontaneous date night with some of Chris's new coworkers tonight. Eau Claire Dancing with the Stars (yep, that's a thing) was super entertaining. We even ran into a few friendly faces (note photo above).
A huge huge thank you to my mom and dad for watching the boys (again!). It's such a reality check to realize that we can do these types of outings now. Feeling very lucky.
I woke up the morning itching to take advantage of the beautiful weather (after two days of rain). To the bridges! Remember that I mentioned there are lot of bridges here?
We visited two new ones today...and they didn't disappoint. High Point Bridge was especially impressive with views of a roaring river pouring through the dam.
And, although I'm not a huge fan of driving over big bridges, my stomach only got a mild "funny feeling" (as I described to the boys) during today's excursion. Success!
The rain couldn't keep us down on day two. We busted out of the house to explore the Beaver Creek Reserve nature center. It was renovated this summer and is fantastic. We were there for over 1.5 hours and I had to peel the boys away.
Some highlights:
Add this to our list of much-needed cold weather outing ideas. Why yes, we will join as members.
The best part? We didn't do any of the outdoor activities (two playgrounds + hiking trails galore), so once the mosquitos settle down (we got eaten alive on our way in from the parking lot), we'll be back before the snow hits.
It finally had to happen: Chris started his job today. Back to real life and that means just me and the boys. I wouldn't say it was our best day, but it could have been a lot worse. That's a success, right?
As glorious as the last five weeks (!!) have been, I think we're all ready to see what life in our new house in our new city is really going to be like. We've been in a constant state of vacation since we left the District on July 13. Whoa.
Oh, and Chris's first day went well, for those keeping track. Everyone seems really nice and his commute alone (less than ten minutes) is enough to keep him happy for awhile. We've got a good feeling about this.
Today is my Grandma's birthday. My dad and his seven (!!) siblings hosted a quaint, intimate party to help celebrate the occasion.
Above is a photo of a few of the 18 cars parked in and around the driveway. I heard there were 51 people in attendance. That's crazy. 50+ people attending your birthday party...that's how you know you're loved. :)
It's been a good day. A really good day.
Chris's brother and his family came over for a day trip. We can do day trips now!
We enjoyed a morning + lunch exploring our new city and then played a round of mini golf (a first for all the kids!). I forgot how great mini golf is.
Being close to family, and this specific family, is why we're here. It was a really good day.
There have been some unexpected surprises that have popped up since our move to Wisconsin. One of these surprises is how many treasures our children seem to discover every time we visit one of the grandparents. Today's discoveries include two sets of awesome headphones and a kids record player from the 80s. Lucky, aren't we?
However, in all seriousness, we're so thankful to have such loving and generous grandparents closeby that have already aleviated our child-based stress tremendously. I guess these new "treasures" just go along with the territory. Seems like a good trade.
What a perfect day for a trip to St. Paul to see some of our favorite people and visit the Minnesota State Fair (a first for us!).
The weather couldn't have been better, the three boys handled the chaos (and sugar) of the fair like champs, and man did we accomplish all the goals we set for our short visit.
A few highlights:
Well done, team.
To top it off, we got back to our friends' house in time for Robbe to nap (which he did instantly) and some quality low-key hang out time before we ate a yummy dinner and hit the road to head home.
Today might just be in the running for best day ever. :)
I've been hinting at this day for a long time. My new blog (and website name) are revealed!
Small City | Big Days seems like the perfect continuation in documenting the daily life of our little family. I'll be redirecting visitors from the District Day Dreams website for a bit, but update your bookmarks to www.smallcitybigdays.com to make sure you don't miss anything moving forward.
And now, the other really big news of the day...the Water Street Bridge is open! You might not fully appreciate the excitement surrounding this development but you would if you knew that every night for the past week we've been making trips to check it's progress. The bridge is about two blocks from our house and opens up an even easier walking path to a bunch of restaurants + bars + local stores. Woohoo!
Above is a collage from today's ribbon cutting + first walk across as well as a few photos from the in progress excursions we've taken along the way. See? Big day.
**Side note: I never realized how many bridges Eau Claire has. I think there have to be at least 300. Ok, not really, but there are a ton. I guess that's what happens when two rivers converge in the middle of a city's downtown. Perhaps I'll do a blog post with photos of all (more like, some of) the bridges some day. Stay tuned.
small city | BIG DAYS
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