The boys and I made a road trip to St. Paul for a short visit with some dear friends. It was our first visit to the Como Park Zoo and it was a huge hit.
Highlights include:
It was a great day.
He’s back for another try. Chase is beyond happy with his three wheel mode of transportation (his scooter), but with the help of some knee and elbow pads he agreed to give this two wheeler another try.
He made some great progress. We’re not *quite* there but he’s so close! Next time he’ll be riding circles around us. I’m sure of it.
Side note: his little brother cheering section was about the cutest thing ever. I love that they have each other.
Yesterday was Eau Claire’s annual Chalk Fest. Unfortunately, we were out of town so we missed all the excitement and action of the artists working on their pieces. The great part about Chalk Fest, though, is that it lives on (until it rains, obviously).
We stopped by tonight to check out all the finished products and to say we were impressed would be an understatement. There are some super talented folks in this community.
Chase and I fulfilled our mandatory volunteer hours at the 4-H fair food stand this morning. We survived the early morning (7am on a Saturday hurts), the four-hour shift, and the lack of customers like champs.
Chase mostly manned the milk station but also helped at the register. Of everything he learned today, patience was probably the big take away.
Chase exhibited in his first 4-H fair today. As a Cloverbud (the youngest 4-H level), he had to meet face-to-face with a judge and he did great. He brought three projects: a simple sewing project (the quilt square he made at school), a vegetable or fruit from our garden (he brought cucumbers), and a collection (he brought his rock collection). He wasn’t nervous at all and walked right up to the judge and introduced himself and answered all her questions.
He was one proud little Cloverbud. Have I mentioned how much I love 4-H?!?
Gotta love these three together. The boys have a special laugh that only this girl can extract from them. It’s pretty adorable.
Our two little guys are reminding me more and more of their dad every day. It’s about my favorite thing ever.
It was the absolute perfect day for our annual blueberry picking trip. Gorgeous weather, no bugs, and plentiful berries. It just doesn’t get any better. The boys *may* have eaten a few too many berries (neither of them could add any on top of their french toast afterward), but I guess that’s just one more sign of a good berry picking day.
It was an impromptu day of gardening around here. Thanks to the help of my mom and dad (and my hard-working husband, of course), we turned one of our garden beds into a butterfly garden and ripped out the evergreen bushes by our back door. I’m not sure what we’ll plant here, but for now I’m just enjoying the blank slate.
It’s amazing what a beautiful weekend at home with no plans and a little elbow grease will do.
Man, it’s been a good week around here. First, spending time with Chris’s family. Then an old friend of Chris’s from high school visited us for a couple of days (we love Nate!). And then I had my date night with Zoe last night. See? That’s a good week. Exhausting, but really really great.
She was my first niece. I thought I loved her a lot back then. It turns out that love only grows with every year that she becomes more of her independent and inspiring self.
And the sushi was pretty great, too.
Chris’s office treated us to a baseball game outing on a perfect summer night. The boys even got to meet one of the mascots. I think it’s a railroad tie or something. I’ve never really seen the vision.
One of my favorite parts of living in Wisconsin? Getting the chance to be a part of this hysterical group more often. ❤️
Our 1.5 hour canoe trip ended up lasting over four hours today but the weather was perfect, the kids were in good spirits (the whole time, can you believe it?!?), the adults survived the paddling (with only minor injury), and we had a really good time.
I’m not sure anyone is signing up for another canoeing adventure for tomorrow, but it was a perfect activity for this day.
We’ve been spending our weekend celebrating Grandma Bibi’s birthday—there’s been some delicious desserts, a yummy family recipe, a gift-opening, and plenty of laughter.
In between all of that, the boys squeezed in some serious LEGO time. In fact, we had to leave the scene out because it was too important to put away already. That’s when you know things are intense.
Three out of the four of us got haircuts today. I even scheduled out my next appointment (which I’ve maybe never done...in my life). Things are really looking up around here.
Robbe has a sweet little summer camp every morning for 45 minutes this week. It might not seem like much, but Chase and I are making the most of our solo time together—we don’t have the opportunity for that very often. We’ve been reading a lot and even had a playground session. I love this big guy. A lot. A lot a lot.
After reading about microfilm in one of our [many] Boxcar Children books, the boys and I checked out a microfilm machine at our local library. It was really interesting and the boys seemed genuinely intrigued. We were struck by how few photos there were in newspapers in the 1850s. Chase came up with a great explanation...they probably didn't have as many cameras. And now you know.
Ashley and I took the kids on quite an adventure today. A zoo, a playground, a picnic lunch, a splash pad, and ice cream. All before nap. It was intense...and really fun.
Now we all need a lazy day to recover!
*Shout out to Ashley for the perfect splash pad photo!
This is how Robbe takes his s’more.
small city | BIG DAYS
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