Fall Fun

Going back to happier, warmer times reminds me that there is a time when I really love living in Wisconsin and that there is a time when you can go outside without freezing your face off.  One of my favorite traditions that we have is picking apples each fall.  The kids love it, and I love watching them gobble up my homemade applesauce and apple butter.

We got our Halloween pumpkins while we were there too.  Those blue eyes kill me.  How has she gotten so big?   And this one – I tell them to stop growing, but they just don’t listen.   Wasn’t this just last week? Carter went for a challenge and did an R2-D2 pumpkin this year.  Ben drew his own jack o’ lantern.  I love them all – the kids and the pumpkins. 

Back when snow was fun…

Once upon a time, it was warm enough to play in the snow.  Adam was super excited to go out for the first time.             Sadly, that is the one time that this snow suit was worn by Adam.  When will winter be over?

Boston

Mike had a business trip to Rhode Island over our anniversary this last November and so we decided to fly out early and stay in Boston for a few days.  Thanks to my awesome sister being willing to watch my kids, we were able to make it happen.  It was the longest we’ve been away since having kids and it was amazing!  I mean, I missed my kids and all, but really it was mostly just amazing.  Boston is such a fun, interesting city.  We got there right after the world series ended.  Apparently it was kind of a big deal there…

The first morning we were there we got to watch the victory parade.  It’s pretty crazy how much these people love their sox.  And if you look closely, there’s the championship trophy!  I practically could have touched it. Well, almost.  The next day we went on a historic food tour.  A little bit of history, a little bit of food – that’s my idea of a great day.  Ok, it was a lot of food.  A lot of amazing, delicious food.  And the most amazing French toast ever.    We got to know Paul Revere.  We went to his house,  His gravesite, And his statue!  He’s a Red Sox fan too. Who knew? Look at that cute couple.  That’s a couple who’s not worried about what their kids ate that day, who pooped when, or when those kids would finally go to bed.  That’s a couple who need to get away more often!     Anyone want a few extra kids for a week or so?  

Kentucky

Every couple of years Mike, his dad, brother and sister and their families get together for a little reunion.  This year we went to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.  It was kind of random, but it turns out that it was about the same distance for all of us and who doesn’t want to see the longest cave system in the world, right?  It was some great cousin time for the kids, especially Carter.  He had a blast with his older boy cousins.  Sammy was super cute with the twins that are Ben’s age, and Ben had a fabulous time running wild with the twins.  Mike and I enjoyed visiting with his brother, sister and dad.  All in all, a successful family reunion! 

Here’s the whole crazy clan (minus Mike’s dad, taking the picture).    Holy cow this kid is already grown so much since then.  As many of you know, Ben loves a photo shoot.  We had a pretty spectacular one while hanging out one evening.  This one is definitely my favorite.  I love those chubby hands.   Then he went all Sports Illustrated on me and started rolling on the ground.    Seriously, where did this kid come from? Waiting for our tour of the cave to start:

Mike got to wear Adam for the tour – at least for the first 30 minutes.  That’s when he woke up from his nap and decided he was over the baby wearing stage.  Never again will we wear babies. :) We stopped by Churchill Downs on the way out of town.  And I really mean stopped by.  We parked, took this picture, drove around for a minute and left.  The kids were all whining about how hot it was and Adam was done with the whole trip.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it.  It was much more plantation-esque.   Lots of balconies and patios.  Very southern. 

As another fun stop on the way home, we met up with this lovely lady.  Janelle was one of my best friends in college.  We met at the good old Brick Oven while we both worked there.  We had some seriously crazy times together; some of my best memories from that time are with her.  It was so fun to visit with her and her cute kids.  It’s sad having friends move away so often, but it’s fun meeting up with friends in random places! 

Next up, Utah! 

Devil’s Lake

Devil’s Lake has been on our to-do list for years now.  It’s a beautiful lake surrounded by bluffs.  It’s the closest thing to mountains that you get here in Wisconsin.  We finally got around to going at the end of last month.  It was so much fun! We talked some friends into joining us. I can’t believe we waited so long.  We’ll definitely do it again.  Hopefully next time it won’t rain as much…

The highlight of the weekend was the hike that we went on.  We went thinking it would be an easy “one boot” hike (our guide book rates them from one-four boots depending on how hard they are).  Anyways, turns out that we ended up on a four boot hike.  We went through some super steep spots and a few spots where I was sure someone was going over the edge.  But these kids were serious troopers and even though we were all exhausted by the end, we were all glad we did it! 

This was at the beginning when the kids were voluntarily climbing the rocks.  Little did they know that soon this would be the trail…  And no, we didn’t have more kids, we had friends with us.  Friends who will probably never go camping with us again. 

This was where it started getting scary.  It made us a little nervous to look back and see Mike with Adam on his back.  One wrong step and they both would have fallen backwards down the trail.  Adam had no idea the danger he was in and just enjoyed the ride.  This my friends is one of the reasons I love Wisconsin.  They may have mountains in Utah, but they’ve got nothing on this greenery.  It’s amazing.  This is Devil’s doorway.  Some crazies (Paulina) were climbing through the hole right above my head and getting pictures inside of the doorway.     My kids were doing enough crazy climbing on their own.  They may be part mountain goat.    The kids were completely wiped out at the end of the hike.  Poor Sammy couldn’t even make it into the car. 

Other than this hike, there were lots of pancakes, s’mores, mosquitoes, yummy dinners, rain storms, muddy shoes and daddy long legs.  All in all a successful camping trip in my book!  Although our friends may disagree.