October 2019 - San Antonio and Fall Time

Fall is in full swing here in IL.  What an awesome time of year.  Fall seems to be when I do best at reconnecting with old friends, and really enjoying my family.  Summer is my favorite season, because I do so love the sun, but summer is always so BUSY.  Fall is a time to slow down, drink a good beer and enjoy life at a slightly slower pace.

Mark and I took one last trip North to Das Lakehaus.  We worked hard all weekend getting chores done for my place and for Grandmas.  We had some fun too, for sure, but it is always a nice time to be up North.

Lovey Loo got her Halloween costume a bit early this year. She saw this "Fairy Princess" dress and just HAD to have it.  The dress was a little over budget, but she was happy to pay half of it with her own money.  Worth every penny!

We took our yearly trip to Tanner's Orchard for pumpkins and fall fun!  The kiddos had a great time.  J. Scott was enamored with the big machines.  He loves trucks, tractors, and all sorts of earth moving equipment. What a thrill!

It wasn't all Autumn fun though... I got to head to wonderful San Antonio for a few days for a conference.  So strange to be anywhere without the family.  I made the most of it, hitting up the river walk and the Biergarten downtown.  Altstadt Brewery makes a darn fine Octoberfest!

It wasn't all "bachelor" fun though.  I did a lot of learning, and then ladies joined!  Mandi and Lovey had their first annual "Ladies Trip".  Lovey was SO excited to go on an "airpane" and stay at the "fancy hotel" with the "fancy pool"!

On our last day, we took a day trip to New Braunfels - what a lovely town!  The biggest thrill was seeing the Comal river, and the Comal Springs.  The colors were amazing, and the water is so clean and pure!

New Braunfels is home to Krause's Biergarten - so naturally we had to stop in. The food was great and the beer was better. I am inspired!

That is all for now, Stay Healthy!

"The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you.

The LORD lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace."

Numbers 6:24-26

September 2019 - Labor Day and Late Summer Fun

September is here!  We started the month off with a ton of fun.  Heading up to Orion for the weekend for Mandi's family's yearly Labor Day Party.  The food was good, weather was great, and the company even better.  The night before we got to head to the Orion Fall Festival (seems a bit premature, as its still summer, but oh well).  The kids had fun :)

Lovey was so brave to get on the mini-Ferris Wheel!  She saw her older brother (The Kid!) get in line and followed right behind.  There were some looks of trepidation at first, but then all smiles.

Did I mention that the weather was great?  Spruce Hill farm was a lovely spot for a party - and this year there were TWO bounce houses!

The Kid and Baberoo have been having fun building Lego garages for all of Baberoo's toy cars. That kid loves a good engine driven vehicle.

This past weekend Mandi took the two "bigs" up to Adventure Land with her parents.  That meant that Baberoo and I got to have an adventure ourselves.  We trekked over to Monticello, taking a trip down memory lane, enjoying the sights aaaaand...

Riding the train (or Chh-Chss, as Baberoo would say)!!!

Our adventure was capped off the right way, Filippos at Nick's park with some old friends.

The fall fun continued later in the weekend as we visited the Peoria Heights Fire Department, it was a slow minute and the fire man there was more than happy to give Baberoo a little wish fulfillment.

That's all for now.

Stay Healthy!

"The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you.

The LORD lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace."

Numbers 6:24-26

August 2019 - The Man's Trip

August is nearly behind us.  The season of the Lake is past, and we are moving towards fall.  The Kid and I made the most of it this year, by taking our yearly "Man's Trip" to the cabin for a week.  This year, my good friend Markus was able to join.  Take a look!

Well... okay so there were some girls along too.  Grandma Polly and Ava were up North at Grandma Grogg's, and so we had some cousin time.

Plenty of time over on Bond with Grandma Grogg :)

This was the weather that greeted us nearly every day!  Fantastic!

Poppi was able to join us for a few days (and actually drove The Kid up).  On his last day we decided to take a trek further north to a few state parks.  The first was an old favorite: Amnicon State Park.

Next stop was the Two Harbors Breakwater.  This area has been turned into a really nice city park.  Incredible views!

For Markus and I this was a blast from the past.  During 2005 we took a trip up this way and stopped through.  Markus' family is from this area, so he knows it well.

We decided to be tourists for Lunch, and stopped off at Betty's Pies for lunch.  Poppi, Markus and I enjoyed some delicious pie (Coconut Turtle, French Silk, and Key Lime respectively) while the Kid genius lived up to his name by ordering the large cookie, warmed up a la mode!

The next stop was Gooseberry State Park, to see the falls and hike the trails.

Did you know the Kid was so strong?!

Probably my best photo of the trip.  This is where the river empties into the Lake, absolutely gorgeous.

This is a recreation of a photo from 2005.  One doesn't get views like that in IL!

The kid was absolutely thrilled to get to play in the waterfalls.  The "white water" as he called it was his favorite part of the trip.

Our excursion ended with a dinner in Duluth and a trip down the canal.

The next morning before Poppi headed home we got some RC Boating in.

The rest of the trip was full of sun, sand, and water.  I think that about sums it up!

There was much much more, I promise - but this is about all I have for pictures.

Stay Healthy!

"The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you.

The LORD lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace."

Numbers 6:24-26

July 2019 - Part 2 - Family Trip to the Cabin

July is closing out - and we have returned from the Northwoods.  Our yearly family pilgrimage to the Cabin is done.  We had a great trip.  There were a few bumps and bruises had, but overall everyone had a great time.  The Kid and I are eager to return in a few weeks for the "Man's Trip".

Here are some of the highlights.

The drive up is always a bear.  But this is our best trip in several years.  We decided to try something different, heading a ways up to stay with Mandi's parents, and then leaving from their house at 04:00 the next morning.  This was definitely the way to go.  Everyone slept for an hour or so (even Mandi!), and woke refreshed and happy to get doughnuts at Blue Boy Bakery in Lancaster WI.  Baberoo was especially excited!

Leaving so early meant we got to enjoy a lovely afternoon at Grandma's with the Nichols Family.  My cousin Nick was the oldest of the many cousins I had growing up.  He was also the ringleader.  It was so much fun to get to see them all.  Their oldest girl, M. loved giving rides in the kayak.

We also got to take out Ole Red, our hand-me-down Pontoon Boat :)  The children had a blast.

Grandma has a lovely beach at her place, and sand castle construction was a near daily occurrence.

A huge bonus this year was Grandma Polly and Grandpa Greg being up for the first week.  The kids spent so much quality time with grandparents.

We took one of our few cloudy days to head up to Duluth.  The children love visiting the toy stores, sitting on the stuffed moose, and seeing the lighthouse.  We tried to recreate last year's "Best Selfie Ever"... it wasn't quite as good.  But still pretty great.

One morning, to get out and do something different we took a trip up to Amnicon State Park.  This park is an absolute gem.  It is a little harrowing at times with the kiddos - especially Baberoo, who would like nothing better than to swim in the "wawa".  But we stretched our legs a bit and enjoyed the sights.

Here are a few random pictures from the trip, that do a decent job of touching on the highlights.

I found this gem stashed away in one of Grandma's photo albums.  The album was titled "'99 Vol 1" so I suspect it was from the summer of '99.  This was a trip that my cousins Cori, Kyle, Brock, my sister Betsy and I took on our own.  No parents.  I believe that I was just shy of 17 years old.  In the lower left is Alissa, a friend I met that summer and have kept in touch with since.  Next over is Cori in the striped towel, then my aunt Jodi who joined us later.  Up top from left to right are Betsy, Matt Parsons (3rd cousin of my stepdad), Kyle, Brock (standing), myself (kneeling), Ashley, Tara and finally Steve Parsons sitting.  That was a great trip.

After two weeks it was time to say goodbye.  It is always hard to leave Grandma's place.  The Kid and I will be back soon, and myself again for closing.  But for Baberoo and Lovieloo it will be a whole year until they return.

Thank you Grandma for a wonderful time!

Stay healthy.

"The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you.

The LORD lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace."

Numbers 6:24-26