buddies

the kids are starting to develop friendships, and this is kind of a newer thing for them. i love watching it happen. ramona is getting closer to her friends from school, and here are a few of them at the willy street parade, all high on friendship and candy...


and james is starting to roam the neighborhood, braver and wider than he ever has, and finding himself in pick up roller hockey games. seeing them happy with friends feels really good.

14 years

i'll be honest, 14 years just doesn't feel that long, and spending my days with this guy has been nothing but a steady source of joy, love, and energy. i'm so glad we met. so, so glad.

to celebrate the 14th wedding anniversary, we did what we always do when life allows it: we have a kid-free lunch date at the university club where we had our reception, and then we go take a picture of our aging faces in front of the doors of the church where we had our wedding. it's one of my favorite annual traditions.

for reference:

here we are last year

here we are year 10

and here's year zero

wyalusing camp out

another year, another wyalusing neighborhood trip. it is such chaos, and planning this thing is a little work, but the time spent in community in the woods having gobs of fun and play is worth it. this might be our 4th trip and was easily the best so far.

let me show you what i mean:

we make sure the hobart dishwasher is running


we put the kids to bed and hang out at the fire pit (no pics--too dark)

and in the morning we have bagel breakfast


and fold the flag that some kid found and was wearing as a cape


then hike down to the waterfall and train tracks and smoosh pennies and find roadkill while dipping our toes in the mississippi (and no doubt bothering the fishermen)

this year james caught a leech, which was more meaningful after a misguided family viewing of stand by me. 

back at the group camp kitchen, lunch was served up by the fastest hikers

and dishes were done with a smile. 

after lunch, we CREAMED the kids in a game of adults vs. kids capture the flag (and now all the adults are sore and broken from all-out sprinting at these kids). 

then we caught our breath, 

 

and the dinner crew got to work on meatballs and spaghetti and salad (and wore their 'hood shirts)



dinner is always followed by the kids' talent show,


and ramona and zadie opened the show with a special a cappella rendition of old towne road (the song that WILL NOT DIE).


here are all the talent show superstars, just before the crowd-participation dance party


we wrangled those kids into bed...eventually... and hung out again without them.

in the morning, we cleaned, we lined the kids up for the traditional photo,


and then we went for a hike to a cave.

and had a sneaky rainy sky view of the mississippi from up on the bluffs.

its a magical place, full of magical people. 

and they're off

i'm just so proud of them i could weep. 

james is in 2nd grade, which makes him top of the school and in his last year at the sweet local little K-2 school that has been the heart of our community for 5 years. 

ramona is in 4th grade, confident, comfortable, independent, in a classroom full of friends. these descriptions are all a first for the first day of school. 

one more year, and then it's over for us at this sweet little school.

end of summer

summer's over, folks, and i'm ok with that. we had a wonderful summer, full of life-long memory-making fun with these two kids who we so enjoy. but september? that's the best! the early autumn air and leaves, the return of school and predictable schedules, and promise of a change coming. i love it. 

our long end of summer weekend had a little mini-road trip to eastern wisconsin to visit sheboygan, plymouth, port washington and milwaukee with a sleepover at mormor and morfar's house. we all had a blast. 

we started with a visit to the always cool john michael kohler art center, where the bathrooms are amazing. 

then i showed the kids the breakwater and pier walk i used to do with my high school boyfriends after movie night dates.

we found a weird and cool little sculpture garden out in the woods of south sheboygan

and then we grabbed some grandparents and hit up the sheboygan county fair in my home city of plymouth. we also managed to spend a small fortune on the midway. you're welcome, kids.

after the necessary stop at the toro tent for morfar to re-connect with his people and his machines,

we grabbed a golf cart ride back to the car and headed home and into bed.

the next day was gorgeous, and we hiked along the lake michigan bluff and beach in port washington after a stop at a dear friend's house in plymouth.

then down to milwaukee to swing under a bridge in river west,

and then we crossed the bridge for drinks at lakefront brewery before the drive home. it was a perfect 2 days.