What have we been up to?

Well since I can barely remember what we’ve done myself most days, I’ll just let some pictures do the talking…

The last weekend in July was our northern WI vacation, so we’ll start with a glimpse into that.

The first day we went to Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point, WI; found Nueske’s, the famous bacon-makers; ate lunch at Red Eye Brewing Co. in Wausau, WI (don’t freak out, i only had one small sample glass. the rest of the sampler was ryan’s); then checked out a supper club that Ryan discovered called Marty’s Place North before spending the night in Minocqua, WI. On our way out of town the following morning we swung by Little Bohemia, where the movie “Public Enemies” was filmed and the real-life John Dillinger hid out.

The rest of that weekend we explored Madeline Island (1 of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior); Bayfield, WI; and Ashland, WI. That upper coast of our state is simply beautiful, and we had a blast.

The last day of our vacation was spent in Green Bay. Since Ryan and Della are now Packers shareholders, we met up with 2 of our friends at Lambeau Field to attend the annual shareholders’ meeting. It was really hot, but even as a Bears fan I still had fun.

The following weekend we went to my first, and quite possibly only, Brewers game of this season with friends.

Then the Tuesday after that was d-day – my last day of work and Della’s last day of daycare.

The rest of that week was spent getting ready for our annual summer party/birthday party for R and D.

And since then, D and I have been getting into the swing of our stay home routine. You know, helping me in the kitchen (yes, i actually made that Elmo cake pictured above), taking walks to go explore the beach, and playing at the park.

And that about brings us to the present. We did go to the Wisconsin State Fair last week and the Milwaukee Air Show yesterday, so I’ll get those pictures up soon. Despite losing my job, we are having a great summer!

 

 

St. Thomas!

I promised you pictures (and a good tan, which i got) from our Caribbean vacation last month, so here they come!

Fish eye view off our balcony at the Ritz. I sure do miss waking up to this each day…

A back side view of the residence area of the Ritz in which we stayed, from a beach you could take to walk into town.

The always plentiful booze stock, of which I was unable to partake this year. That makes 2 trips in a row to St. Thomas that I’ve been pregnant and not able to drink. Ah well, there are much worse things in life.

Family pic our first night in town, out for some extremely delicious Island Time pizza.

The whole gang at Havana Blue, an awesome open-air restaurant right on the shoreline.

Cruz Bay on St. John, where the ferry comes in from St. Thomas.

Sandy Cay, BVI, one of the little islands we visited on our day of boating. We tied up offshore and had to swim in. Surprisingly, D loved that.

The beach on Jost Van Dyke, BVI, just waiting for our swim-in arrival.

The water bug herself, goofing around with someone’s sunglasses. Or as she calls them, “eyes”.

Mommy and D at One Love on Jost. I seriously love that island. It’s more fun with a few painkillers in you, but sober is good too.

Me, my sister M, and my mom on the boat back to St. Thomas.

Me and R. I love this pic of us. Once the Dramamine kicked in and the urge to barf every 5 seconds passed, I actually had a great time on the boat. Lucky for me, nausea is worse in those pregnant women who also get seasick, of which I am one.

D running around at dinner one night. Fortunately we had our own (soundproof) room. If you ever go to Sunset Grill and have a decent-sized party, see if you can sit in the wine room. It was wonderful.

The last weekend we were down there we moved over to my sister M and her husband’s boss’s house on a different part of the island. He’s currently living in the UK and let us have free reign of the joint. That view wasn’t so bad either.

I knew D would make a bee-line for the pool as soon as she saw it after how much she loved swimming in the ocean, and I was right.

We went to an absolutely gorgeous beach on one of our last days – Magens Bay. It’s completely smooth, not a shell or rock in sight, and you can wade out really far. It was super calm, and since there weren’t any cruise ships in port that day we lucked out and it was empty. It started raining while we were there, but even that couldn’t damper the beauty of the place.

Our last picture before heading to the airport to come home. We were definitely sad to leave!

 

 

 

A little birdie

This morning when I dropped D off at daycare, a little sparrow flew right into the front door as we were walking up and knocked himself silly. He was all upside down and discombobulated on the sidewalk, and little tufts of down were floating in the air after his collision. I felt terrible, but didn’t really want him to fly up in our face as I was still holding D.

On my way out I saw him still lying there, curled up on his back, so I grabbed a little stick and flipped him over so he was at least on his feet. I sure hope he’s ok and can fly away. Silly little guy.

Also, Happy May Day! I love May. Not only is it generally a beautiful month weather-wise (note *generally*. if our weather doesn’t shape up soon i’m packing up and heading back to the beach permanently), but it’s my birthday month. Yippee! 1 week from today is my birthday. You may get your presents ready to ship now…

Today D turns 21 months old, too. Gheesh! That’s almost 2 years old. Woah. I know I missed her 20 month recap, so I’ll have to get a good one in for this one.

I know I owe you more vacation pictures too, but I’ve only gotten through the ones from 1 of R’s cameras so far. He took 2, so hopefully I’ll get the rest of them done soon to share a lovely gallery for your perusal. It really was a splendid time, and looking back at them just makes me happy.

So there’s a post full of random for you, but at least I didn’t wait 4 years between appearances this time. I’ll leave you with a pretty picture of some lilies of the valley in closing to tide you over until the rest of the St. Thomas pictures materialize. They’re the birth flower of May and one of my favorites. I can’t wait until mine start blooming this year.

source

 

Ok, here I am

We arrived home from St. Thomas late Monday night, got about 4 minutes of sleep since D was all messed up and ended up in our bed again, and then I went to bed at 8:30 last night. Suitcases and carry-ons remain unpacked, and the clothes I wore on the flights home are even still strewn on our bedroom floor.

Yes, I’m tired.

So I apologize for the severe lack of posting lately. Granted I was on vacation for about 9 days, but I know I’ve missed a monthly D update post and I owe you pictures. Don’t worry, there are LOTS of pictures coming. I just have to wade through them all to pick the best gems for you.

But in the meantime, here’s a teaser. This is my youngest sister on the boat we took to the British Virgin Islands one day during our trip. Look at the color of that water!! This photo is not edited or retouched in any way. That place is just that naturally and stunningly beautiful.

 

How I long to be back on those beaches with that water tickling my toes…

 

 

Picture me rollin’

Right onto one of those beach chairs and not moving for about the next week and a half.

That’s right – we’re going on vacation!! To St. Thomas this time, with the same group of family with whom we went to Hawaii, plus my sister who couldn’t make that trip. So it’ll be fun.

And I hope more than anything that some good warm sun will burn these haunting germs right out of us once and for all.

So I’ll be gone for awhile, but I promise to bring back loads of pictures and a nice tan for you. See you later, mon!

 

 

 

Hooray beer!

Happy Leap Day! I’m not really sure what the proper way to honor a day that comes only once every 4 years is, but how about with some beer? Sounds good to me – come on in!

Last Saturday we went to Bockfest at Capital Brewery in Middleton, WI, just on the west side of Madison. This was our 2nd year in a row, and it’s so much fun.

We go with our great friends E & C, and they’ve gone a number of years now. 4 I think? We got over there early (this year we met up at their house around 8:30am), head to a local bar just a few blocks from the brewery called the Hody, then mosey into the fest at 11.

Ticket holders are granted entry at 11, general public is allowed in at noon if there is any space available, taps close at 4, and everyone is kicked out by 5. It’s always held the last Saturday of February, so you’re guaranteed to be cold in Wisconsin at that time, and it has become our annual beginning of the beerfest/pub crawl season.

I drove us home again this year so didn’t indulge quite as much as everyone else, but I still had plenty of fun. R took his usual plethora of pictures, so here is a nice rundown of the day, photo style…

The line is always long, even for ticket holders. Fortunately it moves quickly once they open the gates.

That doesn’t put a damper on our good times, though!

Once everyone is in and ready to go, they hold the traditional running of the blondes – it’s a 1k jog around the block. Very taxing. I’ll have to remember my blonde wig next time. It’s also a little play on words, since their Blonde is the featured brew at Bockfest – highly delicious, highly potent, and you only get half a mug full. And everyone only gets 1.

You always see a multitude of crazy costumes and hats at Bockfest, and R found the banana guy again this year. Turns out he’s one of E’s little brother’s friends. Small beer world.

Workers of the brewery and their family/friends throw stuff off the roof of the place all day long. Why? Who knows. But if you toss anything into a crowd of drunk people they’re guaranteed to go nuts.

This time they threw beads, little plush dinosaurs (a new addition this year, but they matched the green brontosaurus statue that resides permanently on the brewery roof. r caught one for d!), and smoked chub. Yes, those are fish, and it is totally disgusting. I made sure I was far inside this year before the chub came out – if I got hit with one of those nasty things I was ready to punch someone.

By the time they kicked us out of the place we were more than ready to head downtown for some delicious grub on our way out of town, but not before we stopped off for a few quick shots in the oversized tailgating chairs.

And that makes another successful Bockfest in the books. I think I like this tradition. Cheers!

 

 

Tucson recap

If you’ll remember, D and I flew out to Tucson for a nice long weekend over President’s Day. My grandparents live out there, so we made a Friday night – Tuesday afternoon visit. My mom, stepdad, one of my sisters, and my brother-in-law joined us for a great time.

The flights out ended up sucking, however.

We were delayed a few minutes leaving Milwaukee waiting for 25 passengers from a flight in from Newark, which was awesome. We landed in Denver in just enough time to make our quick half hour connection, though, so I thought we would be Tucson-bound with no problem.

Not so much. I looked up at the flight monitor board as soon as we deplaned only to discover that our 2nd flight was delayed for an hour and a half. Wha?!?! WHY?!?!? Now I have to spend 2 HOURS entertaining a very overtired D all by myself. Gag!

Delayed?? But I'm sleepy!

Fortunately we survived, obvs, and we got into Tucson around 1am. D was happy as a clam to see Grandma and Auntie M at the airport, and I was just so relieved to be off airplanes. Bring on the vacation!

I forgot a camera, of course, so all the pictures I have from our trip were taken on my iPhone. So please excuse the quality, but here is a photographic recap of our days out west. It felt so good to relax, spend time with family, and soak up some sun.

The fruit in my grandparents’ yards was all a-bloom!

D and I thoroughly enjoyed our first visit to the Desert Museum, just west of Tucson in the Saguaro National Park. It’s gorgeous out there! I think the hummingbirds in that little sanctuary area thought D’s hat was a flower, because 1 of them flew right up to her head, which she loved.

Tuesday morning we took D up to the mini golf course before we left, and she had an absolute blast running around all the holes chasing her golf ball. We should have done that every day!

Those were 4 glorious days, and I’m so glad we were able to make the trip. We don’t see my grandparents nearly often enough, so I always love when they are able to spend time with D too.

We weren’t quite as excited for our flights home as we were for the ones heading out there, but it was wonderful to get to see Daddy again.