Monthly Archives: September 2015

Apostle Islands – Part 2

by September 18, 2015

Months back I wrote about a portion of our trip to Apostle Islands and I am finally getting around to writing a bit more about it. Truly the highlight of the trip was just spending time with my family, but next in line was kayaking the sea caves. I was really hoping we were going to be able to do this, but wasn’t quite sure how it was going to work with baby Jonas. He’s a small man child now, but back then I was still paranoid because he was nursing quite often and we hadn’t started him on food yet. Of course I had some pumped milk, but ya know…that’s never as good as the read deal. I get a lot of anxiety leaving my babies, not my toddler so much because she can communicate and there are ways to appease her need be, but with babies it’s trickier. And to top it off I also feel bad for the person watching him because I don’t want them to be miserable if he’s having a hard time. Lets just say there’s a lot of worry that goes around.

Thankfully my wonderful parents encouraged us to go and graciously watched the kids. We decided upon the 1/2 day trip and we really couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. Lake Superior was calm and looked like glass.  Apparently this is not typical and the normally it can be quite wavy. For the first hour the tour guides went over all the safety features in kayaking like how to turn, backup etc. but I have to admit I am the worse at focusing! CJ and I have kayaked quite a bit already and even after the overview I completely forget everything they said. Thankfully we just use our intuition and we get things done and always make it work when required to ride tandem (we prefer the single kayak :))

The sea caves are insanely neat and I highly recommend all of my WI family and friends to do this! But what I got out of this day the most was just doing something new and fun with my siblings. We rarely do things without the kids and it was such a good time! It’s a completely different dynamic when you aren’t chasing after your kiddos. So this time together I will always appreciate!

Here are some photos my brother took if you care to see:

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Some of these are a little blurry, but hopefully it gives you just a taste of how beautiful these sea caves are and what a neat experience it was! And in case you wanted to see more about Apostles Islands, here’s my previous post.

Friday Ramblings

by September 11, 2015

– Things are busier with Nola in school and it’s interesting and kind of scary to know it just will continue to get more so as the kids get older. I’m such a homebody!

– I really am excited that flares are in style again, really anything to help a short girl out. I also am on the hunt for some clogs and oxfords.

– Fall has come and I’m so excited! That last week of hot weather I was trying to be a good sport and all, but truly I was over it.

– I am so thankful for our neighbors. God has proven again and again, He’s always got a plan and looking out for us on every move we have taken. Our neighbors are all SOO nice and we hang out a lot and don’t get sick of each other!! Love you people.

– Recently I read this article about this mama who said every night it’s musical beds with their kids and isn’t that the best to read sometimes?! ‘So ok, I’m not the only one who questions our strategies when it comes to our children’s sleeping and if we are doing something wrong.’ We are all in it together and it’s not easy. If it is easy for you, just don’t tell me about it because I will just get mad…no I probably would a little bit 🙂

– Talking about sleep, I tried sleep training on Jonas last night and guys I’m not cut out for it! After awhile I could just tell his cries were getting more frantic and he was getting scared…I know I’m the worse and I caved. We pretty much just hugged and comforted each other afterwards and I may have promised him I will never do that again?

– We have decided to get rid of our cable and try just having netflix and hulu. I’m scared. The crazy thing is I don’t even watch a lot of tv, when it’s on it’s Nola’s shows, but I guess it’s just the idea of getting rid of something we are so used to having. I really hope that when I do want to watch TV I resort to reading some more. I have a pile high of books I need to finish.

– This quote was on two blogs I follow recently and if you are ready to shed a tear when thinking about motherhood here it is:
“normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. let me hold you while i may, for it may not always be so.  ― mary jean irion

IMG_8378 this photo describes our Jonas so well. he’s an old, sweet soul. Whenever he’s riding this car he always has one arm on the side, he cracks me up! Can’t you hear the song in the background, ‘they see me rollin…”

Nola’s 3rd Birthday

by September 8, 2015

The fact that we now have a kid who’s three is beyond me.  Parents in the trenches with your wee little babies, hold on tight because you will blink and they will be three.  We are blown away by how much they change and grow in three years.  And as much as it makes me sad that she is no longer a baby at the same time it’s so-so fun seeing her in this phase as well. For quite some time Nola has wanted a tiger party and we were more than happy to make that happen.

This party was pretty small with family and it included pin the tail on the tiger, a puppet show, dance party and of course a tiger scavenger hunt. Here’s an onslaught of photos of that day if you care to see:

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Clearly Nola had a good day and of course we all did as well.

It’s always fun to look back, so here’s Nola’s 1st birthday party and her 2nd birthday party.

Door County – 2015

by September 1, 2015

I’ve realized that if I don’t post on something shortly after it occurred I’ll be hard pressed to get write up on it. For instance Nola’s birthday party (facepalm). So as my kiddos are napping I wanted to start writing up on our weekend to Door County.

Highlights of our trip was stopping to see some of our favorite friends at Green Bay on the way up, visiting The Farm, Eating at Wild Tomato, Swimming at the hotel (always a cheap thrill with Nola) and hiking the Eagle Trail in the Peninsula State Park. The weather was superb and I just have to say if you live in WI you really should go to Door County at least once a year!

DSC_0032 DSC_0044 my crew and i love them silly DSC_0060 DSC_0084 i fed this pig how i eat my popcorn  DSC_0101 DSC_0093 i think i could be crunchy in another life and live on a farm and have a huge garden, however i don’t think my husband would be on board for that. DSC_0120 big goats can be scary sometimes DSC_0131 i am not an animal person, but these baby goats stole my heart! DSC_0133 and sometimes you just need to take a picture of your baby in the carrier because he doesn’t get a lot of camera time…sweet baby IMG_8259 if you have kids, eat at Wild Tomato in Fish Creek. They give the kids pizza dough play-doh…genius! DSC_0135 she sure knows how to ham it up! IMG_8264 IMG_8271 people gave me slack for getting the selfie stick, but as you can see when you don’t have it along, it is highly missed IMG_8270 here’s our gang…get an ergo or two if you have little ones, they are life savers IMG_8277 IMG_7232 IMG_7241 dipping a candle at Door County Scented Candles. Can we also talk about the fact my children now can fit in the same clothes. Yes it’s ridiculous, but also comes in very handy. Thanks for loaning your shorts Jonas!

Wanting to be real here, coming home was a struggle because one kid would wake the other and vice versa all the while this mama just wanted to sleep because I didn’t get much the night before. Sometimes when I try planning something fun, there are many times where we think, ‘is this worth it?’ And all I can say is YES!! There was a moment when it was just us in the pool. CJ was throwing Nola up in the air and she was squealing with delight and I was holding Jonas and he was splashing away. It’s moments like that where you had to pinch me because life was just so good. It can be a lot of extra work and additional meltdowns by all parties (parents included) during our little or big excursions, but looking back at the photos and the memories we created I’m always glad we did it.