'Tis Birthday Season!

 
 
Spring around here means Birthday season.  We have a full week of cake, it is all we eat for a full week.  Merrick's comes first and barely beats the day of pranks and is quickly followed by Grace's and mine in quick succession to hers.  Grace had her party with several school friends at a pottery shop in town and they all painted wonderful pictures of butterflys to take with them.  Merrick's was at rubber-walled bouncy house....so their personalities are starting to take hold.  We also had the extended families up for a nice patio party for the kids and the weather cooperated for a very enjoyable afternoon with plenty of kids running around.  Grace had her first guitar recital at the Museum and performed three songs that she has been working on.  She did a wonderful job and played beautifully.

Spring break!!!

This year my spring break lined up with the kids' break so we filled the day with library trips and laser tag.  We also headed to a local pottery store to craft a Mother's day coffee mug for Amy.  I am writing this from memory and I know that was a very busy week with little down time but with so few pictures to go on I am forgetting all that we did.  I know the Merrick and I sneaked out for a little target practice and he handled the big guns very well for the yardage.  Grace had a 3 on 3 tournament in Manitowoc and scored a bunch of baskets in the first game and ran about 3x faster after....like a bolt of lightening.  She was super pumped.

Cool temps and warm hearts

The original purpose of the blog was to chronicle our outdoor travels but it is good to reflect on the warmth we find indoors as well.  The kitchen sees plenty of attention and we do our best to include the kids in the quotidian activities as we raise not children but work to raise adults.  It is an active and busy house with plenty of work to do and hugs and smiles to make the work load easy.  Grace is on a three on three tournament basketball team.  With spring break approaching and gymnasiums hard to find it was decided to hold practices in the neighborhood at a house that has a court painted on their driveway.  It was really awesome to have a neighborhood team practicing in the neighborhood.  It was plenty cold and you had to take the wind into account with the shots but it was a pretty neat experience to see.

Inside and Inside

Weekends come and go and the snow is still sticking around although the days are getting longer.  Merrick had his'spring' concert.  Ella has volleyball twice a week and she is prepping hard for the big tournament in the Dells.  Sophia is playing indoor soccer in the winter league on Saturdays. We spent a hilarious night at an improve club in town and Grace was picked to head up to stage.  She was an absolute natural and acted out a great, albeit slo-mo, race to pick the most dandelions.  Our sides hurt from laughing and she fed off the laughs of the crowd and amped up her game.

Baskets, Bascom and Beauty

It is the shoulder season and unseasonable high temperatures.  With the snow all gone and temps in the sixties it is too far to drive north to find so but a short drive south to find spring.  We headed to Madtown!  Drove down Friday after work and school and were able to make a weekend out of it.  We took in a cancer research fund raising UW basketball game, in which they won and then spent the rest of the day walking around the State street and Capitol area.  There were plenty of shops, including a rare book store, to be perused and the search continued for the perfect Bucky sweatshirt.  We hiked through plenty of stores including Fjallraven were Grace scored a Swedish flag to wave the rest of the day.  We hoofed it up to the hill to Bascom hall and took in the whole splended spring spectacular that was the weekend.  Uber trips with music that was bumping and iconic pizzas delivered to the hotel to feed the bellies that swimming had emptied rounded out a great day.  The morning came slow, lazy and relaxed just as it should.  We just didn't want the trip to end so a short walk to a neighborhood coffee shop and then a trip to the Madison Winterfest.  The festival was pretty much a bust as we assumed but there was  great octopus sculpted in the snow.  It felt as if we traveled two months into the future to capture a little bit of spring.  Snow in the forecast now but longer days show that winter is coming to an end.

Pizza to Points!!

Friday night was a make you own pizza night followed by a family movie, The thick dough had everyone carbed and ready for a late afternoon Saturday walk in beautiful temperatures and scenery. We headed over to Osprey Point and were able to cross the river on the ice to get to an area we hadn't been in before.  We didn't put on any great mileage as much time was spent climbing trees.  Even I found a defoliated maple to shinny up! Sunday morning was early to rise and head south to Grace's basketball tournament.  I was played at the JFK so between games we were able to hang out in my classroom.  Ron and Jan made the rounds with us through town as we hit two different gyms before the tournament was over.  Grace picked up two more points on Free-throws in the first game but sadly they lost by a single point.  That point turned out to be the decider and prevented them from advancing to the final championship game.  All was not lost as we still found an ice cream shop on the way home!  At home Amy and Merrick hit the valentines crafts hard and created a sweet minecraft valentines day box for Merrick's V-day party.  Just another great weekend.

waterfalls and footballs

The days are getting noticeably longer and we are finding some time in the indoor schedules to sneak outside and promote some vitamin D. Friday night was rainy and we headed to the mall and some other errands including crickets for Mitch.  While Ella and Amy shopped Grace and I headed out in search of a new purse.  We are quick or maybe efficient but either way we were back in about 8 minutes with a new purse for Grace.  It has a big G on it and she checked the cargo capacity "to make sure she has enough room in case she gets diabetes"  She said it so matter o factly and seriously that I could barely contain my smile. Merrick had an early morning piano competition and Sophia an early soccer game before they headed out of town.  Grace left early Saturday morning and didn't return until Sunday off with a friend at a basketball tournament followed by a sleep over.  Ella too headed over to a friends house for a surprise birthday party so Amy and I had a surprise night alone too.  We hit the reforestation camp for some skiing and then a stop at our favorite sushi bar.  Sunday with the girls back home we headed out for a late afternoon hike near the house.  Crossing the frozen stream and down the ancient sedimentary rock ledges we were able to sit behind the frozen waterfall and listen to the persistence of nature at is still slowed within the frozen wall of ice.  We eventually returned home to a meal of rainbow trout sans the heads and a little Superbowl Sunday entertainment.  Ella and I made it to through the regulation time but when it hit overtime it was Ella alone that stayed up to watch her Patriots win the ring.