The Beginning of a Great Adventure

Of course there is always a little homework to get done and I notice that the apples are long gone, which is also a good indicator of the Fall.  The temperatures and mosquites make it feel more like summer than fall.  Sophia is still flipping over gymnastics and constantly improving, her confidence is gaining by the extra trampolin practice.  Merrick spent Saturday morning at Football camp and I was impressed at both the quality of the astro truf and the turn out.  He was the quarterback for one of the drills filling in for the coach, he has a pretty good arm and his catches were pretty good too.  The girls were less impressed, which was alright becasue that freed them to walk to the bakery and get a long john to go with my coffee.  Amy met us at the field and we did hit a few late season thrift sales but the treasures were sparse.  A quick lunch at home and we hit the road for the beginning of a great adventure.  We headed to the Nicolet for a walk in the fall colors and even a short swim at Boot Lake.  The sun was warm to the point of considering sun screen, the hill side was starting to pop with the oranges and reds of maples in the fall and even an eagle gave a soar above the lake.  With the kids drying off from thier swim I asked Amy to keep seeking adventures with me forever, the kids were giddy with excitement and quickly started to plan for the wedding for the rest of our five mile hike through some times muddy trails.  Their backpacks were filled with dolls and protein bars and their heads and hearts full of thoughts that were as happy as ours.  We wrapped up the evening with a dinner out and given its overall quality showed that the kids were famished as the raved about the food.  Sunday was pretty chill although a nice homemade pasta dinner with fresh apple dumplings certainly lenghthened the weekend a little too.

Fall for Sure

Heavy dew indicates that the humidity is being rapidly pulled from the air and the crisp morning temperatures and stiff breezes have ushered in fall temps and stolen the late summer.  School started, earlier than anticipated based on the photo evidence and the kids are again adjusting to the knew schedule.  With heavy eyelids from the long weeks we should use our weekend time for recharging our batteries, but the weather is so nice it is just to hard to live indoors.  Merrick had a party Friday night and Sophia and I were able to head out for a quick daddy/daughter dinner.  Nothing fancy, her choice, so we ended up at Noodles.  Saturday morning we hit a couple of the remaining thrift sales and scored a new hockey helmet for a buck and Sophia found a nice jewelry box that only needed a little dusting to make it a treasure.  She did find a single black pearl earring in the box and then proceeded to search the web for its value and beg me to go to the Pawn Shop.  Amy and the girls made their way up later in the day and we all headed over to a local Renaissance Faire and traveled back in time.  We laughed at the multilayer ed humor of a fire breathing act and wandered around looking at the various stands. The Sun had ejected two massive flares and with a good forecast for northern lights we loaded up the truckster and headed north in hopes of catching the spectacle over an open lake.  Sadly we spied no light show, but the stars were worth the drive and the kids were able to play tag.  A quick doughnut run on Sunday started off our day and then we snuck in some cool weather apple picking to great the Fall with style.  The kids spent the rest of the day playing various games of imagination around the house and even added another kid to the mix, before turning our attentions back to homework and the week to come.

Little Labor and Lots of Laughs

Labor day means the end of summer.  We did sneak in a little actual labor but even that ended in some smiles, Merrick was washing dishes and Sophia was mowing the lawn while I cooked dinner.  The finished up the lawn and when I came in they had decided that it was a formal dinner night, so I too had to find a collared shirt for the occasion.  The weekend was rainy and found us inside or even playing in the rain, with plans of a campfire and eating all our camping treats doused due to high winds we compromised and made microwave smores and the kids started baking up a mess in the Kitchen.  Grace and Merrick made cookies, which turned out amazing while the two eldest were inspired by Cake Boss created multitiered cakes.  They found some time between the pop up storms to play survivor in the woodland fort before we headed to the beach for Kite Fest.  We were hit again by some warm summer rains and the storms were creating some great waves for the kids to play in.  Everyone was plenty soaked but still filled with smiles.  Sunday turned into an end of summer tour de force with a trip to the pool, a 3.5 mile urban hike to Zesty's and then three hours at Bay Beach.  Their empty bellies really showed at dinner when they collectively about eat their own hands off with the two youngest taking very long blinks.