The beat goes on...

 

December moves to a faster beat.  The lights are hung on the outside of the house and the inside is decorated too.  The Christmas tree was picked out in a rainy winter storm but has added a warmth to the house with is scent and centerpiece of the holidays.  St Nick has come and went and the Herbie is still here.  He hides each night but has become less destructive and less creative over the years.  Ella, Merrick and Grace all had holiday band concerts and it was well attended by all the Grandmas. It was wonderful to see so much support for the kids that everyone would travel so far.  Ella was selected to tune the band before the concert and Merrick had a bass drum solo or maybe it was a duet.  Grace was blasting the brass of her trumpet and they all sounded just wonderful.   Grace is still rippin' up the court on basketball with tournaments most ever Saturday.  Christmas break is two weeks away the beats of December accelerando as we rush headlong into the New Year. Coda.

"Sharin' the Holidays

 
 

October becomes November with barely a notice in our schedule, other than dark mornings and even darker evenings.  Ella performed her whole marching band routine on the football field and it was "wicked' good and great to see all her hard work.  Merrick ended his outdoor season before the snow hit the air, but Sophia was a little less lucky and played it our until the bitter end.   They will both follow Grace indoors, them for soccer and Grace for basketball.  Grace played her opening tournament Saturday and started scoring points in the first game.  By the end of the third game she was still scoring but also taking a very active leadership role on the court.  We hit the pumpkin sales late but scored the two for one deals and made the rotted little gourds last for a week or so.  Certainly long enough to get through the trick-or-treating night.  The kids were gone, Grace was out with a friend and Merrick and Ella were at parties and Sophia was collecting for UNICEF with a friend as part of school project.  Topping Halloween for the week in review as the Ed Sheeran concert.  The Breweres played deep into the playoffs causing out concert date to get postponed but it worked out better for the kids...no school the next day and we drove to Miller Park to take in the show.  A great time was had by all and I think they slept in the next day as well.

Watercolors and Waterfalls

There was plenty of work to be done with the changing seasons, but we knew it would wait.  The leaves were at their peak colors and the waterfalls would be raging after all the recent rain.  We hit the road early on Saturday morning and made our first waterfalls (Dave's Falls) a little after 10 am.  By the end of the weekend we would add about 9 different falls to our trip in two different states and about 300 miles of driving.  Daves falls, to Horseshoe falls, to Pemene falls, to Smalley Falls, to Long Slide falls before finding a cute Italian restaurant for dinner.  Flooded washboard dirtroads were just part of the excitement as we hiked from one beautiful view to the next.  The temps were cool but actually really nice for walking.  Oliver even was allowed to come along and spent the night in his first hotel.  Sunday morning the girls took him up an steep slag and scree hill of high iron rocks and then we headed out on a four and half mile romp along Fumme lake with a few more falls to boot and the first sleet of the season.  An easy drive back home was interrupted only by lunch and a game of pool before turning our attentions back towards the work that awaited.

Faltering Fall...

The seasons change albeit begrudgeling and Fall is upon is leaps and bounds.  late September stayed down right hot and October looks more like Mid November grey and cold.  All of that aside the Autumnal Activities carry on.  Ella is pumping out the tunes during the High School Football games and Homecoming came and went for the older two.  Sophia and Merrick are knee deep in soccer with weekend games and weekday practices.  Grace and Merrick spent time at the Sportsmans club several weeknights and successfully passed their Hunter's safety exams.  We tried twice to get out and shoot trap but to no avail and are still hoping to get out for some squirrels.  We did fill the back of the truck with apples and the dehydrator has been running nonstop and we have lost count of how many two-pie dinners we have had over the last week.  The garden is out after a hard freeze and someone even sneaked in a milestone birthday

Oliver

This is Oliver.  He is a pretty good dog and learns quickly.  He loves to ride in the truck and go for walks and we wrestle most ever night.  He seems impossible to let down and expects so little of us.  Just thought he could use a blog entry for his team/family efforts!

INEC and smiles

I love to see the my calendar was a big line is crossing several days with the the scrawl of "INEC"  it means there is a meeting of the klans and we are going to be IN Eau Claire.  It is an event that is more rare than it should be.  The pictures are few and the specific memories always a little hazy as is common when the hours are filled with so much laughter that no one event stands out as extraordinary.  We headed over early on Friday and spent the time wandering the downtown, campus and water street areas.  Old stomping grounds that like both vibrant and foreign with the passage of time.  Heading back to "the table of all solutions' found campfires and camaraderie, old stories and new stories...some old stories told in new ways but mostly old stories told in old ways that had the comfort of a favorite hat or old pair of shoes.  Everything just fits.  Saturday found us in engendered teams at breakout rooms although I can't recall which group won and then a solid game of HORSE.  The kids are aging out of constant parental oversight...which actually means they need much more oversight.  Fortunatly the post everything on instagram so we can just watch the highlights of their dart-throwing stupidity and chew them out the following day; leaving more time for us adults to catch up around the fire.  The tree trolls had some new escapades and the deck did 'settle' to the point of needing a hydraulic jack but it did not slow the stories much.

together again

Ella is performing each week with the high school band while Merrick and Sophia are running around the state playing soccer games.  Sophia and I headed south of the boarder into Bears territory for a weekend of games and Merrick and Amy made racked up the hours over the weekend back and forth to Fon du Lac for a tournament.  Best the best part of the weekend was coming together again on Sunday.  All six of us back together, it was time to head out to for a bite to eat and reconnect.  The weather was against us with an all out down pour but we were not to be deterred.  I recall not what was ordered or who ate what, but I know we were all there and we had plenty of laughs.

Summer Closes....

The kids schedules start to include all things related to school.  The new folders and shoes have all been purchased and we went to meet all the teachers and take all the pictures.  We are doing our best to keep summer in our grasp for  just a little longer.  We took an inspired ride from home to an ice cream shop down town.  It was about 19 miles round trip along the urban bike trail and a great day to be outside.  unbeknownst to us it would be one of the last days that the ice cream shop was open.  We hit some of the local stores and ate our ice cream on the patio of a crabby cigar shop owner and then headed for home, stopping off along the river for refreshments and some live music before making the longer return trek.  We parked our bikes about a mile from home and slaked our thirst a final time; toasting summer and memories.  The week was filled with lockers, schedules and meet and greet teacher time.  We also enrolled the younger two in hunters safety courses and they diligently worked their way through the workbooks.  Preparing for the fall woods time to a back drop of migratory birds and crisp nights.

August StayCation

We have been hanging close to the house the past couple of weeks.  The school season is coming into full swing and with all of the various practices, drills and tryouts it has kept us close to home and looking for ways to bring the outdoors closer to us.  Plenty of outdoor cooking taking place including desserts like cookies and crisps and plenty of evening campfires and smores.  Sophia even set up the tent for a few nights and the kids are working their way through the end of summer sleep overs.  They are coming and going and most every evening.  We have been checking out some of the local parks that we haven't been to before and searching for geocaches in the area.  The kids are old enough to get dropped off at the pool and spend the afternoon so that is helping keep them cooled off.  We had a nice afternoon with the Greatgrandparents and appreciated them making the long drive over and back.  A few rounds of frisbee golf have been sneaked in as well.

8 minutes faster.....

Eight minutes faster, eight minutes earlier and we would have got the site that we had intended, but eight minutes faster would not of got the campsite that we needed.  We set out early and but about three hours of road time in before hitting the trail.  We were headed back to Tortilla point.  The name may appear on some map but it certainly wont get you to where we were headed, Tortilla point has become a family name, enigmatic of just a great place for a snack and a rest.  In truth Tortilla point isn't even where we camp, Tortilla point is on a different lake about 45 minutes of hiking from out camp.  Amy and the troops were dropped off about 3.5 miles and a four lakes away from the rendezvous point and would hike backpack their way between the glacial lakes to meet me while I headed in from the take out point another half hour's drive on forest roads.  The roads had improved but not enough to make up the eight minute advantage of an earlier group.  As I cut across the lake, and neared the campsite  I could hear a dog's bark and see movement and was impressed but not surprised at the speed of my hikers.  Nearing shore I could see the dog was not Oliver and the people not my swift-footed packers.  After a hearty hello and to my glee the other group assured me that they were on their way out, but just as quickly told me that another couple had just arrived and was setting up camp.  It was true, their packs were just barely off and the site was first come first serve; had I only been eight minutes faster we would have missed all the adventure at our other camp.  I hiked further north on the trail knowing looking for other site options and once the group reconvened then we weighed out options and made camp in a great little spot.  A nice breeze and cool temps kept the mosquitoes at bay and the swimming was good and kept improving the more Grace and Merrick used it.  They even swam to the island, a tradition from before, but with the new camp came a much greater distance.  We gave them a tow back to camp, not that they asked or needed it, but just so they could do some 'tubing.'  The kids carried all their own gear with the exception of tents.  They spent the weekend cooking their own meals on little pop can stoves and hanging their own bear lines.  It wasn't all work as that still left plenty of time of hammocks and building fairy houses out of forest materials.  Ella even found time to irritate three bees and has the stings to prove it.  Oliver put on a million miles running and swimming and generally covering all the distances between his pack as hiked to tortilla point for some more swimming, Sophia even waded and we fly fished a bit as Amy's toe polish was attacked by creek chubs in the oligiotrophic clarity of a northern lake.  After three days in the bush we headed home and I loaded up the canoe with the packs and everyone hiked out along the shore line to meet me back at the truck.  It was time to head south on paved roads and find some ice cream.