The week before Christmas....

 

A season to be grateful.  We are caught up in the full hustle and bustle of the winter season with the solstice upon us.  Merrick and Ella bookend the week with concerts and Grace and I jingled some bells at for a cause.  The cookies were made and iced with care, the best they have ever done to be fair.  We spent some time in Oshkosh for a B-ball tourney and Grace came out smiling and Sophia says she doesn't have a new boyfriend, but we assume she is lying.  Merrick will graduate to a new belt this week in karate and we are all getting excited for the pending vacay!

Tunes and timestamps

The Concert season has begun.  Grace had a massive support turn out with five grandparents in the audience, pretty good showing and much appreciated all the travel it took to get everyone there.  She played with two bands, the 6th grade band and the Jazz band.  She is loving the trumpet and enjoying the songs.  Ella had a couple pretty big rites of passage as well, getting a job and a her drivers temps.  She is having fun working in the bakery and trying to punch the clock and fit everything into a now very busy schedule. 

Oh, Tannenbaum

Its the second week of deer camp and with some hunting out of the way on Friday, Saturday was wide open to hit the woods for in search of the perfect tree.  There were squat ones and tall ones, purple, pink and black.  The place had a full size bus come in for a cut your own bonanza.  It was wall to wall people without a saw to spare.  With multiple rolling hills to traverse in search of the perfect tree we found a saw before Cheryl.  That is correct, our tree's name was Cheryl.  It said so right on the label.  We cut her down and hoofed her back over the hills and through the traffic and got her home before the first winter storm hit.  Saturday night was spent transforming the house into a winter wonderland of all things Christmas.  The outdoor lights are on hold, with only the ground effects lit up.  Too much snow in the gutters and blowing wind to trim the eaves.  But more weekends will come before the fat man so there is still time...although not much.

An early January....

Record setting cold snap across the whole region.  The temperature was 9 degrees this morning and there is enough snow to cover the leaves that didn't get raked.  Seemingly it is January only a week after Halloween.  We did get the pumpkins carved with only hours to spare before the Holiday and Grace headed out to knock on the doors in the neighborhood.  With a fresh inch of snow Amy and I sat near the campfire and passed out candy to all forms of hidden faces.  Ella had elected for indoor duties and book ended the evening and candy responsibilities.  Grace tallied up her take and even recorded it all in her journal...which was fortunate because Hazel broke into her closed room and ate most of it, so it was nice to know exactly how much chocolate the little dog ate....she is still alive so it was clearly under the lethal dose.  Merrick is progressing through his karate and enjoying it.  He has moved into the next stage is participating in open sparring.  Sophia has started soccer training again and says it feels good to get back on the pitch.  Ella just finished up in the pit band for a hilarious rendition of the Wedding Singer, complete with all the 80's allusions.  Grace's basketball season has started as well and there are weekend tournaments most every Saturday from now until June.  She is playing well and won 2/3 in Pulaski over the weekend with some great rebounding and some points on the board.

To the Devil and Parfrey

With a three day weekend to burn we headed out Saturday morning, once Grace could work it into her social schedule and I into some hunting time, for Devil's lake state park.  Heading south allowed us to hit some more fall foliage at its peak and we hike trails literally around the lake.  It was amazing beautiful.  The maples were at full yellow and cast a golden glow to the light and reflected off the carpeted forest floor of the same hue.  The stark contrast of the foliage and ancient quartzite rocks was gorgeous as it has been since the last ice age.  14000 years in the making.  The trails are steep enough to be considered moderate plus.  We hit the hot-spots of elephant rock, Devil's doorway and Balancing rock.  We actually passed the spur trail for balancing rock but it didn't disappoint when we headed back to check it out.  It may have been the busiest state park we were ever at, I am not sure we were ever more than 50 feet away from another person or group doing the same thing we were doing.  Sometimes there is a reason an area draws a crowd.  We grabbed a hotel and dinner and had a chill evening and a little swimming.  The morning gave way to more sites to visit and out of the handful of options we opted for Parfrey's glen. It is an easy walk initially, and busy with people again, but then gives way to some boulder scrambling up a creek bed to a fair-sized water fall (10'-12').  The glen is deeply walled and 100 foot high in some areas, the geological striations are really great to consider.  The Glen is also the states first designated natural area.  Preserved and rededicated to the citizens to protect its unique beauty for all.

Hiking the high cliff

Merrick finished up his school soccer season earlier in the week and after a day of chores, the nicer of the two fall days, we headed to High Cliff state park to hike through the autumnal color pallet.  The trails were muddy in some places and really muddy in others, the kids' tennis shoes took a beating but the woods time was great.  The garage sink has an inch of dirt that we brought home from the state park. We scrambled around on the ancient limestone and the dogs even got a little off-leash time to stretch their legs.  We tried to stop at the chubby seagull for some ice-cream but it was closed for the season all ready.

Smoked fish?

The fall colors are nearing their peak and with a forecast of late day rains and possible snow we made a quick run to the hill areas near Dana Farm.  The dogs needed to stretch their legs and being that is an area of planted pheasants..Hazel's nose was all a 'twitter.' She swam through the head high grass bounding and porpoising in search of feathers.  All her and Oliver found was mud but the bright sun and even stiff breeze made a perfect morning autumn walk.  We wandered through the fish ladders along the lower Kewaunee River.  The large rainbows and maybe even some browns were making their way up the mocha water, churned from the continual rains.  They are slabs of muscle on their last swim up stream.  We swung by Fonfrek to see the new viewing platform and check out what a fall full of rains had done to the waterfalls too.  Almost home before noon, but a large plum of dark smoke skyline, sent us further south.  We could smell the acridness of the fire.  We found the scene of what was likely a planned burn of an old house.  The winds seemed pretty strong for such a plan but again, with all the rain of late, there is little fear of a stray cinder starting a blaze.

And the beat goes on

Ella was finally able to practice their band routine after a rain out and some issues with the under classmen.  She looked great and loves the marching band and all things music.  We have hit record rains already this year so everything is weather dependent and the mosquitoes are ferocious. The dogs didn't mind though and stretched their couch legs in the woods...and then brought a bunch of ticks home. 

School is here

School is back in full swing but we are still finding some time for outdoor fun.  Merrick is playing on the school soccer team, when the rain and fields permit. They absolutely destroyed a field on the other side of town as each player was sinking in a few inches with each step. Grace and Merrick and I hit the ropes course and Zip-line to check off the last summer bucket list item..albeit technically a little late.  Ella and I ran a 5 K and she took 2nd in her division and we were both happy with our times for an early Saturday morning jog.  Sophia is working at her new job and Grace is getting back on the court as Basketball practice has already started.

Bright days ahead..

The Sunflowers were in full bloom and the fields were splendid.  They are one of Amy's favorite flowers so we made the short drive in morning of a warming sun and walked among the 9 foot flowers.  We even hit the Zippin' Pippin' and an ice cream stop on the way home as way of completing a few summer bucket list items.  School is a long way off according to the calendar but it is knocking on the door of reality.  With the back to school events and orientations starting already and Amy and I both starting new jobs it feels that we are in full work mode already.  We did sneak in another camping trip to High Cliff State park.  The first time the camper was out since the Boot Lake storm.  But the trip felt rushed and everyone seemed to have their heads elsewhere.  maybe it was the cell coverage that was too good and didn't allow us to figuratively or literally disconnect.  It was a short trip, just a weekend, and we did manage to hit the Chubby Seagull for ice cream.  Sophia was able to drive the kids around the campground and up to the observation tower too.  The beach was off limits due to a blue-green algae bloom and not fit for man nor beast.  And the nights of easy sleeping were not to be had with police sirens and wild parties.  Even had a full 911 call a few sites over as we packed up.  And yet...less eventful than the last time we camped.

Booted from the boot....

The Boot gave us the boot....we booked off a nine day trip at the cozy little lake in North woods and we did all of the standard boot lake camping traditions.  Including a new spin on smores...campfire eclairs.  Bob and Nancy even joined in the fun for a few nights of soggy sleeping.  It rained or was cloudy most of the time and the heat kept building.  We found time to fish, kayak and swim but a storm was brewing.  The storm ended up as a tornado and we sheltered it out at the last minute with a drive to Dave's Hide Away bar.  Kids slept on bar stools and pool tables as the storm blew out and we were left to determine how to navigate the tree choked roads.  Kevin and I made it back to the campground near 1 am and it was almost unrecognizable.  There was no discernible difference between the road and the woods.  We filled backpacks at our campers with snacks and drinks and hiked back out to the main road through an apocalyptic set.  Amy's car was crunched by a falling tree and we left the roof vents open in the camper so there was plenty of water that would eventually dry.  Ella brought a friend and it was quite an eyeopener into camping.  We were all safe and there were no injuries in the campground...amazingly.  Amy and I would spend the next week and half driving to the campground to haul out our gear in a makeshift wagon.  The rangers chased us out at one point and the whole campground was shuttered for the rest of the season.