Fall Break - Door County

Door County is the little peninsula of Wisconsin that stretches into Lake Michigan, forming Green Bay.  It is a popular vacation destination for nature and art enthusiasts.  It's only an hour from Green Bay and, yet, we had never been there!

We decided it was time to go check it out when we looked at our calendar and saw that the kids' fall break from school landed on the same weekend as Bryan's season ticket game.

Door County is beautiful in the fall.  We hit the fall colors at their peak and the weather was just a bit chilly, but no complaining.  Door County is famous for it's cherry orchards and lavender farms.  There are also many vineyards and apple orchards. Consequently, there are lots of quaint places to enjoy a slice of cherry pie or a glass of wine.  But you won't find a single Starbucks.  It's all locally-owned businesses.

Door County is also famous for it's lighthouses.  There are 11 of them, but only 4 of them are publicly accessible.  One of the lighthouses we attempted to visit is just off the shore on a small island.  To tour the lighthouse, you ride in a wagon pulled by a tractor (the water between the shore and the island is very shallow) to the island.  Unfortunately, the day we were there it was very windy and the water was too choppy to run the tractor.  There's my excuse to go back!  We were able to tour and see the two lighthouses at Ridges Sanctuary (a nature center) and the lighthouse in Peninsula State Park.



Washington Island was a fun daytrip.  It is only accessible by ferry - or plane.  We took the ferry.🙂Here there were more cute ice cream shops and restaurants, lavender farms, and opportunities to enjoy nature.  It was fun to talk to the locals about what it's like to live on such a small island that is so remote.  Beyond Washington Island, there is another smaller island (Rock Island) that is a State Park, but the ferry to that island was closed for the season.  Another excuse to go back!

A few other adventures we had while we were there were a theater, an adventure park, and a fish boil. Normally, I probably wouldn't get some of the family excited about going to the theater, but the musical, "Dad's Season Tickets" was a humorous take on what it's like to be in a family of die-hard Packers fans.  What, exactly, is going to happen to those coveted season tickets when he dies?  (All joking aside, we have a whole section in our will.) It was a big hit with the whole family.  The adventure park was what you would expect and the kids had fun.  They even got to drive go-carts for the first time!  Door County is famous for it's fish boils, and a highlight was getting to watch the process before we ate it.

On the last day, we got up early, picked up a couple cherry pies, and drove back down to Green Bay.  We got together with the family to tailgate and enjoy those season tickets!  What a fun trip!

Reggie's first Packer game

 It was finally Reggie's turn to go to his first Packer's game this fall.

Uncle Adam now lives within walking distance of the stadium, so we have a great place to park, tailgate, and people-watch before the game.  This particular day turned out to be a bit rainy, so the garage came in handy.

 Papa, our friend Mike, Uncle Chad, and Cousin Isaiah attended the game with Bryan and Reggie.

The Denver Brancos played against the Packers with a final score of 27 to 16.  The Packer's won!  

Of the three kids, Reggie is by far the biggest football fan, and he even said going to the game was the highlight of his entire year!  Now that each kid has had a turn in going to a game, we will see if Dad is willing to share next year.

first day of school

 I just signed up for fall conferences.  Time to post first day of school pics.

Reggie is in 4th grade!  His grade is a smaller group - there are two and a half classes.  He has the teacher I was fervently praying for, and six weeks in, it is all that I had hoped.  Over the summer, Reggie told me he spent third grade "flying under the radar", which I knew was true, but didn't expect him to verbalize.  His third grade teacher was in her last year of teaching before retirement and, in my opinion (Brett had her also), checked out a while ago.  As long as a student wasn't disruptive, she was totally fine with him not exerting any effort.  And Reggie is the kind of kid who is totally fine with a low bar.  But when a teacher raises that bar, he will rise to the challenge.  This year's teacher promised me he would have high expectations for Reggie, and Reggie is excited about learning again!  He also has a couple of good friends who love school - and sports - in his class.  I think it's going to be a great year!

Lydia is in 5th grade!  She was not as excited about her class assignment.  She was separated from her two besties for the first time since they were her besties.  But she made a new friend - a new student - on the first day of school, so it's all working out.  So far, Lydia has managed to only read about girl drama in books and we'd love to keep it that way as long as possible.  The interesting and exciting thing about this year is that she goes to the middle school for math.  The middle school starts an hour earlier, so I drop her off at the middle school in the morning and then she gets a private bus ride over to the elementary school.  I told her to think of the bus as a limo and the driver as her personal chauffeur.  We thought it might be a bit awkward but she tells me the driver is funny and tells her riddles.  It does make for a long day, though, and I could tell she was worn out the first few weeks of school.  But she has seemed to adjust now.

Brett is in 6th grade, which is the first year of middle school in most districts in our area.  He goes to a charter school in a neighboring district for the first three hours of the day.  He's in gym, life skills, and social studies.  I pick him up around noon and in the afternoons we cover language arts, math and science.  The school is a very small K-12 school that is good at meeting the needs of students who tend to fall through the cracks at traditional schools.  There are eleven sixth graders.  So far, Brett loves attending school there.  He's mostly figured out his locker, likes the teachers, and feels connected.  Is he learning anything?  Well... school is about more than academics...and that's why we do afternoons at home.

Overall, I'd say fall is off to a great start for the kids and school.  But I can totally relate to this mom. 

* Humor courtesy of "That's Inappropriate", and most of it is.

roadtrip 2019

This year's mom and kids road trip plan went through an evolution of sorts.  I had originally thought we would go up the north shore of Superior and then ferry over to Isle Royale National Park, but I chickened out.  The ferry is not cheap (and from what I've read, can be quite a miserable ride) and we would have to backpack in all our supplies.  Then I attempted to plan a trip just up the north shore.  I'm not comfortable with tent camping by myself with the kids yet, so that limited our options to the point that I gave up.  My planning had prolonged through April and my options were getting even more limited.  So I landed on a trip to Itasca State Park scheduled for mid-July.  I booked a little cabin.

The summer got into full swing - and by swing, I mean swing of the bat.  Reggie's baseball season went on and on and ultimately the state tournament landed on the same dates I had reserved the cabin.  I had to do some creative reworking of our calendar and we had to take whatever was open.  Our trip ended up being the last weekend before school started for Brett, we stayed one night in a camper cabin in Crow Wing State Park, and upgraded to a nicer cabin at Itasca.

The trip turned out to be just perfect.  We took Bryan's car so we could bring our bikes and we biked a small portion of the Paul Bunyan State Trail.  The trail spans over a hundred miles between Brainerd and Bemidji.  The southern trailhead is located at Crow Wing.  Crow Wing is a peaceful state park and there was not a lot going on, which was nice!  We ended the night with finger puppets and stories from a book of legends about Paul Bunyan.

On the second leg of the trip, we meandered through the country on a hunt for Paul Bunyan - and his girlfriend!  We arrived in Itasca, which is the Mississippi Headwaters.  There was a lot going on at the park, even though we were approaching the end of the tourist season.  There are a couple of nice visitor centers, boat rentals, lots of types of accommodations, a lodge with a nice restaurant, a narrated boat tour, coffee and ice cream shop, gift shops, and all the typical state park features.

We managed to lock ourselves out of both of the cabins we stayed in.  Reggie tore up his knee when he blew out on his bike.  Much of the wildlife had already started their journey south, but not the mosquitos. We got eaten up by mosquitos while not finding the 100-foot watchtower. And all of those stories are what the kids will tell you.  But we did eventually find the tower.  We did see a few loons, and we did have fun around the smoldering fire and riding bikes.  We even got to eat at the lodge with Papa and Meemaw, who happened to be staying in the area at the same time.

But there's more to the story.  Shortly after booking the trip in the spring, I was involved in a car accident.  It was very traumatic, and I was not alone.  I lost my confidence in doing things independently and was perfectly fine with sitting in the passenger seat (literally and figuratively).  I had a lot of doubts and dread heading toward going on this trip.  I am not one to say, "God is in control" or "It is all in God's plan" because I think our reality, our interactions with God, and God himself, are more complex than that.  But I do want to say that I'm glad this year's trip was a mini road trip compared to previous years, and that our trip got pushed back a month.

The background songs I choose for videos are usually pretty random, but this one has significance.  I did "come alive" in the river.  I found a post-traumatic peace and strength on this trip.  My confidence in myself returned.  And "nothing can stop this Joy".😆

Happy 10th Birthday, Reggie!

Reggie turned 10 on August 6th. 😊

We celebrated as a family by going to a beach and grilling some brats and dogs.  Then, had some chocolate cake.  A few weeks later, we took seven boys to a minor league baseball game.  We will rethink that one next time! Haha! 

 It rained.  Some of the boys were not dressed for the weather.  I offered to take them home, but they all stuck it out and overall had a fun night.

Reggie weighs 90 pounds and is 4 foot 11 inches tall! Brett is one inch taller but weighs 10 pounds less. We are enjoying somewhat of a down season with Reggie, as we didn't put him on a football team this year. But the kid has so much energy and all he wants to do is sports. So he's in a wrestling class, "Monday Night Football" (where he goes and runs around with a football with the local high school team on Mondays), and will being doing a session of swimming lessons before wrestling season is in full swing. Oh, these kids keep us busy! I will have time to dust later.

GB 2019

Green Bay was so much fun this year that we stayed 6 full days!  Here are some notable high points:

•  The guys went to a baseball game at the new minor league baseball stadium.  The gals went out for mac'n'cheese and fancy chocolate.

 Lydia was finally tall enough to drive her own bumper car!

•  The little cheap amusement park added a really big ferris wheel that sits on the edge of Lake Michigan.

•  Uncle Adam and Courtney have a puppy who has almost as much energy as Reggie!

•  Cheese curds.
•  Water balloons.  Lots of water balloons.

•  Courtney had her bridal shower!

•  The turf football field and adjoining playground are so much fun!  We even got to get together with some friends from "back home".
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  The boys got lots of autographs.

•  Just hanging out.  Brett can always entertain us!

Golf Highlights

Golf is not much of a spectator sport, so my highlights of Brett's golf season are limited. Last year, he competed in the Special Olympics "skills" level, so we could go to the different stations with him and watch him.  This year, he advanced to "3-hole unified", which means he completes 3 holes with a Unified Partner.  Bryan was happy to have an excuse to golf with his son every week for basically free!  In 3-hole, the athlete and the unified partner alternate turns hitting the ball, and if they don't get it in the hole after 9 swings, they pick up their ball.  And that's pretty much all I know about it. 😉

 At the area tournament, they placed third in their division with a score of 24.  At the state tournament, Brett golfed his best ever, and Bryan did his typical golfing with a score of 16. They got 1st in their division!

Reggie and Lydia and I were only able to watch Bryan and Brett tee off on the first hole.  Then, in Reggie's word, we went to "hang out at the bar".  Haha!

No!  Not the "Bar", Reggie, the "Clubhouse"!

In case you haven't noticed, Bryan is getting a pretty nice collection of gold medals between baseball and golf!  He's a gold medal dad.

The Summer Day

The Summer Day Who made the world?  Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper?  This grasshopper, I mean-  the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down- who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wing open, and floats away. I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel in the grass.,  how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?    Mary Oliver