Goodbye, 2022

As we're mere hours from the start of 2023, I thought it time to catch up on our lives since the beginning of September.

We took our biannual family pictures with some gorgeous fall colors. The kids were being a little goofy at the end. :o)

Felix started 8th grade and Iris started 5th. Felix has been struggling to turn in assignments on time in some classes (we're working on that...), but he started taking German and is looking forward to his trimester with Art. He was also in Engineering Club this fall, building a neat miniature catapult with a friend. He spends most of his free time playing computer games (loudly) with friends. Iris has been having a good year so far, and is a captain on the school safety patrol. She's been working hard on the Y swim team again. In the two meets she's attended so far this year, she shaved seven seconds off her 50-yard freestyle time, which is impressive. She's already planning on doing volleyball, swimming and softball next year in 6th grade. She has also gotten hooked on reading the Harry Potter series. I've been making her wait to watch the last movies until she reads the books first.

Nick and Cara took a trip to Porto, Portugal, for a week, and enjoyed the atmosphere, the countryside, and, of course, the port wine. After we came back, Nick finalized the purchase of a second office building in Black River Falls, where he spends one day a week now working with the two staff there. Cara continues to be the region's work zone engineer and sees no reason why that should change anytime soon.

Much closer to home, we took a trip up to Merrill to see the "star" of our favorite bad movie - Giant Spider Invasion, showcased on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The kids went a little low-key for Halloween. Iris was a banana and Felix was Aaron Rodgers at a charity event (maybe?).

Our friends had their annual holiday party after a two-year COVID pause, so we got all dressed up and had a nice time there. My sister found that dress at Goodwill in the late 90s, and it got a lot of well-deserved compliments at the party.

We continued our tradition of themed Christmas pictures. This year, we went with Caddyshack. 

We took a trip to Madison yesterday to eat at an Indian buffet for the first time in years, and took a walk through the zoo. It turns out, we aren't very big birds.

We hope your 2023 brings you much happiness! Cheers!

Awesome things: MST3K's season 13 (and upcoming season 14!), What We Do in the Shadows, all the birds in my backyard

2022 Holiday Card

 

2022 was a good year for us. The kids finished their school years and both did well overall, especially with going back to in-person schooling. We took a family trip to Milwaukee for spring break, while Nick and I made a trip to Portugal in the fall. We're looking forward to more trips in the future!

The kids kept us very busy with their activities. Both played on their summer ball tournament teams, and between the first weekend in June and the first weekend in August, we only had one ball-free weekend. Between that, league ball, and Cara's assistant coaching duties, we basically lived at the ball park this summer. At least the weather was nice. Mostly. :D

In the fall, both kids started their last school years at their respective schools (in 8th and 5th grade). Iris has been busy with swim team and has done well enough to ribbon in several events so far this year. Felix spends his free time playing video games with friends.

Cara continues to put in good work with the State, while Nick has expanded his business to include a Black River Falls office. We're hopeful things will continue to go well for us!

We also wish the best for the coming year to you and yours!

With love,

The Abts Family

2022 Update

Goodness, I just realized I hadn't posted since April. Yikes! Let's get you caught up.

Spring was overall pretty quiet after our Milwaukee trip. We finished off the school year well, with Felix and Iris both having great endings to their respective grades. Iris received a certificate from her teacher for being "most likely to be the first female president." We can totally see it. :D I chaperoned Iris's field trip to a very soggy Heritage Hill in late May.

Felix played baseball with his middle school in the spring. It was a bit of a struggle getting him going, since he was so used to just camping in front of his computer once he got home, but he ended up enjoying it and got used to playing on the "big field."

That ball playing was just the beginning of what took over our entire summer. Both kids played league and tournament ball, and I was Iris's assistant coach in both as well (fun, but exhausting). Neither of their tournament teams were very successful, but each took home some hardware. They made some mistakes, but learned from them, so hopefully they'll come back stronger next year.

Covid finally found us starting in May. I got sick after attending a fundraising event. The cold I had just before catching it was worse than covid itself, but having to isolate meant I couldn't do my birthday/mother's day plans. That bummed me out, but my favorite show, MST3K, had a live event that night, and I got a birthday shout-out from the cast. It made my decade! Iris got sick with it a couple days after school ended, so she had to miss the first week of Y Camp. She was coughing, I tested her, and a couple hours later she asked if she could go play because she felt fine. She was grumpy about having to spend so much of her time in her room as a result.

Between bouts, we attended a family wedding, went to a Brewers game, and then spent nearly every weekend between Memorial Day and the first weekend of August at a tournament. (I'm not kidding when I said it took over our summer). Our first "free" weekend had us going up to Green Bay for a family gathering. Finally, we've been able to kick back and watch the grass grow a bit (which it has done, far too much!). 

Today's Iris's 10th birthday. I dyed her hair teal at her request (non-permanent, of course). I just had to disappoint her that we can't go out to get her choice for dinner (sushi) because the restaurant is closed tonight. :o( But, she gets to have her friends over earlier then for her dessert of choice (dirt cake she helped me make).

Awesome things: MST3K's 13th season

A Quarter Through 2022

 Sorry I've been quiet as of late. But I'm back now and ready to catch you up on the first quarter of 2022. 

The thing that got us out of the house the most was Iris's swim stuff. She participated in several meets this winter, making steady improvement on her times. She focused more of the second half of the swim season on the backstroke, freestyle and individual medley. She didn't qualify for the YMCA state meet, but she did well trying. She won herself a few ribbons, for which she was pretty proud. She always wants to be faster, though. 

Ribbons!

In addition to swim practice, we had a few indoor softball practices. It made for a nice change to think about a summer sport in the dead of winter. :D I also taught Iris how to do a bit of crocheting. She started to make a blanket for the cats to sleep on, but she may have lost interest in it...

Felix continues to play video games loudly and swear when he thinks we're not listening. We signed him up to play baseball at his middle school so that he does at least one extracurricular activity this year. He's unenthusiastic.

Nick and I have been eagerly anticipating the return of Mystery Science Theater 3000's 13th season. We've gotten some fun behind-the-scenes looks at production, and I can often be found giving my 2 cents on the Forum.

I went up to meet our friend's newest addition, Benji, while having a lovely chat with mom Heidi. Teddy was adorable as usual. 

The kids just had spring break last week. Because we did the "big" trip in the fall, we planned a surprise trip for the end of the week (more on that in a sec). I did take some time off with them early in the (cold) week, and we did a hike at Roche-a-Cri in Adams County. 

The view from below...

and above!

Back to the trip... We didn't give the kids any indication where we were going, other than to say we were going within a day's drive away and we'd be gone for 3 nights. Our destination ended up being Milwaukee. I bought tickets to a Bucks game, a Brewers game (which was cancelled because of the lockout - GRRR!), and a Wave game instead. We dealt with unseasonably cold, snowy/rainy weather, but had fun eating at the Safe House and going to Discovery World. The kids enjoyed the trip overall. More details available here.

Awesome things: MST3K, Ghosts (the British version), Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Gilded Age, and Bridgerton