First Half of 2026

It's been a whirlwind of a summer so far, so much so that I forgot to whip up this blog post until now. 

2026 has been good to us so far. We had a quiet winter, although Felix competed in Mock Trial and learned a lot. He also learned that he wants to be a lawyer like Nick someday. That's helping to shape where he wants to apply for college.

With our Mexico trip last fall and Felix having baseball tryouts, we just did a little vacation to the Dells during spring break. We stayed at the Wilderness on the Lakes and enjoyed the indoor water parks.

It was once again cold and wet for spring sports this year. (I bought electric handwarmers and a full-body blanket in late April.) Felix worked his way to being the #2 pitcher on the Varsity baseball team, which was great. He didn't get much other time in the field or at-bats, which was less great. This summer, he decided to take the opportunity to join a tournament baseball team instead of doing Legion baseball. His tournaments have taken him and Nick to Iowa twice and Illinois once. He's gotten a lot of playing time, and has been working on his complete game. He's thinking strongly about playing baseball in college if there's a good fit. He still has two more tournaments to go this summer (another in Iowa and in Illinois). 

Iris decided not to go for school softball this year, and opted to work on her speed by doing track instead. I don't know how much she improved her form, but she won a couple 100m, 200m, and 4x400m events in meets, including the former two at the conference track meet. So proud! As soon as school ended, she began practicing for the upcoming volleyball season and getting back into softball with her tournament team. As far as softball is concerned, she's decided she no longer wants to pitch, but has shifted her focus to being her team's backup catcher. We've had a fun couple of tournaments with her: a 1st place finish in Slinger, a 2nd place finish in Fond du Lac (where she hit her 1st outdoor over-the-metal-fence home run - her 2nd overall as she hit one in a dome tournament in February), and played competitively against strong competition in Mankato, MN, over the 4th of July weekend. She's got one more tournament this summer, in NW Indiana this coming weekend.

Felix went to prom with a group of friends, and I had the honor of taking their prom photos. 

The kids will be starting their Senior and Freshman years this fall, both at the same school for the first time since they were in grade school. 🥳

Goodbye, 2025

The last half of 2025 included some new beginnings and adventures for us. 

Felix passed his driver's test and began racking up experience as a Licensed Driver. So far, so good (knocking on all the wood)... He finished up his Legion baseball season shortly after my last post. And then broke off a piece of his femur while sprinting the following week. 😬 Ibuprofen took care of the pain, his body took care of rebuilding the bone, and PT this fall has helped get him back to full strength and usage. He did very well in his first term of Junior-year classes; he joined DECA, and has recently joined Mock Trail and has been doing weightlifting at school. His current goal is to study business at UW-Madison and get a law degree to become an attorney like Nick. 

Iris has been busy, as usual. At the end of July, her softball team competed in a national tournament in Peoria, IL. The weather was hot, and so were the girls, finishing 2nd in their division! Their team went to three fall tournaments, finishing 1st in two of them. In the first of these tournaments, Iris consecutively pitched the semifinal (no-hitter) and championship games. So proud of her for that accomplishment! She also turned 13, played libero for her school volleyball team (while developing a wicked jump serve), and started taking French. 

Nick's firm finally moved into their new office space in October. He's very happy with how it turned out, though he's so busy he doesn't have much time to admire it. Cara's been keeping on with her job and juggling the family's schedule. That schedule included trips back to GB to see Nick's sister and grandparents.

We decided to take a much-needed vacation over Thanksgiving (one of the few times we all were free). Iris requested going somewhere with teal water where she could snorkel. We ended up in Riviera Maya, and you can read about our trip here. 

We hope you and yours have a prosperous 2026!

First Half of 2025

We're just about midway through summer, so it's time for an update.

Our winter was pretty quiet. No big trips, no big events. Both kids prepared for their spring ball season. And suddenly, things were not quiet at all. 

Felix had his baseball tryouts over spring break, so we stayed home for that. He made the JV team this year, and the team had a good amount of success. Felix pitched a five-inning no-hitter during the season, which was fantastic! He's now over halfway through his Legion baseball season.

Iris had a difficult season of school softball. Too many players, too few innings to go around, too big talent differential made it challenging. The nice thing was playing against her tournament teammates. She was very happy to have a few tournaments this spring. Her tournament team has been very good in their four tournaments so far, finishing 1st, 4th (out of 9, playing up against 14U teams), 2nd and 1st. She also played with the 14U team for two tournaments.

Both kids did well overall in their classes and finished the year strong. Iris received a few awards from WRAMS, such as "most improved musician" in her band class. 

Felix just turned 16 on Saturday, and we had the grandparents over for a nice dinner. I waited until now to publish this post: he passed his road test today! He can officially drive the car all by himself. And he'll be running Iris around where she needs to go. (The downside of having a car at his disposal is it's also at our disposal. ;D )

That's all I have for now. We'll catch up again later this year.

Awesome things: Time Team episodes, Ologies podcasts

Goodbye, 2024

As we come up on the end of the year and the first anniversary of my mom's passing, I'm filled with mixed emotions. Compared to this time last year, I'm not filled with overwhelming sadness. It's tapered into a dull ache, but I miss her every day. We learned we can get through golf and football seasons without her. We learned she has no pull in the afterlife (yet), since none of the teams she would cheer on hardest won any championships. We are constantly reminded of how much she did for us now that she's gone. And we're still shocked cancer took her so fast. I don't think we'll ever come to terms with that.

As for the second half of our year, July saw both kids have sports success. Felix's baseball team went pretty deep in the Legion regional tournament. Iris's club softball team went to Indiana for a world series tournament and made it to Saturday play. She tried out and made the team again for next year (no surprises there). Iris also got to play 7th grade volleyball at school this fall. Her team had mixed success (hard to win when they didn't run an offense like other schools and had equal playing time for all), but she enjoyed it overall. 

Felix got his temps in July and has worked on his hours of practice behind the wheel. So far, he's a pretty conscientious driver. He's also just about Nick's height. He's done well so far in 9th grade and has been working out to make himself a better athlete for the next baseball season. 

Iris has been crushing it in 7th grade. She still plays trombone and had a band concert in December. 

The bright spot of the last six months was the family trip we took to Italy. We found a week to get away between the summer activities and school starting, and made plans to spend five days in northeastern Italy. It was Iris' first trip out of the country and Felix's second this year. I wrote about our adventure here.

Nick's firm bought a new building for their WR office and hope to move in after renovations are complete this spring. I continue to work on work zones at WisDOT.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving without Mom. We went to GB for Nick's side, and had four generations there with Nick's grandparents in attendance. My side got together for a subdued dinner that weekend.

We hope you have a safe, happy, and healthy 2025!

First half of 2024

Life and other distractions have gotten in the way of regular updates here. I will endeavor to try on two updates per year.

So. Here we are at the end of June. The beginning of the year was tough emotionally as we learned to live without my mom. I've been helping my dad as much as I'm able, and my sister is too.

Felix went to Germany with a school group for ten days at the end of March and had a great time. Iris, Nick and I took an unexpectedly snowy brief spring break trip to Minneapolis at that same time.

Felix made the JV2 baseball team and spent the spring playing (when it wasn't rainy and/or cold). Iris improved her volleyball skills until it was time to focus on softball instead. She's already played with three different teams this summer (subbing on one) in six different tournaments and currently has a 0.596 batting average and 1.369 OPS. :D Her teams have two 2nd place and one 3rd place finish so far.

Nick continues to grow his business, while looking for more hours in a day to get his workload done. Cara just had her 10-year anniversary in her present job.

And that's where we are so far.

Goodbye, 2023

I'm not going to bury the lede: my mom died unexpectedly just after Christmas. We had less than 18 hours from cancer diagnosis to when she was gone. It's going to take some time to process our loss. Here's her obituary.

Goodbye, Mom. I love you and miss you so much.

As for the latter half of 2023...

The kids finished up their summer ball seasons. Iris's softball team finished no worse than 4th, and won a total of two tournaments. She tried out for and made a club softball team that played in three fall tournaments, winning the last one. She's also been hard at work with extra hitting and pitching lessons. Felix has been working on his pitching and took up weight lifting with Nick to build his strength.

Both kids started at new schools: Felix in high school and Iris at the middle school. Both have been doing well in their classes. Iris also participated in volleyball through the school, which was practices-only for her grade, much to her chagrin.

Nick's business keeps growing and things are looking good. Now if only they could find their next office space. My work and job have continued without any changes, which is just fine with me. I continue to telework most of the time, which is my preference.

Nick's grandparents celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary, and the entire Abts clan got together for it.

We did get to celebrate one last Christmas with Mom. And I'm thankful for that.

Halfway Through 2023

I just realized a few minutes ago that I haven't been doing a very good job keeping up on this blog. Whoops. Let's get caught up.

Iris finished her swimming season strong, qualifying to swim at the State YMCA meet in the 50y backstroke and 50y breaststroke. The grandparents joined us in Brown Deer to cheers her on.

Iris was also in volleyball from January through April. I helped coach and we had a lot of fun at our second tournament.

We took a trip to San Francisco with Steve and Vicky over Spring Break. It was the kids' first trip to California. We had two rainy days and two clear days, and we made the most of them.

In March, after months of putting things into motion, Nick joined up with two other attorneys in town to form a new law firm. It's been a bit of a roller coaster starting it up, but business keeps rolling.

The kids finished off their school years and experiences at their respective schools. Both will be attending new schools next year. I still can't quite believe Felix will be going to high school next year. Iris is excited to make the jump to middle school.

Once the weather finally got nicer, the whole family has been occupied with baseball and softball. The kids are each on two teams, and Nick and I have been helping coach them. Both kids' tournament teams have had success already this season. Iris's team has earned 1st and 2nd place tournament finishes in our two tournaments so far. Felix's team placed 3rd in our home tournament, but sadly went winless over the past weekend (though the rest of the time up north was fun).

Cara's job hasn't changed much, though the kids are home for the summer. It's almost like our virtual year all over again. 

Iris is very much into Harry Potter now, having read and reread the entire series over the last year. She will be starting the trombone next year. Felix plays baseball on the Xbox and yells at the game. 

Awesome things: the US version of Ghosts, being married for 15 years.

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

Adios 2021

 Since mid-November, we've had a nice end to 2021 and hope you have, too. 

Cheers to 2021!

We took our trip to Orlando (originally scheduled for March 2020) with Cara's parents over Thanksgiving. Read all about that here.

Mother Nature has been all over the place, giving us 5 inches of snow one day and a 60° day the following week. We dealt with thick fog that day, and had severe wind storms roll though, knocking out our power for a few hours that night. Thankfully, no major damage at our house.

Nick and I have seen a few live shows this fall (which is infinitely greater than the amount we saw in a year pre-covid): Charlie Berens, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and MST3K Live!

All dressed up with a place to go!

Iris got her second vaccine dose, while Nick and I got boosted. We're hopefully prepared for when the omicron variant heads our way. Cara also got her first haircut in 26 months. A whopping 4 inches cut off, but it had grown 13 inches over that period, so... :D We also watched the UW-Madison Volleyball team have an amazing season and win the NCAA Championship! Wooooo!

We've been dealing with some trust issues with Felix. We found he'd been playing a game banned in our house for several weeks with friends; he didn't ask because he assumed we'd say no. We're trying to work on reestablishing trust and communication with him. It's a process, and there's always something... Meanwhile, Iris has been (overall) acting more mature lately, so it's been a pleasant change from her immediately whining when asked to do something. It still happens occasionally (most often after swimming when she's tired), but overall, it's an improvement.

We had three family holiday celebrations this year. We continued the tradition our family started last year by celebrating Yule instead of Christmas, giving the kids presents and having a nice dinner on the solstice. Each kid got a new sled, an Oodie, a sweatshirt, slippers, fuzzy socks, an art kit and an Amazon gift card from us.

We spent Christmas Eve in Green Bay with Nick's parents and had a nice time there. It was wonderful to have Nick's remaining grandparents there to celebrate with us. 

We usually celebrate Christmas Eve with my family, but my sister's work schedule shifted our getting together to the 26th. We had a lovely afternoon/evening together. 

Now I've got the week off while the kids are home on their winter break. We plan on trying out their new sleds on the snow we're getting (a little too late to have a true White Christmas, but better now than after the kids go back).

Awesome things: Generous people, healthcare workers, Wisconsin Badger Volleyball, The Great British Baking Show, gift cards, Season 3 of What We Do In The Shadows, my King Arthur Baker's Companion.

2021 Holiday Card

 

2021 saw some return to the old normal amidst the new normal. Cara continued to be home overseeing the kids' virtual school year until early June. They did a great job overall, but were very happy to go back to Y Camp for the summer. We also saw the return of summer ball, which kept us very busy with many league and tournament baseball and softball games. We're looking forward to more in the coming year!

We made some baby steps leaving our little home bubble, taking a spring break trip to Superior/Duluth to see waterfalls and spending some weekends away with tournaments. We felt comfortable enough to reschedule our cancelled 2020 spring break trip, taking a short vacation to Orlando over Thanksgiving.

Nick's business has flourished over its first year (yay!) while Cara has had to return to the office part-time (boo!). The kids have returned to full-time in-person school, and both have done exceptionally well transitioning back. Iris is again doing swim team and is happy to be competing in some meets this winter.

We're also healthy and happy to report that we are all fully vaccinated and (in the adults' cases) boosted. Yay, science!

We're looking forward to things continuing to be bright in 2022. For next year, we hope your wishes are fulfilled, your fears are assuaged, and that we'll all get though this together. 

With love,

The Abts Family

Fall 2021

We're now halfway through November, and it's time for an update.

The kids have been back to in-person school since September. While having the kids home doing virtual school last year was overall a good experience for us, it's been equally good having the kids back in school. Felix got thrown into the deep end of middle school, learning a new building and new routine (and much earlier hours!). Iris has been doing well in 4th grade as well. We had parent-teacher conferences last month, and we heard nothing but praise from their teachers, which makes us very proud of them.

We decided on teal for this year.

My folks went traveling, so we went to the season-opening Badger football game in their place. It wasn't the greatest game (losses rarely are...), but Iris and I got our picture with the amazing UW Volleyball team.

Go Badger Volleyball!

We went to our first wedding in a few years, with the nuptials of my cousin Beth the following week. My aunt hired a face painter, and Iris convinced me to get mine painted, too. :D

The kids had a day off at the end of September, so the three of us had an Adventure Day in Marathon County. We hiked around the Dells of the Eau Claire, ate our lunch at the RiverLife Park, and took on Rib Mountain's trails, all for the first time.

We had the Dells of the Eau Claire all to ourselves!

We returned to "normal" for Halloween. We passed out candy and it was (un)seasonably cold. The kids both decided they wanted the same costume, which made a wonderfully creepy impression. This is how they greeted my folks:

As I said in the last post, Felix played fall baseball in Plover for the first time. That was a new experience - Sunday doubleheaders. It was nice to have a chance to play more baseball before it got to be too cold. Iris, naturally, made the 10U tournament team, and I've been assistant coaching. We had several practices this fall, and a scrimmage which made our weaknesses glaringly obvious. Now that ball season has wrapped up, it's swimming season for Iris. She competed in her first real meet this past weekend. All four 10 & under Rapids girls won a heat, which was awesome, especially because there was usually one of the others in the same heat. Iris got hers in the 50m backstroke, but she also competed in the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke.

Nick's been keeping very busy, with business during his first year of operation exceeding his projections, which is fantastic! Not much has changed for me except my hours. I have to be in the office for a percentage of the week, so I now take Felix to school, go in to my nearby office, work a few hours there, then telecommute the rest of the work day.

Awesome things: Pediatric covid vaccine availability (Iris got her first shot on the first day she could!), Season 3 of What We Do in the Shadows, the MST3K forum, Great British Baking Show eps

Be warned: Iris has decreed that anything pink, purple, rainbow, or bedecked with unicorns is banished from her room. She's no longer a little kid and has no tolerance for such childish things.