Second Honeymoon

Nick and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary in May. We decided that we finally had the means and motivation to do something I've wanted to do for years - take a trip to Europe. We started making plans way back in January of this year, pulling the trigger on what would become our second honeymoon. We decided on visiting Munich (my choice) and Prague (Nick's) this time around. Reader, beware: many pictures of beer be herein.

August 16/17: Travel Day & Arrival in Munich

Our adventure began on Thursday, August 16. We drove the kids up to stay with Nick's parents for the first half of our trip (they'd be staying with mine for the second), then drove down to Chicago. It's a good thing I planned for us to get to O'Hare two and a half hours early - the economy lots we were monitoring we all full and we had no backup plan. Fortunately, one was accepting vehicles when we arrived. Panic #1 subsided. We hopped on the bus to take us to the terminals. Cue Panic #2 - they had one flight to Munich leaving from Terminal 1, and we couldn't pull up our gate information fast enough to see if it was ours. We hopped off at Nick's insistence that we could catch another bus if it wasn't our flight. Thankfully, it was. We then spent the time before our flight waiting in several lines, finding our gate and celebrating the fact we made it that far with an overpriced beer.

Our flight was a little behind schedule, but we still took off by 6:30 pm. We tried to sleep on the red-eye but neither one of us could get comfortable. I ended up watching Pitch Perfect 3 and the flight information channel. We got into the Munich airport around 9:30 am Friday morning, and had little problem going through their customs and baggage. We bought tickets and made our way to the S-bahn platform. We loaded on to the train we needed to get to our apartment and away we went. We got to our stop, then lugged our luggage for a couple of blocks to our Bogenhausen neighborhood apartment which I found on Airbnb. We were too early to get in, so we backtracked a block and found a little pub at which to eat and drink while we waited. I dusted off my very rusty German. (Too rusty, apparently. The server didn't understand me and brought two meals instead of the one I wanted). We checked into our lovely, cool, bottom-floor apartment and relaxed. 

Since it was only midday and we were finally in Germany, I got my second wind and dragged us out to explore. This was my third time in Munich, so I had a few places I wanted to show Nick. Nick, however, was mainly interested in sampling all the beers Munich had to offer, but gamely followed my lead. We took the U-bahn to Odeonsplatz and walked through the hot, crowded streets. I wanted to get my souvenir hunt out of the way, so I found the store I had heard about online that sold reasonably priced Tracht (traditional German clothing). We walked out many minutes later with my purchase of a classy silver silk dirndl, tasteful blouse, and teal apron. I wanted something that I could wear to more than just Oktoberfests (and in fact, I did wear it to the wedding we attended the weekend after we returned :o). Next, we headed for Nick's desired souvenir - a memory of another beer. We found a Hackerhaus restaurant and sat under the umbrellas in the street. We learned first-hand that there are bees a-plenty this summer in Munich... We relaxed and enjoyed the atmosphere, although it was pretty warm (high 80s). I realized where we were in the city, and after finishing our beverages, took Nick down the street to see the Asamkirche. This church was like a model house for builders - the brothers showed off everything they could do. So much Baroque detail crammed into a tiny space.

It was getting to be close to 5 pm, so we headed up to the Marienplatz so Nick could witness the Glockenspiel at the Neues Rathaus. We joined an enormous crowd of other tourists waiting. And then the bells played and played and played and then the little figures moved slowly and that was it. If you're expecting an exciting spectacle, look elsewhere... We struck out to find dinner. I led Nick to the Hofbräuhaus. It was pretty crowded, but we were lucky to find a table inside. We ordered beers, a giant pretzel and a cold cut plate. We headed back to our apartment after that, as exhaustion was starting to set in.

August 18: Munich Museums

Since I had been to Munich twice before, I let Nick take the lead on our first full day. He decided: museums! Before we went to his picks, I led us up to the Olympic Park via the U-bahn so he could see where the 1972 Olympics took place. We didn't do much exploring there; instead, we did a brief tour of the BMW World building, then headed back down into the city. Nick had never seen Greek or Roman statues in person, so our first stop was the Glyptothek. I'm not really much of an art museum-goer. There's only so much interest that the same pose or scene holds for me. But I tried, even finding a Roman doppelgänger. Once we had exhausted that museum, we found a quick bite then continued to the Alte Pinakothek (the old art gallery). Painting after painting of biblical scenes and portraits with a few Rubens thrown in for good measure. A few interested me, but after a while, I started to take more of an interest in the frames around the paintings instead.

Once Nick had his fill, we went to museum #3 for the day: the Residez - the former home of the Wittelsbach monarchs. That had much more interest for me. We opted to do the Treasury, too, and were impressed by the 500+ year old handiwork on crowns, vessels, tables, boxes, you name it. We also toured the lavish apartments, and saw an unsettling collection of relics that included at least 3 infant skeletons. Yikes. My feet were getting sore by the time we wrapped up there, so we headed nearby and ate an early dinner at the Spatenhaus restaurant by Max-Joseph Platz. It was still early and becoming a beautiful evening, so we took a tram toward the English Garden. We walked the few blocks up to and into the park. I showed Nick where the surfers ride the waves, and we walked up to beer garden at the Chinese Tower. We realized we were low on Euros at this point, so we both ended up with 1 liter beers to meet the credit card minimum. We enjoyed the Gemütlichkeit of being in one of the largest beer gardens in Munich with an oompah band playing and people all around. That feeling lasted until we went to take out more money from the ATM and realized that we only brought our credit cards along on the trip and didn't have a PIN. The mood turned rather sour after that. (learn from our mistake - take your debit card!). We headed back to our apartment and tried to formulate a plan... I had a rough night of feeling helpless and like an idiot about the situation.

August 19: Mike's Bike Tour

It was Sunday and there wasn't much we could do to change our cash situation, so we made the best of it. We had already bought tickets to go on a Mike's Bike Tour of Munich, so our itinerary for the day was set. We headed to the Marienplatz early and met up with our tour group at 9:30. I had been on the classic bike tour both of my previous times in Munich, so this time we went for the longer Superior bike tour. Our guide, Kevin, was from Ireland and very knowledgeable. This tour got more in-depth on pre- and post-WWII history, which Nick liked. We ate a good lunch back at the Chinese Tower beer garden and were visited by what I think was an Asian giant hornet. Egads. After the tour, we headed back to the apartment and rested. We struck out for dinner, not having much luck finding a place that accepted credit cards. Ended up at a nice little Vietnamese restaurant.

August 20: Mittenwald

Today we headed out on a day trip to the Alps. We took the 8:30 am train from the main train station down to Mittenwald, a little town in an Alpine valley on the German-Austrian border. It was much cooler in the mountains than it had been in Munich. We walked through the pedestrian area with the lovely painted buildings and headed down and out of town. We first struck out on the walking path that would lead us to the Leutaschklamm, a steep gorge. We hiked up the narrow switchback trail, trying to keep our footing on the gravel path. Finally making it to the top we found ourselves on a catwalk to the suspension bridge hung hundreds of feet over the rushing river below. I have a slight issue with heights and a walkway through which I can see and a small swaying bridge did little to allay my fears. At that point, my chief concern was to not drop my phone over the rail. We hightailed it back to the start of the path shortly after that.

We walked back into Mittenwald, stopping at the Brauerei Mittenwald for lunch. My appetite hadn't been great the last couple of days, but it was starting to come back. Good beer helped. After eating, we walked to the mountains on the other side of town and took a gondola up to the top of the Karwendelspitze. It was about 50-60 degrees and clouds were coming in when we got up there. We figured we had some time, so we hiked around the loop from the welcome station. At the far side, we saw that we were on the border with Austria. Lovely views, although visibility was obscured by clouds which grew steadily heavier as we were up there. Nick developed a bloody nose from the dry air, and so we didn't waste much time finishing our hike. We headed back down in the gondola (completely full this time) and then on to the train station. We caught the next train to Munich and headed back to our apartment. We cooked dinner on our apartment that night and started packing to leave the next morning.

August 21: Traveling to Prague

I had purchased train tickets to go from Munich to Prague today and after having checked the timetable the day before at the station, we said goodbye to our apartment and got to the train station at 8 am. We bought some breakfast and went to find our train. Which wasn't at the track the timetable stated. Or anywhere else, for that matter. We were told that there was no train to Prague today. Say what? We then headed to the ticketing office, where we were informed that the only way we could get to Prague today was by bus. Not ideal, but as it was our only option, we took it. At least we had gotten there early and had time to spare. We walked to the bus station, both frustrated by the change of events and the fact that one of our suitcases was locked and the combination wouldn't work. At least we now had a couple of hours to sit and wait and attempt to crack the code. After a couple of minutes of work, I figured out how I had mis-set it to begin with, and once opened, reset it properly.

The bus arrived, we got on, and away we went. We had nice seats up front on the double-decker bus. The trip was about 4.5 hours with only one brief stop to change drivers, so it took less time that the train would have. Once in Prague, I heaved a deep sigh of relief once we had the Czech Koruna in hand that I had asked my mom to wire to us via Western Union the day before. Cash! Whew! We hopped on the first tram that would take us to our Airbnb apartment, a lovely little place on the second floor overlooking a busy street. It was hot here, too. Thankfully, there was a sturdy fan to provide some air movement. After checking in and settling in to the place, we headed out to get my Prague souvenir - a nose piercing. I've wanted my nostril pierced for years, and thought it would be an interesting reminder of the trip. We found the shop at which I wanted it done, not too far from our apartment. They were busy but I made an appointment to come back later, so we found a nearby bar to try our first Czech beers. Pleasantly relaxed from the beer, we headed back to the shop and I got my nostril pierced. A brief sting and done! We next headed out to find dinner. Our first attempts were overcrowded, but we found a little pizza place that looked appealing and had a nice dinner there. We finished up the night walking through the Republic Square and buying a few souvenirs before taking the tram back to our apartment.

August 22: Prague Sights

We headed out early to take the trams up to the Prague Castle. We got there right around opening time. As did so many others... Especially Asian tour groups. They were everywhere! We bought our tickets and headed right for St Vitus. It was very impressive inside, and the morning sunlight did wonderful things to the stained glass. We didn't linger very long there (very crowded). We passed on touring the old palace (too similar to the Residenz), walked through the basilica, and headed out. My feet weren't happy, so we took it easier today. We left the castle grounds and hopped a tram to get to the other side of the river.

There, we found a lovely little cafe. After refreshing ourselves, we headed up to the Charles Bridge. It was a 90 degree day, and there were so many people out and about. We walked the length of the Charles Bridge, then headed over to the Jewish Quarter. The lines were exceptionally long, so we headed toward the old town square instead (why we thought that would be less busy...). The Astronomical Clock was being repaired, so we didn't even get a glimpse of it. Instead, we walked on toward Wenceslas Square and found a cafeteria-style restaurant. Good traditional food, beer and prices. We then walked back toward Republic Square. We caught the tram back to our apartment, made reservations at the pub next door for dinner, then headed up for a video chat with the kids. We relaxed until dinner time, then had some nice traditional fare and beer at the Lokal next door.

August 23: More Prague

We really didn't have any plans for the day. We decided to head toward Wenceslas Square. We walked and saw the Kafka statue that was installed a few years ago. Pretty neat how the slices of his head rotate (that sounds weird to say, but that's exactly what it does). We headed back to the square, bought some postcards for the kids, then found a tiny cafe at which I could write on them. The waitress was happy to practice her English on us and told us that they hadn't had a summer as hot and dry as this in many years. It was shaping up to be another 90 degree day. We finished up there, then headed to the square. It's the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring, so there were more monuments and memorials around.

We found a post office and mailed the postcards. It was near the Mucha Museum, so we went there and viewed the exhibits on display. Unfortunately, the Slav Epic is on tour, so there was no hope of seeing that. We walked through Old Town to the Republic Square and went to try traditional open-faced sandwiches for lunch. I thought they were pretty tasty, but Nick was getting overheated. We headed for a beer club near our apartment, where Nick had his pick of hundreds of bottles or six on tap. It was cool and quiet, just what we needed. After imbibing and relaxing, we headed back to our apartment. We struck out for a restaurant in the Karlin neighborhood that was a tankovna (serving beer delivered fresh from breweries in tanks instead of kegs) and had some good food and drink there. We took a nice, leisurely stroll through the neighborhood before heading back to our apartment for the evening.

August 24: Pilsner Urquell

We picked Plzen (Pilsen) as our day trip location for our time in Prague. We got train tickets and headed out in our own private compartment to Pilsen. It was about a 1.5 hour trip with some very beautiful scenery. It was cooler and cloudy today. We had brewery tour tickets for 1:00, and since we were early, we found a restaurant and had lunch. We ate on the back patio and made friends with a neighborhood cat. :o)

We walked back to the other side of the train station, determining that Pilsen was much scruffier than Prague. Much more dilapadated, at least where we were. It didn't leave us feeling too comfortable walking around. At least it was daytime, and we were aware of our surroundings. We made our way over to the Pilsner Urquell Brewery. We were early for our tour, so we stopped for a fresh beer at the pub onsite first. While we were in there, it started pouring rain. Good thing the tour was mostly inside!

Since Nick and I do some homebrewing, we have an appreciation for brewing on a large scale. We had a knowledgeable, English-speaking guide. We got to see the bottling plant, old brew house, new brew house and part of the underground tunnel system where the beer was fermented. They still make batches of beer the old-fashioned way for tour groups to sample. We ended the tour in the gift shop (of course). We purchased a few souvenirs and then headed back to the train station. We had some time to kill, so we first found a cafe and had a coffee before we left. It occurs to me that our beverages on this trip were primarily coffee and beer. We took the train back to Prague. This train was full, and had a very unhappy toddler sitting in our car. That wasn't very nice... We got back to our apartment then headed out to find dinner, ending up at nice Karlin neighborhood restaurant.

August 25: Last Day in Prague

It was a much cooler day today. We headed out early to go down to the Vysehrad fortress. It was nice and quiet down there, with few tourists. We walked around, visiting the interesting cemetery where many well-to-do Prague citizens were buried. One was Antonin Dvorak, the composer. After we walked past his tomb, we heard a man shouting "Antonin! Antonin!" and then classical music playing. An older Asian gentleman was holding his cellphone aloft and jamming to the piece. Odd way to pay one's respects, yet fitting. We finished walking around, then headed back toward town on the Metro. We wanted to find a place to eat brunch, and ended up walking to the cafe at which we stopped two days before.

Once fed and rested, we headed up along the river to the Prague Beer Museum, which was not a museum, but rather a pub with 30 beers on tap. We tried a few at our leisure, before heading back out. We meandered back through Old Town to Republic Square. We headed back to our apartment, then got ready for dinner. We had a nice dinner, then went to find a wine bar for something different. We found one on our street that was serving burčák, a young, still-fermenting Moravian specialty wine. It's good. We had a nice, quiet night, packing up to leave in the morning.

August 26: Heading Home

We woke early (5:30 am local, 10:30 pm CDT). We got to the airport without issue with plenty of time. We spent our remaining Czech cash on coffee, macarons and a bottle of slivovice (plum brandy), then headed home. We first flew to Zurich, where we had a short layover, then a much longer flight back to Chicago. We, alas, had an unhappy toddler kitty-corner from us. At least he slept for a few hours. We amused ourselves as best we could on the flight, then landed in Chicago at 3:30. We went through customs and were quite relieved to see our bags (our car key was in one of them). We headed home, getting back to our house and kids at 8:30 pm.

All of our pictures are here. If you're interested in where exactly (and I do mean exactly - trains, trams and all) we went, I made this Google map. Videos I took on the trip are here.

The beers were all bigger than me, but I won. I think.

One Crazy June and July

We've reached the end of baseball season, so I can take a breath and reflect on the last two months. Overall, things were dominated by two things: baseball and bodily losses (I'll explain later...). First, to baseball!

Our family had baseball in some way, shape or form 5 days a week for the better part of June. Iris was in T-ball and played for three weeks. Felix's league team did very well during intraleague play and ultimately won the league championship! After league, the focus shifted to tournament ball. They played in three more tournaments since my last update: Port Edwards in June, Kaukauna and Pulaski in July. They won one game in the Port Edwards tournament, two in Kaukauna (Felix hit is first inside-the-park homer in one! Huge comeback in the other!), and two in Pulaski to come in 2nd in the Silver bracket at that tournament. We've watched the kids struggle and succeed, learned how to pack for tourney weekends, and all of us have made new friends. Aw.

7/29/18

We went to our first Brewers game in 6 years! The last time our family went, I was pregnant with Iris. This time, we enjoyed everything but the loss to the Dodgers. :P

7/22/18

On to the bodily losses! (Not sure how else to describe this section...) Iris lost her first tooth! She had a shark tooth for a while, and is glad the baby tooth fell out on its own. Since her permanent tooth was nearly to the height of her baby tooth, it doesn't look like there's much difference.

Also, over the course of several appointments between the end of May and the beginning of July, my doctors and I determined that I might be better off without my gallbladder. So, I had that removed and went into recovery mode for the next two weeks. So far, no ill effects and I'm learning what/when I can/should eat. As with Iris's tooth, I'll spare you a picture... 

And in the midst of all the craziness, Felix turned 9! We went to a Rafters game that night, and Felix got to throw an honorary pitch, which he thought was a strike. :o)

7/12/18

Felix: 9 yrs & Iris: 5.5 yrs

Spring Update

Whew! We made it to summer!

Spring highlights since our DC trip:

• We got over a foot of snow on April 13th. Technically, this counts as a lowlight for me, but it was definitely noteworthy and bizarre to have rain, then hail, then 13"+ inches of snow.
• Iris played soccer this spring. The first game in April was snowed up, but her 4K-1st grade team played better every week.
• Felix decided to focus on baseball this year. he joined one of the Rapids tournament teams and is also playing league ball. We got him moved up to the 10U division, because he wanted to pitch. He's been a very busy boy, with practice or games 5 days a week. Nick's been helping out with the tournament team as well.
• Iris started T-ball, too. We've been spending a lot of time at the ballpark!

• I went to Wausau with my Mom and her friend Mary to see Kinky Boots. Great show!
• We got worms! We started vermicomposting in our basement to make better use of our kitchen scraps year-round. I've been their caretaker so far. After the first few unsettling settling-in days (when dozens of worms made a break for it and had to be plucked up and returned to the bin...), things have been going well. No massive jailbreaks since. Nightmare fuel, anyone?
• We got black currant bushes! I have loved the flavor of black currant since I studied abroad in Wales. It turns out they aren't illegal in Wisconsin as I once thought. We made them into a living fence along one property line and hope to get bumper crops starting next year! We also tripled the size of our vegetable garden - more yummy goodness to come!
• Nick and I renewed our vows in a very small ceremony at our house with only our children in attendance. Nick lost his wedding ring earlier in May, and I figured it would be a nice way to celebrate our 10th anniversary by recreating our wedding ceremony, exchanging the matching silicone rings we got to make them "official", and giving the kids a little taste of what it was like for us. It took all of 6 minutes, and it was perfect.

• It was hot, hot, hot for Memorial Day weekend. We hunkered down for most of the weekend, and came out only to go out on friends' floating "island" at a local lake. Very pleasant.
• Felix played in his first tournament last weekend. The day started at 7:30 for him and ended around 9:30 pm, with three disappointing, yet lesson-filled losses.

And finally, the kids just finished up the school year. Look at those cuties and see how much they've grown! Both had a great school year and are looking forward to going back in the fall, as well as their summer adventures.

We're looking forward to a summer full of baseball, golf, gardening, and travel!

Awesome things: The Brewers being in 1st place in the division, The Great British Baking Show, Noir by Christopher Moore

Felix: 8.5 yrs & Iris: 5.5 yrs

DC Spring Break

My 200th post! Our big excitement since my last post was our Spring Break trip to Washington, DC, last week. We left on Sunday, March 25 to begin the kids' first road trip and returned seven days later...

​

We were up and out of the house by 5:45 to begin our road trip. Prior to this, the farthest we had driven with the kids was the 3.5-hour trip we took to Milwaukee last year, so we didn't know how the kids would handle DAYS in the car. Turns out, with enough stuff and snacks, surprisingly well! We drove through Chicago (with the kids marveling at the skyline) to Indianapolis. Felix's stomach did not handle the bumps of Indiana well... Good thing I brought many garbage bags and we were due for a stop. Both kids enjoyed visiting​ the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Felix took pictures of every single vehicle. I set Iris on tasks, looking for things like all the cars with a #1 on them. Unfortunately, snow on the track kept us from doing a track tour. A couple hours later, we were at our hotel outside Dayton. The kids were pretty disappointed that the lock to the pool door died just as we tried to open it, and the hotel was unwilling to fix it. :(

Future drivers?

The next day, the kids got to add several more states to their quickly-growing collection: PA, WV, MD, and VA. They enjoyed getting sandwich makings from a grocery store and eating lunch at a scenic overlook in Pennsylvania. Lots of mountains, and we spotted a license plate we hadn't seen before: Newfoundland and Labrador. Sweet. ​We got to our airbnb outside DC in late afternoon and settled in. We started watching our first season of the Great British Baking Show, and got takeout from a nearby French restaurant.

Lunch at a scenic overlook outside Uniontown, PA

Our first day in the city! ... turned out to be pretty gray and cool. We decided to take the kids to the National Air and Space Museum. We gave the kids their first taste of the Metro and they both liked it a lot. Unfortunately, we found out pretty quickly that we weren't the only ones with Spring Break plans in DC, as it took us 45 minutes in line just to enter the museum. Once in, we split up - Felix with Nick, Iris with me. I let Iris lead me anywhere she fancied around the museum. She especially liked the interactive kids exhibits we found (like getting to sit in a Cessna and play with the controls), and spent a whopping 10 minutes just riding the escalators while I watched. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Iris got a stuffed space shuttle and Felix got a model Blue Angel as souvenirs. We also tried "moon cheese". We were a little late leaving the museum to get food at our first choice​ of nearby food truck, so we settled for the "best crepes in DC" food truck. Delicious, despite the rain. We didn't think the kids were up for more museums, so we headed back to our hotel to relax. We got dinner at a nearby Dogfish Head Alehouse. Nice time, that! Another quiet evening. Or it would have been, if we hadn't spotted a mouse in the apartment... Nick was less than thrilled, but our airbnb host made amends.

Tall kids, taller rockets

Crepes!

Wednesday's forecast was again rainy and cool, so we opted to buy tickets for the DC Trolley Tour. We started off late and headed straight for Arlington National Cemetery. We got on a tram which took us on a tour of the cemetery. We witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and saw a full military funeral with band, guard, and horse-drawn caisson. I'm not sure the experience really sunk in with the kids, but it was meaningful. After the chill of Arlington, we headed to Georgetown on the Metro and visited a restaurant recommended to us by our host, Thunder Burger. That was quite tasty! From there, back on the Metro to get us to where we could pick up the full Trolley Tour. We caught it kind of late - around 3, but there as enough time to take the full tour. It was kind of raining, so it was good to be inside seeing the sites. Iris kept thinking the big buildings were the White House. Finally, we saw it. The trolley driver was nice and let a small group of us hope out to see the MLK monument, which I hadn't seen yet. He also went out of his way to drop us off where we could get some dinner by Chinatown. Felix was a bit crabby by that point and it was busy with hockey fans, so we headed back for base camp and a quiet evening.

It may not be exciting, but it's important.

All aboard!

Thursday morning we spent in, getting some laundry done and watching the end of the Great British Baking Show while the kids played ski jumping with their animals. We headed out after an early lunch and made our way to the National Zoo. The very high escalator on the way out of the station scared the kids. It was a lovely day - bright and nearly 80! That meant many other people had same idea. The zoo was quite crowded. Iris was a bit crabby to start, but she warmed up and both kids ended up enjoying themselves, especially after we rode the carousel and got the kids small stuffed animal souvenirs. We especially enjoyed going through the Amazonia exhibit. From there, we walked back up to the zoo entrance and met Nick's sister across the street for dinner at Duke's Counter. The kids were great, the food was great, and Nick got a chance to catch up with his sister. That was a lovely way to end our time in DC!

Loving the Amazonia exhibit and the arapaimas

Yay for family visits!

The two days spent driving home involved a lot of rain/snow/windy weather, more carsickness from Felix, and increasing irritation. But on the plus side, we did get a hotel with a functioning pool on the way back, and Nick got to test drive a Tesla at a dealership in Chicago. We were all very happy with the trip and to be safely back home.

The front seat of the Tesla model S sure looks spacious...

... compared to being squashed between two kids seats in the back!

Awesome things: Kids who CAN handle road trips, the Great British Baking Show, and The Good Place.

Felix: 8.5 yrs & Iris: 5.5 yrs

Mid-Winter Update

Another bitterly cold month has passed, so might as well give a few updates! It's been a busy few weeks!

• Iris has been in ice skating lessons this winter. She's doing pretty well! At least, she's spending more time on her feet than falling on the ice, which is an improvement. Felix passed on the opportunity this year. Instead, Nick has been taking him to the batting cages in preparation for baseball this summer.
• Nick's parents stopped by for a nice, long visit in mid-January. Lately, their visits have ended with dinner at Mikey's in Plover. No complaints there!
• We had friends over for a fancy dinner party, complete with charcuterie and cheese board. We're so adult! We let the kids join us for dinner and they behaved beautifully. Maybe we should do this more often...

Awaiting our guests.

• Iris sold Girl Scout cookies for the first time. She demolished her goal of 5 boxes. :o)
• We joined friends for an art show preview at UWSP and snagged ourselves a lovely blown glass bowl offered by a student artist. Yay, atsy centerpieces!
• We then had my parents over for dinner and visiting before they departed on a trip to Mexico.
• I spent three days home with Iris, who was struck down by the flu. Poor girl! Her fever took a while to be gone completely, but all she needed was ibuprofen and rest to get better. Fortunately, no one else in the family was hit at the same time.

Practicing camouflaging while home sick.

• We once again joined the friends we had over for our dinner party when we got together in Wausau for a WPR event - dinner and an Old Time Radio Drama (The Canterville Ghost). It was a lot of fun.

Dapper gentlemen

• Most excitingly of all, the kids competed in the rescheduled Badger State Games and Tri-Norse ski jumping tournaments yesterday. Despite the weather being either 5 or 45 degrees lately, there was enough snow for the tournaments to proceed. This was our first winter tournament, and so it was definitely a new experience! Pretty busy in the chalet, but it was low 30s and snowy, so being outside wasn't so bad. Felix was disappointed that the snow in his eyes made seeing when to jump difficult, so he wasn't happy with his second place finish. It's a learning experience and we're so proud of both of them. Iris didn't have any competition in the U6F class, but she did her best and had fun. We got to watch jumps on all the hills before the awards ceremony, which was pretty cool.

• In case you haven't noticed, the Olympics have been on. Since we stream our TV, we've been able to pick what we want to watch on delay. We've been watching a lot of curling (naturally), picking up the finer points of ski jumping, and exposing the kids to interesting sports like skeleton and freestyle aerials skiing. I admit, I'm cheering for the Norwegian men's curling team's pants as much as any American athlete... ;o)

Much more is in store for us in the coming months, so stay tuned!

Awesome thing(s): The Olympics, The Good Place, huge BSG medals

Felix: 8.5 yrs & Iris: 5 yrs

Winter Times

'Tis the season! Yikes, actually, a little past that, but better late than never!

• Nick and I started our 4th season of curling. It felt pretty good to get back out on the ice.
• Nick and I sent the kids to visit their grandparents and headed down to Madison for a weekend in November. We went to the Badger men's hockey game with my parents on Friday night. Nice win! The next morning, we were invited to go to the UW System President's house for a tailgate party with WPR and got to rub elbows with prestigious people (saw Tommy Thompson and Tony Evers at least). From there, we experienced our first game at Camp Randall in the upper deck in a long time. Another Badger win!

• The kids and I had a five-day weekend over Thanksgiving. We went up to Green Bay for a nice visit. 
• Felix was reevaluated for ADHD and prescribed medication to help get him to focus better in school. He's not hyper, but he just goes off in his own world. We've hit on a good dosage level for now, and it's making a quite a difference. We weren't initially in favor of putting him on medication, but the overall improvement of school and home life have been worth it.
• My friend Lindsey and I had an overnight stay for work in Madison, and took advantage of an opportunity to do some flame-working! We made some beautiful, wonky icicles out of glass.
• We all spent some time at nice holiday parties and got a chance to catch up with friends.
• We had lovely times with family at Christmas. In my family's tradition, we staged a theme Christmas picture. Can you guess what it is?

• We left the kids with Nick's parents for a few days after Christmas and spent a few bitterly cold days in Minneapolis. We saw Phantom of the Opera, ate and imbibed an array of offerings, and generally had a relaxing time.
• The kids were supposed to were supposed to have two ski jumping competitions this weekend, but the wonderful warm spell this week and sudden cold has put an end to those plans, at least for now.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Awesome things: Schitt's Creek, days above 0°F, Nick's veggie spiralizer

Felix: 8 yrs & Iris: 5 yrs

Fall Adventures

Our fall so far:

• The kids have been enjoying school so far this year!
• Both kids played rec soccer this fall. They didn't have any overlapping games, but it made us doubly busy! Iris's team was mostly Kindergartners, but they started to do much better by the final game. Nick coached Felix's team again and both seemed to enjoy it.

• Nick had a WPR retreat in Madison at the end of September, and I tagged along with him. While he sat in meetings, I visited friends and took nice walks around campus. I definitely miss many things about Madison!
• The kids took up the sport of ski jumping! We went down to the Tri-Norse Ski Club in Adams County for their Tri-It day. The kids picked it up quickly and were flying down the K5 hill in no time. Because they took to it quickly, we signed them up for the tournament there the following weekend...
• ...which was a very busy weekend! We went down to Madison on Friday to attend the WPR/WPT Centennial Celebration. It was rainy, but the kids enjoyed getting their faces painted. :o)

• Saturday, we tailgated and Nick and Felix went to the Badger game with my parents. Iris and I left the tailgate when the rain started. We went back to the pool, swam and watched the game. Got together with everyone again after the game.

• Sunday, we let the kids have a quick dip in the pool, then beat it up to the ski jump hill. Both kids took first place in their divisions, which has whetted their appetite for more ski jumping and competitions.

• The kids had last Friday off, so I took the day off and took them up to Marshfield. Alas, the weather wasn't kind, but we did stop by the Wildwood Zoo for the first time. Hello, Bear!

• And finally, yesterday was Halloween! The kids dressed up and braved the chill to go to a few houses in the neighborhood. If anyone has any need for a Ninja or Astronaut, just let me know.

Awesome thing(s): smart house stuff that works, Dirk Gently, Poldark, The Durrells

Felix: 8 yrs & Iris: 5 yrs