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.