A Top Notch Tuesday Night.

The day started out like a typical Tuesday... (it was last week, 10/16/18).

My alarm went off at 5:30 am, but I was awake well before that.  Groggy & tired, with stellar bed head (you oughta see these curls when I wake up in the morning... woof!)

Ellis was yelling "DADDDDY," from his crib.

So the day begins!

Shower, get myself half ready, breakfast is done... fried egg on a toast, always (thanks  Zac!)
Ellis poops - diaper change. Then fight to brush his teeth, finish getting myself ready, pour coffee, and out the door 10 minutes later than I wanted.

Get stuck behind a bus, daycare drop off, auto-pilot drive to work.  Work on the cube farm for 9 hours, auto-pilot drive back to daycare, home.  Throw supper together, spend way too much time trying to get Ellis to eat it, clean up kitchen, play with Ellis for about 45 minutes, bath, books, bed.

This is what most workdays during the week look like for us.
Except last Tuesday, was an exception.

It was a typical day, though work was a real pain in the you-know-what that day. A day where you can't stop to eat lunch & realize you're still drinking (cold) coffee at 2:00 pm.  Just really busy, you know?

On my drive home though, I noticed how nice it was outside.  And we needed to get outside.  We needed to break the cycle of the mundane week day.  But if you're from Wisconsin reading this, you will know our October thus far has been rain or wind... not the kind of weather that makes you want to lollygag outside.

So I'm home from work and throw together a venison stir-fry. The "dump all" kind where you just toss in whatever you have left in your fridge that you need to use up because tomorrow is grocery day and you're working with wilted peas & questionable minced garlic from the jar.

By good graces of God, Ellis LOVED the stir-fry.  Had two helpings, actually.  And from turning on the stove-top burner to loading the dish washer, we were all fed & the kitchen was clean in 28 minutes flat.  This meant we had 1.5 hours to play outside in the glorious weather (well, low 50's isn't that glorious, but I'll take it).  It was a Tuesday Miracle!

We hopped in the car and headed to Bay Shore Park, our resident standby place for nature walks & exploring.

Zac says, "let's jog tonight"... and I about had a heart attach, but jog we did.  And it felt GOOD!  Except for the 10 minute period that Zac momentarily lost his phone.  It apparently jogged right outta his vest, but we ended up finding it on the path after back-tracking our steps, so all was well.

Ellis was laughing and waving and holding all the leaves he could grab... being a real dreamboat of a baby... and on the cusp of turning two, "dreamboat baby" behavior doesn't happen that often these days.

Although nothing was really that spectacular about the night, it just felt like a really good evening.  One that fills up your empty cup, and makes you double count your blessings because they are so abundant.  And so, I knew I need to document it, to remind myself (and you) that sometimes you just need to switch it up.

Get outside. Spend time with the ones that you love on a random Tuesday night.  Stay up past normal bed-time.  And eat s'mores with a side a milk before brushing your teeth & calling it a night.

It'll be worth it, I promise.

Anniversary Weekend in Wisconsin Dells

On October 9th, we celebrated 6 years of marriage by spending a long weekend away at Christmas Mountain Village in Wisconsin Dells.

The resort was wonderful; our Villa had a full kitchen, a massive king-sized bed in the master suite & two fireplaces in the unit to keep us nice & toasty.  The resort is about a 3 hour scenic drive through Wisconsin from Green Bay -- though we were surprised to see how little the leaves had changed the further south we drove.

For our weekend away, we had no other plans except sleeping in, breakfast in bed, and getting outside as much as possible.  We stayed off social media, we ate lots of good food, and enjoyed a long relaxing weekend.  Although a bit cold, it was pretty perfect. Below are a few (ok, a lot) of snapshots from our trip!

Our first stop was Mirror Lake State Park; we had planned to rent kayaks & fish, but it was really cold, so we decided to walk the hiking trails instead.

 

The leaves were just starting to change.

We stayed at Mirror Lake until sunset & then had supper at Sprecher's Restaurant & Pub.  Zac ordered a specialty beer & jambalaya, and I tried their caffeine-free cherry cola with a pulled pork sandwich.  I now know that I am not a fan of their tap sodas (super syrupy) or their pulled pork sammy.  Live & learn, I guess!  The atmosphere was still fun & Zac's meal was good.

The following morning we  Zac made breakfast at our Villa and we dinned in bed while watching Jim Shockey kill a Bighorn Sheep on the Outdoor Channel (Hello, cable TV! Another thing we love about vacation...) Breakfast in bed while watching a hunting show?  I know, it doesn't get much more romantic than that folks!

After breakfast we went to the Deer Farm & got to feed many different varieties of deer right from the palm of our hand!  Not gonna lie, it kind of freaked me out at first... being in a pen with all those hungry deer.  But then Zac forced me to feed them, and I lived to tell about it.

And... there were adorable pigs at the farm!

That afternoon, we returned to the resort & did some fishing.  It was cool outside, but the sun was warm & it was sooo relaxing.

After that, Zac took me on my first Duck ride, which was very neat.  It floors me how those vehicles can be on land one second, and in the water the next. Crazy!

We ended our evening with dinner at Ishnala's Supper Club -- a must visit spot, especially if you're in the mood for prime rib & good old fashioneds.  However, GET THERE EARLY.  Like right when they open, early. The place is a gem and the wait is insane, but it's such a great place.

----------

The following morning was breakfast in bed again, followed by some Outdoor Channel & HGTV binge watching while we waited for the temps to warm up.  Then it was off to hike in Devil's Lake State Park.

We hiked the East Bluff trail to Devil's Door and it was worth the uphill climb.  I under-estimated how out of shape me & my (at the time) 19 week old baby bump were, so we look lots of breaks on the way up.  I started the day all bundled up, but by the end of the hike, I had peeled all my layers off as the wind had died and there was not a cloud in the sky.

A lovely anniversary weekend, indeed.

P.S. Happy Halloween!  May your day be filled with all treats and no tricks!

Travel: Red Rock Canyon (Part two: the hike)

Click here for part 1 of Red Rock Canyon.

Later in the week, we returned to Red Rock Canyon to hike.  The weather that particular day was kind of crazy; it had rained earlier in the morning at our condo (which was about 30 minutes from Red Rock), but the skies had cleared and it seemed like it was going to be a beautiful day for a hike!

We had gotten to Red Rock at about 11, and by 12:30 it was sleeting.  SLEETING -- in Nevada!!

Before the sleet though, came wind, rain, thunder & lightening -- basically, a full blown storm that threatened us about half way through our hike.  So, we high-tailed it back to the car to grab a snack & wait out the storm.

After we had eaten all of the snacks we had packed in the car, the rain had passed & we ventured out a second time.  I was a little timid this time around though, because the skies still looked a little erie.  Plus, I took a bit of a tumble earlier in the day & was afraid to slip upon the wet rocks (word to the wise, wear actual hiking boots if you plan to hike on the rocks... worn out tennis shoes won't cut it...)

  

Even though our hike got cut short by the storm, we both agree that Red Rock Canyon was probably the highlight of our Vegas trip.   We hope to get back there in the future!