Friends

Melissa, Finn and Emma were in town today. Emma was meeting her grandma to go shopping, and Melissa & Finn came to visit us! We decided to hit the beach -- the kids even made it into the water, which actually seemed quite refreshing today. Unfortunately, we only had a couple hours to spend with them which means that when it was time to leave, the boys were naturally really bummed out. As they were about to leave, Finn and H came up with the idea for Finn to spend a couple days with us. I think they are still in shock that Melissa and I couldn't see why not! They never thought that one was going to fly (especially since the kid doesn't have anything but the clothes on his back). But it's worked out perfect. And let me tell you, we sure are excited to have him here with us.

Baby Robin Update

Look how much the baby robins have grown over the last couple days. Unfortunately, it looks like only a couple made it. Not sure about the other one.

Beach Day

The boys had their last golf lesson today, and when I picked them up, we ended up spending a good share of the afternoon at the beach. Yey! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the cooler weather one little bit. But one thing it has done, is put a damper on beach days. I've only been in the water once this year -- and it was still too cold for me today, but the boys had an absolute blast. They ended up fishing and catching a ton of fish. Check out H's perch. Even though golf is over, I sure hope we can fit in another day like this.

Date Night

It's another month before the boys are back in school. But already, the days seem numbered. Soccer starts up this week. Golf ends tomorrow. In fact, H is missing his first soccer practice so he can have one last night at Nina & Papa's before golf lessons tomorrow. The time is just going by way too fast. And quite honestly, Brian and I have not been taking advantage of it. In fact, tonight is the first time this summer we've gone out for dinner while they boys are at my parents. On our way, we stopped at Scott & Ali's and asked where they thought we should eat. They recommended Café Corazon. Oh boy, they nailed it! We had such a great dinner -- we'll definitely be back.

Round Three

This is the third bunny nest we found this summer, and let me just say, I am not too happy about it. Don't get me wrong, I think they are absolutely adorable. And besides the big hole the leave in our yard, they haven't been destructive. No, I don't mind bunnies because any of that. The problem is, the big giant dog who's yard this is, and trying to keep him away from the nests! These bunnies are a huge responsibility!

Storm really has done a good job at leaving the nests be over the course of the summer. But today, curiosity got the best of him. I turned my head for a second and his nose was deep in the rabbit hole. When I ran up to him, I saw two of the babies had been tossed from the nest. I have a feeling he used his paws to move the bedding away and flung them aside. I don't think he bit them. I immediately went to put them back and noticed one of them had two pretty big open wounds. They were not punctures from teeth -- it was more like the skin was scrapped off. The bunnies are only a couple days old, so I ended up calling the Wisconsin Humane Society Wildlife Rehabilitation clinic who recommend we bring any injured bunnies in. After checking them all, it looks like one of the others had a little scrape behind it's ear, but it wasn't took big, and I thought it would be safer leaving it in the nest. Chances of survival for an injured cottontail are not great -- even by a professional. But I have a feeling the poor little thing would have had insects crawling all over it and eating it alive if we left it. He never would have made it, and I hope his chances are at least a little better at the clinic. It's just so sad!

Chicago Visitors

Our friends Carlos & Sun came up for their maiden visit to us today. Brian has occasionally been able to see them when he's in Chicago for work, but it's been a couple years for me. It sure was great. They are such nice people, and always fun to be around. They made the road trip up with their dog, Kino. After a little bit of warming up, he and Storm became good buddies. It was such a great afternoon.

Lunch Menu:
Green Gazpacho via Cooking Channel
Kale Market Salad via 101 Cookbooks
Fresh Cheese with Shallots & Wine via Cup of Jo
Baguette

Four Chefs, A Farmer and A Pig Dinner

When our friends Maria and Robbie sent an email out months ago mentioning they had a couple extra tickets to Braise's 4 Chefs, A Farm and A Pig Dinner, we snagged them. I've been wanting to do a dinner like this for awhile now, and have been looking so forward to it. Braise is a very cool concept. It's a restaurant, but it also offers culinary classes, home delivery and events like these. Last night's dinner was held at one of their suppliers -- Golden Bear Farm -- an all-natural 100% grass-fed beef and Berkshire pork farm. Before the dinner, we walked around with blackberry, citrus, basil beverages and got to say hello to the pigs. A little stinky, but so cute and very happy looking. We ended up sitting near the owners of the farm during the dinner. Pigs are a relatively new thing for them, and they said they are still learning as they go. But it was really great listening to them talk with pride about their product, as well as how they have created a sustainable farm that produces happy, healthy pigs while taking care of the environmental footprint. Dinner was delicious. My favorite was the starter -- a white gazpacho made with almonds and grapes. Next we had a southern-inspired bahn mi sandwich with pork belly, then a pork mole taco, ending with a budino made with pork fat. Ridiculous (in a good way)! Overall, it was an absolutely perfect night. The weather, the dinner, the surroundings, the company ... it could not have been better.

Rockerbox

It's been a couple years since we last were at Rockerbox. We went early and already it was crazy busy. The boys were hot and tired, and we ended up leaving Brian there so he could drool at all the cool motorcycles. There are some amazing bikes, for sure.

More Babies (Birds)

Remember these beautiful eggs? Look what hatched over the last day or so. Babies!

Our House by Night

I heard some crazy animal fight noises a few nights back. As I stuck my head out to in the porch to hear what was going on, I was stopped in my tracks by how amazing our house looked all lit up at night. We can take full credit for our Oak Park house -- after all, we had gut rehabbed it and built to completely suit our needs. It's not the same in our current house, where nearly everything is original from 1957. We are the third owners to live in it. I admit, there are times I really miss some of the upgrades we made to the Oak Park house. But other times, I just sit here and think how honored I am to get to live in such a masterpiece.

Milwaukee County Zoo

Over the summer, the boys have been taking part in the library's summer reading program. They have been rewarded with tons of cool stuff -- like free tickets to the Milwaukee County Zoo. We used to frequent the Brookfield Zoo quite regularly. But the boys have never been to the zoo here. And it's been years since I've been there, so with perfect mid-70 degree weather, today seemed like a pretty good day to go. I think I've been spoiled by the Brookfield Zoo. Don't get me wrong, the Milwaukee County Zoo is great. It just seemed, I don't know, old and cramped for most of the animals to me. We had a really great time though. H&C loved it when the cheetah walked right by them and plopped itself down in front of them and the train ride. I thought the giraffes that kept wrapping their necks around each other were funny. As was the orangutan that was covering itself up with pieces of cardboard it was playing with. But the highlight had to be watching the alpaca that was born just two hours earlier take some of it's first (if not the first) steps, as you can see in the photo above. I ended up taking the video with my phone (and I still have a 3G), so it's pretty low quality. But trust me, it was absolutely amazing.

Tuna

If you haven't noticed, I have am slightly obsessed with animals. And dogs may just top the list. A few weeks ago, I found out about this guy -- Tuna. He's a chiweenie ... (wait, please tell me that alone is not awesome!) Anyhow, he's a chiweenie with an aggressive overbite. Back when we had our greyhound, I remember going to the kennel and seeing another greyhound with an overbite and being completely smitten. Brian doesn't share my love for canines with an overbite, so someone else was lucky enough to adopt him. Anyhow, I really look forward to my daily dose of Tuna on Instragram (@tunameltsmyheart) and since today is his birthday, I thought I'd share him with you too. Enjoy. (Photos courtesy of tunameltsmyheart).

Park City :: Day 5

The day has come for us to leave beautiful Park City. Fortunately, we had a full day before we had to travel home, and got to make the most of it. We drove over to the Olympic Park, where we got to see some young kids learning to ski jump, and some aerial skiers practicing their jumps into a pool. Afterwards, we drove back into Park City and rode the Town Lift. We were going to get off and walk around a bit, but despite the fact that there wasn’t anything there, thunderstorms around us and a dark cloud that loomed above us the entire way made us think otherwise. Fortunately, we stayed dry. (I really can’t imagine many worse places to be during a thunderstorm than on a chair lift.) Since it was lunch time, we walked over to Uptown Fare for lunch, then over to High West Distillery for a little whiskey and dessert (a cinnamon coated Krispy Kreme with whiskey ice cream and caramel – ridiculous). As we were driving to the airport, we received an email from the airline letting us know our flight had been delayed, so we made a little detour into Salt Lake City. Since we had a few minutes, we walked around Temple Square, which is absolutely massive. And then, sadly, it was time to leave. We had such a great time. Thanks Utah!