Moments 10 19 :: Week 04

C got to finish off the high school season by playing with the JV team in a tournament last week. Grandma and Pam came to cheer him on. The Knights ended up coming in 3rd place.


Brian and I went for a massage thanks to my amazing friends who gave me a spa gift certificate for my birthday. When we were driving back, the fog was insane. Of course we had to stop.


I love foggy days and the beach at Atwater was the perfect backdrop.


Still walking Gretel daily, and soaking in the gorgeous colors. This is the best time of year.

Moments 10 19 :: Week 03

H got to experience college last week. He met up with my niece to go to the Wisconsin Badger game, then stayed the night at her apartment. He had an absolute blast.


My nephew had us over for Oktoberfest. Lots of delicious food, and always a great time. Here's my sister and cousin's wife arguing over whether or not she bought or made dessert. (She made it by the way.)


Us, snuggling on the sofa.


So much fun.


I usually look around my house and see everything that needs to be done, picked up, remodeled or fixed. It honestly can be really hard to relax when you are there all the time, and all you see is work. But once in awhile, I'll take a glimpse, and realize what an amazing space we live in. It's pretty special.


Gah! H got his senior portraits taken a couple months ago. Didn't they turn out amazing? A friend of Brian's from work did them. He typically doesn't do senior portraits, so we feel really lucky he made an exception.


This year is such an emotional ride. So absolutely excited for this guy, but I sure am going to miss him.

Moments 10 19 :: Week 02

Last Friday night was the Homecoming football game! Nicolet had been doing really well this year, and this was a big game. Unfortunately, they lost. Such a bummer. I met up with some friends there, and Brian stopped by on his way home from Santa Barbara.


These guys, headed out to the Homecoming dance. The theme for the Seniors was Vintage Hollywood. They all decided to go as greasers. That's easy enough. In other exciting news, I finally know how to bow a bowtie, without consulting a YouTube video.


C went with a big group. They started out with dinner at Belair.


Afterwards, they went to one of the girl's homes for an afterparty. C had such a great time. Yay!


H went with a group of friends too. I'm just happy they stopped by! A couple of them play soccer and were in a tournament, so plans were a little last minute. H ended up picking them all up, going to Kopp's and bringing it to our house to eat. Afterwards, they spent the night at their friends house. He had a great time too.


The Beautycounter holiday collection launched this week. It's my absolute favorite time of the year.


The boys were off of school on Wednesday. H had a flight and met up with friends playing laser tag. So per usual, we didn't see him. C had a haircut, so we stopped by and had a coffee and smoothie afterwards. Love the German signs hanging up there.

Moments 10 19 :: Week 01

It's Homecoming week. All hail the Seniors!


C ended up getting a really bad migraine on Tuesday, but Storm helped comfort him.


C's soccer team played Shorewood JV. They ended up losing, but what a beautiful night under the lights. (They usually play earlier).


Drove by the river today and had to stop. Whoa, guess we got some rain this week! I've never seen the river this high before. One of the fishermen there said it was 7-feet deep. That's crazy.

Minnesota :: Day 3

And now, the reason for our visit -- Minnesota State University Mankato. H is planning on studying Aviation to become a commercial pilot. Obviously, it's a pretty specific degree, so options are limited. We woke up early to get to our tour. The school is in the middle of nowhere, as you may imagine. We had a great visit. Going there would definitely get the job done. We were all very impressed. It's not number one, but it is a good option for sure. After the aviation tour and tour of the airport, it was time to hightail it home, which took about 5.5-6 hours. Such an exciting year for H.

Minnesota :: Day 2

What an amazing, full day. We slept in, but once we got moving, didn't stop. We started by visiting the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center. Such a cool place. Next, we got to pick Finn up and go out to lunch at Lu's for a Banh Mi sandwiches, and grab some Glam Doll Donuts. What a treat to get to see him. The boys even got a peek inside the soccer house where he lives. Brian and I stayed back in the car. Ha! Finn gave us a great tour of campus too. Oh my gosh, it was so great to see him and his environment. After heading back to the hotel for a bit, it was time for some Minnesota United FC soccer! It's the inaugural season at their stadium, and we were totally blown away. It was a sold out game, and the vibe was incredible. The fans were great, the stadium was impressive, and the entire place celebrated diversity on so many levels. Super refreshing. After the game we went to Red Rabbit for a late night dinner, then it was time to head back to the hotel and sleep for a few hours, before heading out to the main purpose for our trip -- a college visit.

Minnesota :: Day 1

H&C had off of school Friday & Monday (yay!). Since we didn't really go on a vacation this summer, we decided to go on a college visit and make a weekend out of it. We left Saturday morning, and took the scenic route to Minneapolis. Seriously, it took us almost 10 hours, which was (in my opinion) so much fun. We went to the Observation area at Wildcat Mountain State Park, drove through Amish Country in Cashton, had lunch in LaCrosse (it happened to be Oktoberfest, so that was interesting), stopped in Red Wing to check out the factory store, and finally made it to our hotel. After being in the car so much, we all wanted to walk around a bit before dinner, which ended up being Bacon Social House -- right in our hotel. Perfect.