Moments 08 22 :: Week 04

Brian spent a few days at Road America for work. I got to join him on Saturday.

It was the Fanatec GT World Challenge. 

Super fun. Afterwards, we walked around through Elkhart Lake and visited our friends. 

The goats are still there! Had to pay them another visit. 

Hello Mr. Toad. Van Duke found this big fat guy. 

Not his bed. He's such a stinker. 

Moments 08 22 :: Week 03

After a couple years of not going, we made it to German Days! Always love this tradition so much. 

It wasn't super warm out, but Brian and Cole braved it and went swimming. They were the only ones. It really is a beautiful lake to swim in.

The next day, we loaded Hudson's car up and sent him on his way. That was different. I almost booked a hotel so go to St. Louis with him and help, but he reminded me all of his roommates were moving themselves in. And, of course it worked out just fine. He was set up by that evening and has had a really fun week. That makes me so happy. 

Not sure who is going to miss the other more. Hudson the dogs, or the dogs Hudson.

Weeds. But I still think they are pretty. 

Brian and I ventured downtown for Milwaukee Night Market. It's held one night a week for four months. September is the last one. 

The city was bumping! So many people out and about. Dancing in the streets. It really was fantastic.

We decided to check out the 3rd Street Market hall, and saw that the Photoverse Selfie Museum was free that day. 

It was a tad crowded but super fun. And, it was created by MIAD, so that's cool!

Ouch. This was the photo the Nicolet Student Section used to promote the upcoming scrimmage. Unfortunately, Cole isn't playing on the high school team this year. Instead, he's playing on a MLS NEXT team which means he's not allowed to play high school soccer. I think he's at peace with it now, but it was a really hard decision. Just kind of funny. I do think he looks great in this picture though. And, he'll still be #13 

I love this so much. The village near us hired Grazing Goats for a few weeks to clear out some unwanted vegetation that the mowers would have a hard time reaching. The dogs and I walked over to say hi to them. A couple were on the other side of the fence, and when Cole went to check them out, he even got to pet them. 

Moments 08 22 :: Week 02

Last Friday night, Brian and I went to the Brandi Carlile concert. 

It was so crazy good. If you get a chance to see her, go. 

Met up with my college roommate and her husband at the Beer Garden. I met her day one of college. We've been friend for 34 years. 

Brought the husbands along too. I've known Greg almost as long as I've known Irma. They had never been down to Doctor's Park Beach. It was stunning, of course. 

Gretel sleeping funny. 

Double dog toys. This guy still makes us laugh every day. The Doof. 

Michigan :: Day 03

The rain finally came. No biggy, but didn't stick around long. We did make a quick stop to check out Lake Superior one last time, and stumbled along the old furnace, hence the name of the campground. The town used to produce almost 3,500 tons of  iron per year, but a fire in 1877 destroyed everything but the blast furnace which was restored. It was pretty amazing. On they way back, we stopped in Escanaba at a Swedish restaurant. We did good, only eating out for lunch since that was when we were out and about. We made a quick visit at Ludington Park, and then Harrington Beach State Park before making our way back home. It was a very successful couple days on the road. 

Michigan :: Day 02

After an amazing night of sleep, we drove around Big Bay a little bit, then hiked to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. So pretty. We also got super lucky, because originally it was supposed to be raining the entire day. The temperatures had cooled down, and it was absolutely lovely. Next we drove through Presque Isle Park. The cooler weather was amazing, but if it had been warmer, we for sure would have stopped to jump off Black Rocks Cliff. We didn't have a site reserved for that night, counting on getting a spot at one of the many first come, first service campsites. We made a quick stop for lunch at Jean Kay's Pasties & Subs (pasties are everywhere!), then got really lucky and got a nice place at Bay Furnace Campground in the Hiawatha National Forest. By evening, it was completely full. After we claimed our spot, we drove through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Gorgeous. It's a large, long park, so we only fit in one stop -- the Log Slide. It was insane. Hard to even explain. We only went 1/5th of the way down. It's definitely tempting to do the entire thing, but the warning signs were enough to scare me from attempting it on our already full day. After a little gas snafu (not many gas stations, and the first one we tried was out of diesel so we had to go 25 miles to the next closest station), we made our way back to the site. 

Michigan :: Day 01

Brian and I took the van on a mini-vacation over the weekend and headed up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He's been there numerous times on motorcycle trips, but I had never been. Our first stop was Marquette, where we grabbed lunch and a beer at Blackrocks Brewery before walking around a little bit. Afterwards, we hiked to Little Garlic Falls. We took the short 1.1 mile path through a beautiful canopy of forest before getting to the falls. It was steamy that day, so it was a plenty long hike. Afterwards, we checked into our site for the night at Perkins Park in Big Bay. It was a perfect day.

Moments 08 22 :: Week 01

It was a beautiful day for an adventure with Van.

We went to Lion's Den Gorge. He's such a good dog, and so much fun. He still is unsure of Lake Michigan, but went in a little bit. 

Another amazing book I read. 

On Saturday evening, Cole drove his car to Oshkosh and met Brian and Hudson at the EAA. He said he wanted to see the Night Air Show, which is probably partly right. I think the big thing was though, that he's been talking about sleeping in his car all summer. 

Love seeing these guys together. 

One of the guys at our gym got a new puppy. Isn't he amazing? His name is Tuk, and we all went a little crazy over him. 

It's like he never left. Hudson is the only person Gretel snuggles with like this. 

Two dudes hanging out on poofs. 

Cole is on an MLS Next team this year and they had pre-season camp this week. He's towards the right side of the pack.