Life as we go it: Campfire

Showing posts with label Campfire. Show all posts

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Rain days

We had planned to go camping this weekend. But dear Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate with our human plans.

We made a reservation at one of our favorite state parks, Kohler-Andrae State Park, a few months ago. The plan was for Matt, Liam and I to camp on Thursday and Friday night, and then Matt invited some of his guy friends to camp with him on Saturday night.

We set up camp on Thursday night just fine. We put up our tent, put up the EZ-Up tent and built a nice campfire. Liam LOVED running around the campsite, collecting leaves and playing in the dirt. We prepared an easy campfire dinner and popped it over the flames.

We knew beforehand that the weather was supposed to be crap. The forecast for the entire weekend was like an 80% chance of thunderstorms. But we so badly wanted Liam's first camping trip to be cool!

But at 8:00 pm that night my mom called my cell and informed us that there was a tornado warning three counties away from us. I was like "whatever." We weren't too worried because it was a very slow moving storm. But the more we thought about it...we figured why would we want to spend Liam's first camping trip stuck in a tent with lightning and thunder?

So Matt, Liam and I ate our dinner by campfire/lantern light and then I took Liam home for bedtime. Matt stayed behind to watch over the site. I think we was excited to "man it" by himself for a night in a storm.

Liam enjoying his first-ever camping dinner

Friday's forecast was worse than Thursday's, so we decided to skip the campground. We headed to Milwaukee to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum instead. Liam enjoyed....

...riding on a Harley Davidson...

...grocery shopping...

...and broadcasting local sports!

Don't worry - Matt still got to enjoy his Saturday afternoon and evening with "the guys." The weather cleared up enough that they were able to play Beersby all night.

What did YOU do during the rainy weather??

Monday, June 10, 2013

So Sheboygan...

We moved to the great city of Sheboygan almost four years ago.

The longer we live here, the more we discover things that we love about this gem on the lake.

Yes, I hear from family and friends quite often "did you hear 'this' bad thing or 'that' bad thing on the News about Sheboygan?" Or "did you hear about the crazy thing that happened in Sheboygan" blah blah blah...

But I'm pretty sure every town has some not-so-positive things about it. And we choose to focus on the positives about this city...like the amazing waterfront, the cute little shops sporadically placed around the city, some amazing restaurants and watering holes, beautiful parks and a top-notch arts center. There are a lot of little quirks that make it, what Matt and I call, "so Sheboygan."

Over the last few years, here are some things that Matt and I have decided as being "so Sheboygan:"

Brats the food kind, not the misbehaving kids kind

Bars this city has 50,000 residents and about 150 bars

Bad drivers seriously...is drivers' education even a requirement in this town?

Parks and gardens it seems like everywhere you go there's a park or garden in sight

Freshwater surfing and SUP-ing it's one of few places you can freshwater surf in the world

4th of July at the beach I swear the entire city is on the beach this day

Pizza parlors there is just about every kind of pizza joint imaginable in this town

and after this weekend, I'd like to add something to our list...

High School Graduation at Vollrath Park

Here's a panoramic of Sheboygan's South & North High Schools' graduation from this past Sunday:

I just think this is SO cool! The graduation takes place at Vollrath Park in the "bowl." The North High graduates sit on the north side of the center of the bowl (in blue) and the South High graduates sit to the south (in red). Then all of their family members and friends sit on the grassy hills that surround the bowl. What a unique event. And it's only a few blocks from our home! It's just so Sheboygan :)

_________________________

DAILY SMILES

Things that made me smile last week:

1.3.13

I walked along the lake with Liam and it looked like the Caribbean

1.4.13

We discovered that Liam likes polenta, rhubarb and black beans

1.5.13

My mother-in-law and I watched TV and played on our iPads after Liam went to bed

1.6.13

We got Matt's grandpa's antique work bench set up in our garage

1.7.13

Sat by a campfire at our neighbors house - we are blessed to have such great neighbors

1.8.13

The three of us kicked Liam's new bouncy ball around in our yard

1.9.13

Congratulated my cousin on her high school graduation

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The great outdoors

My nephew took a cool panoramic shot of the lake on my iPhone...

We spent this past weekend, Memorial Day weekend, at our cabin in the great Wisconsin northern woods!

I've been going to our cabin almost every Memorial Day weekend since 1989. The only year my family skipped going to the cabin for MD weekend was seven years ago, when my brother Nate got married to my sister-in-law in Iowa

My parents bought the cabin in 1989 from my mom's uncle. I was only 8 years old when we started spending Memorial Days, summer vacations, 4th of July's and Labor Days at the cabin. And the memories are all fantastic ones.....

....trying to sell rocks from my "rock collection" on the side of the road. Learning how to jump off of the raft. Scooping frogs and turtles off of lily pads with nets. Fishing off the end of the pier. Riding the 4-wheeler in the woods on the trails. Walking through the forest in Autumn while the leaves fall onto your head like raindrops. Laughing and crying around the campfire with my family. Helping my nieces and nephews make s'mores for the first time. Watching bald eagles swoop down and pick fish out of the lake with their feet. Hearing the loons make their calls in the early morning. Ice skating in the wintertime....

I look forward to making many more memories with Liam as he grows up at the cabin :) He already seems to love boat rides, playing near the water and walking through the woods, so I think we're off to a good start.

Here are just a few photos from this past weekend. I apologize for the not-so-great-quality photos, as I took all of these on my iPhone instead of my good camera: