The Anni-Birth-ery Palooza Wrap

All July 4th means to us is that our personal celebrations of two birthdays and one anniversary are over – and America takes over the spotlight.

I took a mini-getaway Up North on Wednesday so I could do a post-birthday celebration with my twin. First, I had lunch with 4 of my sisters (who I've always called the Older Girls) and 2 brothers-in-law.

Good lunch and visit and then they surprised me with some birthday ice cream.

If you ever wonder how I feel about getting birthday attention or a treat of any kind, it's pretty evident by the huge smile on my face!

After lunch, I connected with my twin and we opened some appropriate ice cream-related gifts from our sister Romey. The "cones" are actually ceramic candles. Just twist off the top and light for a yummy vanilla sugar smell!

From there, went to Lene's house and changed clothes and then headed out on Mudhen lake to kayak and eventually swim – on purpose. No kayak flips, honest.

Our cousin loaned me a kayak so I didn't have to haul one up (and drive Jim's big truck). Thanks, Candy.

The weather was perfectly warm with a light breeze – and the presence of 3 eagles! Oh how I wished I had my "real" camera and not just my smartphone to rely on. I guess since this was my first time out on the water this season, I was definitely out of practice.

After our paddle and swim, we headed back to Raylene's to change into dry clothes and exchange gifts. The "car coaster" above, which is meant to absorb water and condensation in the cup holder, is something I got at a Cracker Barrel in Nashville in April! When Raylene and I were singing on the wedding shower circuit in adolescence, "Bushel and a Peck" was always a song we sang!

I also got my lovely red-tractors-only farm girl a wind chime that is allegedly solar so perhaps lights up the tractor headlights? I'll be curious to learn more.

We continued our birthday adventures at Adventures restaurant in Siren. So excited they had my favorite – coconut shrimp – on the menu. Happy birthday to me again!

It was just so nice to have some one-on-one time with my twin to catch up on all things "secret sisterhood."

From there, I headed south to Luck, to spend the night at my sister Rachel's house.

Somehow, it's always the Golden Hour in Luck, Wisconsin. Am I right or am I right? So nice to catch up with her and see her amazing progress since her last surgery. She can't put weight on her left leg yet, but when she can, she'll resume her title as a "walking miracle" again!

Headed back to Rapids about mid-morning yesterday so I could spend Jim's birthday with him. We later went to a new venue called the Lake House at the River Ridge campground to hear some live music with friends.

The entertainment was Tanner Gomes, who was on Team Kelly on The Voice in season 19 (2020). He happens to date or is engaged to someone we know. Somewhat. He was very good and very entertaining. Great to see several friends too!

Today was just a "weekend" day of cleaning and vacuuming (me) and removing more nails from the siding (not me). Carter and Mamie were going to come home for the weekend but an unexpected family emergency on her part has them postponing their visit 'til hopefully just next weekend.

So we'll just celebrate our "freedom" tonight by doing nothing. Since that's our right.

Be safe and careful out there!

Foggy with a Chance of Photo-Worthy Clouds

Tuesday was an emotional weather day. Is there such a thing? If not, I just made it up.

First I had to deal with thick fog on my morning commute. God thankfully answered my prayer of "Please keep the deer off the road" because they're active now and I wouldn't have seen them in time to stop. I didn't want to drive on the interstate because of yield signs and road construction, but after attempting a shortcut and seeing all traffic stopped for a train, I turned around.

I haven't been this grateful to arrive at work safely since the last winter storm!

All day I was monitoring the weather because I was supposed to take senior pictures at 6 p.m. and the various apps kept saying "rain and storms start at 6 p.m." So we changed our start time to a little before 5 p.m. to "beat the rain."

Well, we definitely beat it because it skirted around us somehow. Meanwhile we suffered in high 80s heat and about 300% humidity. Uff da. Thankfully it was a boy since they usually don't have to worry about the whole humidity and hair bad combo.

As we were wrapping up, I was treated to one amazing view of the storm clouds as they passed and the setting sun was catching up to them. 

I saw this view and was like, wow, that is cool. Then I zoomed in a bit was completely awestruck...

We've got a stormy sea with that peek into sunny skies in the middle. Wow. Just the coolest thing to capture!!

When I got home, we still had kick-ass cloud views, but nothing like that quick moment that I snapped before it moved on. Still... very cool. Thanks, God.

Speaking of photographers... I have still been pretty much bonding with Mr. Recliner and watching the Olympics. Gymnastics is pretty much my summer fave so I HAD to see those girls capture gold last night. Well, me along with all these photographers – and millions of viewers. Go team USA!!

Hope you're finding some photo-worthy moments in your life this week. Even if they're just nice moments with no cameras in sight!

Have a Safe and Happy 4th

I love this safety (sort of) reminder for July 4th. I actually thought some of these things last night when someone in the 'hood was setting off some sort of fireworks. I knew they weren't sprinklers because they made noise!

Anyway, I felt bad for the neighbor dogs who definitely do NOT like fireworks!

We were talking about Sylvester today and how she'd just sit on Jim's dresser and watch thunder and lightning storms out the window without flinching. She would definitely not have qualified for the "My cat is upset and hiding" cat-egory. 

Since we saw fireworks in Rudolph the other night, we're not going into town to see them tonight. We did make two trips in, though, our day off.

First we had lunch at Ida's with Jim's dad, sister and brother-in-law, and Clay and Becca. For some reason the waitress knew it about Jim's birthday and brought out a piece of cake and with a candle after the meal. I swear I don't know how she knew, but it's fun for hubby to have the spotlight once in awhile!

Late this afternoon we went downtown to Whiskey Rapids to meet up with friends and listen to some live music. That was nice! We escaped and headed home before the thousands of people descended on the river bank for the fireworks show. Yes, Wisconsin Rapids puts on a great show. But it is chaos down there.

Plus, I think it's going to rain between now and launch time at 9:30 p.m.  Although I have been wrong a lot today on that front!

So here's to the freedom to do what we want today. No shame in staying home and watching McClintock for the 20th time. Or having the freedom to watch Hallmark perhaps in the basement! 

Let freedom ring! 

Just Chillin'

There's two kinds of chillin' happening on Blue Jay Drive. One is the relaxed vibe of our indoor cat on the outdoor swing, soaking in the sun.

The other is waking up to temps in the 50s and only reaching a high of 74. In MID-July! That is not for me!

I actually ran my little space heater in my home office today. Could not warm up. Then stepped outside, and that wasn't any better. Thank god I have an endless supply of hoodies! 

My opinion – because you didn't ask – is that summer's already going fast enough. Let's not jump ahead to fall. I do like fall, but I love summer heat. If the weather is going to be Robyn's version of crappy, then I chose rain not chill. At least that'll help my flowers, our grass, and the farmers. 

But since I'm not in control of any of it, I'll just choose Sylvester's method of chillin' instead.

Chill out and have a relaxing week when and where you can!

No Such Thing as Pressure

Every time we golf and I say there's too much pressure to make a par or birdie putt, hubby always says, "There's no such thing as pressure."

Of course, tonight at golf league there wasn't any pressure since the team we were supposed to play against forfeited. So that means I golfed well. You know, because there was not any pressure. This was my one par putt (that I made, anyway) on the par 5 4th hole.

The only good thing was that Marigene and I had the first tee time so I got to put up the signs (and my name) on the prize holes... Closest in 3 on par 5, closet to the pin on a par 3, and closest 2nd shot on a par 4. I did golf well but we'll see next week if I won any of the holes.

It was still fun to get a round in – even if the pace of play was slow. We were the first "league" group out but we still were following some non-league casual foursomes. I had somewhere to be tonight, but I let it go and just enjoyed a super leisurely round of golf!

Good grief, it's almost mid-July. Summer is half over. There is a lot of golfing and fun to be had.

No pressure though, right?

USSO :: Day Six

Today was many things. It was Round 3 of championship play at the U.S. Senior Open but Day 1 of the cut / reduced field. Today was also our 21st wedding anniversary so I took Jim to the tournament of course. And today was also hot. Even now, it's after 9 p.m. and 74 degrees. Today was 87 and felt like it!

We headed up to Stevens Point midmorning. Basically just walked around to see what we could.

Sat in the grandstands at hole 9 for a different perspective from volunteering. Sand was just as much of a challenge as the creek!

From this angle, you can see why it was such a fun and challenging hole to volunteer on.

Vijay Singh tees off. He did not have a super great day.

Padraig hits a water shot on hole 5. That was a tough one for him!

Tim Herron sinks a putt on hole 16 – also known as a our Flower Hole.

We hung out there for a bit, just for the chance to sit down!

We did have tickets to the skybox pictured here on hole 18. Earlier we got food and drink there, but it was so crowded, we knew we'd never get a seat. And in today's heat, we didn't want to stand all day.

So we parked ourselves in the grandstands at 18 and got to see some great finishes. Miguel above.

The amazing crowd of follower seen here for Wisconsin's own Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly.

They had a great finish, both carding birdies and placing second and third for the day.

They're great friends, which is evident in how happy they were for each other's finishes.

Very cool Wisconsin moment.

At the end of the day, we got to see the leader Bernhard Langer finish up.

If he wins this thing tomorrow he'll set a record for most Senior tour wins. Pretty cool to be part of this.

Of course, I completely forget to get our anniversary picture on the course. Duh, me. So here we are on the way home. With my groom belting out classic country or classic rock on the radio! Love my hot date!

Oh and P.S. ....

I started the day making national news on CBS Saturday Morning! There will never be another birthday-anniversary-palooza week quite like this one. Ever!

Weekend with a Few Friends

Hung out with a few friends this weekend! OK, the people above were part of the state waterski show team championship today, but we also spent time with a smaller crowd yesterday.

Traveled over the Green Bay to see our friends' lovely daughter get married. We all survived a 91-degree wedding in a chapel with no air-conditioning just fine. Seriously, we were too busy drying tears and sharing laughter to notice.

And before we new it, the happy couple were smiling their way down the aisle to start their happily ever after! Taylor has a had a smile that can light up the whole room since she was a little girl. Now she's got another reason to smile. And Kolin is up the task. Great guy. Great couple.

They had their reception and dance at a place called the Gathering on Broadway. Neat venue. Super delicious and the DJs were great. I did at least 10,000 steps worth of dancing with my girlfriends! Fun, fun, fun.

Got back to our cool historic hotel after midnight and hit the road this morning.

Since I've been shooting the Shermalot Waterski Show Team this summer, I went over the Lake Wazeecha to catch their act. As the reigning champions, they got to go last. 

Couple challenges. Every team today had to deal with wind and waves more so than last night. And since Shermalot won last year in Division 2, they automatically moved up to Division 1 now. Tough competition. They did very well but ended up placing 7th. I hope they're OK with that. If people don't stick landings, so to speak, or fall off, etc, they don't earn the points. At least I know everyone was entertained since our (my team now, ha) emcee got a Showmanship Award. That was awesome to see! 

And it's just a fun environment overall. See a show somewhere if you ever get the chance. The skiers are basically like 3 years old and up!

So now it's off to bed. Between dancing, traveling, and shooting and editing pictures, this old lady (who will never get up on skies) is plenty tired. 

Let's have a great week!

Sunday Son-Day Drive

Nice hot day to sit outside for 4 hours, right? It sure was! Especially when you're sitting at Target Field! We picked up Casey and Emily in town at 8:30 a.m. and headed to Twins Territory. 

Got there in time to enjoy some of the outdoor fun spots around the stadium...

Like sitting on TC Bear's lap.

And sitting in the big glove. Hubby pointed out I was the oldest person in line and I didn't care! I was in my happy place!.

And we all got in it in the end, anyway!

View from our seats in the upper deck behind home plate. Thankfully in the shade all day.

Emily's parents had tickets for the four of them in row 3 of our section. We sat two rows behind them in row 5...

Along with my niece Caryn!

And her kiddos plus one. So awesome to see them all! 

Well you saw the temperature above. And it's National Ice Cream Day. So, duh.

Oh and how was the game? Awful. White Sox kicked our butt. But it was so fun to BE THERE again for the first time since the pandemic. So I had an awesome time – even with a loss. Plus, we're still on the winning side of our record. And there's plenty more ball to be played.

And seen. Hopefully in person again at some point! Go Twins!