Oh, Boys!

We had a two-day whirlwind celebrating boys who have grown up to become handsome, successful men. Pretty fun! 

Friday's fun revolved around these dudes. In late May of 2018, these 4 moved into a lovely college house in Platteville. And the following weekend Carter, Jack, Josh, and Johnny invited their parents down so they could show it off.

We parents didn't quite get over it. But we also couldn't quite get over how cool this friendship was and what fun and amazing guys they turned out to be.

Fast forward to yesterday. Josh (left recently got married), it was Jack's wedding day, Johnny's getting married in October, and Carter was a groomsman for Jack and will be an usher for Johnny. Love that they made lifelong friends.

It turned out to be a beautiful day for an outdoor ceremony at Koehler-Andre State Park near Sheybogan.

An our favorite groomsman cleaned up pretty good in his brand new suit! 

We hadn't seen them in a month so it was good to reconnect with Carter and Mamie.

They always look good together. It was a fun evening a dinner and dancing. Got to dance with both of my brown-eyed bandits. 💜💜

We stayed at the Harbor View Inn in Port Washington. And it did indeed have a view of the harbor.

Took a walk around and found my boat – Foxy Lady – of course! 

This morning we hit the road at a decent time so we could make a side stop on the way home. A cemetery in the town of Maple Grove where Jim located the grave of his 4-greats-grandfather. If you're into genealogy at all, you'd understand. Very cool.

Got home around 1 p.m. and I did some speed trifling. Whipped this one together for our nephew's "25 years of racing" party faster than he finishes a feature race!

Utilized his Reffner Blue with a touch of red race car colors. And topped with some stickers from my scrapbooking supplies.

Look at him in his early years on a go-kart.

And how tiny that kart looks now! Another boy all grown up! He's come so far and has become such a  wonderful man, husband and father. The years pass much too quickly. It was a very nice get-together.

From there we ran home for a few minutes to gather layers. Yes, it's getting down to the 50s tonight, to go over to our friends Joe and Michelle's for a fire. There were several of us couples that hadn't gotten together all summer. The guys had for golf, and most of us girls had for golf as well. But not all together to just hang out.

The relaxing and laughing was long overdue. Including some talk among boys who are technically men now, but don't always show it. Ha. Which only made for more laughs.

It just happened to be a summer where it was either 90 degrees and you didn't need or want the warmth of a fire. Or it was rainy. Tonight felt like fall. But it was a good feeling. 

I still hope to relax with no plans tomorrow except for maybe some time with Mr. Deck Chair. He's been so neglected with my busy schedule. 

Road Worthy

Woke up and decided to take a 336.2-mile round-trip road trip. I mean, why not? Gas is cheap, right? Honestly, although a graduation party was on my calendar for quite sometime now, I was waffling on my decision to go. Since hubby had a previous golf engagement, did I want to drive to Marinette by myself – almost 3 hours each way to spend an hour in between? And with these horrendous gas prices?

When I woke up this morning, I decided yup. These friends are worth more than the price of gas! If I didn't go and something happened to one of them, I'd regret it forever.

And it was the best decision! So very, very glad I went. I needed hugs from these almost-lifelong friends. Three decades and counting. Cindy (left), Sally and I had worked together at the daily newspaper in Menominee – my first job out of college! Cindy and her family took me into their fold and they literally were my family when I lived in Marinette – since driving home to Luck was a 6-7-hour drive so I missed some holidays. Love both these "girls" so much!

Cindy's daughter Sara was 7 when I first met her. Now she's the mother of the graduate! I've got to see her grow from a little girl to a strong young woman to an amazing mother of two!

And I've known her brother since he was born. Love my little Jacob! He's gonna be 30 this summer so yeah, somebody here is getting old!

After much-treasured hugs and visiting (3+ hours not 1), I hit the road. But not before touring around some of my old stomping grounds. Mainly the Lake Michigan waterfront wrapping around Marinette and Menominee.

This car breaks for beaked-creature pictures!

Looking across the waters of Green Bay you can see Door County in the distance! I loved that when living up there.

And I had to stop and see my lighthouse. Yes, MINE!

The memories here are classified, sorry.

Don't miss the gulls though. Their poop, that is!

Slams on brakes midair.

Dives for something.

No sure what because he surfaced empty-handed and empty-mouthed as far as I could tell.

Watching the boats – and occasionally riding one – never got old. And still doesn't.

New (to me) statue in Menominee.

And a Robyn-sized lighthouse replica that I couldn't lift to take home in my car. It wouldn't have fit!

Driving back into Wisconsin, I just felt so blessed and grateful that I decided to make the trip. These people were my family for 4 years and still are. 

My advice: Always take the trip. Make the time. See that person. Get that hug. Always!

Your Personal Ryder Tour

Welcome to your personal Ryder Cup tour. I'm Robyn and I'll be your guide. And if you don't care anything about golf, go ahead and skip today's blog. I won't be offended.

The tour started early Tuesday morning. Actually, it started 2 years ago when I was waiting in a virtual line to get tickets. And, by the time I got to the front of the line, they only had practice days left – no competition days. I was bummed but then was excited because practice days are more relaxed and we spectators have more freedom – including bringing our cameras.

It was a good Valentine's Day gift in 2020 and worth waiting for.

We arrived in one of the parking lots around 8 a.m. Knowing the players couldn't start practicing until 9 a.m., we decided to walk around. Jim golfed at Whistling Straits years ago and was excited to show me. But it didn't look at all the same.

Large TV screens and spectator stands were everywhere. Somewhere among them, was a gorgeous course alongside Lake Michigan. Definitely close as we could feel the 20 mph wind on occasion. Thankfully we dressed in layers. And didn't need to take our light jackets off. Ever.

We saw a few people we knew, plus made a point of seeing some friends we hadn't see in ages. Here's Jim with Rob, Rapids native who lives in Arizona now but writes for wisconsingolf.com. 

And here's me with my former pastor Josh, who is the Green Bay area now but I haven't seen in 6 years. Oh the amazing power of Facebook and cell phones to stay connected!

Now onto golf...

The European team literally arrived Monday so they had to get their team photos and individual photos taken before practice. That's the first thing we happened to stumble upon, being in the right place at the right time. And yes, just 6 or 10 feet away. So cool. And I'll say that another dozen times, I bet!

Well I'll just get this out of the way now. I had a crush on Sergio (left if you don't know) when he was first on tour. So you may or may not see too many pictures of him. 

The usually very stoic Ian Poulter was so entertaining. Just a clown. He was hilarious.

Wait, Sergio again. Ha.

Little windy.

Lake views. See what I mean about structures causing obstructed views?

And then there's Rory. So talented and little cutie.

Captain Padraig Harrington.

Lots of seating set further down the fairway. This is where we sat later to watch the action on 9 right there and could see 18 green, too!

They're actually facing a mass of cameras. Those professionals. I'm just standing on the side of the ropes with the other amateurs.

Ooooh. Can I take that home?

After spying on their photo session, we headed over to the putting green and driving range. That's where the Americans were warming up.

Captain Steve Stricker taking a picture for social media.

See? Not kidding! Now let's watch some warmups...

Patty Ice in the sand.

Some words of advice from the coolest golfer on the planet: Freddy Couples. 

And here's my buddy Harris chipping. Why yes, he IS my buddy...

Not fake.  This was this summer. He's that tall – 6'4" I think – plus I'm that short. 

So some players are more interesting to watch than others!

Brooks is one, too. Only because of an alleged feud with his teammate. But you'll see in a few photos down that they actually did talk to each other! And I captured it.

I have JT's autograph from when he won the Sentry Tournament of Champions in 2019. So many connections. 

Wouldn't you love to hear this conversation?

Or this one? Hmmm.

Mixed company on the putting green.

Another convo I'd love to have heard. Something with the belt buckle or pants?

Oh, it's Sergio! Getting interviewed.

Thank you, zoom lens!

Neat to see Lefty, another longtime icon.

All day I wished I could have Tommy Fleetwood's hair!

Westy is another legend and gentleman.

Now for actual practice! Each team had 3 foursomes that also included plenty of caddies and captains tagging along. The USA team did the front 9 and Europeans took the back. They only did 9 holes but at each one they really practiced the holes – like lining up lots of putts they expect to face this weekend. Slow pace but it worked well when we were sitting down for a bit and could watch action on both the 9 and 18th greens.

So here are action shots. I don't know if my blog limits the number of photos, but I'll add them here and hopefully they're self-explanatory! We started on back 9 just on hole 10.

Lake views.

It definitely seemed like the Europeans were having more fun and just enjoying themselves, while our guys were all-business.

And back to the American crew finishing up on the 9th hole.

And turning ourselves to the left, we could watch the Euro team finishing on the 18th. Quite a finishing hole!

We interrupt this practice for a fairway crossing. What do you think it is – muskrat, otter, fisher, marten, what?

The out-of-state visitors sitting behind us thought squirrel. But they didn't have a zoom lens. And they're also the ones who referred to Lake Michigan as an ocean.

My turn for a hug, say blog author.

I don't know about you, but having an American eagle fly over the European team sure seems like a good omen to me! For that and so many reasons now, we'll really enjoying the action on TV this weekend. We'll be warm and in comfy chairs AND some of these boys will be larger than life!

Even without a zoom lens.

Thanks for coming along on my tour. For golf nuts like us, it was a really fun experience!