Autumn Escape

My 5-day autumn escape started with some different "fall colors." The first were these beautiful stained glass windows as we attended a wedding in Oshkosh Saturday for Tyler and Ellie – the son and daughter of good friends of ours.

The wedding was beautiful, the wedding party was beautiful, and every detail of the reception and dance was so well thought out. Just so fun! And since these two are Assumption "kids," we knew about 80% of the guest list! 

We stayed overnight and got back Sunday with enough time for me to unpack the suitcase and re-pack it for my sister getaway. I still call it our Wild Women's Weekend – even though it was Sunday-Wednesday this year.

Our destination was a spacious VRBO in the Eau Claire/Altoona area. Secluded but still within minutes of all the amenities the city has to offer!

For this year's Opening Act, I convinced my twin we should do a mini Hee-Haw show. We sang the clothes-washing song from the show (We're not ones to go around spreading rumors...) and wrote some corney jokes about each sister. Of course we were a hit. Ha.

The weather was actually summer-like on Sunday and Monday. So Monday our mission was to go to a nearby park and find a "stick sculpture" we saw in Our Wisconsin magazine since the park was close by.

What are the odds we see a picture of the "Oak Lair" in Our Wisconsin magazine, we decide to search for it since the park is 10 minutes from our VRBO... AND we have a chance meeting with architect Ryan Butler who turned into our group photographer? 

We loved hearing about his passion and creative process as a landscape artist! What a nice surprise! (By the way, that cane belongs to one of my sisters, not Ryan.)

We highly recommend Mount Simon Park if you're ever in the Eau Claire area! 

And he took some nice group photos of us among his creations!

Fall colors were not at peak yet. But we saw that maybe a lot of trees showed off early before the winds took their leaves away.

There were some splashes of color. But nothing too brilliant.

Tuesday returned to cold and windy so we stayed put. Both RoAnn and Raylene had to leave us around mid-afternoon because they had obligations Wednesday morning.

So we took our "skydiving" selfie before they left. Yes, we're dorks and that's why we get along!

The rest of us checked out Wednesday by 10 a.m. and hit the road. Since I had the full day off, I took a few detours to hopefully find fall colors. That included the High Ground by Neilsville (way up on a hill) and some random side road.

Today was back to work – thankfully remotely this week since a lot of work piled up in my short absence!

And now it's time to support 90% of my friends who are cheering on the Brewers! Just one more win and you're in the World Series! 💙💛

55 and Alive

To say the least, it has been one heck of a challenging year for my twin and her family.

During the winter, her truck-driving husband Steve got into a terrible accident while driving through a snowstorm. Due to injuries, he hasn't been able to work since. He recently underwent back surgery and now has a shoulder surgery on his agenda this week. Next Sunday, he turns 55. Raylene decided a few weeks ago it would be a good time to hold a "I'm 55 and Still Alive" surprise celebration today.

So, with some good Sunday polka music to accompany us, Jim and I headed Up North to Siren this morning and we let our own party boy sleep in. While my niece Ashley was leading her dad on a wild goose chase to keep him out of the house, we all parked next door, walked to Steve and Raylene's and set up.

In the picture above, Raylene is thanking us all for our support.

Here we are waiting for Steve's arrival. It was a great crowd, mostly Steve's relatives and friends, but two of my sisters, my mom and one of my nephews were there, too.

Was he surprised? Oh yes! Even though he saw the big crowd when they parked the truck, I don't think he realized it was for HIM until we yelled the traditional "Surprise!" and "Happy Birthday!"

Giving Raylene a hug and giving Ashley the third degree about her "involvement." Good job, girl!

Steve and Jim: Brotherly love. Well, brother-in-lawly love!

After some good food and cake, we hit the road to head back to Rapids. We made a pit stop in Eau Claire to see son No. 1 at work.

Casey styling in his Toppers uniform! We weren't hungry since we had just eaten but decided to share a small order of their famous Toppers Stix.

Jim's half was TacoStix and mine was Chocolate BaconStix. Why yes, that dipping sauce IS chocolate frosting! One stick was enough. But I had two. Brought the other two home for Carter, who did clean up the back yard today and did get most of his German project completed.

We're all tired. I think I need an extra day between Sunday and Monday! But so grateful for family, friends and health. That makes it all worth it!

Over-Drive

I think our Saturday was in over-drive with everything we packed in between sun-up and midnight!

We left the house at 7 a.m., not because it takes 5 1/2 hours to get to Mom's 12:30 birthday luncheon, but because it takes 4 hours to get there plus 90 minutes to look over a few Hondas on the way in Eau Claire.

Since they got ice and then snow, showing up at the dealership at 9 a.m. did not mean we could immediately test drive the two we had our eye on (via the Internet). They had to get dug out a little and hubby had to help scrape the ice and snow off!

After driving a Civic (like we have but newer) and a hybrid Insight, we could have gone either way. Both had low miles around 30K and both were priced similarly. In the end, we went with the hybrid to save on gas money when it comes to that long, daily commute of mine.

Yup, we test drove two cars, closed the deal on one and were out the door and back on the road within two hours! They had to do some "detailing" and fill it up with gas, so we said we'd pick it up on our way back through town at the end of the day.

The problem then was that we were leaving Eau Claire at 11. So we were about 2 hours away from the party, which was to begin in 1 1/2 hours. I texted all my siblings and told them to "stall lunch" -- I was coming late with all the plates and utensils, but I would be there!

That worked out fine. It just made everyone nice and hungry when it was time to eat!

It was a nice party with all of us kids there (except Texas sister) and many grandkids and cousins on Mom and Melvina's side of the family. Good food, nice visiting and some fun games. Outside, the 10 inches of snow they got yesterday was melting like crazy in the warm sunshine. It sure was appropriate Mom wanted to celebrate spring!

We left the party after it had dwindled and got to Eau Claire to pick up the Honda. Carter rode with me in the "new to me" car. That helped. We needed two of us watching for deer. Nothing like driving a "new" car and having to brake for deer plus hope the other two dozen we saw stayed put in the fields and ditches. Uff da.

The fun part of the car is all the eco-gauges. Could see from my trip that I got about 47 mpg. I'm liking that!

Got home in time to dump stuff off and head over to a friend's to watch the Badgers in the Final Four game. So close. Losing by 1 point was major bummer. We could have won that! Oh well, onto baseball, right?

When the game got done we headed into town to see son #2 perform at a DJ/night club/dance event. Major sound and light show with the sound being quite the mix of dance music and head-banging beats. Clay did a great job with his set. Wow. I felt like a grandma there, but can see why the young folks like it!

Got home before the stroke of midnight. So we won't turn into pumpkins, just tired ol' prunes by morning. All worth it, though!

Finals

It's that time of year when everyone is talking about finals. Today, Carter had his first final for the end of the school year while our nephew Colin had his last final for high school. Ever.

Last week, Casey finished up his third year at UW-Eau Claire. Wow, he technically is now a senior in college! Where has the time gone?? He'll be staying up in Eau Claire for the summer, working full-time at his pizza delivery job. Tonight, since he is home for a few days, he cruised on out in his Caddy and joined us for supper.

Yes, this is a sweet ride. Yes, it is unfair that we have the high-mileage Honda and a college kid drives a Cadillac. And no, he does not use this to deliver pizzas. He uses his high-mileage Neon!

We took him out to Anchor Bay, a nearby restaurant overlooking the Wisconsin River, for dinner. It was so good to see him and Carter was especially thrilled. He worships his older brother and hopes to grow up to be as cool as him someday.

One of these days, he might be as tall as Casey but I don't know about cool. And I definitely don't think a Caddy is in the cards. He'll most likely be driving our high-mileage Honda when we're done with it. But I think he'll make that work.

As for my finals this week... Glee is coming up in 3 minutes. Gotta get to the "graduation" ceremony!

Signs of the Season

Sure signs that Autumn is almost here -- or perhaps it has already arrived!

Animal Instincts: I heard a strange sound this morning that I hadn't heard in months. Sylvester was purring into my ear, which meant she was sleeping on my pillow. Now our cat only sleeps between hubby and me when it's cold weather and she needs to snuggle in our warm bed. Usually November to April. If she's already hopping into bed now, just 3 days into September, that can't be good. I suspect she knows something is about to change.

Fantasy Football: Oh it's definitely football weather --even for fantasy football. A cool somewhat rainy day like today was perfect for road-tripping to Eau Claire for our Austin family football draft. Jim, Carter and I picked up our nephew Colin and met the college kid Casey at Buffalo Wild Wings. We ate some got spicy food, then made some hot picks for our fantasy teams. Since it's just me and the guys -- a 6-team league -- no one really has a bad team. It's still fun, though, and I can't wait to fight like a girl and show those boys a thing or two. (Yes, it's always easy to talk smack before the season starts!)

Wind Chill: When we got home, I took a little 2-mile walk to stretch my legs and I didn't even break a sweat. And I was wearing long sleeves. Yup, it's definitely a turn-around since the hot muggy 90 degrees of Sept. 1! I was looking at the weather website and they actually have a windchill listed! Don't worry, it's above freezing. But sometime tonight it will dip into the 30s.

Don't tell the cat, but I already turned my blanket on! And that is the biggest sign of all. Welcome, Fall!

We're In Luck

We're in Luck. And I mean that quite literally.

We decided that rather than hitting the road at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow to get to my uncle's funeral, we'd come up here tonight after work and keep our fingers crossed we'd get a hotel room in Luck.

I say that kind of jokingly because really, how many people would need a hotel room in little Luck, Wis., on a weeknight? Apparently quite a few because we got the last room at the Luck Country Inn! And yes, the 3 of us are in the Honeymoon Suite! That's how we roll, I guess.

We could have gotten here sooner but we took a nice detour through Eau Claire, which included dinner at Milwaukee Burger Co. with my oldest stepson Casey. He stayed up there this summer and is about to start his junior year at UW-EC. He has a part-time job at a pizza place but he's still a "starving college student" in need of a free meal now and then.

So that was a nice bonus to a trip that otherwise does not have a happy ending.

I am looking forward to seeing lots of family tomorrow but the reason is unfortunate. I'm just glad we could all get the day off so we can give hugs where they are needed.

And get some, too.

Rest Stop

By the time I lay my head on my pillow tonight, I'll have logged 500-some miles on the car since yesterday morning. And we've got miles to go yet this weekend.

Yesterday, I got up early as planned, picked up my stepson Casey in Eau Claire just after 8 a.m., then got to St. Croix Falls around 10 a.m. It turned out to be a beautiful, warm and sunny day for a change. How wonderful!

My 50-year-old brother had some interesting moving, thinking and creating activities for us!

Spent the morning on some trails south of town, looking for items in nature and finding more than we bargained for. My sister Rayna and I were off on our own trail, cameras in hand, snapping pictures with our "close-up" setting whenever possible. We were very excited to walk into some sort of a dragonfly festival. We both got some awesome photos like the one up top. I will post more when I get the chance.

After our walks and "scavenger hunts" and craft time, we had brats and hotdogs on the grill and a ton of other food. We did a brief program of sorts for Ron -- since that's what us silly sisters do -- then presents and CAKE! Yummy.

It was a fun day and a really, really nice time with family.

Got to stay at my nephew Zach's new place just east of St. Croix, then got up and hit the road around 8 a.m. Dropped Casey off in Eau Claire and got over to Wausau in time for Carter's 1 p.m. baseball game. They lost last night to Rhinelander. This afternoon they played Wausau. Or tried.

Wausau hit 6 or 7 home runs out of the park so yes, we got beat and we got beat bad. I'll give credit to our Rapids Rage boys, though. They rallied and got 6 runs in one inning -- Carter even got a double -- but it wasn't enough. Hopefully, they can turn it around for our final game tonight. They don't play that one until 9 p.m. -- yes, that late -- so we came home so hubby could mow, I could unpack my stuff and pack up Carter's stuff for confirmation camp.

He is all set to go. I am mostly unpacked but needed to rest a minute. All that driving takes a lot out of a person! I expect we will be dead on our feet tomorrow night at this time.

Our plan is this: Go to game tonight. Get home and sleep fast. Go to 10:30 church so Carter can acolyte, I can say a tearful goodbye to him and he can go home with his "camping buddy" Clay, whose mom will get them to the church in the early afternoon for their ride to camp. While he's doing that, Jim and I will head over to Menominee, Mich., for a graduation party for a friend's son.

Tired yet? Sounds pretty crazy for one weekend. But every mile is worth it when you can spend even a little time with loved ones, doncha think?

Which reminds me, I better log off and spend a few precious moments with my baby before we hit the road again!

Fam-tastic!

Had a fam-tastic weekend. Loosely translated: I had a great time with my family this weekend.

Got up to my parents' place around 5 p.m. Saturday. This was my first return visit since the tornado cleanup day. Wow. There's such an emptiness there. So strange without all our trees!

Two of my sisters stopped by there as well before we headed into town. Got 2 special gifts. One was seeing my 16-year-old niece looking really healthy and doing well in recovery from her surgery. The other was a Vikings window flag my brother-in-law happened to pick up off the road somewhere... and he'd be caught dead before he'd drive around town with it on his vehicle. (We'll take it, Rick. Thanks!)

As you can see in the picture above, all my siblings except my sister in Texas made it to the party. Four of the grandkids also were able to make it so it was a nice gathering. We had our own "party room" at the Hog Wild BBQ Grill so we could really whoop it up... if that's what people do for their 83rd birthday.

We had a good meal plus cake and then Carter and his cousins played some tunes in the jukebox -- including "Happy Birthday." Then my dad gives Carter another dollar and says, "Play some more songs on the nickelodeon."

Nickelodeon?? Oh Dad, you're showing your age!

Apparently, someone picked some good songs because it got my mom and dad out dancing for one anyway!

After the party, we went with my sister Renell down to her place in Hudson and spent the night there. Today, Jim and I did some Christmas shopping in Hudson (there are certain things you can only find close to or across the Minnesota border).

Then the 3 of us headed over to Eau Claire to pick up Casey for some Christmas shopping at the mall. We take the "big boys" shopping early so they can pick out what they want, then I wrap it and hope they forget half of it and act surprised Christmas morning. At least then, they are getting what they really like.

After some shopping, we had a delicious, filling lunch at a place called Milwaukee Burger Co. If you're ever in Eau Claire, I highly recommend it!!

We got back to Rapids by 5 p.m. and stopped at my in-laws to borrow a vehicle and then stopped to see my other stepson, Clay, to wish him a happy 18th birthday (tomorrow) and best of luck on his gall bladder surgery (also tomorrow). I guess it may be his most memorable birthday yet.

Now we are home, unpacked and getting ready for the Packer-Vikings game tonight. Don't worry, I'm not gonna talk any smack here. We haven't earned that right yet. I just hope my team shows up.

And a win, well, that would really make a fam-tastic weekend complete, wouldn't it?