Beach Bum

The rough life

Around Here

• We're loving summer... our days are non-stop fun with the park, pool and plenty of play dates.
• Charlotte is so smiley. Her favorite person is her brother.
• Will is both completely awesome and unbelievably challenging. His emotions exist in such extremes... either overwhelmingly happy or overwhelmingly sad. I have to remind myself that he feels everything so deeply right now, and sometimes just doesn't know how to handle it.
• I'm obsessed with neon. Wait until you see my new front door.
• I've already read seven books this month. I predict nine before July 1.
• My surgeon says I'm an "exceptionally good" healer.
• We recently made the decision to ditch our Keurig.
• I've managed not to kill my garden yet. Veggies look awesome. Watermelons might not make it. Rabbits are the enemy.
• I was sick of all our old and mismatched socks so I threw out every single pair and bought new ones. I'm pretty sure Ben was still holding on to some socks from the 90s. And now, all our white socks are all the same brand and type so I can easily pair them back up. Win!

Bye-bye, Mama

Every summer, I get together with four of my best friends from high school for a fun-filled slumber party weekend. I love these girls so much. They have known me since I was a gangly, glasses-wearing, brace-faced, 11 year-old girl. Before babies, or blogs, or husbands, or college, or prom, or boyfriends, or broken hearts, or (as Maggie put it recently) puberty. We've been doing our annual summer sleepover every year since 2002, and it's always one of the highlights of my year.

The slumber party rules are simple: 1) No significant others (we now plan a separate "family weekend" to spend time with each others families) and 2) no children (unless they're itty bitty, brand new babies). Will doesn't quite fit the itty bitty category any more, so he will be staying with Daddy while I jaunt on over to Minneapolis for three days of chatting, relaxing and over-eating. Sounds heavenly, yes?

Most definitely yes. But... I am going to miss my sweet baby terribly. The longest I've ever left him was 18 hours (12 of which he was sleeping). So this is a major moment for me. I know it's good for both of us to spend some time apart, but I'm going to miss him so much. I fully anticipate I will be crying in the car nearly the entire way to Minneapolis. Luckily I'll have four dear friends around to help mend my aching heart.

Summer Wedding

On Friday, we were guests at a beautiful wedding at the Paine Art Center and Gardens in Oshkosh. Given our gorgeous surroundings, we took a moment to snap a few family photos:

My loves

Busy boy

I'm outta here!

Out for a stroll

Exploring with Mama

Let's go, Daddy! 

Big smiles

Flying High

We live near the worldwide headquarters of EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) and its annual AirVenture, an incredible festival and convention for aviation enthusiasts. In under a week, it draws nearly 500,000 people and 10,000 planes from around the world, which is pretty incredible given Oshkosh's small airport.

Will loves airplanes, so I was really pumped up to take him out to EAA this year. I had never been, and I actually hate flying, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But it was awesome! Will absolutely loved it, and Ben and I had a blast. I think it's literally one of the best days we've ever had as a family. Unfortunately though, I have no photos to share because I left the camera at home (fail).

Despite the hot weather, we did a lot throughout the day. My brother-in-law, sister-in-law and I ran a 5K on the EAA grounds in the morning, then Ben and I brought Will out to the festival later in the afternoon. We checked out the vintage warbirds, toured the exhibition area and caught an incredible air show. Many of the booths and exhibitors were way over our head, selling super technical aviation equipment. But it was a good time nonetheless.

Although Will enjoyed walking around the grounds, the air show was by far the highlight of our day. The look of astonishment and excitement on Will's face when he saw the planes in the air was amazing. He'd grin from ear to ear and follow them across the sky. It was such a fun shared experience. Sitting on the grass with him, pointing out the planes and watching him gasp and giggle. 

For us as parents, it was pure joy. We'll be flying high on this day for awhile.

Fourth of July Fun

Here's a look at how we spent the fourth. Hope yours was just as festive!

All-American boy

Watching the parade with Daddy

Our coordinating family ensemble

Home

Will and I are visiting Nana and Grandpa (my parents) for a few days while Ben is on a business trip in Florida. The weather here is beautiful. We've walked the dogs on the trails behind their house, swam in the pool, shopped in downtown La Crosse and enjoyed many good meals.

I wish I had some pictures to share, but we've been having way too much fun to stop and smile for the camera. It's so good to be home.

First Birthday Planning

Will's first birthday is just a few months away, and guess what Mama is in full-on party planning mode?

Yeah, that'd be me.

I decided several months ago that Will was going to have a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed birthday party. It has long been his favorite book, and I love the idea of incorporating his interests (yes, even at age one) into his birthday celebration.

If you're not familiar with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the little caterpillar eats his way through a bunch of food until he becomes a big, fat caterpillar and turns into a butterfly. So I thought it would be fun to serve many of the foods featured in the book (apples, strawberries, pickles, sausage, cheese, cupcakes, watermelon, etc).

The food is about as literal as I'm going to get though. In my humble opinion, themes should influence design, not be an excuse to purchase tons of commercially licensed products. So while we're going with a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme, you won't find a bunch of theme-y plates, napkins or table clothes. I'm merely using the book as inspiration.

I love the artwork of Eric Carle. For Will's party, I want to capture the colors he uses in the book, as well as some of the whimsy of his illustrations. Enter: buntings.

Aren't they darling? These are from Blue Moon Studios on Etsy, but my mom is going to make the ones for Will's party. I think they'll add a very sweet, youthful element to the decor.

And because I'm obsessed with Etsy, I recently purchased this customized first birthday shirt. Swoon. I can't even stand how darling it is.

Will's birthday party will be a small, family-only affair, but I'm super excited to put something spectacular together for him.

I Love A Parade!

We had a great Memorial Day today! Will experienced his first parade and went swimming in the "wimmy pool" (kiddy pool) at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Of course I have photos of none of this, which I'm kicking myself for now. But it was a lovely weekend with friends and family. Welcome, summer!

Old friends

Every summer a group of high school girlfriends and I get together for a weekend sleepover. No husbands, partners or children allowed (unless said children are breastfeeding). Just the five of us. And a lot of food.

We've been doing this annually since 2002, and it's one of my favorite summer traditions. It's funny to look back and see how our lives have changed. From that first summer when we got hammered and flirted with boys at Maggie's northern Minnesota cabin. To this year, when we passed around 6 week old Milo and watched Alyssa get fitted for her wedding dress. I'm always amazed by how much our lives can change in just one year.

I've been friends with these girls for almost 15 years (Alyssa will argue since 6th grade, but I'm not convinced). They knew me when I had glasses and braces, when I was all legs and no coordination. They knew me before I had kissed a boy or gone on a first date. Together, we played sports, went to prom, applied to colleges and got our hearts broken. Together, we navigated the rocky world of adolesence and somehow managed to make it out the other side.

We don't talk everyday. And we're lucky to see each other more than a few times a year. But in many ways our friendship is even stronger than it was back then. It's just effortless. While I will never take them for granted, I love knowing that they are always there for me. And visa versa.

Pregnancy + Heat = Swollen

You should see how swollen my feet and ankles are. They're huge. Like HUGE. I feel like I'm hobbling around on stumps.

We have a mirror at the top of our staircase that reflects from the waist down. So every time I go up or down the stairs I catch a glimpse of my gigantic cankles. They're not pretty.

Ben reminds me that this heat is uncharacteristic for May, and even in August, this will probably be about the hottest it gets. Let's hope as the temperatures drop later this week, so do the size of my feet.

It's going to be a looooooong summer.

Heat Wave

I've never really been crazy about hot weather. Granted, summer is fun. Long days, bright sunshine, swimming, gardening, friends, food, cold drinks. But the hot weather just does not appeal to me. I'm happiest when the temperature is hovering around 65 or 70 degrees.

As we had our first hot weather preview day yesterday (temps reached 80 in Oshkosh), I was reminded of how much I hate the heat. And how I'll be in my third trimester for the three hottest months of the year. Awesome.

Lucky for us, we installed a nice new central air unit last year. And with the pregnancy card tucked firmly in my back pocket, there will be no competition for thermostat control. For once, my comfort trumps Ben's frugality. Now that's pretty cool.