Home on the Ranage

Gooooood morning!

I'm fueling up on breakfast right now because I took a run this morning. I was hoping to avoid the sun but in order to do that I would've had to wake up at 5, which didn't sound fun. Instead I opted for 7:30 and 90 degrees. Besides literally dripping with sweat the whole time, the last few minutes on my way home were TOUGH!

It's nice to be home from our vacation. As much as I love traveling, I love coming home even more. I missed the doggies and my bed. We did have a good time and it was nice to show Jonathan parts of my childhood. I took him around to some houses I lived in in Wisconsin (I lived in a LOT!) and reminisce about the days there.

In Chetek, we partook in a ton of eating and drinking, hence the running I'm doing. We went to the street dance which we were very disappointed with. It was small and you had to pay to get through a fence so we stood outside the fence for a few minutes. There were a lot of boat rides and bar visits, which we were not able to do when we were younger, of course :) The house we stayed in was great and it was nice being with family!

In Milwaukee, we went to a Brewer's game with my dad and step-mom. It was my first time at Miller Park! My dad drove us around the lakefront afterwards where I got to see the house that I always claimed when we drove past it. Still looks the same! We also went to Bastille Days downtown. We probably should've waited to eat until we got there because there were so many food options. We had a few beers and watched the start of the run and called it a night. On Friday we went to the museum, which is one of my favorite places. Phoenix has nothing to even compare to it. Not much has changed inside that museum!

On Wednesday I will be going to San Diego to visit Katy (so far, that's the plan!). The week after that, J has to go back to work :( I won't be going till August 2nd. I feel bad since he only has a few days off before going back. Such is life!

It's time for coffee. Some time today I need to get an oil change and that's my big plan for the day :) I hope everyone is enjoying their summers!

Life Up North

One of my favorite memories of growing up in Wisconsin was traveling up north to Chetek and my great-grandma's lake home. I was pretty young, so some of my memories may be jumbled, but these are events that stick out the most and I think they all include my cousin, Nicole:

• going to the Miss Chetek pageant at the local high school
• going to Ben Franklin with my aunt and cousin to purchase fake flowers and everything needed to have our own beauty pageant 
• taking the canoe out and "accidentally" flipping it over in the middle of the lake (family was not happy)
• calling my cousin porcupine legs because she shaved her legs (obviously not that well) and we had to sleep together and her legs rubbed up on mine
• going to the street dance and digging for money in a pile of sawdust
• watching the church lady on Saturday Night Live
• watching the men butcher the fish they caught that would later be our dinner
• betting that our family couldn't tell the difference between Nicole and I's handwriting...they told us to spell "guess" and I spelled "geuss". Fail. 
• picking green beans at the neighbor lady's house
• visiting the cemetery with my grandma and placing flowers on deserted graves

Ahh, good times. I reminisce because we will be there on Saturday. Not the same house but the same small town. I think back now about how much you take for granted when you are a child. What we would give to still have that property in our family, right on the lake! We'll be in a newer cabin and will still get to do all of the fun lake stuff. I wonder if I'll remember any landmarks there and how much it has changed. Now we can go out with the adults and experience what they did when we were wee ones :) I'll update with fun pictures on my photo blog http://picturexthis.wordpress.com (hopefully if the technology is available!). Most of all I'm excited to cool off! Have you walked outside today? Ick! It's 101 degrees, humid, and not even 11:00 a.m. 

I must clean the house for our house/dog sitter. Enjoy your day!