10 years, 3 incredible children, 1 wonderful decade of marriage.
Then…
…and now (of course we have no recent pictures of just the 2 of us).
Wait, I found one! This is a late edit to the entry, as this picture was taken at my mom’s house the day after our anniversary, right before we went out for our fun celebration in downtown Chicago.
I absolutely adore summer. Wanna know why?
Sun shining
Sky warming
Coats and socks disappearing
Windows opening
Breeze blowing
Shadows lengthening
Daylight lingering
Fireflies firing
Dandelions floating
Kids’ laughter pealing
Smiles growing
Play playing
Drinks flowing
Fun increasing
People enjoying
Freshly mowed grass smelling
Bikes pedaling
Skin tanning
Water splashing
Little feet running
Footprints leading
Arms hugging
Legs strolling
Outside happening
Road trips driving
Swings swinging
Hammocks lounging
Laundry hanging
Slides sliding
Vacations occurring
Love spreading
Music drifting
The good times had during summer are always countless, and each and every one simply makes my heart swell.
the spectacular view from our front porch one gorgeous night this summer
Then…
And now…
Think we’ve changed much?
Happy anniversary to me and Ryan! 8 awesome years so far, and counting.
May there be 80 more. Well, probably not 80, but hopefully a lot!
If you need a refresher, here’s where we left off in “Part 1”. Let’s hit the road again…
Day 9: Time to say adios to my sis and nephew (bro-in-law had to go out of town on business a few days earlier). The compass didn’t point east just yet, though, as we took a northerly route home instead of simply backtracking. First up was Deadwood, SD. Yes, the same Deadwood from the HBO show, where we learned of it in the first place. Low and behold, it’s actually on the National Historic Register.
To get there, however, we had to drive through the most gigantic expanse of this country I’ve seen yet – eastern Wyoming. Do not undertake a road trip through this two-lane section of the country with anything less than an overflowing tank of gas and rations for weeks. I’m not kidding – there are literally hundreds of miles between the tiniest hints of civilization out there, cell phones don’t have a chance of working, every gas station we came upon was boarded up, and cows outnumber humans by probably about 20,000:1. It’s no joke. If something were to happen to you out there you’d be screwed. Thank god we got new tires put on the car in Colorado. Wyoming is wide open spaces to a tee.
We did find one diamond in the rough out there, though – Ft. Laramie. This little historic gem is smack dab in the middle of nowhere Wyoming, but is a really, really cool place. We spent a good hour walking the same grounds so many soldiers and Indians did before there was anything out there but wide open spaces. It was once a major stop on the Pony Express, and taking the same sets of stairs that some of the first people to settle this country did was an almost indescribable experience – humbling, maybe?
one sarsaparilla and one cream soda, please
But we finally rolled into our destination for that day, Deadwood, SD, that evening. Unfortunately it was seriously disappointing – every place has been taken over by gaming, with window upon window full of crappy slot machines. We found what appeared to be the solitary business in the town without a casino stuck in it to take the girls in for dinner. It’s a shame too; it could have been preserved as a very cool historic place, but now it’s not so much. I hate casinos, so I was ready to leave. After driving through the famed Sturgis, we decided to stop in Rapid City, SD, for the night.
Deadwood, SD
Day 10: Mt. Rushmore day. We woke up to thunderstorms, however, so got a much later start than we would have liked. On our way to see the big faces, we went to the Crazy Horse monument, a big mountain tribute to the Lakota Sioux leader in progress. Very cool.
the mountain in the back is being carved in the likeness of the statue in the forefront
so far only the head of the statue is complete
Some of Ryan’s friends had said that Mt. Rushmore was very underwhelming, which really bummed me out because I had been looking forward to this part of the trip for a long time. I don’t know from what planet they hail, though, because it was honestly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. From the moment I first saw it from the highway driving in to the last glimpse we got on the way out, I was in awe. I literally could have spent the entire day just standing there staring at it instead of the couple hours we had. Not only is the memorial itself simply incredible, but the park and buildings they have set up around it are pristine. Definitely put this one on your must-see list. You will not regret it.
There are a couple other national parks in that area that we would have liked to have seen, but we just didn’t have time – Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, and the Minuteman Missile Silo. The Badlands, however, we were not going to miss. So we hightailed it out of Mt. Rushmore and headed east another hour or two to highway 240, the Badlands Loop.
This was another unbelievable area. The highway that winds through the park is about 40 miles long, and it takes you from the top to the bottom of the Badlands (or bottom to top if you come from the east). Words can’t really describe its beauty, and I’m sure our pictures don’t do it an ounce of justice, so just go see it for yourself. Again, you won’t regret it. We want to make another pilgrimage out there just to see these 2 places again and get to explore them more in-depth. You can easily spend at least a day at each park.
Badlands, SD
When we left the Badlands it was already evening, and I wanted to get the girls fed at a normal time that night instead of pulling into a hotel super late and getting them all out of whack again. Unfortunately central South Dakota is apparently not known for dining hot spots, so we had to settle for a little hometown diner in Kadoka, SD. Yeah, I’d never heard of it either. You can skip that place. Double unfortunately, massive thunderstorms were rolling in as we ate, so we quickly got the girls cleaned up and into pj’s so they could fall asleep in the car until we stopped for that night, wherever that was going to be.
Something else I learned – thunderstorms on the wide open plains of South Dakota are NOT to be taken lightly. We drove through over 100 miles of non-stop lightning, and I have never been scared of a storm like that before. When you are the only thing on the horizon and lightning is flashing around you like a strobe light, you just hope and pray you make it to shelter before getting charred. Thankfully we did, with the storms accompanying us the entire way. Our last hotel for the trip was in Sioux Falls, SD. We had made it all the way across the state!
this was our view for the entire eastern half of SD. too bad we couldn’t enjoy all the daylight on the 1st day of summer
Day 11: Homeward bound! We hadn’t gotten settled into the hotel room and the girls put to bed the night before until about 1 a.m., so we pulled the shades and let everyone sleep as late as possible. We were finally all up around 10-10:30 and got ready to head home. Checkout wasn’t until noon so we took our time and finally left Sioux Falls around noon, after breakfast and a much-needed Starbucks stop. Minnesota seemed to fly by compared to Wyoming and South Dakota, and then we entered the homeland once more.
say french fries!
After a stop in Madison for dinner with some friends at one last brewery, we pulled back into our driveway late that night. Whew!
This was an outstanding trip, and I am so happy we decided to do it. The girls were absolute dreams of travelers – barely a peep from either side of the backseat for all those miles and hours in the car, countless stops, and 3 different hotel rooms. Ryan got 5 new stamps and stickers in his National Parks Passport, Della got her own Junior Ranger National Parks Passport to start, and Lana, well Lana got to chew on a red Solo cup to her heart’s content. (note to self – keep a red solo cup in the car at all times to placate a restless baby)
Thank you, America, for gorgeous scenery, an established interstate roadway system upon which we can travel to said scenery, and memories our family will cherish for a lifetime.
A few weeks ago we undertook our longest road trip yet as a family. It spanned 9 states and put 3,172.4 miles on the odometer. And we all survived!
We left Milwaukee on a Wednesday morning, drove through parts of Illinois and Iowa, stopped for a dinner of world famous BBQ in Kansas City, MO, then spent the night in Topeka, KS. That Thursday we drove through the rest of Kansas before reaching our main destination in Evergreen, CO, for the next week. The return drive took us through part of Wyoming on our way to South Dakota, then finally one last day to get through Minnesota on our way back to Sconnie-land.
This would seriously end up being a novel if I tried to describe everything we saw and did, so I’ll just cover the highlights. You’ll notice this is “Part 1”, so in here I’ll show you some of the sites from the drive out and our stay in Colorado. The reason we went out there was to visit my sisters, brother-in-law, and brand new nephew, so we figured we’d see as much of Middle America as we could along the way. Here we go…
Day 1: Our goal of this leg was to get to Kansas City, MO, where Ryan was dying to try Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ. So we did, and it was delicious. We had some daylight left after eating, so we drove another hour or so to Topeka, where we called it a night.
yuuummm!!
Day 2: We started off the day by visiting the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. Very cool. But the rest of Kansas is boring. So is eastern Colorado. We finally pulled into my sister and brother-in-law’s driveway in Evergreen, CO, that evening and let the engines rest.
jumping on hotel beds is fun!
don’t do this. and no, that’s not our car
it was very hot and windy on our drive west
Days 3-8: Fun had by all in central Colorado. Our nephew is completely adorable; the girls, my mom, sister, nephew, and I went on a train; we experienced a rodeo parade; we took in a concert at Red Rocks; we tried out as many breweries as we could manage in a day; and we saw some cool petrified stuff. We even got to experience the scare of forest fires starting while we were there. Thank god none reached my sister’s home, and no one we/they know was hurt by the handful of ones raging during our stay.
Georgetown Loop Railroad
rodeo parades and catching all that candy are simply exhausting
happy father’s day!
s’mores!
Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, CO
New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins
Left Hand Brewing in Longmont, CO
Oskar Blues Brewing in Longmont
“Big Stump” at Florissant Fossil National Monument
Trinity Brewing in Colorado Springs
cousins! lana was most uncooperative
Ok, that’s enough pictures for today. Stay tuned, for there will be plenty more in “Part 2”. I can sense your anticipation building already, my friends.
2 Friday Funks in a row?? Crazy. I must be on a roll over here. I’ll call this one the “No More Moo” edition, because I’ve been given the green light by Lana’s pediatrician to start weaning her from breast milk. Time to start shutting down the milk factory.
The reason for doing this is kind of a need mixed with a want. She NEEDS to start sleeping through the night again, and her doctor said weaning will absolutely help with that. I took her in the other night for her first sick check because she’s had this congestion and cough for months now, and I was afraid she might have an ear infection since she tugs on her left one all the time. Ears look perfect, the doctor said, but she said she still sounds a little croupy. Something in her upper respiratory system is definitely still bugging her, so she’s currently on a 5-day antibiotic just to try and kick whatever keeps running around in there.
But anyway, I was telling her how terrible Lana’s sleeping at night has gotten, and she was pretty surprised to hear that she almost always wakes up 2-3 times per night now. A complete sleep through is essentially nonexistent these days, which is really shitty for a 7 month old.
So after we discussed the decline in night sleeping and I asked about maybe stopping breastfeeding soon, her doctor said yes, let’s definitely start to wean her. That’s where the want part comes in.
I’m ready to be done nursing this time around. I don’t know if it’s the novelty wearing off earlier the second time around or maybe the fact that me having been home basically all of Lana’s life so far with her she’s just spent more time actually nursing than Della did since she was in daycare so much or what, but I’m pretty much over it. That “magical bond” between mother and nursing babe just isn’t that magical anymore.
As when Della was stopping breastfeeding, I would love to not have to worry about it over the summer. Taking my stupid hand pump to all-day events gets so old, and enduring the pain of engorgement when I’d rather just not have to think about it is getting annoying right now. Plus we need to get Lana to know that boobs are no longer an option in the middle of the night. That’s the worst part – as long as she continues to wake up inconsolable save for nursing, we’ll keep taking steps backward instead of forward in this process.
So enter Enfamil, the formula I’ve always dreaded due to its price tag. The act of giving my baby formula doesn’t bother me in the least; it’s paying for the crap when I know I can provide plenty of breast milk for free. But like I said, I’m willing to sacrifice the dollars for a few months this time to get my body freedom back. Selfish? Probably. But Mama needs her sanity too, thank you very much, and Lana will thrive just fine on formula for only a couple months. For when she turns 11 months, we’ll put her on whole milk anyway.
Day 1 of the weaning saga was yesterday, and it was an utter failure. The doctor said to begin by replacing the least important breast milk meals with formula until there is no more nursing, so we’re starting with the one she usually has between her now solid lunches and dinners. Yesterday I whipped up a 6 oz. bottle containing 4 oz. of breast milk and 2 oz. of formula, thinking that would be more than enough breast milk to mask whatever the foreign taste of formula is in there. Nope. She drank a couple good gulps, then refused the rest of it. Well shit. I even made a separate 1 oz. bottle of strictly formula, thinking maybe the breast milk was bad. Still refused. Double shit.
I was afraid of that. Della did the same thing when she stopped nursing, refusing formula. She was about a month and a half older than Lana is now, though, so I just pumped another month or 2 until she started whole milk. I’m not pumping for 4 more months this time, though, so we have to get this to work with Lana. Fortunately round 2 this afternoon went better. I made another 6 oz. bottle for her, but this time I used only 1 oz. of formula and 5 oz. of breast milk, and she drank the whole thing without hesitation. Much better.
My hope is that I can just keep upping the formula ratio in this afternoon bottle and her mid-morning one over the next week or so until those 2 are strictly formula. Then we’ll work on switching the morning wake-up feeding to formula, then lastly the bedtime feeding. The doctor said that’s the order of importance for the feedings to be breast milk. I may start transitioning the bedtime feeding to a mixed bottle sooner, though, so I can make it bigger. When she nurses I obviously have no idea how many ounces she’s taking, but her doctor said to give her a bigger bedtime bottle (at least 6 oz.) to help her stay satisfied through the night better. Makes sense to me. Let’s get this pony rolling.
I would love more than anything to have her nearly fully weaned in the next 3 weeks before we go to Colorado, but I won’t push it. I’ll try, but if I have to take the damn pump, I’ll take it. So wish us luck on this journey! Any and all easy weaning juju you can send our way will be much appreciated.
Speaking of Colorado, my sister had her baby today!!!! I could just poop I’m so excited for them. His name is Roan, and from what I’ve seen so far he is absolutely perfect. I simply cannot wait to hold this newest little Goonie nugget, and Della already knows she has a new baby cousin. She can even say Roan pretty well. I’m so happy we’ll get to meet him when he’s still so little. I just hope my sister and brother-in-law truly know what they’re signing up for when they invite us all to stay with them with a newborn in the house. Heh.
What else? Oh yeah – my race last weekend. Dudes, I kicked its ass!! I was hoping for under 27:00, secretly wishing for under 26:00, and I blew that thing out of the water. 25:11 was my time. BOOM to the OOM! 8:06 pace. I was floored. No way was I expecting a time like that, which is one of my fastest 5k times ever. Let alone after having 2 kids and just getting back to running a few weeks ago. It felt like a terrible run, too, because I started off way too fast trying to keep pace with a group of grade schoolers. Note – never EVER try to keep up with 7 year olds in a race. They’ll destroy you every time. So when I saw sub-25:00 on the score clock as I approached the finish line I was ecstatic.
Then it was off to Miller Park that afternoon with great friends for the Kenny Chesney concert. Yahoo!! That was an absolute blast. We skipped the first couple opening acts and went in for Eric Church and Kenny, and we had so much fun. It turned out to be a gorgeous day, and we had a wonderful afternoon and night.
I think that about wraps everything up for this week. Just another batch of random I wanted to write down before I forgot it all. We’re off to Madison on Sunday for my cousin’s wedding, which will be awesome. So you all have a great long weekend, thank you to those whom we remember in the name of this holiday, and I’ll talk to you later.
