Day 2165 | Monarch Success
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The other butterfly emerged from its chrysalis yesterday and we set her free today! Even Richmond’s antics couldn’t stifle this little lady’s drive for survival. Good luck on your adventures, friend. I’m glad we met you.
Day 2164 | Madison Outing
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I promised more photos from Madison, and here you go. It was such a fun little getaway. The boys were SO excited about a mini vacation—it was the sweetest thing ever. Staying in a hotel after so long was about the best thing that’s ever happened to them. This city remains one of my favorites.
Day 2163 | Success…Short-Lived
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This little guy (or gal?) emerged today! It was beautiful and incredible and so exciting.
And then? Before we could wait for his little wings to dry out and release him, there was an incident. Richmond, our foster cat, was outside on the porch where the butterfly cage has been for the past two weeks. Apparently the fluttering inside the cage was too much for him. When Richmond was out there for a few minutes on his own, we came back to find the cage on the floor and our new friend gone. It was (and still is) devastating.
We’re continuing to hold out hope for our second chrysalis (even though the cage got batted around a bit). Keep thinking happy thoughts.
Day 2162 | Madison
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We enjoyed a lovely day in one of our favorite cities today. More photos to come, but I’ll leave you with this one tonight.
Day 2161 | Dino Sculptures
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Eau Claire is pretty cool, I have to say. Today we made an impromptu stop at Artisan Forge to check out some metal dinosaur sculptures on display right now. Amazing, right?
Day 2160 | Raft Swimming
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This crazy crew made it all the way to the neighbors’ raft at my parents’ lake house this weekend. It’s no small feat, let me tell you!
It was a lovely weekend filled with some of our favorite people. And swimming. Lots of swimming.
Day 2159 | Father’s Day Scavenger Hunt
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The boys created a pretty sweet scavenger hunt for Chris yesterday—all by themselves! It was the highlight of a day celebrating this great dad. We fully realize how lucky we are.
Day 2158 | Chrysalis Stage
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Caterpillar update: they’ve both moved to chrysalis stage! Super exciting, right?
Day 2157 | 15 Years of Marriage
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“A good marriage is one where each partner secretly suspects they got the better deal.”
Fifteen years. Chris and I got married 15 years ago today. It was a crazy hot day surrounded by all of our friends and family with ice cream sundaes and a pretty epic dance party. That day remains the best day of my life (I was in pretty immense pain when the boys were born, after all).
I’m thankful every day that we’ve built this beautiful life together. We’ve gone through a lot in those years, but it really feels like we’re just getting started, you know? This is the life I’ve always dreamed of with the best friend I never could have imagined.
I ran across the quote above when I was contemplating marriage today. It gave me a good chuckle and I thought you might enjoy it. In case you’re wondering, though, in this marriage, it’s clear that I got the better deal.
Day 2156 | Monarch Caterpillars
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We found these beauties at the lake this weekend and decided to bring them home with us (we left a lot of their friends, in case you are worried). Boom. Two days later they’re preparing for their chrysalis. I don’t know why, but watching caterpillars transform is about the most intriguing thing for me. I’m just so in awe of the process.
It goes without saying…I’ll keep you posted on progress!
Day 2155 | Sculpture Tour 2021
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The new sculptures are installed! We’ll have to go back once all the name plates are up (it’s fun to see their titles, afterall), but we had a great time touring all the impressive works of art that are a part of the 2021 Sculpture Tour Eau Claire. Pictured above are just a few of our favorites.
Day 2154 | Magnifying Glass
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It turns out you can start a fire with a magnifying glass. Our first (and hopefully not last) installment of Robbe’s Questions Answered.
Day 2153 | Summer
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This is summer. All summer long. I’m feeling very lucky indeed.
Day 2152 | Lowes Creek
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We’ve realized the way to beat the heat is to get out early. Today’s adventure started at 8am (we had the added motivation of having to bring our car in to be serviced, so that was nice). We went for a lovely (and very comfortable) hike on some trails in Lowes Creek Park. It was really lovely…even the bugs left us alone. And then we didn’t feel bad running errands and watching a movie to fill the rest of the crazy-hot day. Win-win!
Day 2151 | Friends
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We’ve seen some friends this week that we haven’t seen in a very long time. It’s been really, really lovely.
Day 2150 | Early Morning Biking
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Another hot day here so we got up and out the door early for a bike ride before the temperature hit 90. It was definitely the right decision. We’ll see if we can muster the same motivation tomorrow.
Day 2149 | Disc Golf
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What do you do when it’s 90 degrees outside? Play disc golf, of course. Luckily most of the holes were in the shade and there was a lovely breeze.
Day 2148 | Paddle Boarding
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Chase rocked his first solo paddle boarding outing today. I was super impressed.
Day 2147 | Last Day of School
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We made it through the 2020-2021 school year. Man, that was intense. There have been some lovely highs along with my some tough lows, but we’re here now and we’re more than ready for a summer vacation. Lake life, we’re coming for you!
In case you’re curious about what school looked like for the boys this year, check out this video I put together as a year-end gift to the school. I’m pretty proud of it. Click here for the video.
Day 2146 | Therapy
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Have you heard my exciting news? I started therapy a few weeks ago. That's right, the mental health variety and I'm super pumped about it. It's been on my to-do list for years but I just didn't have the space in my life or the extra motivation needed to find someone. When Chase went back to school four days/week, I decided making a phone call was the least I could do as a bit of self-care. I did a good bit of research and ended up practically cold calling a local therapy clinic. I gave the receptionist a little info about who + what I was looking for and she matched me with someone who is really great. I've had three sessions so far and she seems like the perfect fit for me.
It's so interesting to go through the exercise of really thinking through my relationships and to start weeding through how and why I make decisions. For someone who internalizes a lot and questions herself constantly, it's been really lovely to hear a complete stranger validate some of my feelings but push me into answering tough questions, too.
I'll keep you posted as my journey continues.
