October!

Well, I haven't written in a while but if your'e wondering what I've been up to this month, here goes (deep breath in):

Mom and Dad went to Oregon on a wine tasting tour for a few days, so while they were doing their thing...

I was doing mine. I went with my bestie Shea and her mom and dad and brother to a really fun hotel in Wisconsin and had myself a hoot of a time.

Meanwhile, Pax and Mae were at Nana's and they were having a pretty good time themselves. If you can't make this out it's Pax, Mae and Sophie doing some neon glow-in-the-dark indoor mini golf.

And then, after a long weekend away from those two, a nice little reunion took place outside of school.

Next came Grandparents' Day at school with Nana...

And Sid's birthday bowling party, where Pax had his first-ever chance to hit the lanes

Juliana took us out to the pumpkin patch by Nana's.

Dad and I hit up our first Hawks game of the year.

A blast from the past! Ms. Matus, my kindergarten teacher, came by one night to babysit.

And I've had some snuggle time with Hutch.

Mae made up this outstanding song about mom and dad's friends Andy and Erin.

And lastly, we started taking Hutch on the ride to school just about every day. He gets the way-back seat and, as you can see, enjoys being part of the crowd.

Milly-Waw-Kee...

So we weren't going to let Summer go by without a trip north to Brew City. Headed up a couple Fridays ago and started it out right with a stop at the Lakefront Brewery for dinner.

In 2006 B.C. (that stands for Before Children and is a phrase mom and dad's friend Steph came up with to describe what feels like the ancient old days of yore, before we were all born and their lives were slightly drastically different) Dad probably would've gone right at this sign, but with his ducks in tow we headed for the fish fry with a big smile on our faces.

Oh, and the Brewhaus Polka Kings were playing, which consisted of two guys who look like they've been eating bratwurst and drinking beer since they were in the womb, but man, they could play and had a big crowd up and dancing.

Friday night Shea and Jack and their mom and dad showed up and had the hotel room next to us, which was actually connected so it was like we had a 3-bedroom apartment. When they got there we just hit the pool and didn't stop till bedtime.

Next day started with a really good breakfast...

Side note: Shea's dad, Chris, and dad are really good friends and he just loves my blog and his goal is to end up in a minimum of 5 posts over the course of the year. Mr. Chris, you've got some work to do.  Great America was your first and this was your second... you only have five and a half months left.

I digress... then we hit the beach. It was a perfect 80-degree day and we were your typical beach bums.

The weekend also was not going to go by without a trip to the Kite Korner. I made that name up, but in the event you missed this post, there is a little corner on Milwaukee's lakefront that kicks up the perfect amount of kite-flying wind pretty much every day, so we headed down to do our kite thing.

Um, side note: Dad had a rough trip at times. He literally kept getting stuck in places... I think it was partly because he was putting himself in precarious places, but also... dude needs some yoga or something to loosen those limbs.

Example 1
Got in the back seat with Shea and me and literally could not get out. Got one leg over and things got even worse, as you can see.

Example 2
Mae's kite got stuck up in a tree so Dad went climbing up to save the day and then got to a part where he couldn't get down. We had to run and get Shea's dad to help him get down

Okay, and we head to the finish line of this post with my favorite part. Check this progression out. This first pic is me in May, 2012 when I was not yet four. Next shot is August of 2015 at seven and last photo is the Big Dog this year doing my thing.

So there you have it - The German Athens of America (largest German settlement west of Berlin), The City of Festivals, Cream City, good ol' Miltown... it just never disappoints.

Making 'Merica Great Again

Well, I read about 438 books over the school year which resulted in a free ticket to Great 'Merica.

For the second year in a row we went with my bestie Shea and her dad, but this year we had another addition as Shea's brother RickyBobby Jack and their mom came too.

We got soaking wet on the boat rides, which was interesting because it was only about 59 degrees that day...

 

and then we each tried to Magellan everyone around the park.

What a hoot it turned out to be. Went on The Demon, The Eagle, The Whizzer (which is interesting because that's what we call Pax sometimes), The Orbit, and even found ourselves on the Fun Machine, which is the perfect name for that ride. There is also a ride located between the Fun Machine and The Orbit and seems like a combo of the two that dad and Shea's dad named "The Fun Machorbit." They were saying something about patenting with t-shirts, or getting tattoos or something. I know, as if I'm not gonna think he's lame enough when I'm 14.... it's starting already.

And so the sun went down on another day in good old America... at Great old America.

5k A-Okay!

So I ran my first 5k today (3.2 miles), which was amazing. It was a big fundraiser for St. Helen so we showed up in droves.

We run in gym, most of the time 2.5 miles or so, but it's much different running around a gym vs. a cross country trek through Humboldt Park on a windy, 45-degree morning.

Got to the start line with my homegirls, Shea and Olive.

And then we were off and at it. Mom and I ran the whole way together, we lost Shea and Olive along the way somewhere, but we picked up my friend Piper, who is in the third grade. She ran with mom and me the whole way and then she and I picked it up towards the end and crossed the finish line together.

You can see the time on the clock says 34 minutes and four seconds so I ran about 10.5-minute miles, which I thought was pretty good for my first shot at it.

Mae and Pax went in the double stroller with Dad. Pax yelled out along the way, "Dad, this is AWESOME!" and Mae just took it all in... when she wasn't being carried around by Olive.

She decided she'd like to run next time, but just a mile, so we're going to sign up for a couple more runs.

Me? I can't wait to get back at it. Piper's dad asked me to join their runners club and I think I might have found a new home out on the trail!

Oh, and don't forget my wingmen.

First Time for Everything

Like getting communion.

I had my first communion today and I think the thing people said the most to me was actually, "Finley! I've never seen you in a dress before!"

My photo editor needs to get some more photos from his backup photographer but here are a few that we got:

First, let's start with the star of the show, c'est moi.

Then came the ceremony. I had a nice little speaking part but Mabel had a rough night the night before so Dad was sitting down with her on his lap sleeping and missed seeing it.

The whole crew was there (from left to right) - Papa, Nana, Eli and Zaya, Grandma and Grandpa. Loved the support from everyone.

Then afterward it was photo time. Here's the group shot, including the Pope himself!

Besties - Olive and Shea

Double Besties - Mom and dad... looking sideways.

My favorite teacher in the whole wide world, Miss Lozon.

And one more shot of the Big Dog, on my Big Day.

Oh, and that's not the Pope up there. We have a cardboard cutout of him in the back of the church and Dad and his buddy Rod thought it would be great to turn it around and have it look like he was at our first communion... real mature, dad (and Rod).

Before we end this post I'll leave you with this story.

So leading into my first communion we were up in my room - me, Mae, Dad - heading towards bed and I was explaining about my first communion. Mae starts asking questions and starting to get silly and so I stood firm and was detailing it again and finally I had to level set and I said, "Mae, it's SERIOUS! It's a serious thing!"

She got really quiet and started shaking her head and said, "Wait, Fin, are you going to see God on Sunday?" 

Classic Mabel.