August 5-7

With the ending of our epic Wisconsin (almost cow free) road trip our visit with Karyn was also drawing to a close. It is always hard to say good bye to visitors doubly hard when it is a dear aunty. So on the 5th we snuck out, just Karyn, myself and MISS TRINITY for some girly shopping time. Just the normal stuff… Joann’s, the mall, Caribou…

I have to say Trinity is a fun shopper. She and Karyn picked out a special book for her to bring home and read. It was our last chance of true visiting time before we had to see her off and it was so much fun!

The next day it was time to see off Aunty Karyn as Ken drove her to the airport.We were all a little downhearted at this point.

Though the kids snuck off with Ken to the Home Depot monthly craft first. We have missed ONE in the past couple years!

We did have some fun mail to balance off our sad good bye. I had won a draw on Facebook for some nails. I need to find a moment to sit down and work out how to apply them! Thanks Heather!

We also had a lovely package of Canadian snacks for the shark slippers I had made and mailed off. I made sure to request a bag of ketchup chips for the kids. A once in a while special treat.

OH and another exchange… baby booties and socks for Canadian school supplies… favourite scribblers with the familiar map of Canada on the front and duotangs… folders with prongs. A family favourite. Thank you so much Tammie! I hope you enjoy the crochet bits.

On Sunday we had our first day of Sunday school for ALL of the kids! I was so proud of Echo. She went off willingly with her siblings to the music and then onto class. She is growing up so quickly! The twins have a good friend in their class and were very excited to see him for the first time since VBS.

In the afternoon we were off to Shandai and Ravyn’s for a special belated(VERY)Christmas celebration. They have such a nice home to visit at. Though we do have to keep a but of an eye on the kids. We had so much fun… playing in the backyard (which is gorgeous), watching a Disney flick in the basement and playing with the cats.

We had a delicious dinner and then opened presents. It was so gratifying to see how much Shandai liked her crocheted items. She is such an amazing artist that I love that I can make her something she would enjoy!

So we made up for our sad with a rather busy series of happy times. We miss you Karyn!!! Thank you so much for visiting.

Day 1 – August 3

For the first time in OVER 2 years I had an overnight trip! What a rush! Karyn and I took a two day trip to see the scenic Wisconsin…. Ok so the scenery was MOSTLY corn fields (seriously – where were all the cows????)… and we had a ton of rain on the road… but it was so much fun!

We started out the morning of the 3rd all dressed up with a cooler full of drinks and a bag of snacks. We had over 4 hours on the road… first to the bed and breakfast and then on to Madison Wisconsin. Miss Echo had to show off her all in white fashion as well.

Walking Iron Bed & Breakfast was lovely (HERE). We had the William Thompson room (HERE). Trust me the bathroom WAS decadent. What a tub!!! And so much space. We lucked out and the other guests were not yet checked in so we got a chance to peek into ALL of the bedrooms they have available. Ours was one of the smaller but they all were equally amazing. They certainly put a lot of work into each and every room in the house. The dining areas were lovely, the hallway and stairs so gorgeous. Check in was simple and after we brought in our bags and such we HAD TO take pictures. The B&B has a continental breakfast the morning we are there, a spa we did not use and complimentary drinks including tea and coffee 24/7. The wi-fi was a little wonky (they were having issues and trying to get it repaired) but otherwise our stay was AMAZING.

After properly photographing our temporary abode it was time to head into Madison for some shopping and dinner. There are some absolutely LOVELY craft stores to peruse in the capital city of Wisconsin. We started with art supplies and cross stitch bits. Our GPS sent us on a few adventures this trip. They led us right over to the WRONG mall which had us have the happy accident of finding not only Sephora but a food place called Potbelly that was absolutely amazing. Karyn had had it before in another state and was unaware that it was a chain. We had flatbread. So yum!

I have to admit it was fun to be out and about without kids AND dressed up all fancy. I finally got to wear my birthday indulgences… my brand new rose patterned skirt and red crinoline. Not only comfortable but the compliments!! I lucked out and before Karyn got here found a fitted t shirt to match for now. I look forward to budgeting in a blouse from the Tatyana store one day!

Apparently Madison Wisconsin is the place to go if you want to find an amazing selection of yarn. It was in a rather dead mall but well worth the bungled up GPS instructions. I could easily have indulged hundreds of dollars worth of amazing yarn. Restraint was hard to find!!! Thank goodness for a budget and the realization that we still had another day of fun in Wisconsin to come.

After shopping and dinner at Potbelly and MORE shopping it was time to find a 7-11 to try a slurpee. Not quite the same as back home but a definite improvement on the Icee! Almost a taste of home and an awesome reason for such a fun odyssey.

After all that fun it was back to the B&B for a well earned rest! 

August 25-31

We had two days before the next big excitement… so lets jump right in. We started with the Wild Kratts and sharks.

Dinosaur story starters…

And a sneak off to Target to continue our back to school/new year shopping. Every year the kids get a new pencil box and crayons and the like. This year the twins are getting their own markers and pencil crayons – no wax and Emanuel gets wax and pencil crayons. I love the pencil box we found for Echo… set up for her to colour it!

We had a visit from a lovely fairy princess.

And created a man out of the puzzle shaped blocks a sweet friend back in the UK sent us years ago!

Our time in the pool is winding down so I gave up and let them go crazy clothes on and everything.

Midweek we were prepped and ready for our next visitor… after a game of Munchkin (the twins can be quite brutal!).

So, the new guest fresh from Canada… AUNTY KARYN!!

The next few days were full of fun: boardgames, parks and playing around. We even left the twins home alone with strict instructions on how to use the phone, what not to do (touch the kitchen), and Minecraft on the computers.

So much fun and we squeezed in SOME schoolwork. And decided to delay our back to school until after we say good bye.

And then on Sunday night we went over to Chris and Renee’s for dinner, bonfire and a good visit. (somewhere in the week we ALSO went to a Norwex party at Karen’s so Karyn met Karen as well!).

Mystro the kitten made a nice showing as well. Karyn had been missing her kitties.

It has been so much fun having a dear friend for over a decade meet the people who have become dear here. Add in baby and kitten and talk about cuteness. Oh and a fire for the menfolk to play with.