An awesome August

Our big summer trip this year was our two weeks in Wisconsin with both our families. We are so so so grateful we got to spend this time with everyone. We had lots of relax and play time with everyone - lots of sun, water, food, wine, beer and just fun hanging out. THANK YOU to everyone for being such wonderful hosts and to Fritz and Susanne for making the big trek! 

This first post is photos from the first part of our trip up North. I'll do a separate post with photos from our southern Wisconsin leg of our trip : )

It started with dinner in Portland during Fritz and Susanne's train stop in Portland.

Made it to Wisconsin and headed up North the next day. Stopped at Paul Bunyan's on the way up.

Made it from Portland and Los Altos to Presque Isle lake. A peaceful evening on the lake!

We drank lots great wine and ate great food (Ashley's crawfish boil in the background).

Almost the whole group for the first part of the week. Fritz and Jean are ready to head out to fish for the day.

We got to spend lots of good time with the kiddos the second part of the week. Macy's adorable bum in her swimsuit was killing me! I think that is Morgan tubing behind the boat.

Grandpa and Emily in the canoe. Matt? in the kayak.

 

Ashley got some play time at Heather and Matt's cabin

A big group!

Brooke's 7!!

 While the weather was cold and rainy, it was warm and happy inside while we celebrated Brooke's 7th Birthday with family and friends.  Since Brooke wanted to go out on the boat and it rained Saturday, we went out on Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River on Sunday.  Here are pictures of the weekend...

Her "theme" was Fancy Nancy, hence the fancy crown cake

She LOVED her decorate-your-own headbands...

...and her fancy sparkly jeans

She couldn't wait to get her fancy outfit and boots on.
(Do you think the girl likes clothes?  Are you recognizing a theme?)

Mana and Papa surprised her and came dressed for the theme.
Mana had on a tiara and chandelier earrings, and papa put on a tie with his shorts - LOL...

...But I think Great Grandma Ginny stole the show with her $5 sequined gold pants!
She was waiting for a reason to wear them;)

Emily did a great job with the entertainment.  So glad she, Debbie, and Matt could come.

I had to take a picture of her one last time on the big day.

Milwaukee from the Marina

The Hone Bridge on our way into the River.

The sun finally came out right before we got off the water.

Morgan with buddy Tessa

Oh yea, did I tell you the boat got stuck on a huge chunk of cement near the end of the river by the dam?
OMG totally gross - Matt had to get down to his underwear and literally push us off of it!
If I wasn't mistaken, you'd think this was a day with Dad (Grandpa Gillette- ha!)

We spent Monday morning (Labor Day) decorating her new headbands.
"Ooo La La", as Fancy Nancy would say

Grandpa's Cabin

I hear you Beth...so many updates to make.  I'll start with our weekend at Grandpa's cabin.  It was so great to spend time with you, Ashley, and his family.  Here are a variety of pics.  I took a ton and it was hard to choose...

Emily and Brooke canoeing with Grandpa

Fishing with Uncle Ashley

Shopping in Boulder Junction, WI

This is one of my favorites.  Together in Boulder Junction.

Off to camp for the night!

Banagrams anyone?

A Saturday morning swing.

Hood to Coast

I have so many pictures from different things to post (Wisconsin trip, Hood to Coast, summer in general) that I'm actually going to just chip away at it one post at a time. So these next few posts may not be in chronological order : )

Hood to Coast last weekend was a total blast. 200 miles on foot, 12 team members, two vans, 30+ hours with no sleep, and running three legs for total of 16+ miles. The six women in my van were super awesome and much harder core runners than I am, but they were super inspiring. One of them ran over 6 miles at 8 minute miles - in a taco costume.... Our team name was I love tacos (from a favorite taco restaurant in our part of town) so van decorations, costumes, etc. were all that theme. Some teams get costumed up, others take the relay SUPER seriously, and some do both (like the other van in our group, which I'm very glad I wasn't in).
Here are some photos in no particular order:

7am - met at our house in Portland. Drove up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in the team van.

Van 1 of team I love tacos at the start at Timberline.

Team at the starting line (with some other random costumed guy)

I loved these costumes. I do not know how they ran in them?

This is my favorite team by far. I would wear a mask too if I was running almost 20 miles in a white Speedo. Although check out how ripped Darth Vader is (in black mask, sports bra, etc.)

At the start (none of us ran the first leg, so we weren't running for another couple hours).

Great team name. From Colorado.

Porta potties in the mist at 5am (in the middle of nowhere in the Coast Range).

Early morning exchange - right before my third and last leg of the relay.

Generally it was totally different than I expected - way less crowded, since the teams are so spread out over such a long distance. There were so many people from so far away as well (at dinner the next day in Portland by our house, the two men at the table next to us came all the way from Scotland to do the relay! Third year in a row). I would definitely do it again, although maybe not next year...

Small things since my last visit home.....

My favorite picture from my June trip

Ballerinas

Donna's pie that Cooper managed not to get

Pre-wedding girlie time

At Lapham Peak. I love that they had Suki there!

Ashley working on the new front walkway

Starting the stone wall

Tree trimming. It looked like a hurricane came through.

I know this may not seem like a big deal, BUT we got the window on the left to open. FINALLY! It has been painted/stuck shut since we bought the house until this weekend (almost a year).

First roses from our garden

I knit these booties and finished them the day before the gift recipient found her new family!

Ashley, Sydney and Oliver. 2 days old - I'm guessing the smallest baby Ashley has ever held....