great wolf

One of my Dad’s clients is Great Wolf Lodge and he very generously booked us two nights at the Wisconsin resort for this past weekend. We spent hours at the water park, played arcade games, ate at a restaurant that had a train running through it that delivers your food, and drank lots and lots of coffee from the in-house Starbucks to keep up with Matteo (as fun as they may be, there is absolutely nothing restful about vacationing with a toddler).

It was exhausting in the best of ways.

And now, baby on a water slide!

halloween starts now

Matteo and I met up with Stefanie, Adam and Ayla this afternoon for the downtown Madison Halloween family fun festivities.

Our haul: six pieces of candy, a temporary tattoo, a key chain that says ‘tree hugger’ (very appropriate), and a DC comics Superman trading card from 1978.

So this was kind of cool. This is the guy was who gave us the Superman trading card. Instead of candy he was giving away vintage trading cards and stickers for his store. I did a little research on him and it turns out he’s a wealthy philanthropist and antiques collector who owns this little curiosity shop downtown. When he handed me the card he said, “Watch out now, that could pay for college. You never know!” Of course, as soon as I showed it to Matteo he snatched it and put creases all over it. Sorry Matteo, there goes college.

Fun times with the Grieve family!

last weekend

Friday night Matt had to work the homecoming football game. Matteo and I went to support a friend who was participating in a local Gallery Night art crawl.

Matteo had his first taste of fresh apple cider. It was a big hit.

Saturday I baked a batch of Halloween cookies and then Matteo and I caught the last quarter of our friend’s son’s football game. Matteo is REALLY into football these days. I have yet to capture his football moves on film, but they’re pretty awesome.

We also went to a couple of parties – a housewarming for friends, and then a bonfire at Matt’s brother’s house.

Oh fall stuff, how I love you.

field trip!

I spent the morning with Matteo and his class at a farm outside of Madison. The kids got to see all kinds of animals and even fed baby goats with little bottles! They also have a little kitten house where the kids can interact with a whole bunch of kittens. We all had a great time. We went to this same farm, last year, when Matteo was so little I had to prop him against a pumpkin to take his picture. It’s amazing to see how much he has changed!

our fabulous fall

Sorry posting has been light, folks. The weather here has been beyond unbelievable. We’ve been crazy trying to get outside as much as possible and soak it all up before things turn colder later this week. If I’m not at work or sleeping and you need to find me, try a playground.

This past weekend we went to the zoo and then to dinner at this fun Mexican restaurant we discovered in a little town south of Madison. We also watched sports, lots and lots of sports, along with everyone else in Wisconsin.

I had Monday off and kicked some serious ass getting stuff done around the house – I was a pesto-making, floor-steam-cleaning, errand-running machine. And speaking of running, I’ve been working out again and it feels (it also hurts) so good. I’m so super sore and I love it.

Anyway, here’s a little snapshot of what we’ve been doing:

Life is good. We are so busy and so tired, but we are so very happy.

fall family weekend

We spent last weekend with Matt’s family on our annual fall getaway. We rented a house near the Wisconsin Dells, ate great food, explored Mirror Lake State Park, watched Wisconsin sports teams kick butt, and ate more great food. (Have you ever eaten a sausage stuffed with cheese, dipped in cheese fondue? Well now I can say that I have.)

safe house

After the Yo Gabba Gabba show last week, Matt, Matteo, Stefanie and Ayla and I
went to have dinner at Safe House, which was only a couple blocks away from the theatre. This is seriously one of the coolest and most unique restaurants I’ve ever been to.

Check out this video to see why:

The only thing that was a little awkward was Matteo pooped his pants at dinner. And when I say he pooped his pants, I mean HE POOPED HIS PANTS. The Safe House bathrooms aren’t exactly geared toward the Koala Bear Kare crowd so I had to change him on that tiny ass counter in the bathroom under the secret medicine cabinet.

When you sit down at your table you’re given a scavenger hunt, and of course, I happened to change him in the bathroom that had two items on the list. So several times while we were in there, eager scavenger hunt explorers opened the door to come in only to quickly shut it with an exclamation of “EEEEW!” or “It smells like SHIT!” Yes, yes it does. Sorry, folks.

And since we’re talking about bathrooms, yes, of course I touched it.

carrie + joe

Our friends Carrie and Joe got married last weekend! It was one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to. It was so special, and so unique, and had their love and personality all over every inch of it.

Even though they now live in Wisconsin, they are down home kind of people in the best of ways. Carrie grew up in Lubbock, Texas and affectionately refers to her friends as “darlin’!”. Joe is from Greensboro, North Carolina and spends most of his free time attached to a guitar. Their wedding featured party guests in dresses with cowboy boots, bluegrass music throughout the ceremony, and lots and lots of pie. It was just about the most charming thing I’ve ever experienced.

the venue – the freethinkers hall in sauk city

the program

waiting for the ceremony to begin

everyone got their own mug for the night. mine was pretty much constantly filled with this amazing green tea/lime/gin concoction brewed by the local farmer who catered the meal.

dinner was downstairs. my contributions to the wedding were the strands of paper puff balls that hung from the ceiling.

dinner

the tables were named after famous free thinkers. carrie’s mom sewed all the table lines and napkins. all china and glassware was thrifted in lubbock and then donated back to the freethinkers.

carrie and friends made all the flowers out of paper

dessert table with desserts also made by friends

robbie fulks played the reception! have you heard of him? he was amazing.

dancing

looking in from the back of the building

There aren’t any photos from ceremony because Carrie and Joe wanted it to be unplugged, that is, they wanted only the official photographer to be taking pictures. They wrote the entire service themselves and wanted people to remember it by how it made you feel listening to what they said to each other, not by looking back on a photograph. She was quoted about it in this story, and made some great points. Their wedding made me laugh and cry throughout, and I may not have been as deeply engaged with what they were saying if I had been focusing on trying to take pictures.

Congratulations Carrie and Joe! Thank you for letting us be part of such a perfect evening! We love you and wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!

the bois brule

photo from here

One of the best parts of my trip last week was canoeing down the Brule River. I was nervous about tipping my canoe so I didn’t bring my camera with me, (no I didn’t tip, and yes I kicked myself the whole time for not being able to take photos) but it looked exactly like this.

After the canoe trip we had a social event at a private lodge. The Nature Conservancy and local landowners have worked together to protect 90% of the land along the river and the landowners invited us to a little party so we could meet in person and share our mutual gratitude for preserving such a special place.

The landowner who organized the party had just celebrated his daughter’s wedding five days before and she and her husband were there, as were several Irish wedding guests enjoying the north woods. (The groom was Irish and the couple live in Dublin.) Of course, they all were still talking about the wedding and it sounded amazing – it was held right on the Brule River. Not on the banks of the river, actually on the river!

All of the guests traveled to the ceremony spot by canoe with the bride and her father coming last. When they came around the river bend and appeared in view of the guests, she stood up in the back of the canoe in her wedding dress and glided down the water toward her groom. The two of them and their officiant climbed onto a rock on a small island and said their vows in bare feet, while the guests watched from below in their canoes. Everyone I talked to who was there said it was simply magical.

Meeting this family and hearing this story reminded me that we all have places in this world that are magical to us. It’s so inspiring to spend time with people who are committed to keeping them that way.

(The Brule has a really interesting history – click here to read more.)

the kiltie

A couple of weekends ago we went to visit Matt’s Dad, who lives about an hour from us, and on our way home stopped at one of my all-time favorite Wisconsin places for cheeseburgers and chocolate shakes.

The Kiltie is a classic drive-up restaurant where you’re waited on by girls in kilts (naturally) who take your order and bring the food out to your car on a tray that attaches to your window. Matteo was pretty antsy so we took our food over to one of their outdoor picnic tables to eat. OMG was it good.