School is back in session for this 8th grader...and as you can see, Calvin already has homework! He had assignments tonight in Honors Geometry and Latin. The nice thing is, he's able to do it at the kitchen counter! Yes, the countertops went in today! It's going to be so nice to be able to eat, do homework...simply gather, IN THE KITCHEN. The tile backsplash goes in tomorrow, and the appliances will come Wednesday, so you can expect the full reveal by the end of the week!
This is Pebbles. This sweet dog belongs to my friend Julie. Pebbles, Julie and I joined Alane for an overnight at her cabin yesterday afternoon. We had a wonderful time...great food, conversation, and yes, we all managed to get a few pages done for our scrapbooks! But not this morning. This morning, we sat out on the dock. What a beautiful morning!
Since our kitchen project slowed down for a week due to the countertop issues...we decided to go ahead and gut the bathroom on the third floor.
Last week, during our visit to Madison & Milwaukee, I brought Calvin to The Exclusive Company on State Street in Madison. He paged through all of the albums not sure what he was looking for. But when he found this, he knew it was coming home with him. It's King Crimson's "In the Wake of Poseidon". He also found the CD so he bought that too. That way he could actually listen to the music. An interesting fact about this album? It was first released in 1970!
We still don't have a sink or a stove...but we've got our Advantium! It got a full workout tonight, making pizza for Mason, chicken for Calvin, and cookies for us all!
When we travel anyplace other than the cabin, we usually take Simon to the nearby boarding kennel. We always hear how much he likes it there, how he plays so nicely with the other dogs (especially the girls), and how he loves to swim in the pond. But Simon has been there quite a bit this summer. Not only for our week-long vacation last week, but I've been taking him to "doggie daycare" so he doesn't have to deal with the contractors coming in and out of the kitchen every day (he has a few issues with contractors).
*photo taken from the car window this afternoon at about 65 mph
Yes, friends and family, this is my new bike. (gasps heard round the world)
Sorry to leave you hanging yesterday...we had a very busy afternoon and evening. After our Sprecher tour, we went to the home of Daryl Stuermer. Daryl is an incredible guitar/bass player, and in fact, plays with Phil Collins and Genesis when he's not making terrific sounds on his own. He happens to be good friend of Paul's Uncle Jim, which is how we hooked up. (thanks Uncle Jim!) We spent about an hour there, seeing his home studio and guitars plus we listened to him play songs from his latest album. What great fun for Calvin to hook up with one of the best players in the world!
We've made our way to Milwaukee. We've got a big night ahead, but for now, I'll post a couple of pictures from the Sprecher Brewery Tour. We sampled eight different beers and the boys tried Sprecher Root Beer, Ginger Ale, Puma Cola and Ravin' Red sodas. 
Today's title is a direct quote from Calvin. You see, today was Calvin's 13th birthday. He's been planning the agenda for this day for months. He knew we'd be in Madison, and had planned out his breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with a few stops at music and guitar stores. But he didn't plan on stopping at the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum and wasn't planning on buying mustard out of a vending machine (the only place in the world where you can do that)! I was hoping this stop wouldn't be too disappointing for him.
Turns out, he loved it! We haven't been to the museum since we lived in Madison in the mid 1990's...and boy has this place changed! There are more than five thousand varieties of mustard from all over the world, and many of them are available to sample. I think Paul bought six or seven varieties today, and Calvin got a shirt from "Poupon U". What is better than that when you're 13?
How about stalagmites and stalactites?
Finally, dinner at PF Changs, with The Great Wall of Chocolate for dessert. It's a six layer slab of chocolate cake. Cal finished about 2/3 of it on his own.
We spent most of the day shopping, but we hit some of our favorite spots tonight! We walked around the UW Campus, checking out the new construction. We also spent time at the Memorial Union. Paul showed us where he had his first beer in the Rathskeller, and the boys had a little Babcock Ice Cream with Bucky. It feels like coming home.
On our way to Madison, we stopped at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. We've driven by the Foundation for years and have never stopped, and we're so glad we finally did! We spent a couple of hours touring the grounds. There are 15 species of cranes in the world, and the ICF is the only place in the world that has them all available to see! We saw 13 of the 15, as two types of cranes were hiding from view. 
We drove to St. Cloud and back today for "approval to cut" the granite countertops. All is fine, and things will proceed (whew!). We had lunch with my parents at (where else?) Five Guys, and then stopped at Munsinger gardens for a few minutes. Check out the plate-sized Hibiscus!
Our neighbor, Kay, has a vegetable garden growing in her backyard, so I brought my camera over to take a few pictures. She shared a bucket of beans and peas with us, but I'm pretty sure the peas didn't even make it back home...we ate them all while we were over there. Even Calvin had a pea pod!
I went to Glensheen Mansion for the first time this afternoon. This is one of those sites that, because I live here, I just assume I'll see "someday". Today I was able to walk the grounds and gardens of the Mansion while visiting the Festival of Fine Art and Craft, an annual event that I've managed to miss for one reason or another every year.
Here's an update on the kitchen remodel. Our tile floor went in on Monday & Tuesday, and it was grouted on Wednesday. The floor looks fabulous, but since it's covered, you'll have to wait for the "after" photo to see what it looks like!
No...it's not cleaning bathrooms.
The kitchen renovation is coming along...but we're still in fast-food mode here.
Our friends from Marshfield left this evening, but not without a big farewell to Duluth. This is the sailboat they chartered for the afternoon. I was unable to go along, but took shots while they were sailing around the harbor on their way back from their trip.
Imagine my surprise when I found a shot of Calvin on the camera he took on the trip. Calvin handed the camera to Graeme's sister Taylor when he was steering the boat and she got this shot of him behind the wheel. 
And Mason handed his camera to Graeme's sister Ali, who took this one.
We've enjoyed being tourists in our own town today, showing our friends the city. These two (Graeme's sisters) used to babysit for Mason & Calvin back in Marshfield. We're sad they're leaving town tomorrow, but we're hoping they've had some fun and will come back soon!
This is Calvin with his best friend Graeme. They always have fun together. It doesn't really matter what they do.
Graeme & his family are visiting from Marshfield, Wisconsin, the city we left four years ago. We headed to Canal Park today for some sight-seeing and rock-skipping, then back home for some fierce competition on the Wii.
This is one of those friendships that will stand the test of time. I see so many similarities to my friendship with Kim. She and I only lived in the same city for four years. We're still friends today, 36 years later!
I have three hydrangea plants alongside my house. I pruned them back pretty severely last fall, and back in June I was going to dig them up and throw them out. There were absolutely no signs of life...just a bunch of sticks. Well, I got busy, didn't need the extra garden labor, so I left them alone. Today there are two blooms on one of the plants, and the other two have plenty of green leaves on them! I think I'll point my pruning shears elsewhere this fall.
My apologies for the two-in-a-row nature of this post. I didn't have time to take any pictures today, other than three in my kitchen. Crooked walls slowed things down a bit today, but we (who am I kidding, my contractors) were still able to get all the cabinets in place. Hoping for more interesting posts in the next couple of days!
So, back on July 21st, our family started another construction project. (You can find that post here.)
Mason is taking a mountain biking class all this week at the local nature center. The chain of his old bike fell off in the parking lot on the first morning of class, so we fixed it as best we could, then headed to the bike shop that afternoon. He and his new mountain bike are having a great time getting acquainted.
I took the boys for lunch (and pie) here today, to escape the drywall dust of my kitchen renovation.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that we finished baseball season.
Calvin joined me at the dock this morning for my daily "loon watch" but the loon wasn't out today. Not sure why. It was, by far, the best morning of the week!
This is what the flower from a pitcher plant looks like. This is one of just a few left standing from last season. I know I've taken similar pictures of this very flower before, but I'm not sure if they've made the blog.
