Thursday, August 1, 2013

Pure relaxation


After the hubbies got home from work, my friend Jen and I hit the lake. Besides cross country skiing we love to paddle board. We had the lake to ourselves and enjoyed the total calmness and gorgeous sun. It's been a challenging week trying to juggle it all and this is exactly what I needed. Love the lake and having some girl time with good friends.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Big Fish

 
We went on the road again. I am so happy we were able to take a break from the city and live in the North Woods for a while. This road trip to Wisconsin is about five hours from our home, not too bad after our sixteen hour road trip to Colorado. When I was a child, my parents would rent a cottage in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin for a week in the summer and we would fish, play cards, explore the lake looking for frogs and crayfish, swim, and eat fish. I have so many wonderful childhood memories spending time up north. My parents have owned a lake house we call it "Big Fish" on Lake Macula in Presque Isle for 19 years. One of the many reasons why I love going up there is to get away from the city life including taking a break from cell phones and emails. I also love that my kids have learned to appreciate nature and are making memories here. One of my all time favorites each morning is waking to the delicious greasy breakfast my dad makes for every one. It is so not good for you, but so amazingly delish.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Music on the Lake

Last night we joined friends in Fontana, Wisconsin (about 45 minutes from our home town). I could just blog about Fontana because it is so gorgeous and so many fun things to do there, but I will focus on our fun day.  Our first stop was Laurie Berkner's Concert at The Ferro Pavilion on the historic grounds of George Williams College of Aurora University. The pavilion is wonderful and having the concert on the lake is even better! Laurie was so much fun. If you aren't familiar with Laurie Berkner she is a children's music singer and guitarist. She is often on the Noggin channel performing on "Jack's Big Music Show". My kids loved every minute, singing and dancing. After the concert we had dinner there and a then horrible storm arrived. Luckily, it wasn't dangerous just a lot of rain. We then spent the evening at a friend's lake house in Fontana. A fun Sunday it was. 
 

Friday, July 19, 2013

Summer Fresh


I love when my son Ben (9) asks for me to juice him a yummy drink. This morning we juiced this fabulous green juice...1 apple, 2 pear, a handful of celery, cucumber, half a lime, and ginger root. This is one of my favorite recipes.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

So Random...

 
Yesterday our vacation came to an end (sniff sniff) and we were on the road back to Illinois. We were driving for about 3 hours and my daughter Lucy had to go to the bathroom. We quickly took the next exit and the only restroom available in sight was a café. Love how this sort of random thing happens (see picture). We drove straight through and made great time. We already miss Colorado and are talking about what we plan to do there next summer. I have to admit, it is good to be home.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Rattlesnake Trail?...Oh my!!!

 
We hiked on Rattlesnake Trail in Eldorado Park today. The trails are amazing, just breathtaking. I was a bit scared to read the trail has rattlesnakes! Luckily we did not encounter any.

I think we found the perfect spot.

We explored Eldorado Sate Park today. This park is amazing! After our picnic we found the perfect spot to enjoy the water before our hike.

Mountain style pizza pie.

 
On our way home from Vail we stopped in Idaho Springs for our favorite pizza. Beau Jo's is the place to go for the best mountain style pizza pies. The cute little town offers fun little shops too.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

A must stop.

There is something about an ice cream kiosk that makes me want to stop. Too cute! In Vail...

It was a long hot bike ride today.

Today we drove to Vail and went for a long bike ride. We did Gore Valley trail and it was exhausting! The scenery was amazing, but the high altitude and hills were such a challenge for me. My husband kept saying you can do it, this is great marathon training. I'm training for the Chicago Marathon in October. We ate at Joe's Famous Deli and the subs were out of this world! I highly recommend the vegetarian avocado, fresh tomato and mozzarella. So delish!  This was my first visit to Vail and loved it, such a quaint town. This picture was taken after the long hot bike ride, so happy to see water.
 

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Rest stop and skippin' stones

We needed to rest for a bit and take in all this beauty.
 

Follow the leader

Tuesday night, we visited with my good friend Chris who I have known since third grade, isn't that crazy third grade?! Her family lives in Longmont, CO. She told us there was a kid friendly trail in Jamestown, called Ceran St. Vrain that we needed to see. Yesterday, we hiked this trail and it was beautiful.

Friday, July 5, 2013

The packing begins...

There is one item in this picture that is an all time favorite with my kids...The Super Fun Road Trip Coupon Books for Kids. I created this book for my kids a few years ago when we went on our first road trip. Go to www.superfunroadtrip.com to read about the book/how to use it/and you can purchase it there too!

July 4th!

What a fun July 4th we had! Our Colorado trip is in 2 days...we are so excited!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Happy Place


When I can venture out for a bit, I love to paddleboard. In Illinois, we have received so much rain. It feels like we live in a rainforest, seriously! On Wednesday, it rained cats and dogs all day and by 5:00 it stopped and we had blue skies and sunshine. My friend Jen and I contacted each other and said lets go before it starts up again. We headed to our local state park, Rock Cut, and planned to paddleboard. There is a small shop at the park where you can rent hourly paddleboards, kayaks, canoes, and motor boats for such a reasonable amount. The water was too high to paddleboard today and so we went kayaking. The water was so calm and peaceful, such an amazing place to be. So glad the weather cooperated for a bit, we were definitely in a happy place.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Colorado in 7 days, but who's counting?!

This is our second year road tripping to Boulder, Colorado and we are counting the days. Everyone is excited to go, even the even keel hubby. Looking forward to seeing the beautiful mountains, hikes in the Rocky Mountains National Park, and our ice cream strolls through downtown Boulder.