To beat the winter blues, we decided to head south for warmer more of the same weather. But although Tennessee was experiencing an unwelcome cold snap during our visit, we still managed to enjoy our big adventure.

Our first stop was at Ride Royal Blue ATV Resort, where we spent our nights eating homecooked meals and watching movies at our comfy cabin, while our days were maximized by exploring 130 miles of rugged, muddy, and sometimes-not-what-we-signed-up-for trails.

We have arrived!

I’m ready for an adventure!

Top of the world

Family photo

Grandpa & Grandma

Catch us if you can!

What a view!

Our mean machines

Hangin’ with my dad

Where would you like me to take you, Grandma?

Our cabin for the week

Bearadise

I could get used to this.

Basketball at the cabin

The cabin’s driveway

Our view from the cabin

Ready to roll

A cold morning

Brrrr

Braving the cold

Weeeeee!

Mud

Stuck in the mud

We got a little muddy

More mud

Lunch

Good job, Grandpa! Can I have a side of fries with that?

Nothing to see here, folks. This is just my grandma, looking for that contact she lost. (Right, Papa?!)

Muah!

Throwing rocks into the waterfall

Beautiful!

Waterfall snapshot – Take 1

Waterfall snapshot – Take 2

What a cute tree! Oh wait, that’s me who is cute!

I. LOVE. THROWING. ROCKS.

INTO. THE. WATER. ALL. DAY. LONG.

Hang on, Grandma!

Yikes!

The Elk viewing area.

This was the only elk we saw on the trails.

Pretending to be a Wisconsin Duck.

A mountain adventure

Me and the ladies

Next, we traveled to Nashville to take in the music scene. When we ate at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, not only did I run into one of my college-student-teachers from UW-La Crosse, but I also had the opportunity to debut my very own singing skills when I requested the musicians perform “Twinkle, Twinkle!” Unfortunately, stage fright got the best of me and now we’ll never know if I could have made it big.

Cowboy Jaeger

Having dinner at Margaritaville

Live music on the stage where I almost made my debut

Nacho tower!

Nashville’s downtown

Looking over the Cumberland River, at the Nissan Stadium

Let’s do this!

Swimming lessons with Dad

Drying off

Dinner at Puckett’s Restaurant & Grocery

My new boots! (Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa!)

The biggest boot

Listening to country classics at the Ryman

The band

Outside of the Ryman

Walking the pedestrian bridge

Cheese!

Looking for mud puddles to splash in

Grandpa & Grandma posing in front of the city skyline

Taking a snoozer at the Hyatt

Checking my emails and drinking green beer

Pizza!

More nachos for Grandpa!

Cheers for St. Patrick’s Day!

Overall, it was a super-duper trip! I always love where our travels take us, but my favorite place to go is home.

In the driveway – Melrose, WI

Cleaning off all the mud

Helping to unload/unpack

Dad’s #1 Helper

At home, I relive the memories from the comfort of my own parents’ bed. Some highlights I will always cherish are the “firsts” I added to my list of accomplishments: I pooped in the woods (twice!), peed in the river, and got my very own pair of cowboy boots! Other memorable moments include devouring Grandma’s chicken salad sandwiches, laughing at Grandpa’s snoring talents, practicing my 3-point plays with the cabin’s wastebasket, throwing rocks in the stream, meeting my new friend Quoia (The Hyatt’s best employee), getting free swim lessons from dad, and splashing in every mud puddle that Nashville had to offer.

Tennessee did not disappoint! In fact, I will likely return once I’m ready to share my Twinkle Little Star with the world. Get ready to be part of my fan club!!

One of the best brunches I’ve ever had was when I got to eat with Justin (one of mom’s favorites) and then was introduced to his beautiful partner, Mariana. We’ve been wanting to meet her for a while and now we can officially say that WE APPROVE!!!!

I tried my best to interrupt the conversation every 2 minutes or so, just to make Mariana smile. I also attempted to impress her by ordering my own food (for the first time) and eating my scrambled eggs all gone. MISSION. A. CCOMPLISHED.

Mom says not everyone is fortunate enough to know such incredible, compassionate human beings. I feel lucky. Thanks for spending time with us, Justin and Mariana!

… a ring bearer!?!

That’s right… I’ve been asked to play a role in Garrett and Morgan’s big day next spring!! It sounds like I’ll be accompanied by a little lady on each arm, but what’s new? The ladies love me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go practice my ring bearing moves.

On New Year’s Day, we took a quick day-trip to Platteville, WI so I could finally meet Cora, the newest addition to Gretchen & Koty’s family! I’m pretty sure I nailed my first impression, especially when I serenaded Cora right to sleep and then conveniently kid-tested and approved all her fun toys while she wasn’t looking. Because I’m a gentleman.

After the sleepyhead woke up, we ate scrumptious food, opened Christmas gifts, visited with family, and got a tour of the farm before we made our return trip home. Since it then became my chance to be a sleepyhead, the entire ride was quiet and peaceful, minus my initial 5-minute meltdown due to mom’s intervention of my Skittle overdose attempt. Rude. All I wanted to do was taste the rainbow…. repeatedly.

Even though Mom managed to ruin the day with her responsible parenting, it was still nice to meet you, Cora! Let’s hang out again sometime soon!!

“Why does Papa live so far away?” I asked mom and dad fifteen times en route to Mukwonago. “Will Cha-Cha and Nay-Nay be there?”

Finally, three hours, a couple snores, and one stop at the Outlet mall later, we arrived at Papa Florence’s house! And it’s a good thing we visited… not only do I love gettin’ my Papa time, but there were also two Christmas gifts sitting in his living room, waiting for me to open them! (Papa says Santa must have gotten lost looking for my house.)

After helping Papa open the Christmas presents that I brought him (because he’s a senior citizen, not because I thoroughly enjoy the thrill of unwrapping gifts), we ate a home-cooked meal, exchanged lots of stories, and then got a good night’s rest before heading out to the Mitchell Park Domes the next morning. As you’ll see from the below photos, I was a bit underwhelmed at first.

Luckily, I woke up in time to tour the third dome, where I experienced the magic of Christmas once more before year’s end.

But that wasn’t the end of our fun day. Next, it was off to the Harley-Davidson museum to view and test-drive display-only motorcycles (because my parents said that’s as close as I’ll ever get to owning/riding one).

Then, after a yummy meal at a new smokehouse restaurant, I was disappointed to learn it was time to head back to Melrose. It was another short, but always-wonderful visit. In fact, before getting myself settled into the carseat that would become my bed for the next 190 miles,  I repeatedly asked, “Why are we leaving Papa at his house?”

Clearly, I miss my Papa Florence already.

Darn! The most wonderful time of the year is now behind us. (Good thing a new year is starting soon.) All I wanted for this Christmas was “chocolate” and “a cuckoo clock.” Minus the cuckoo clock, I got everything I asked for and more! But, this holiday isn’t really about what was left under the tree for me (a Yamaha snowmobile sled!!!)… It’s actually about love, spending time with family, giving to others, and reflecting on the wonders of the season, like:

1. Adding a new song to my repertoire: Jingle Bells (“Hey!”)
2. Improving on my gift-opening skills
3. Experiencing my first Hi-Fi cocktail (7-up soda in a fancy glass)
4. Having a better sense of who this “Santa” character is
5. Learning about Garrett & Morgan’s engagement (Congrats!)
6. Mastering the tricky art of blowing my nose (Exhale, not inhale.)
7. Believing in the magical power of the internet: Everytime something is broken or has dead batteries, I proclaim, “It needs the internet!” (I learned about the internet through unsuccessful attempts at watching YouTube videos while driving through rural areas.)
8. Surviving an entire day without a nap, while remaining grumpy-free (because who wants to miss any precious minutes of Christmas?!)
9. Posing imperfectly for too-many photo ops
10. Embracing my silly, goofy, always-happy, too-cute self before passing out in Mom & Dad’s fleece-insulated bed (sure to have a Christmas hangover in the A.M.!)

Snapshots from Christmas Eve

Christmas Day Memories

Dear School,

You know how much I enjoy you, right? So please don’t be offended when I say I’m hardly missing you right now. It’s not you, it’s me. I think I might be in love with something else: Christmas Vacation. We’ve been spending a lot of time together, making memories that are unmatchable, like:

practicing Yoga with my Dad,

eating making Christmas cookies at the Bake Shoppe,

playing with all my toys at the SAME time,

consuming chocolate on a daily basis,

hiding-and-seeking whether you’re ready or not,

performing puppet shows for sold-out audiences,

learning how to be like dad,

and knocking over dominoes

while living in pajamas almost 24-7!

But please don’t be upset; this isn’t a break-up. In fact, I would like to see you again. I just need more time to figure things out with Christmas Vacation. In the meantime, I hope we can still be friends?

Sorry I’m not sorry,
Jaeger

I like underpants so much, sometimes I wear them on my head!

The planning documents for my underwear transition at school

Hi. My name is Jaeger Amari and I’ve been diaper-free for 30 days.

I mean, I still wear diapers at bedtime, but most mornings it’s completely dry when I wake up, so that doesn’t really count.

[Insert applause here]

I’ve had ZERO accidents during the day, including naps. Except for that time mom picked me up from school and noticed I was wearing different pants than the ones she dressed me in:

Mom: “Oh no, buddy! Did you have an accident?”
Me: “Yes, I fell in the toilet!”
Mom: “Oh, good! I thought maybe you wet your pants.”

Really, mom? What does a guy have to do to get some sympathy for falling into the toilet? It was a bit traumatic, but don’t worry… I’ll only be scarred for the rest of my life.

Still, I enjoy being a diaper-free member of society. But even though it’s liberating and empowering to wear underpants, I’m not ashamed of my diaper past. Those Pampers got me through some stinky times, so they will always be a part of my story.

‘Tis the season to watch basketball games!! I’m becoming quite a fan of the Melrose-Mindoro 8th Grade Girls, Varsity Girls and the Varsity Boys teams, but my absolute favorite player is #4: Ashlee Nicolai! She’s definitely the MVP from my perspective. But Honorable Mention goes to the Concession Stand staff, who graciously exchange their Skittles and popcorn for my Dad’s paper notes. (I’m definitely getting the better end of that deal!) I can’t wait for the next opportunity to eat Skittles basketball game!!