It was a cold Coulee Cup tournament, so I was thankful that we brought the warm camper. Turns out, however, we didn’t need propane heat because my team was on fire! Your main man (me) even scored 2 goals in one game, which helped us advance to the championship round, where we came in 2nd place. And since everybody knows that 2 is better than 1, I think we can all agree that our team went out on top. I’ve even got a medal to prove it.

Genesee’s kindergarten class got to take a field trip to Hidden Trails Corn Maze and mom signed up to be a parent helper!

It’s a good thing mom stepped into her helper role because Genesee and Barron have a crush on each other and those two love birds definitely needed a chaperone. In fact, one of the teacher’s aides told mom that Genesee and Barron hold hands on the playground. Gross!!

As her older brother, I have no choice but to intervene because apparently the “chaperone” turned into a photographer during this field trip. (Epic fail, mom.) Sometimes, when you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself…

Barron: Meet me on the big slide at recess tomorrow; we need to have a little talk.

And by “little,” I mean BIG.

And by “talk,” I mean whatever people do when they “have a talk.”

And tell your cute little dimples to stay out of this! I am my sister’s protector and she’s not allowed to date until she’s 74 years old. (Actually, she can protect herself and she usually is the protector of me, but still… Be afraid. Be very afraid.)

You know you’ve got the best dad in the world when he buys you a BRAND NEW TRUCK!! This beauty is quite the upgrade from my bicycle, which only has two wheels. I mean, I won’t be able to drive it for another 8 years (so says the law). And of course, my name isn’t on the title because truck ownership as an 8-year-old needs to be a top secret mission (which is also why I didn’t pose for the pictures; I need to remain undercover). But trust me, I am the rightful owner of this 2022 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. It’s the golden rule of being a kid: “What’s yours is mine. And what’s mine is mine.” Thanks, Dad!!

Annual trip to Ferguson’s Orchard = Fun & Delicious

Meeting up with Colin at Ferguson’s = Double the fun (and double the trouble)

Genesee joined the Mighty Mites league this September to learn basic soccer and movement fundamentals through fun games and drills! She was especially encouraged to sign up after learning that her bud, Annalia, would be joining her on the field. Another cherry on top was that I got to be assistant coach because Coach Ryan asked me to help the next generation find their greatness. But perhaps the biggest incentive for enrolling in 4 weeks of soccer was that Ashlee said she’d come and watch Genesee tear up the field!

It was an added bonus that Ashlee brought Katie along! Then mom treated us all to dinner at Señor Villas, which was followed by a grand tour of Ashlee and Katie’s La Crosse home.

If this is what Mighty Mites is all about, I hope Genesee signs up again next year because it was mighty fun!!

Apologies for the photo dump, but I was too busy livin’ the good (summer) life that I forgot to slow down and blog about it. From basketball camps, soccer tryouts, birthday parties, and Loggers baseball games to fishing, 4-wheeling, golfing, working out, and tubing, we maximized every day, but it still went by too fast. Summer should get a speeding ticket.

Home is where you park it.

Over Labor Day weekend, we parked it at Russell Memorial Park and Campground.

This time, it was all about the water wars, dinosaurs, and late night s’mores. Because memories are always made by lakes and campfires. I’m not so sure that memories are made at flea markets, but that dinosaur was pretty cool!

To kick off the fall 2022 soccer season, we decided to chase trophies across the great state of Wisconsin, at Kenosha’s Battle on the Border tournament. Maddox and I worked hard to represent the 8-year-olds, while playing with our Rush U11 team… It was exciting, tiring, and challenging! And even though it rained on our parade a bit, we helped the team finish 2nd place in our bracket before getting our butts beat in the semi-finals.

Nevertheless, we had a blast! Especially since we camped in the Renwick driveway and got to zip through a forest and test my courage on a glow-in-the-dark ropes course at Boundless Adventures!

The most special part of the trip, however, was when we visited Papa and Nana Florence at Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

Alongside the kernel of popcorn we tucked within the stone border, we also left a piece of our hearts. It’s true what they say: “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”

With a super stylin’ third grader and a cutesie-wootsie kindergartener in the house, we are back and better than ever! To mark this special occasion, we enjoyed a bacon-breakfast-in-bed and then posed for the obligatory photo shoot.

The first day of school was everything! Mom was our chauffeur, we made new friends, and then we had a backseat dance party on the drive home. It was all fun and games until we went from being too cool for school….

…to too tired for school.

We might need a minute to get settled into this new routine, but with 178 school days left, we’ll eventually find our groove.

What do you do on the last Friday of summer vacation?! Well, after you get your annual well-child check-up at the health clinic (complete with a vaccine shot for your little sis), you follow these instructions to have a fun day:

First, you go to Pearl Street Books to shop local and then you kidnap Beth and take her to Polito’s for a bigger-than-your-head slice of pepperoni pizza.

Next, you must run your little hearts out at the Children’s museum and treat yourself to Super Premium Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream (and popcorn, of course), at the Great River Popcorn Company.

Finally, this ultimate fun day requires discovering a new favorite store: Genie’s rock shop on downtown La Crosse’s historic Main Street! (Thanks, Laura!) You’ll be overstimulated by billions of beautiful rocks of all shapes, colors, sizes, and prices. (Pro Tip: If you want to purchase the $6,300 gem that greets you at the front door, do not visit with my mother because she gives you a $5.00 purchasing limit.)

Genie’s Rock Shop is WAY cooler than Target, but you should probably end the night with a routine stop at Target anyway, just for good measure.

And after all of that, you can confidently add an enthusiastic exclamation point to the end of your summer story, with no regrets, because you’ll finally feel pumped and ready to write the sequel: Back to School!