A Sunnier Version of Sweden

Here it is the last day of June, and summer is definitely in full swing in Wisconsin. We have heat warnings again today into tomorrow, and the humidity is finally noticeable, as the locals assured us it would be. For our family, summer always means baseball! We spend the most time at the little league field, with some minor and major league baseball filling out our time spent enjoying America's pastime. As part of our settling into Wisconsin and finding new friends, we signed John up for little league baseball with the Neenah Baseball league. It was confusing as a new resident to figure out what was what - there are two leagues in Neenah, the other being Suburban, so I sent a couple of emails, asked a few questions at work, and figured making a decision was better than not. Neenah Baseball it was! Unlike in Arkansas, this league had tryouts, and it had been a while since John had hit a ball. To help give him a little bit of confidence, we hit a batting cage one cold Sunday mor...

I find myself here on Father’s Day, Justin working outside and Caroline at Girl Scout camp while John plays quietly downstairs, thinking back about a month to Mother’s Day. With the weather beginning to turn spring-like and my mind searching for something new and unique to do, I checked the Wisconsin bucket list. Plenty of ideas on there, but what to do with the whole family? I lighted on the idea of bird watching at the Horicon Marsh and in doing just a little bit of research, learned that Mother's Day weekend also lined up with the 2018 Bird Watching Festival . It was the unique time of year when migratory birds by the thousands pass right through this part of Wisconsin, providing an opportunity to sight species that only appear in this region for two brief periods a year. With a whole weekend of activities to choose from, we decided to keep it simple and opted for a boat bird watching tour on Sunday morning. While the weather had definitely improved from winter, it still wa...

While I'm on track for my New Year's Resolution to make one new recipe per week, I've fallen a bit behind in keeping my blog updated. As much as I love to write, there are so many things that demand my time, it tends to sit on the back burner until I either find a quick moment, or put it on my to do list and force the issue with myself! When it comes down to it, though, I write for fun and for enjoyment, and maybe to keep my family or friends up to date if/when the visit the blog. In the spirit of "this shouldn't be a task to dread," I'm going to catch up on all of my cooking in one fell swoop, with pictures and reviews galore! When I last left you, I had made main courses, desserts, and a couple of sides. There continues to be no rhyme or reason, no pattern to the recipes I choose, other than 1) they sound like something my family would enjoy and 2) they fit into the time available for the week at hand! Week 13 definitely came down to time availabl...