A Sunnier Version of Sweden

Friday morning, alarms went off, but we all admitted to each other that we had all been awake to some degree and for varying lengths of time as the excitement of the journey in front of us had kept us from sleeping as peacefully as we had hoped. There was no dragging to get out of bed, though - our day of traveling to Grand Canyon National Park was in front of us. One more big hurdle to clear before stepping off on the Rim to Rim hike ! Amanda, Melissa and Shannon at a pit stop on the way Not unlike our cadet days, we moved with efficiency, getting dressed and heading downstairs to grab our free hotel breakfast (score!). With the hotel room swept for any left-behind items, we packed up the minivan for the four hour drive to the Grand Canyon!! While this trip was about hiking, the road trip element in between had us in high spirits. What a gift to spend four hours together with sisters of your heart, telling stories and comparing notes of the cast of characters we shared from o...

We visited Grand Canyon National Park as a family about a year and a half ago, spending Spring Break 2017 in Arizona including several days marveling at a true natural wonder of the worl d. As just one stop on the family vacation, we did some day hiking, heading down the South Kaibab trail to an overlook with a spectacular view. As much as I love our family photo, there isn't a camera in the world that can capture the grandeur of the Grand Canyon. As with many of my vacations and experiences, when I came home I wanted to know more, so I checked out books from the library. I read about the geology and the formation of this incredible part of the United States, but I also read about the hiking and backpacking in the area. The small spark of an idea that had begun on this trip, when I snuck in one more short walk down the Bright Angel trail so that I could hike a bit more of the Canyon, began to grow into a flame, then eventually into a fire in my heart: I wanted to try to hike R...

Several years ago, I set a goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 states. At the time, I could count all of my 26.2 accomplishments on one hand, but that didn't deter me! Dream big, go all in, shoot for the stars, all of that... as part of writing my bucket list down , I gathered a list of goals audacious and modest, outlandish and realistic. After several years of ticking state after state off the list, I think this goal is somewhere in between the extremes. It's been fun and miserable, depending on the day and the race, but each one has brought its own sense of accomplishment, which ultimately is why I keep doing it! Mr. Lincoln at the Expo! This past spring I completed the first of my endurance events for the year, laid out in my New Year's resolutions for 2018 . Shauna and I had chosen the Illinois Marathon on April 28th as a somewhat in-between spot, and trained through the winter to be ready to go. Mary joined us, too, and Whitney came in from St. Louis t...

Here it is Labor Day weekend, and I'm going strong with my cooking one new recipe each week! I'm not sure anyone is more surprised than I am that I've been able to keep up with this resolution, but here we are in week 39 and I've definitely earned the title of "capable cook!" What I realized as I sat down to write about my last few weeks is that I've also developed the habit of assuming there is a recipe out there for whatever it is I'd like to make, and turning to cookbooks or a couple of my favorite internet sites to find it. New recipes and defaulting to homemade have become a way of thinking for me when it comes to food, and that has been fantastic! As I've made my way through the summer, I haven't kept up with all of the blog posts for my cooking escapades, but I have at least captured each of them on my New Year's Resolution list . With a little bit of extra time on my hands this Labor Day, here are the last three weeks' worth o...

Sometimes, things come together beautifully. One of our Wisconsin bucket list items is to attend the State Fair, and one of Caroline and John's YouTube artists that they follow was going to be there for a show - on Caroline's birthday! Trifecta of possibilities lay right in front of us. Once I confirmed I could clear my calendar at work on a Tuesday, I planned to take Caroline's birthday off so that we could drive down to Milwaukee and the state fairgrounds to spend a few hours riding the rides, playing the games, seeing the exhibits and seeing YouTuber/animator/juggler/comedian Alex Clark , who Justin and I had never heard of but the kids were pretty excited about! A big benefit of a weekday visit, of course, was that the crowds weren't bad, and the parking was pretty easy. We also happened to have a slightly overcast day, which made it pretty pleasant, even bordering on cool. We got our tickets, bought ride and game tickets for the kids, and headed for the mid...