First Grade

We have a first grader! Our district went distance learning EXCEPT for kindergarten and first grade so we narrowly got him in person this year. He has 12 kids in his class to assist with social distancing and has to wear a mask all day. He will be going 5 days a week 8:30a-3pm and we really hope everybody stays safe so we don't have to revert back to distance learning. Bowie's teacher is Ms. Kessler and we've heard she's the best. So far so good. He's made friends (with the boys- he is not interested in being friends with girls) and tells us that he is friends with the other "mine crafter" kids. He's exhausted but loves it so far.

 

Summer of Ice Cream

And I still didn't eat as much as I would have liked... 

Luckily Eli and Alli love ice cream as much as I do. Here we are at milkjam (rhubarb/raspberry cheesecake)

Bebe Zito opened in Uptown and it is now my favorite. Here's our first visit. Bowie got breakfast and I got peanut butter puppy chow.

Treats isn't so bad. Bowie got a sea salt flavored cone with Oreo ice cream (which I helped eat). I actually got a waffle and Taro bubble tea that day. 

Sweet Science had salted caramel cayenne choco tacos. Bowie opted for regular chocolate. 

Bowie still likes DQ blizzards the best. He got Oreo and I went with choco caramel cone flavored.

This was Ramones in Eau Claire. SO GOOD. Bowie is having pink sprinkle and I went with the Elvis (chocolate, peanut butter, banana).

Here we are at BeBe Zito again for frosted animal cookie and elote ice creams.

We also went to Lala's. Bowie went for a classic sundae and I had raspberry honey. 

Summer 2020 (was totally weird).

I don't really know how to sum up our summer. It was super weird and stressful and I didn't take a lot of photos. I left my job at Cigna to take a leadership role with People Inc. and 2 weeks later the world had a pandemic. Bowie was sent home for distance learning and I tried to help him out and do my job. In the midst of that we bought a house. The process of selling our home was super stressful and the process of moving into the new home was also stressful. So then we moved and a couple of days later the riots/protests following the murder of George Floyd added a new layer of anxiety to our lives. I realized that my new job with People Inc. wasn't going so well and transitioned back to Cigna, this time in a role on the Autism Team. We tried our best this summer but we really missed our friends and our usual summer activities. We love our new home and neighborhood and neighbors and mourn what Covid and civil unrest has done to our world. I only hope that positive change can come from what we've been through and been exposed to. Here's hoping! We're also extremely thankful for our family who helped us through everything and whom we got to spend extra time with this summer. I don't know what we would have done without them. Also here are a few photos from the summer. 

We moved! We love our new house sososoososooooo much. 

Bowie has great neighborhood buddies. 

Our new neighbors do cool fun stuff like backyard yoga, happy hours and movie nights. 

Bowie turned 6!!!!!!!!

This backyard pool SAVED our summer. 

We spent lots of time with family. 

The cat wrecked my face. 

Bowie lost his first tooth. And then another one. 

We went to the cabin and swam there and around town as much as humanly possible. 

We even visited a waterfall and went behind it and swam in it. 

A trip back in Josh time.

It's become a tradition for us to do a family road trip the week before school starts. This year, due to Covid, we knew we couldn't do anything too major. Josh has been especially nostalgic recently for the years he lived in Iowa; I think because Bowie is the age now that Josh was when he lived there. We decided to revisit Josh's old stomping ground and tie in our final trip to Shell Lake for the season on the way. First stop was, of course, Franconia. We love that it's constantly changing and weird. 

Then we were off to the cabin. You can see how quickly Bowie's final lake swim of the year turned into full blown nude all out party swim.

Unfortunately our second day at the cabin was a wash out so we decided to drive to Eau Claire and eat like we were at a state fair. 

When I'm in Wisconsin I want to eat at places that look like this. They usually have good beer and cheese curds. This place didn't disappoint. 

Cool record store. Not cheap. I'm very into the fact that Eau Claire pipes indie music through their main street area. Most things were closed so I didn't get to see as much of the town as I would have liked. 

Ramones ice cream was not closed! Thank the Lord. 

Our airbnb in Spring Grove, MN was spectacular. It was super prairie remote and a good jumping off point to get to other cool cities around Iowa and Wisconsin. Bowie was very excited about how "modern" our airbnb was because he had a remote control for the lights in his room.

We were invited to tour the parish home that Josh and his family lived in as well as the church where his father was a pastor. The current pastor, Ken, and his wife Debbie were awesome hosts and gave us lots of coffee and bars. Bowie was impressed. 

Pastor Ken and Debbie salvaged this from the old barn.

Bowie and his "church basement bar".

Can you spot Pastor Gary?

This is Josh's old mailbox. 

Pictures don't do justice to how beautiful the landscape and architecture of the home and church were. I can see why Josh misses this place! While at the church we met up with Cindy, who is the mother of Josh's old pal David. Her family owns a dairy farm and she took us over for a tour. 

The best part of the trip was reuniting with David Gibbs, Josh's childhood bestie, and his gorgeous family. The kids played so well together and Josh and David picked up like no time had passed. I very much hope it's not another 25 years before we see these lovely people!

Overall this trip was super nostalgic, beautiful, relaxing and filled with new and wonderful people. It was just what our sad Covid hearts needed before heading into a wild school year.