Getting Away is Good for the Soul

I'm a chionophile. There, I said it. I'm a lover of all things winter including snow and ice. Makes sense when you've been born and raised in Wisconsin where we have, in my humble opinion, some of the prettiest scenery in the country. When Mother Nature sprinkles a little snow all over that scenery...magical!

We had a short school week last week and seeing as our weekend was going to be a day longer, we decided to venture to the Northwoods for a stay in St. Germain with my parents at their lake house. We had lots of fun family plans for the weekend and what a great stay we had.

The boys have really been into ice fishing this season spending quite a bit of time on Dutch Hollow and Lake Redstone in our neck of the woods. Seeing as we were going to be right on the water this weekend, the sled was packed with all of their gear and they spent quite a bit of time on the ice. From early morning escapades to late afternoon sits, they were on Little St. Germain watching tip ups and jigging for whatever they could catch. Perch seemed to be the catch of the weekend. Brock caught a few nice ones and has enough for a single meal for himself some night. It's always nice to be able to bring some fish home.

Their spot for the weekend

Coming back in

The highlight of the weekend for me was the candlelight event at the Awassa Trails in St. Germain. This has been an event on my Bucket List since hearing of it a few years ago. It has never worked out in our schedule to go until this year and oh, it was so worth it. There were over 600 luminaries lighting our way around the trail and they were just stunning to see. As Kris and I made our way around the trail, we heard owls calling in the trees and it was so neat. It was peaceful there in the woods hiking in the candlelight and just being together. The weather was perfect with temps having been in the mid-30s that day and we couldn't have asked for a more magical evening. 

The love of my life and my hiking buddy

Walking into the trailhead

Beautiful ice snowflakes on the trees

One of the 600 luminaries

A beautiful area set up in the woods

We haven't gotten away as a family since our summer vacation in June 2022 to the same locale and it was so nice to get up there in another season, probably my favorite time to be in St. Germain, and experience some of the fun winter activities in the area. Our family loves to be home but it was oh, so good to get away this past weekend to rest, recharge and spend some much-needed family time together. 

Until our next adventure...

Cousins...The Greatest of Friends

Yesterday was Father's Day and we had a fabulous day. My family came over to our house for a cookout with amazing food, some great conversation and cousins. 

When I think back to growing up, some of my favorite times were spent having adventures with my cousins. From playing in my cousin Jamie's playhouse, which I so wanted, to having sleepovers in my Grandma and Grandpa Bell's house with the Connor J-Ville (My aunt and uncle had 6 daughters and their names all start with the letter J!), cousin time was the best!

I was watching all of the kids playing together yesterday and a smile came to my face as I thought about how lucky they all are to be growing up together. Our family is fortunate that we're all relatively close in distance with no one being more than an hour away. Our kids get together for almost every major holiday and I know for a fact that they all love their cousin time! In fact, some of them were cooking up a sleepover, fishing, campfire date before they parted last night! ;-)

The Cool Kids Table

Chilling on the coolers

Pool time!

Dunk time!

Awww...

I love seeing the kids having a great time together and enjoying each other's company. Before we know it, they'll all be grown up and have their own families but for now, we're going to enjoy them and their special bonds! 

Slowing Down for Summer

Last week was our first official week of summer break. No alarm clock set for 4:50 a.m. No particular bed time. No place special we had to be. After a many times very stressful spring, this first week off was pure heaven!

In this week off I did a lot of reflecting, both personally and professionally. With the ending of the 2017-18 school year, we have one son who just completed his last year of elementary school and another who will be entering his last year of elementary school in the fall. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday they were little guys taking their first steps and before we know it, they'll be in high school! The fast pace of life has got me thinking how important it is for us to slow down for summer...to take the time to have adventures, spend a lazy afternoon curled up with a good book, to just unplug and connect with one another.

So what have we done in this first week to slow down? We've done a lot and we've had fun! We've taken walks, caught tadpoles, done some fishing, played around in the swimming pool, read some good books, played games...and the smiles on the faces of our boys as we've done these activities have made it all worth it!

On a tadpole mission

Battleships on the back deck

Playing in the pool

While I know schedules can get crazy, try and carve some time out of your summer to just slow down and take it all in. Your family will thank you for it. 

Making Memories...

This morning when I logged into my Facebook account, a photo came up under the See Your Memories section of my page and I just had to smile.  It was a photo of our family taken 6 years ago at Mt. Rushmore on our very first big vacation ever.

As I looked at the picture, I smiled and even laughed, thinking about all of the sights we took in and the fun times we had.  Our boys were 3.5 and 2 at the time, so our way of traveling then was definitely different than it is now.  Our South Dakota vacation was planned around frequent stops to let the boys run around, meal times, and the ever important nap time! Although that wasn't a favorite time for the boys, mom and dad knew we had to be back to the cabin by about nap time to make the rest of our day more enjoyable for everyone.

We have ventured many different places as a family since that first vacation.  Some of our destinations have been to the nearest parks while others have been states away.  Wherever we go, no matter what we do, we're making memories as a family and that's something no one can take away from us.

The older we get, the more we have seen couples/families wait for the "perfect time" to take a certain vacation/trip and once that time arrives, someone has been stricken with health problems and they are unable to go.  My father-in-law used to tell my husband all the time, "The Golden Years aren't so golden!" and we've taken that to heart.  We've decided to travel and make these memories while we are still able to.  I challenge you to do the same.  Your family will love it and you'll be creating wonderful memories of your own.

It's the Simple Things in Life...

Today is the last day of summer vacation for me.  Teacher inservice starts tomorrow, so it will be back to the grind and getting our school library all set for students when they arrive next week.  As I look back at our summer and all the fun things that we did, I'm reminded that it's the simple things in life that matter the most. Those simple things are different for everyone, but here are some of them for me.

1.)  Dogs  It is fitting that on National Dog Day, I recognize the two pooches who share our hearts and home: Bo and Buck.  Bo came to us through a Sparta shelter about 5 years ago and while we've had issues with him running as he was an adult dog when we got him and not used to having 30 acres to roam on, those episodes have been fewer and farther between now and he's content just to be wherever we are.  Buck is our younger lab and the protector of the boys.  We got him at just 6 weeks old, so he's grown up with our boys and feels a sense of guardianship whenever it comes to them.  They're inseparable!  I love watching the boys with the dogs and the friendship they have.  It's a bond that will never be broken.

Bo enjoying some time in the yard

Buck in the tub with the boys

2.) Campfires  We love them here at the Malphy house!  We love them so much that for our anniversary this year, we decided to spend money on supplies for a nice fire pit that we made ourselves.  We've used it a ton be it just to chill by on a summer night, cook lunch/supper over or to make s'mores.  There is just something so calming about sitting next to a campfire under the stars at night with your family.  

One of Kris' infamous campfires

Cooking over the fire

3.) Waterfalls  If you know me well, you know that I love them.  Can't get enough of them and there's all sorts of evidence of that in our vacation pics this summer: Amnicon Falls, Gooseberry Falls, Shell Falls, Lower Falls of the Yellowstone and the list goes on and on.  The beauty of them is calming and I could set by a waterfall all day and just breathe that in.

Our family at Gooseberry Falls in Minnesota

Shell Falls in Wyoming

Kepler Cascades in Yellowstone

Simple things?  They sure are.  Are they enjoyable?  To the utmost and I wouldn't trade any of these things or experiences for the world.  What are some simple things for you?

The Buffalo Bill Dam and Visitor Center

As you wind your way west out of Cody and go through a few tunnels, you will see signs for the Buffalo Bill Dam and Visitor Center at the end of the tunnels.  I had read about the dam in doing research for our vacation and wanted to make sure we were able to visit it at some time during our stay.  It was right on the way to our cabin, so that worked out perfectly.

The dam truly is a sight to see!  Kris and I commented as we were looking at the structure and considering the time that it was being built, what a major undertaking this must have been.  In 1904, when they started the project, they didn't have any of the modern day tools we do and what a job!  Simply amazing.

Here are some fun historical facts which were found on the dam's website about the dam.

Buffalo Bill Dam History
Fun Facts
The Buffalo Bill Dam was originally called the Shoshone Dam. 

Drilling to find bedrock for the foundation began in the spring of 1904.

82,900 cubic yards of concrete were used to build the dam.
Seven men were killed during construction.
Daniel Webster Cole was the engineer.
The final cost of the dam was $929,658.

Buffalo Bill Dam was the tallest dam in the world when completed in 1910.

The boys and I above the dam

Brock standing near one of the ball plugs 

that was used to stop the flow of water

through the dam

A sign explaining what the ball plugs were used for

The boys at the Visitor Center sign

The dam itself

That's a long way down!

Looking at the Shoshone River flowing toward Cody

Love the terrain in this area

Cody IS Rodeo!

When planning our trip to Wyoming, we saw lots of travel brochures mentioning the Cody Rodeo which takes place nightly from June until August 31st.  This is one attraction that the boys wanted to make sure that we took in as they love watching the cowboys and cowgirls in action.

Stampede Park where the rodeo takes place

Ready for the rodeo

We made sure that we arrived for the 8 p.m. show early so that we could get good seats and check out the venue before the actual rodeo took place.  The boys had fun checking out the horses, calves and bulls in their pens before the show.

The boys in front of the gate where the rodeo is held

Checking out the horses

Pretty horses

As the rodeo got started, our entire family enjoyed all the events from the bull riding, the barrel racing and the team penning.  The rodeo clown who hails from Minnesota was a HOOT!  The boys really enjoyed listening and watching his antics out in the arena.  Intermission was the boys' favorite as they called all the kids out to the area to try and catch the flag on the tails of two little calves.  It was so fun to watch all the kids trying their hardest to get the flags.  Jake had his hands on the flag once, but he just couldn't get it tugged off fast enough.

Ready for the National Anthem

Bull Riding

Taking off after the calves!

We all looked at each other after the rodeo was done and said that this event was a great way to spend a couple hours as it was family friendly and very entertaining.  We highly recommend the Cody Rodeo to anyone who wants to see a great rodeo!