home sweet home & Happy 52nd anniversary Bud and Betty!

We made it home! We left Sheboygan at 8:20 and got home to River Falls shortly after 1:30pm so we made excellent time. Back to rearranging our big kids' rooms with Katie taking residence in Anders former room and he is now moving (without him here) into her former room. I took the liberty of weeding his book collection (taking some to my classroom, donating others and keeping some), laundering his bedding, and will leave all his personal belongings for him to review and decide what to keep/donate/throw. 

Also headed to my 2nd classroom for a bit to set up my printer/computer and do a little work with organizing. Tomorrow will be a big push to get it ready for parent conferences on Tuesday (I have one face to face conference) and kids on Wednesday. I think I just have three more shelves to set and then should be ready to roll. 

Watched a little Masked Singer with Osten and now it's time to brush my teeth and go to bed!

Some finishing touches will be needed, but we are slowly getting to the final stages of room switch 2020.

Happy 52nd wedding anniversary to our loving parents/grandparents Bud and Betty!

photo from March 2002. We had traveled home for Grandpa Clarence Swanson's funeral. Anders was the entertainment of the weekend. 

beach days are the BEST!

Saturday morning dawned sunny and sensational. Katie decided today was the day to get her ears pierced. We opted to head to a tattoo place, but they wouldn't pierce her ears because she isn't 16...that surprised us. We went to a wonderful Farmer's Market--Brad and Jerry joined us as they cancelled their fishing excursion because the waves were really dangerous with a storm. We shopped at a second hand store and then had lunch at a terrific pizza place called Harry's Pizza. 

Then we tried to go to Kohler Andrea state park, but it was so filled with people. We opted to head to a town beach that was very manageable with the number of sunbathers. Katie and Jillian set up their hammocks and the rest of us enjoyed our time catching rays, watching Osten and Julia playing in the sand and dipping our toes in the very cold Lake Michigan. That lake seriously reminds me of the ocean. It is so beautiful. 

Back to the hotel to freshen up and then to the Kniers for dinner, a walk, a bonfire and lots of laughter. We bid our farewells as we planned to rise early to get home. Thanks Knier's for a wonderful last summer Who-Rah!

heading to the Farmer's Market

Brad going a little overboard on his mask wearing

my yummy prochicutto pizza and salad

where we planned to pierce Katie's ears

Jillian hammocking

the two hammockers

Brad and Jerry catching up 

Jenny warming up a freezing Julia

Jenny's Charcuterie board

our traditional grasshopper pose

heading east

Today, after I get packed up and cleaned up, our household of 4 is driving east to first have lunch with Anders and then driving to Sheboygan to stay in a hotel and go salmon fishing with the lovely Knier family. We are excited for the final who-rah of the summer. 

This photo is of Anders many years ago in our Idaho Falls house. It's one of my favorites. We got the hat in Las Vegas when we went down to hang out with some of Brad's fraternity brothers. 

Our trip was great and memorable. First we stopped in Eau Claire and took Anders to lunch at Rice Palace and dined in Phoenix Park. Dessert was at Olson's Ice Cream. Then we dropped Anders off at his residence hall and drove to Sheboygan--the AmericInn. Dinner at Subway, time in the swimming pool, the Knier's stopped by to say hello and then it was time for bed. 

happy birthday Betty Jean!

 It's Betty's birthday today! Happy birthday to our wonderful Mom, Mother in Law and grandmother Betty Jean Olson!

a new coed

 This guy is a new resident of a residence hall at the UW Eau Claire campus. Today we dropped him off and already his little sister has started moving into his room  ;). It will now be her room. 

my go to mask

 This is going to be my go to mask. My dear friend and co-worker, Petra made me the most beautiful mask last night. She asked me to measure my bridge of nose to chin and then from ear to ear. I LOVE my new mask.

back 2 school

 Today was my first day back at teacher workshop for the 2020-2021 school year. It will be different, but what is the same is:

1. the amazing adults who are working together

2. the incredible children who are going to come to school every day they can ready to learn

3. the outstanding parents who are doing their very best to keep everything in balance

Today after school, Anders went with Lindsey as a prop specialist on her senior picture photo session. He also snapped some photos of her with his brand new phone he received for his graduation gift. 

here are a few photos of Anders and Lindsey together that the photographer captured:

happy days

 Here are some happy pictures from the past several weeks...

at Alex S. grad party with the sweet little teddy bear dog named Bailey

Anders' new residence hall bedding airing on the line after a wash

Great Grandma B holding sweet baby Beckham

Osten and I at dinner the other night at Milwaukee Burger Company

a sweet little quote from dear friend Angie Bond

grad gift & dorm room shopping

Today, Anders, Katie and I went to the Twin Cities to get Anders' grad gift--a refurbished SE 2nd generation and to pick out things for his new dorm room at UW Eau Claire in Bridgman Hall. Some of the things we got for his room included:

1. mattress pad

2. set of 4 fitted sheets

3. set of regular sheets

4. comforter

5. shower caddy

6. shampoo

7. body wash

8. shaving cream

9. blades for razor

10. portable charger

11. notebooks

12. pens

13. planner

14. lamp for is bedside

15. bath towels

16. laundry bag/backpack

We will be taking him to school on Wednesday to get him settled and then we will be heading home. Katie is already planning her move to his room. Should be really fun!

2 classrooms and happy 13th birthday Trenton Anders!

I will be teaching 25 students in 2 separate classrooms this year. My friend, Michelle will be teaching virtual school so I will get her students and also be teaching the students from my classroom who didn't sign up for virtual school. I am looking forward to the year and growing as a result. 

Happy happy 13th birthday Trenton Anders Blomgren!

map of where we stayed and getting back into the swing...

 I found a nice overhead map of where we stayed:

the red dot is our campsite

our campsite is in the upper left hand part (farthest left and top) and 54 is the landing

Today we got all the camping gear put away, laundry done, Anders had a dentist appointment, Katie had a chiropractor appointment, I picked up my bike that was in the repair shop and now we will be having a dinner prepared by BCO. 

It's so nice not having to walk up a hill to use the restroom, turning on a faucet for warm water, drinking milk and refrigerated produce. We are so fortunate. 

final paddle and Happy Birthday Henry Loren and Happy Anniversary Hausers on Wednesday, August 19

Our sixth day on Sea Gull dawned sunny and spectacular. We got everything efficiently packed up and were paddling by 9:40am. We got to the landing at 11:00am and then hit the road at 11:45 after we packed everything into our vehicles. Off to Grand Marais and then to a sweet little spot in Schroeder, Minnesota where we had lunch. Then back into the Prius and Dodge and we made it all the way home to drop Lindsey off and come home to unpack and start the process of returning to normal. 

We arrived back to non-wilderness, showers and technology today!

Now we celebrate our charming cousin Henry's 12th birthday and the beautiful Cody, Jenna, Stella and Collins Hauser's 3rd wedding anniversary. 

our empty campsite with a message written with a dagger Lindsey made

land ho!

Brad, Katie and Osten landed!

with the sign at our landing

lunch at Schroeder

Henry the 12 year old

Happy Anniversary Hauser family!

our last full day on Sea Gull Tuesday, August 18

Another sunny and beautiful morning for the six campers on Sea Gull Lake. Early in the morning before anyone else awoke, our ten year old, Osten finally lost his wiggly tooth! Big day for him--I wonder how many kids have lost a tooth in the BWCA? We breakfasted and lunched  and had our first amphibian sighting (a toad who ended up chasing a very chubby caterpillar) and then head out on an epic paddle to do some scouting for future visits. We got a little turned around and ended up finding the place we would be heading towards on Wednesday on exit day. But we found a nice campsite and paddled nearly 3 hours...unfortunately my Fitbit didn't register all the strokes as steps. 

During our paddle there were a few little cloud bursts. Shortly after we had dinner, a beautiful rainbow appeared to be coming from the island we had found on day one. Osten asked Brad if they could go find the origin of the rainbow, so as any amazing Dad would do, they hopped into the solo canoe and chased the rainbow. They discovered the rainbow moved once they got closer, but it was so amazing. 

Another great campfire tended by the lovely Lindsey Andrea and then we headed to bed. As we were sleeping, I heard canoes banging against the shore so went to readjust two of our three canoes as I heard distant thunder. Thankfully the storm didn't hit us and we had smooth going on our pack up day!

no more snaggle toothed smile

the toad eyeing up the chubby caterpillar

a loon from our long paddle

my scuffed up pedicure from all the rocks encountered on our paddles

Daddy and son getting ready to chase the rainbow

destination tiny island to find the gold

finding out the rainbow had no end

playing a little baseball with the bat that Brad whittled