Troje Reunion & Camping Trip

Just back from an amazing 10 day vacation. The 7-10th of August were spent at Shades of Sherwood at Carl's family reunion. Despite one of his family members desperately trying to ruin the fun (the same one who tries to cause issues EVERY year), we DID have a fabulous time. There were lots of laughs, good food and great people to be with. Sonny and Emelia joined us too (which made it 1/2 complete for me ... missed David and Crysta though). Sunday we made a quick dash home and dropped off Bre (who didn't want to join us for the rest of the vacation). Carl, Greg, Liz and I headed to William O'Brien State Park on Sunday afternoon. The site was right near the river and gorgeous. The highlight was a 17 (yes, seventeen) mile canoe trip on Wednesday from Interstate to Wm O'Brien. The favorite part was when we hit a sand bar and actually had to portage (see the picture above). We laughed so much. Guess you had to be there to understand the humor we found in it. We were exhausted afterwards, but it was incredible. We decided that we were a little overaggressive (really?) and probably should have cut the miles in half. Needless to say, we all slept like babies that night! On Thursday we drove to Lake Wissota (which is about 30 miles from Eau Claire). Beautiful park, and the site was secluded, but nothing really compares to a Minnesota State Park for cleanliness and nice showers!!! We played a ton of cribbage, ate good food, walked some. Even did a little bit of exploring. It was a wonderful vacation! We're home now (Saturday afternoon). Getting things unpacked and I'm packing up again as I leave tomorrow for San Diego! Never dull!!!!

Lauryn's Second Birthday

Saturday (08/02) Carl and I picked up mom and Jacob and headed to Chris/Crystal's place to celebrate Lauryn's second birthday. Dad couldn't go because he was recovering from appendix surgery. It was a beautiful day. A few photos and a video is here for your enjoyment!!!

Bre's Senior Photos & Appendectomy

So, BriAnne and I went on a 4-1/2 hour adventure to get her senior pics done. It was a blast (as you can probably tell by the pics I've loaded). A week later, Bre had terrible right sided pain. When I did the rebound test on her, she about smacked me so I suspected appendicitis. Took her to Woodwinds and the Doctor didn't think it WAS her appendix since he'd never diagnosed a case in 2 hours. SO, thousands of dollars of tests and hours later; he let me know it WAS her appendix. By now it was midnight and the surgeon made us wait until 6 am to do the surgery. VERY long night. All went fine and within six days, she was back to "normal". OH, I also had spent 4 hours in the SAME ER with David/Crysta earlier in the day because David severely sprained his "good" foot and I was concerned it was broken. It wasn't, but I felt so bad for him because he could NOT walk...