I had PTO to use up so we made a trip to the cottage for Mother's day weekend. It isn't too often we drive up on a Friday so fish fry was a must.  I would've stayed home and painted, but you guessed it, it was still raining. On the way we took a slight detour up to Lehman's Supper Club up in Rice Lake.  We've never ventured up here from our typical route, but it's kind of the start of Up North, which means lots of restaurants for the tourists. The kiddos got spaghetti. Of course we got the fish fry. I'd rank Lehman's as a mid to low tier supper club. Ambiance is meh. Fish was forgettable. Good salad. After reading reviews later I guess the main attraction is the entree's that include a relish tray and popovers.  But they do have a great bar. My dad has been busy working on Chelsea's bedroom upstairs. She upgraded to a queen bed and we needed to get the box spring up stairs.  It would not fit. Close, but we were really searching for a solutio

On Thursday evening the kids school had an international night. Since this was the only year both kids would be at the same school we did a booth.  Theo is making this face because his teacher was so proud of him.  We decided to celebrate the kids Polish heritage. I'm a a quarter Polish, but they're only an 1/8th. Ha. I made (not enough) pirogies. They were a big hit. Theo is still loving his fort bed.  And snuggling on Meadow's bean bag.  I always forget how easy crepes can be. Well, that's because the kids always request the caramel apple topping, sliced strawberries, etc. My mom always just served it with (fake) syrup. This is how you start a proper Mayday. Theo LOVED the battle train so much last year we couldn't wait to show him again.  The bikes are always fun to see.  It means the parade is gonna come soon. Well, within a half hour.

Theo's room was officially ready. Minus a few things like a bed, rug and his picture rail. But he has been ready to have his own room. It'll do until I can get a hand to put up the picture rail.

I left the fam for a few days for a work conference in Las Vegas. Besides our quick stop for lunch, a little over a week earlier, I had never been to Vegas before. It took me a few days to find my way around and get over the shock of "where am I?" One of my goals was to get close to the sphere. I had no idea how non-pedestrian friendly Vegas is outside of the strip. The wild wild west. Now you know why I've never wanted to go. Ha.    I did all the touristy things as one does. I would come back with the kids then probably never go back again. I'm on team "Boo, Vegas sucks" but I guess we could do it once. But why not just do Disney World at that point? No waiting 6 hours to go on one ride.  Ha. I have around 4 months to sand, prime and paint the north and south facades of our house. Better get started I suppose.

The kids requested waffles, which meant that I was making my go to oatmeal whole wheat variety  using our Nordic Ware pans of course . A stack of library books means it's library day. Blake was in town for his annual Teamsters gathering. We had to take him to our new favorite buffet, Q.Cumbers . Salad buffet and Veganopolis. A match made in heaven.     Blake needed to get comfortable after filling his belly.   Blake's just a big kid when he's around Theo and Meadow. They adore him.

  When we arrived in Death Valley it was 90F. The first thing we had to do was find a place to stay for the night.  Well, after we got Junior Ranger books of course. The campsites in Furnace Creek were booked but there were lots of openings at Stovetop Wells.  Furnace Creek is the only developed campground that takes reservations. The rest our first come first served. I wanted to stay near Mesquite Spring Campground, but we decided that was too far afield. Not our typical campsite, this was more like a parking lot, but we're just here to sleep so whatever.  Most of the campgrounds look something like this, but smaller. After paying for our campsite we got ready to hike and headed to the nearby sand dunes. This is the largest national park and everything is spaced far apart. We stayed close to our campsite and went over to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes .  We got there just in time for a nice hike across the dunes during sunset. The kids loved it here.  It's funny how much more t