The Fialas Move In

My sister Chelsea texted me last week saying she was going to be in town for work and asked if she could stay the weekend.

And she did.

Meadow wanted to have a sleepover with Chelsea and stayed with her in the guest room while she was here.

I made big pancakes for everyone for breakfast.

After breakfast Chelsea headed home. She wanted to beat the snowstorm coming and see her boys.

After she left Meadow helped me make granola.

Whenever she helps Brooke she seems way more helpful.

I found stickers hiding in one of our kitchen cabinets. Meadow got excited to use them all on one picture. "It's going to be beautiful!"

Leftover nacho toppings and chips are the best leftovers.

Then Tyler and Emma dropped off their kids while they finished some last things on their house.

I had spent the whole previous day helping them move their things into a storage unit. For the next couple of weeks they'll be staying with us while they find a tow vehicle for their long-term road trip.

Ring around the Brooke became a fun game.

Before we had dinner I took the kids outside to play in the snow.

This has been a rare site this winter unless we went up to the cottage or up north.

Then we had the first of many double family meals.

Comments

Sisters, a Brother and Walking Chicago

Summer always seems to mean one thing: weddings. Whether I'm shooting or attending, we're bound to end up at a few every year. This time around we were heading down to Chicago from my big sister Katrina's nuptials. I feel like all our vacations are centered around a wedding or something wedding related. I wish we could go on a vacation without having to worry about being somewhere. It also means a few repetitive trips down I-94. There aren't nearly enough unique stops off the interstate. One outlier is Foster Cheese Haus , the only organic Wisconsin cheese shop I know of. Run by the folks behind Castle Rock Organic Farms , we always try to stop by. Unfortunately for us they were closed on Wednesdays, but at least we got to spy on their darling garden out front. Brooke and I arrived in Necedah. We decided to stop at Brooke's sister Brittany's home along the way to cut the ride in half and get her dressed hemmed. ...

A Smoky Weekend at the Cottage and a Stop at Ladysmith's Northland Mardi Gras

This summer we decided to go to the cottage any weekend we had nothing else going on. This week, due to fires in the Boundary Waters and Canada, the air quality was pretty terrible. We debated if we should still go, but it looked like it would clear up by Saturday. So we took the chance. And by terrible, we mean the worst air quality we'd ever seen. Along the way we decided to stop at John and Heidi's Happy Daze . We've passed this place probably 100 times. It was about time to stop by. I ordered the prime rib sandwich special. Yummy. The sandwich that is. Everybody's food was really good, but Brooke's was the star of the show. I want to get back here asap. Now if only this pesky smoke would go away.

Dakotas Road Trip: Badlands and Black Hills

I thought we would skip Wall Drug this time since we've seen it before but Scott was gun ho on going. Come on. You can't go to the Badlands and skip the world's greatest tourist trap. First stop ice cream. We thought we would have lunch here but after seeing the prices decided we would cook something at the park instead. But first we had to take a couple tourist pics. When we we decided we were coming here I was expecting it to be 90's and hot. Did not think it would be rainy, chilly and foggy. I always make Brooke look cool. She on the other hand always finds a way to take a pic at the most awkward possible moment. Either that or I'm just really awkward. Earlier this year, I asked Theo where he wanted to go on vacations this year. He said he wanted to backpack camp at the Badlands because he was sad he didn't get to go yet. This is all for you buddy.

Search This Blog