A Day at Ski Hi

We headed to Wisconsin for Fall Break and Kevin's parents got to join us for a few days.  We showed them around to all of our favorite spots.  Top of that list in the Fall is Ski Hi Apple Orchard in Baraboo, WI.  We went on the weekend for U-Pick apples, cider and every apple treat you could imagine.  The weather was perfect - actually a little warmer than previous Fall Breaks.

Golden Delicious were in season.  We just missed their big Honeycrisp apple picking.  Thankfully, the Golden Delicious at Ski Hi are super delicious.  We picked a ton and enjoyed a beautiful day at the orchard.  You better believe we came home with apple cider donuts, caramel, honey and enjoyed some apple cider slushies before we left.

The apple trees were full of apples so it was perfect for family picking.

The prettiest day in the orchard.

The boys love when the find a ladder in the orchard.

We got enough apples to make a pie.

Kevin's parents loved the orchard and the whole experience.

Animals at the orchard.  The boys love to feed the animals and drive the tractor.

If you ever find yourself near Wisconsin Dells in the Fall, put Ski Hi on your to do list!

First Grade Field Trip to the Zoo

We're back to reality after a really fun Fall Break.  I took the day off to help chaperone the first grade field trip to our local zoo the Friday before Fall break.  Leo was THRILLED.  We used to have a Mesker Park Zoo pass, but haven't had one in a couple of years.

Leo couldn't wait to ride the bus with his buddies and meet me there.  Tons of parents came so I was glad to be in mom mode with him for the day.  He was SO excited when he class walked in and he spotted me in the crowd.  I hurried over to him and asked which friends he wanted to explore the zoo with.  He said - just you!  I'm so glad to spend the day with just you!  Sweet boy.

We explored on our own for a bit waving hello to friends we saw.  Then we met up with some of his buddies and their moms.  The boys ran from animal to animal and the moms did our best to keep up.  Leo loves maps so he enjoyed navigating our way through the zoo.

Alligator.

Axolotl.

Sticky lizard.

Porcupine.

Otters.

Monkeys.

It was a HOT day at the zoo!  We had so much fun together!  I'm thankful for a great kindergarten assistant that teaches for me when I'm out and great admin that make it easy to be a good mom and a good teacher.  I loved seeing all of my former kindergarten families, students and Leo's friends at the zoo.  We ended up renewing our pass so we could go again and again this year.

We zoomed home to get all packed up for Fall Break!  Peanut kept trying to pack himself in our luggage.  We got an early start on our Fall Break thanks to me being off for the day.  Hooray!

Happy Friday!

I hope you've had a great week!  We're wrapping up our last day of school before FALL BREAK!!  We can't wait for a fun week together.

The best parts of our week were:

1. Our city is hosting the world's largest street festival this week so we headed down to enjoy the Fall Fest.  We played some games, ate some fair food and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

2. My book club book for this month is The Calamity Club.  Have you read it?  I keep hearing mixed reviews - you'll love it, it starts slow, what a fun story, it wasn't my favorite.  I'm excited to jump into this 600+ page book.  Although I didn't realize it was 600 pages when I said yes to the book.

3. A Fall carry in lunch at school.  All the dips and the most delicious apple pie I've ever tasted. I have got to take some apple pie lessons from this teacher.

4. Hand picked flowers for mom will always be a highlight for me.

5. I added this Cheesecake Factory brown bread to my grocery delivery order and we loved it!  I promptly bought a couple more loaves to keep in my freezer.

6. Kevin took the day off to go to a field trip with Fletcher.  They went to Angel Mounds for their special Native American days.  It was a great day for both of them!

7. Sams has the best toy options for friend birthday gifts.  Leo picked this out for a classmate and then we made her a keychain for her backpack.

8. Simple and sweet teacher gifts.  We picked out Fall notepads for Fletcher's teachers and I added an Amazon gift card to thank them for going above and beyond to make 5th grade so fun.

9. We filled our class compliment jar!!  The kids worked hard to earn all of those compliments from other teachers in the building.

10. Bookclub dinner date at Chuy's.  It was delicious and such a fun spot to sit and chat.

11. A family birthday with the yummiest homemade chocolate cake.

12. Peanut is growing quickly and cannot be left out of the action.  He helped me pack lunches, snuggles with Pumpkin and has found cozy spots to snooze all over the house.  He's about 6 months old and he is feeling right at home after 4 months at our house.

He is getting LONG.

I hope you have the best weekend!  See you back here later next week :)

Linking up with Momfessionals

Book Club Favorite Books

I'm coming to you today with some book club favorite books.  I have loved being in a book club with my neighbors.  We rotate who picks the book, plan a monthly dinner out to eat on a date that works for everyone and text about the books + neighborhood nonsense all month long.  Our dinners are heavy on the chatting and light on the books, but we always have a good book chat in person.

Some of us buy the books, some reserve it on Hoopla and sometimes we swap physical books mid month.  There is no pressure and that's my favorite thing.  If you had a crazy month and never read the book, we are all still thrilled to get together for a dinner out.

Our next book is The Calamity Club.  I had no idea it was 600+ pages so I was shocked when this massive book arrived in an Amazon box.  I need to get busy and read.  I have heard such mixed reviews about this book.  Have you read it?  Tell me what you thought of it in the comments.  I'm excited to see what it's all about.

Our last book - my pick - was The Burning Side.  I LOVED Sarah Damoff's debut novel The Bright Years and couldn't wait to read her next novel.  And that might be part of the problem because I did not love The Burning Side.  I think I set the bar pretty high for her next book.  I read reviews that said it was even better than her first book and it just wasn't for me.  The story line is compelling - a couple is on the brink of divorce when they lose everything in a fire.  Will the fire change the trajectory of their lives or will everything continue down the road to divorce??  The leading lady April was hard to connect with.  Her husband Leo wasn't a great communicator.  Actually neither of them were.  The side characters seemed more interesting than the main characters to me and I did not love the ending.  So if you are interested in Sarah Damoff, I'd highly recommend The Bright Years and maybe wait for her third novel to come out next.

I love tracking my books on Good Reads.  It's nice to have all the books I read for the year in one spot.  I'll do a little recap of my favorites.  I adore anything by Emily Henry.  Funny Story was a good one.  Local Woman Missing was scary, WILD and I still think about it today.

Remarkably Bright Creatures will be one of my favorite books of the year.  I know.  A book about an octopus.  Trust me.  It's more than that and you'll love it.  Follow up the book with watching the movie and you'll love them both equally.  You might just surprise yourself by crying over an octopus.  I did.

Theo of Golden.  Wow.  I'm going to say this one goes in my favorite books of all time category.  I adored Theo, adored his view on life and loved to see how much he impacted the community around him.  I think of Theo often.  I'm still in shock that this is the debut novel for Allen Levi.  His story of challenging himself to write a novel and then writing one like Theo of Golden on his first try is nothing short of amazing.  I'd recommend Theo of Golden to any adult.  You'll be better for reading it.

Again, I adored The Bright Years.  You should read it!

And then you get a glimpse at my mom read alouds - Mercy Watson & Hardy Boys.  My boys would recommend them to your kids.  Along with Elephant and Piggy, Dogman and Who Would Win books.

What have been your favorite books this year?  Have we read any of the same books?  Let me know in the comments!