Busted!

My niece physically melts my heart.

Look at those little baby bites on the tortilla shell.
Hahahaha! 
SO.MUCH.LOVE

Quotable Kiddos: "Good Idea | Bad Idea"

As heard in my classroom. Verbatim.

***

Me (introducing the rules of camp): 

Friends, is it a good idea or a bad idea to ever bang on the glass when we get excited to see an animal? Especially if that animal is right in front of the window and it's sleeping?"

Class (in unison): 

BAD IDEA! Yeah, like DOUBLE-TRIPLE BAD IDEA!

Me: 

You're right. It's a super-duper bad idea. Can you imagine if you were sound asleep in your bed at home and a stranger just came up and started banging on the window to try and wake you up. That would be just terrible, right?

Annie (age 4):

Umm, well, yes, but, not unless the stranger was offering three free hot dogs. Then I would be ok with it. 

Me: 

[Speechless until a belt of laughter burst out of my mouth]

***

I absolutely LOVE their minds and the random things they say. Especially the details. I mean, this imaginary window knocker was not just offering Annie a free hot dog -- the creep had THREE of them! So yeah, in that case, she's totally right. I guess that I too would be ok with it ;) 

     

Quotable Kiddos

And so begins the first of many posts to follow sharing the "best of" my 4 & 5 year old camper's quotes.

***

Me: 

Friends! Today is such a special day... 
Today is "meet an animal" day!

Chloe (age 4): 

You mean, like a real aminal? 

Me: 

Yes, we're here at the zoo. Of course the animal will be real...

Chloe:

Ok, good. Because I already got twricked into going to see the Easter bunny. But it was just a person in a costume. 

{insert the rest of the class all chiming-in to share their frustration with this scam}

  

I Heart Summer Nights

Zoo BBQ

Potluck turned flip cup...

Aka: my favorite kind of party :) 

LIFE IS GOOD :)

"I'm on a boat!"

What a positively perfect way 
to celebrate the first day of summer :)

Thank you, Pat & Julie! 

 Even the dog is smiling in this photo :) I love it!

  

Congratulations to the new, Doremus family!

April & Ryan, 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for inviting us to share your awesomeness and celebrate your wedding. Your children are the luckiest two kiddos alive to have found each other as an added benefit to the love you share. I am in constant awe of how you do everything you do and that you ALWAYS manage to put a smile on other people's faces. You're a true gift just by being yourselves :) 
Cheers to a lifetime ahead of laughter & happiness!

XOXOXO,

Stace

Lake Delavan

Lifelong besties +
Pontooning awesomeness +

Cold beer a' plenty =

MY HAPPY PLACE

Who needs to take a shuttle bus to a wedding when you can bribe a couple college kids to drive you on a double-decker pontoon? #sorryforpartying

Throw in a few (hundred) belly laughs while acting like thirteen year olds?! Yes, please, thank you :)

UW Madison Union Terrace :)

  

  

Kayaking the Chicago River

Every good story in my life begins with the sentence, 

"Sooo -- my mom bought a Groupon and..."

The rest is history :) 

I highly recommend this adventure!

Happy B-Day, Chris! Congratulations, Matt!

In order to properly celebrate the many milestones and achievements going down in June, Max grilled up some totally delicious Copper River Salmon and I drank all of the champagne... We make a great team ;) Hahaha

Happy 40th birthday, Chris!

CONGRATULATIONS to Matt Cassidy on making America's Cup 2017!

So much to be thankful for :)

  

My loves rockin' ketchup & mustard blazers ;)

Yuuuuuummmmm

"I'm not a Racoon"

DryHop brewery in Lakeview created a special brew for the zoo to benefit the Red Panda. It's called "I'm not a Racoon" and it's delicious! $1.00 from every pint goes towards conservation initiatives to help these animals thrive in the wild.

I highly recommend their other craft brews as well. You can sample them all for $13.00...what a deal!

#respectthecraft

Crawfish Boil Awesomeness

LOVE