GOOOOOOAAAAALLL x 5

The Maurer tandem of Owen and Gavin accounted for five goals on Saturday morning at their Manitowoc Youth Soccer games. Owen had a hat trick, depositing three goals while narrowly missing two others. Gavin also had a good day on the pitch during his game, scoring twice in his 30 minute game. Both are improving greatly with lots of backyard practice. There are still a few weeks to catch a game. They play on Saturday mornings so give us a call if you want the game times.

Lion King Musical: Amazing!

Jen and I went and experienced the Lion King musical at the Appleton Performing Arts Center this past week. I had gotten her the tickets for Christmas, even though, the loud lady behind us was proclaiming during intermission how she had been one of the first to get hers in January and that she needed to use her usher friend to get them that early (guess she hasn't heard of Ticketmaster Online yet).

The show was amazing from start to finish, our favorite part was when Simba finds Mufassa in himself by looking into the pool of water and the ensemble puts together the mask of Mufassa behind the curtains. It's cool how it just comes together and than WOW!. The music was outstanding (they are pros I guess) but it really does give you goose bumps.

The costumes are unbelievable! Zazu and Rafiki were hilarious. Scar was worth hating.

The show is coming to Milwaukee next February and the boys have the tickets on their Christmas lists already. Definately worth taking them to see it.

Rawley's Bike Trail

The Maurer's and the Seiler's spent this beautiful Saturday afternoon to bike from Walsh Field in Two Rivers to Point Beach State Forest for a picnic and play day. We loaded everyone's bikes into our rickety old trailer, picked up four footlong subs from Subway and headed up Lake Michigan's shoreline for a bike ride. The trip is 12 miles round trip so we went the first six miles and picnic'd at Point Beach Campground's play area where we brought out the soccer ball to work on Owen's mad skills. Don taught us a new move to learn and after lunch we jumped back on the bikes for the six mile return trip. The day was perfect and the trails are amazing. We are all a bit tired and sore but it was a great experience. Owen and Gavin each rode the whole way with minimal complaining (all from Owen) but I was impressed that they kept up the pace almost the whole way and had a little left over at the end. We're definately going to try another trail somewhere else this summer, maybe Kohler Andrae Park in Sheboygan.

Up North Trip

We spent last weekend at the Creagh's house at Camp Manitowish in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin. We had a great time over the course of the two day visit. We got up at 4 am on Saturday and headed out with most of the vanload which included Lauren sleeping a bit. We arrived in Minocqua just under three hours later and pulled into Paul Bunyan's Breakfast Buffet Restaurant. The food was great and the entertainment was even better as "Mr. Bunyan" himself made a guest visit and sat with us at our table.

After a solid breakfast we headed out for some geo-caching in the Great Northwoods. During the first find, we visited an abandoned summer resort area that had been reclaimed by the State over 50 years ago. Only the foundations and a small stairway remained. In addition to the cache, we found about one-two ticks on every member of our party. During our third cache of the day, we spotted a bald eagle over a small, pristine lake in the middle of nowhere. We found six caches on the day and Brooke gave Lauren a tour of Coon's Lodge before we drove the rest of the way to Camp Manitowish.

At Camp Manitowish, we walked through all the buildings and outdoor facilities. We also tried our hand at a few of the challenge course obstacles which was a lot of fun. On our way back, we peeked at the winter cottages available for week-long stays and saw four deer in the woods. Afterwards, we had burgers, brats, hotdogs and smores. Brooke won a game of Settlers of Catan and we went to bed with the windows open and a great Northwoods breeze circulating through the house that made sleeping perfect and refreshing.

The next morning, James watched the kids while the rest of the group took off for a 3-mile run. They spotted another Bald Eagle near the lakefront. After they came back, we had eggs and waffles and then headed out for a canoe trip around the bay. Everyone got paddles and helped out, including Brooke & Jay's neighbor Brent.

We circled the large bay, grounded the canoe in the shallows between the island and the land, backed it back out and went around the island. After putting everything back where we found it, we toured the haunted house on site and headed for home.

Thanks Brooke & Jay for a great weekend! Pictures to come.

Our new additions

When it rains, it pours...isn't that some famous catch phrase? I will begin my take with a trip to the basement where, in an attempt to take a chunk out of a mountain of laundry, I discover that our washer has decided that it no longer wants to agitate...at all. After an "information collecting" trip to a few appliance stores, a frantic search of ratings on the internet and a call to Grandma, we are now the proud owners of a set of "Fisher and Paykel"s. So far I couldn't be happier with their performance and the efficient 20 minute turn over for laundry loads. Thank you Grandma for the wonderful suggestions!

Next I would like to display our most recent additions to our upstairs bathroom project. The faucets complete our sink top leaving just some woodwork, stain and trim to complete the room. If only money grew on trees...!