The Adventures of Grace and Clara: Status Update

Grace and Clara would continue their busy summer schedules in June with a few new activities. Both girls joined the Big Bend Woods swim team lead by coach Jennifer Christy. Mrs. Christy was their swim lessons teacher the past two summers so it made sense for the girls to participate in swim team once their skills and age allowed them to do so. Grace participated in 3 swim meets and Clara participated in 2 this season. It was a great experience for them to get involved in a competitive solo sport and both Mary and I believe swimming is an important life skill so we'll continue to push BBW swim team as long as we can. Good job girls on your first year on the team!

The big event for the month of June was our annual trip to Wisconsin to visit Papa Dan and Grandma Karen, spend a week at Aunt Kim's lake house in St. Germain and visit whomever else we could visit while in Wisconsin. This year's trip to Wisconsin included spending a couple of days in Eau Claire with their old babysitter/day care provider, Jolene Aasen. Jolene used to watch the girls at the Color My World daycare center until we switched daycare centers around 2012 to the Learning Center. Even after we left Color My World, we enlisted Jolene to watch them about one night a week so Mary and I could get things done in evenings after work. Sometimes that meant running errands or going to the gym, but often it meant going to dinner and a movie or just going out somewhere for a few hours. We really miss that living in St. Louis. Jolene moved away from Wisconsin around the time we left as well, but we've stayed in touch with her through Facebook. Jolene now lives in Arizona as a special needs teacher so she has the summers off. She happened to be in Wisconsin visiting family the same weeks we were up in Wisconsin this year so Mary arranged for us to all get together in Eau Claire and spend the night at one of downtown Eau Claire's newest hotels, the Lismore. Mary, Jolene, Grace and Clara went to see Grease live at the State Theater while I spent the evening with old friends of mine, Eric, Jim, and Brock. After the show, Jolene spent some time with the girls while Mary joined the four of us out on the town. What a great way to reconnect not just with the city where they were born, but a city where Mary and I met, got married and spent many years of lives in. Thankfully, the city of Eau Claire has continued to evolve and improve their downtown scene so going back is never a depressing event.

Jolene with Grace and Cylas. Cylas used to attend Color My World with Grace and he even had a crush on her. Of course, the kids don't remember each other anymore as this was over 5 years ago!

At the Lismore hotel in downtown Eau Claire.

The rest of our first week in Wisconsin was spent in Tomah, at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We went to the public pool where Grace jumped off the high dive, took a day trip to La Crosse to the children's museum, and had many trips to the various parks that my parents live within walking distance to. The week was used as an opportunity for the girls to be with their grandparents for longer than they normally would be any other time of the year. I know the grandparents enjoyed it.

Hanging out at Lake Tomah Park.

Finally, we spent the second of our two weeks in Wisconsin at Aunt Kim & Uncle Andreas' lake house. Grace and Clara spent time playing with their cousin Jackson, and Andreas' friend Glenn's son, Sullivan. Grandma Karen and Grandpa Dan joined for the entire week and Uncle Andy with Baxter spent a few days/nights as well. The weather was unseasonably cool and rainy so not as much time was spent on the lake enjoying typical summer activities such as boating, swimming, fishing and jet skiing. The good news is that it allowed us to check out some of the local museums and go on a day trip to Rhinelander where we saw the infamous Bodag! This was our first year trying out a stand-up paddleboard (or SUP) and everyone seemed to enjoy and got the hang of it pretty quickly. Guess we'll have to try that again when we are home as well.