memorial day recap.

we spent the holiday weekend at my family's cabin in chetek, wisconsin with my mom and dad and my brother and his wife. it was a really fun, relaxing weekend. naturally, joe and i got in a fight on the car ride there (i swear 99% of our fights occur in the car), so the weekend didn't get off to a great start. i think all the house stuff just has us both stressed and more sensitive than usual. we are both excited about making changes and updates to the house, but we each have slightly different ideas about how to spend our money and what changes are priorities over others.

fortunately, the mood of the weekend only went up from there.

bennett was a champ all weekend and was in a great mood. i seriously think a tooth is going to come through soon (otherwise, we'll have to think about getting him fitted for baby dentures), but he didn't seem to be affected by it at all. he even took a couple steps on his own for the first time! he quickly decided that crawling is faster and more efficient, so he hasn't been interested in a repeat performance so far.

the weather wasn't great, but we were able to get out for a pontoon ride on sunday afternoon. after the fact i realized we need to get a life jacket for bennett. fortunately he survived our poor parenting judgement this time.

love this boy

wearing dada's boat shades

helping papa drive the boat

snuggling with auntie jeanie

ben is starting the "starfish" class (baby swim lessons) at shoreview community center in june, so our little starfish will probably be splashing around in the lake later on this summer. it seems he's out of his "i hate baths" phase, so i'm hopeful swim lessons will be a positive experience for all.

my parents' wooded, lakeside lot is nice, private, and serene. however, it also brings with it some scary side-effects. for example, we found ticks on george, my brother's dog apollo, and even one crawling on bennett. gross. i've felt itchy ever since. also, two eagles were george-hunting all weekend in the front yard. george was oblivious, but those shrill, piercing shrieks coming from way up in the trees were a little scary. we tried to remind george that he's eagle bait if he's not careful, but he didn't seem at all deterred from spending time outside. while my mom stood guard while the dogs were outside, i'm not entirely sure what good that really did. i asked her what she would do if one of those eagles swooped down, talons at the ready. she couldn't really answer, but i appreciate the gesture. no one threatens her granddogs.

besides being on the lookout for ticks and impending eagle meals, the rest of the weekend was spent being highly productive: taking naps, searching online for house ideas, eating a million peanut butter cookies (bad choice), a long walk (good choice), and watching some solid episodes of dateline. i know, i'm 96 years old but seriously, i love dateline. i also think that i could get away with murder far more successfully than any of the convicted murderers on the show. i mean, now that i got that in writing my chances of acquittal are significantly reduced. but seriously, who kills someone, researches "how to dispose of a body" on google, makes a quick trip to home depot and uses their credit card to purchase rubber gloves, bleach, and duct tape, and then lets multiple people witness them loading a large cooler into their trunk? you can't deny quality educational programming.

getting back to work today after 4 days off has been a bit of a struggle. however, the surprise news that i'm getting a raise and now receiving PTO has helped increase my motivation significantly. considering we just bought a house, i'm not sure there could be a more perfect time for a raise and some paid time off.

i'm very thankful for my family, our health, and our freedom. hope you had a great memorial day weekend, too!