great wolf

One of my Dad's clients is Great Wolf Lodge and he very generously booked us two nights at the Wisconsin resort for this past weekend. We spent hours at the water park, played arcade games, ate at a restaurant that had a train running through it that delivers your food, and drank lots and lots of coffee from the in-house Starbucks to keep up with Matteo (as fun as they may be, there is absolutely nothing restful about vacationing with a toddler).

It was exhausting in the best of ways.


















And now, baby on a water slide!

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halloween starts now

Matteo and I met up with Stefanie, Adam and Ayla this afternoon for the downtown Madison Halloween family fun festivities.











Our haul: six pieces of candy, a temporary tattoo, a key chain that says 'tree hugger' (very appropriate), and a DC comics Superman trading card from 1978.



So this was kind of cool. This is the guy was who gave us the Superman trading card. Instead of candy he was giving away vintage trading cards and stickers for his store. I did a little research on him and it turns out he's a wealthy philanthropist and antiques collector who owns this little curiosity shop downtown. When he handed me the card he said, "Watch out now, that could pay for college. You never know!" Of course, as soon as I showed it to Matteo he snatched it and put creases all over it. Sorry Matteo, there goes college.

Fun times with the Grieve family!

last weekend

Friday night Matt had to work the homecoming football game. Matteo and I went to support a friend who was participating in a local Gallery Night art crawl.



Matteo had his first taste of fresh apple cider. It was a big hit.





Saturday I baked a batch of Halloween cookies and then Matteo and I caught the last quarter of our friend's son's football game. Matteo is REALLY into football these days. I have yet to capture his football moves on film, but they're pretty awesome.







We also went to a couple of parties - a housewarming for friends, and then a bonfire at Matt's brother's house.





Oh fall stuff, how I love you.

field trip!

I spent the morning with Matteo and his class at a farm outside of Madison. The kids got to see all kinds of animals and even fed baby goats with little bottles! They also have a little kitten house where the kids can interact with a whole bunch of kittens. We all had a great time. We went to this same farm, last year, when Matteo was so little I had to prop him against a pumpkin to take his picture. It's amazing to see how much he has changed!

our fabulous fall

Sorry posting has been light, folks. The weather here has been beyond unbelievable. We've been crazy trying to get outside as much as possible and soak it all up before things turn colder later this week. If I'm not at work or sleeping and you need to find me, try a playground.

This past weekend we went to the zoo and then to dinner at this fun Mexican restaurant we discovered in a little town south of Madison. We also watched sports, lots and lots of sports, along with everyone else in Wisconsin.

I had Monday off and kicked some serious ass getting stuff done around the house - I was a pesto-making, floor-steam-cleaning, errand-running machine. And speaking of running, I've been working out again and it feels (it also hurts) so good. I'm so super sore and I love it.

Anyway, here's a little snapshot of what we've been doing:

























Life is good. We are so busy and so tired, but we are so very happy.

fall family weekend

We spent last weekend with Matt's family on our annual fall getaway. We rented a house near the Wisconsin Dells, ate great food, explored Mirror Lake State Park, watched Wisconsin sports teams kick butt, and ate more great food. (Have you ever eaten a sausage stuffed with cheese, dipped in cheese fondue? Well now I can say that I have.)