A Sad Farewell, Butterflies, Apples and a Marathon

We've been without our internet for the last week and it was finally turned back on yesterday.  Our downstairs neighbors were having work done on their internet last Thursday and when the guy turned theirs on he also turned ours off.  We didn't notice until he was long gone, of course, and it's taken quite a while to get someone here to fix it.  But it's back on now, and we have a lot of catching up to do!

We took a quick/last minute trip home to Wausau last week Monday.  My parents had to put their sweet little dog, Maighsi, down and we wanted to be there for them. She had been suffering from a neurological disorder for the past year and had slowly been getting worse and worse.  It got to the point where she couldn't walk and they knew it was time.  It was a hard decision to make but now Maighsi is in a better place.  We'll sure miss her!  My Grandpa was having lung surgery on Tuesday, so we could also be there for him.  He came through the surgery just fine and is now waiting for test results.

Breanna, Ollie and "Bonarch" the Monarch

We did get to witness some joy while we were home.  Breanna's Monarch (who she named Bonarch) hatched from his chrysalis and we had a butterfly release party.  We wished him well on his future journeys and thanked him for reminding us about the circle of life.  

Wow!  Look at all those apples!

Saturday morning we went to the Long Grove Apple Festival.  We had some hot apple cider and tried apple cider doughnuts. Ollie helped pick out some yummy apples for a pie.  He's at that age where everything is amazing to him.  He was thrilled by all of the crates of apples!

After the Apple Festival we drove up to Milwaukee to see Brian's family.  His Dad, his brother Paul, Paul's girlfriend Mireille, and a friend from Texas were all running the Lakefront Marathon on Sunday so we went to be spectators and cheerleaders.  We enjoyed an Italian dinner with everyone Saturday night and Sunday morning we set out to watch the race.

Zach and Ollie Spectating

Grandma Sara with Zach and Oliver

It was a cold and breezy day for watching but a good day for running.  All of our runners finished and we're proud of all of them!

Julie, Gpa Steve, Mireille and Paul

We enjoyed seeing Gma, Gpa, Paul, Mireille, Jen, Zach, Megan and Julie, even if it was a short visit.  I think Oliver has his sights set on running a marathon himself one day...

Oliver has been SO into brushing his teeth lately that I had to include this picture.  Anytime he hears one of us start to brush our teeth he bee-lines for the bathroom and wants to brush too.  And he's pretty good about letting us give him a little extra help as long as we sing the ABC's while we brush.

On Monday Oliver had his 15-month check-up.  He's 22 lbs 2 oz and 31 3/4 inches long.  He had a great check-up but probably would have enjoyed it more without the shots.  They got him so worked up he had to come home and sleep for 3 hours to shake it off.  

For more pictures of our latest doings, click here.