Fall Break: Part I

 This Fall break we headed to Maui. Just the three of us. No framily this time. We haven't done that in forever so it was different. Our framily went to the Bahamas and we decided to show Max Maui. 

We started the trip in a Waymo ride to the airport. This was my first time in a Waymo. For my WI readers, that's a driverless car. I will say, it was interesting.

After a long day we arrived, checked our our room and got dinner while we watched the sun set on the ocean.

The next day was a beach bum day. We snorkeled on the beach from our resort and saw plenty of cool fish. Max saw a puffer fish and they both saw an eel. We saw multiple turtles this week. We also saw a group of dolphins playing and jumping out of the water. It was so cool.

That night we watched the sunset from our beach. I didn't know Andy was so into watching sunsets because we watched them every night from the beach. 

The next day we had family photos taken. The photographer took us to an amazing cliff for the photos. It was extremely windy so I had to tie my hair back. That is not a good look, but the photos ended up turning out awesome. I am very happy with them and will be replacing the photos on my wall with the new ones. I have not received the final edited photos yet, but trust me, they look great!

That night we hit up the foot trucks that were a short 20 minute walk from the resort. This is where we got some really good food all week. 

The next day we snorkeled in the morning and saw some more cool fish.

Then we spent the afternoon at the pool.

Nightly sunset before we listened to live music by the pool with some cold drinks.

September Things

 I took Max to Bingo night at his school. Normally he doesn't like to go to this event, but since it's his last year in Elementary school he decided it was a good idea. We didn't win, but we had fun. Max had the worst bingo card I had ever seen. One of his cards only had two numbers called through that game. I've never seen such a bad card. We had a good laugh over that.

Andy and I collected our winnings from the Campbells. Every year we play March Madness against them and the losing team has to pay for dinner at Ocean 44. We won this year and our calendars finally aligned and we had a fabulous meal. It was also great to catch up with them because I feel like we never see them anymore.

Notice how the restaurant put Congrats Winners on the dessert plate?

I am back teaching Art Masterpiece at Max's school. This will be the last year since the district does offer art in junior high. The kids learned about King Tut and made their own masks. This is always fun to see Max in his element at school with friends.

I received Max's Fall school picture. He looks so adorable here!

I took Max to breakfast at his school for their Breakfast with Buddies day. This was the last day before Fall break started. Normally, Max doesn't attend this because he likes to eat more than a donut and a banana for breakfast, but he wanted to this time since it's his last year. 

That same day was the first quarter awards day at the school. Max received the honor roll award and PACK award for his good behavior. We are very proud of him because he worked hard to get on the
honor roll.

Congrats to the Tunas!

 In early August, we took a quick flight to WI to celebrate Tayler and Batu. They got married two years ago and had a backyard wedding celebration. Of course, we couldn't miss this, so we headed to the Midwest. 

We stayed in Janesville since it was close to the wedding fun. We went to a winery for a tasting, and Max got the best soft pretzel he ever had. We then ventured to a local bar & restaurant on the lake. This was a typical WI place and I was loving it. There was live music and the food was great! It was a long day so we headed back to the hotel to get some rest for the big party.

We spent that Saturday in Janesville at my aunt's house visiting with Tayler and Batu,
and the rest of the family.

My aunt and I surprised the couple with a champagne toast and a speech. I struggled a bit getting through it because Tayler started crying. This, of course, caused her to get emotional too. 

Tayler has grown into an amazing woman and I am so proud of her. She found a partner in life with Batu and I couldn't be happier for the both of them.

We had a great time in Janesville celebrating the happy couple. After some games, we headed back to the hotel to get some much-needed sleep before our early flight in the morning. 

Happy Birthday to Me!

 Another year around the sun and another fantastic birthday celebrated with Andy and Max. We started the day at Andretti with indoor go-kart racing. Max was excited because he is now 12 and can race on the bigger track. This was a lot of fun.

Andy bragged the rest of the day about how he got first place out of all the racers.

We had sushi for dinner at our new favorite sushi restaurant near our house. This place is so good and is our new go-to place since Sakana closed.

The boy sang to me, and I blew out my candles on my favorite gluten-free cake.

Time certainly goes by fast, but I am glad to spend it with Andy and Max!

First Day of School

 Max and I returned from WI a couple of days earlier than Andy so we could attend Meet the Teacher. As a sixth grader, Max now has all four teachers, one for each core subject. This is to prepare them for junior high. Max only wanted to meet his homeroom teacher, and he was ready to leave. It might have been because it was beyond HOT in the library, or because he was looking forward to his dinner date with me.

We had a nice time at our new favorite sushi spot, talking about the upcoming sixth-grade year.

It's the first day of sixth grade and Max grew just over two inches taller than the first day of fifth grade. He's pretty proud of this...so is Andy. He is just a quarter inch under 5' 4" tall. Which is taller than most my family. Ha Ha!

He doesn't have his core group of friends in his class like he had last year, but that's ok. I let Max know that will be the case in junior high too. You can't guarantee to be with your friends and this will prepare him for that. Here's to a fantastic year of school, finishing his final year at elementary school. How is this even possible????

Camp WI: Round 2

 On July 5th we flew out to WI so Max could spend a week visiting his grandparents and we could all spend time with family in cooler weather. 

The first part of the week, Max spent in SP with Grandpa T, Grandma V and his cousin Kyle. Max requested to go fishing, so they went fishing one day and a movie the other day. Max again caugth the first fish of the day.

One night we made pizzas on the smoker and played Uno where Grandma V won overall. 

Then Max headed to Grandma L's house for a couple of days. They went to a museum together and the Madison Zoo.

The last part of Camp WI was spent at Grandpa T and Grandma S's house. One night we went to a good ol' WI supper club for dinner.

One day they went swimming and to see the new Superman movie. Of course lunch at Chipotle first. 

Max taught Beau about Mario Kart and Beau is now a big fan.

Tayler stopped by and it's always good to see her. Max is officially 3 inches taller than his cousin. 

We celebrated Grandpa T's birthday, and Max helped prep the meat for the smoker.

It was another successful Camp WI week. Until next summer!