Family Time: A 5K, Billy Joel, and a Wedding

Wisconsin in June is perfect. It's not too hot yet, which keeps both the mosquitoes down and those pesky tourists from the south. Originally the trip was planned around my brother's wedding at the family island in northern Wisconsin. The trip soon ballooned to add another week when we heard Billy Joel was coming to town. Add a few days here and there for travel and suddenly a quick weekend trip turned into ten days for me and almost twenty for Matt. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

How a weatherman spends his summer vacation: chasing hail

One day in mid-June, Matt and I kissed Zoey and the chickens goodbye and headed east. It's always a full day adventure and we never know if we'll make it the day we planned. Some people have fantastic travel luck and never experience a major delay. We are not those people. Instead of lamenting a thirty minute delay here or there, we are pleasantly surprised when we arrive the day we were originally scheduled. That happened to be this trip. No delays, no turbulence. Yay!

Post run stretching on the dock. Oh yes.

My mom took a few days off of work so she could hang out with us at my sister's place. Adding my sister's boyfriend to the group, all five of us ran a 5K in the sweltering morning heat (race report coming soon) of Appleton, Wisconsin. I've never pushed so hard in a 5K and seriously thought I'd collapse at the end.

That night, we had a date with Billy Joel at Lambeau Field. I'm pretty sure I began listening to Billy Joel's music in the womb. I grew up singing along in the car and later bonking out tunes on the piano myself. It was so perfect that my mom and I got to share this experience. The concert was incredible and I'm so happy we made the decision to add a full week to our trip for this!

The next morning, the heat wave broke. The entire next week was cool and rainy for our camping trip. Of course it was. We grabbed a rental car and pointed ourselves north to Bayfield, a small community nestled on the Wisconsin shores of Lake Superior. We spent three full days there with a college friend before rejoining our family. (I hope to write more about this later too. So much to catch up on!)

Dinner and Leine's  in the car.

Well into her ninth decade, my grandma is still living at home and spunky as ever. We joined my dad at her house for a quick overnight visit. When I got up the next morning at what I thought was an early hour, she was already in the living room, pedaling away on an exercise bike while saying the rosary in her nightgown. I want to grow up to be like her. :)

Since our trip was the day before a big family reunion (my dad is one of twelve kids), we were able to visit with a few of my favorites. When my cousin Shaun (we lived with him and his wife in Alaska when we first moved to Fairbanks) came over with his family, he plopped down in the chair next to me and asked, "Karen, do you want to go with us to Dairy Queen?" I knew there was a reason he's my favorite. We were able to sneak away before a hundred other family members descended on my dad's poor unsuspecting hometown.

Cousin Sami, Grandma and I making PB Banana French Toast.

Already a week into our trip, we finally came to the main event: my brother's wedding. It was a busy and stressful few days like every other wedding, but Matt and I managed a little time to ourselves to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary the day before. Ten miles with my forever running buddy was the perfect activity for us!

We made too many trips across the lake shuttling supplies and people, but in the end, it was a perfect day. The rain even stopped for a few hours so Chris and Monica could have an outdoor ceremony and photo shoot.

It was a beautiful ceremony, officiated by my mom herself, and now I've got my very own sister-in-law with whom to share embarrassing Chris stories. I'm sure we've both got plenty!

Siblings.

They just moved to Oregon so I'm very excited! :)

Floating toast to the happy couple!

Before I knew it, I was stuffing myself in another tiny airplane seat and headed back west. Matt stayed in Chicago for another week to visit with his family and I returned to Zoey. Family time always passes too quickly!