I am blogging from my deck while enjoying a gorgeous sunset, lit tiki torches, the occasional mosquito (okay, so maybe I am not enjoying that part) and a cold one. The day finally turned into something magnificent after we endured above 90 degrees for the past two days in a row. Not that I am complaining, because heaven knows that this is better than -30 degrees. It was so hot yesterday that I broke down and purchased a kiddie pool for the backyard to cool Benjamin and I down a bit. We both enjoyed splashing around in it for a while before Daddy got home from work.

As you can see in my previous post about this weekend, we were busy but not terribly so. Earlier in the week, on Monday, I decided to clear out the house of all unnecessary items and put on a garage sale. I gathered all of the misc items and furniture we wanted to sell and organized it for our grand opening Friday morning. The weather looked like possible rain, so I put up all of the tables inside the garage in a nice configuration for those stopping by to see our wares. Friday's crowd was full of garage sale professionals ready to buy some goods and eager to make deals. But Saturday was the cleanup crew. We went into the day wanting to at very least sell the last few furniture pieces that were left, which we did.

To celebrate Father's Day, Mike decided that he wanted to take a little road trip down to LaCrosse, Wisconsin Saturday afternoon. It was his choice to pick whatever he wanted to do, so he chose the Pearl Street Brewery tour, picking up food at the co-op and picnicking at Riverside Park down by the waterside. We have always adored LaCrosse and we had a great time visiting once again. The brewery tour was okay. We did get to try a bunch of their beers though and the price of their 6 packs was very reasonable. I won't go into it, but the tour guide was - um, interesting. As always the co-op in LaCrosse puts ours to shame, especially their prepared foods/deli section. Benjamin and I enjoyed sloppy Josephines, which were made from textured vegetable protein - awesome! Mike had a goat cheese and roasted red pepper sandwich on a delicious baguette.

We had originally planned on camping somewhere near LaCrosse Saturday night, but were unsure of the weather and also unsure of how hard it would be to find an open campsite. But we came up with a solution. Mike and Benjamin put up the tent in our backyard and after all three of us sat around the campfire for a while, they both camped out in the tent for the night. I got to sleep inside. I woke up early and surprised them with a newspaper, coffee, chocolate milk and a bagel from the gas station. They were very happy and actually slept very well during the night. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and dining at our favorite place. I think Mike enjoyed his father's day very much.

We have a very big weekend ahead of us. Benjamin turns the big #4 on Saturday and Mike runs his first triathlon on Sunday. We are all preparing for the weekend and can't wait to celebrate with Benjamin.