Sauk Creek 2012

Our family loves to explore. -- The Sauk Creek Nature Preserve is one of those places that we like to visit time and time again.

The creek

Going down by the water

The bridge

Watching the water

Another shot of the bridge

Sonya & Caleb

My handsome husband

A bit of heaven on earth

One of my favorites -- it really captures the beauty of Sauk Creek

Stopping to smell the lilacs

Just a dandelion - not that we need to go beyond our yard to see those

Spring leaves

The roaring waters

Going out on a "limb"

An attempt at a good photo

"Whoa!"

Daddy sitting with Sonya

That was short lived

A trail

Branches ambling towards the creek

A little fort

Playing with sticks

My walking shoes -- These feet were made for walking

A not so great close-up of flowers

Heading home

Pie in the Face

Caleb got through all his memory verses in his AWANA book this year. So he earned the opportunity to pie one of the leaders in the face. This would've been fun to watch, but Caleb's uncle Peter was getting married the same day as the AWANA carnival. Luckily, Grandma Nikolai and Aunt Kelly volunteered to be victims. Enjoy the photos!

Thanks for being such good sports!

A mini get-away

Saturday, we dropped the kids off at my parents and headed off for our mini get-away. We began our adventure by shopping in Fond du Lac -- found a few gifts for Sonya's birthday, laughed at some of the ridiculous clothes in the mall, and stopped by a furniture store to get some ideas for our bedroom. 

We got shakes at Culvers -- yum!

Then headed over to Mayville, WI

We checked in at The Audubon Inn

We stayed in Room 16 -- The Chickadee Room

Our lovely room

Sitting area

A whirlpool tub -- so nice and relaxing!

Out in the lounge area

In the stairwell

Since our reservations for dinner weren't until 6:30, we took a walk by the river. The weather was absolutely perfect for a walk.

The bridge

The frozen river

A memorial -- and a tribute to the recently fallen soldier from Mayville

We got back to the Inn with plenty of time to spare so we watched a few episodes of "Friends." haha -- It's been a while since I've seen that show. The characters just crack me up.

Dinner was lovely -- Tim had Osso Buco and I had Shrimp Scampi. Later on in the evening, we tested out the hot tub and enjoyed a few snacks that Tim brought along.

Did you know that a nightstand drawer makes a great little serving tray?

We woke up to eat a continental breakfast in the pub downstairs and took a drive through the kettles on the way back to my parents. It was just a nice time to be alone with Tim and have uninterrupted conversation and we were both awake enough to make sense out of what we were saying. I can't wait until we get to do this again. :-)