One week in...

and we are moving out of temporary rental #1 and into temporary rental #2.  Ugh.  The owner here has been a little volatile.  She notified us last night at 8:30pm that we'd have to move out today.  As in, less than 24 hours notice.  We got her to agree to Sunday.  Back to the House Hunters comparison, none of the previous 3 housing options ended up working out.  We went back and forth with the owners of our first choice to the point of nausea.  The property manager said one thing and the owners came back with another totally different term.  Out of frustration, we decided to stop playing that game.  It just felt dirty.
Instead, we have a really good option just north of Danforth Avenue, which is a fantastic location. 
Click here to learn about: Danforth Village
The only hitch, which was revealed this morning, is that the current tenants, who have been there for 2 years, can't move into their new home until Sept 22nd, which is a week later than originally discussed.  Something about contractors...you know how that goes!  So, if we want to take it (and it's probably our only option left at this point since we've notified everyone else of our decision), we will have to move at least 2 more times before it's ours. 
In the meantime, we've found a condo building in Mississauga (west of Toronto) operated by Pelican Canada, which caters to corporate clients and can take us for a week.  Here's hoping the condo is available for an additional week.  Fingers crossed, please.

In Max News:
After one full week of total exhaustion, Max has finally taken a full nap!  In fact, he's on nap #2 today!  Yippee!  To top that off, my amazing husband got up with him this morning so I could sleep in!  I don't think I've done that yet.  I feel like a new woman! 
Here is the face of a well-rested Max:

And finally, a picture of Max helping David with his sales calls yesterday.  He makes quite the impression.

Maybe we should put him on the phone with the landlords to see if he can persuade them to move up our move-in date.  We'll keep you apprised. 

Oh Canada!

Here we are!  After two days of driving, and one stern border crossing guard's glare behind us, we've crashed in our new city.  I say 'crashed' because the place we're currently renting will not be our final home for our stay here.  It seemed like a decent option for a week.  The owner has walled off the kitchen, one bath, and a room off the living room for herself.  It feels really odd to have her living or working on all sides of us.  Technically it's private, but it just doesn't seem that way.  Not to mention, she has renters in the lower level too.  It's just a little uncomfortable.  So, from the moment the U-Haul dolly was returned, we've been to showing after showing of rental properties in the city.  It feels like an episode of House Hunters on HGTV.  We've got Option 1 - the Leslieville Townhouse on the east side of Toronto close to the action but also the most expensive Option 2 - the small High Park Semi-detached on the west side, and Option 3 - the Midtown Mystery (so-called a mystery because we haven't yet seen it in person).  Which one will we choose?  We hope to know the answer to that question in the next day or so.   It really would be nice to be able to unpack.  And buy groceries. 

Before we left Milwaukee, my godmother gave me this terrific travel journal that I set aside for our journey to Canada and beyond.  Shoot if I didn't pack it somewhere for safekeeping and now can't find it!  It's somewhere.  And here we are in Toronto.  I'll have to keep memorizing all the best parts of our trip until the journal reveals itself.   
Max has done amazingly well with the transition.  He was a total rock star on the road.  Napped well, ate well, and is now doing great with his new surroundings.   Max is still working on coordinating his legs/arms with crawling.  Still a bit of a bumpy inchworm movement, but he'll get there soon.  Baby gates are definitely on the list once we move into our more permanent digs.  

Max in his new travel high chair

The video above is of Max in his Johnny Jump Up.  He doesn't yet know it's a Jump Up.  He thinks it's for swinging in circles.  Silly.

Speaking of a more permanent place, once we find our home in Toronto, we will be ready for visitors!  I bet you've always wanted to see some Behrs in Canada!

Color Me Happy

The Color Run - with Flying Colors Style

My brother's girlfriend, Kristine, invited me to run a race with her this summer.  Before she mentioned it, I had never heard of The Color Run, and after seeing the promotional videos online, I thought, "HOW COOL! Sign me up!"  It was to be Milwaukee's inaugural year.  We put together a team for the race which included: Kristine, her friend Jaime, my friend Shannon, and me. 
Last Friday night, the four of us met at Miller Park, donning white from head to toe, and impatiently waited in a crowd of 10,000 for the race to start.  I don't usually get that excited to run a race.  Anxious, yes, excited, no.  Let me tell you why:

1. It is not timed.  No timing chips or race clocks or shot gun starts.  Just a lot of music and fun.
2. It's the self-proclaimed "Happiest 5K on the Planet."  Who doesn't want to be happy?
3. It was at Miller Park.  oh yeah!
4. You start off with a white tee shirt (and a white tutu, if you like)...

...and finish looking like, um, well here, take a look for yourself:

Sportin' the Color Look

Our Color Run Team - Flying Colors

It really was one of the happiest runs I've done.  The Boulder Bolder would be right up there too.  We've already got our outfits picked out for next time.  Nope, not telling.  It wouldn't be fun to spoil the surprise, so you'll just have to check back in a year. 

The clean up took a bit of strategy and a lot of soap and water!  Shannon actually had a wedding to go to the next day.  I'm wondering if her pink nose matched her heels and handbag.  Kristine said her patients noticed her pink hairline and blue elbows the next day.  As for me, the color fits right in with my already crazy neon sneakers, so no worries.

Here are a few more shots from the night:

Kristine and I get one last picture before the clean-up begins

Visits

Behr Family visit to Green Lake

The weather has been so much cooler in the last week.  The mornings are not quite crisp like Fall, but I have already noticed some of the trees on our block have started changing color.  I now have to pack a light blanket and a hat for Max on our morning walks, but by the time we are on our way back home, we're peeling off layers.  This is the time of year when I don't know if I should be excited for Fall to come or sad to see Summer go.  Maybe both.
Max and I took an hour-long walk this morning and I couldn't help thinking of how much we've enjoyed our visits with friends and family in the last two weeks and how much there still is to do in the next two weeks before we leave here!

We were fortunate to have my friend Lindsey from Denver stay with us for a long weekend.  Lindsey is a dear friend of mine whom I met through Cooking Club.  She was generous enough to share her well-earned vacation time with us so we could show her around Milwaukee and introduce her to some of our favorite people and places.  We started off her visit with breakfast at Alterra (of course), a trip to the Milwaukee Art Museum to see the Posters of Paris exhibit, and a stop at the lakefront.  On Friday night, we got together with my family at Quit Qui Oc Golf Course in Elkhart Lake for a traditional Friday fish fry and birthday celebration for my brother, Biagio.  You can't find a real  Wisconsin fish fry anywhere but Wisconsin in my experience (although supposedly there is a Packer bar near Denver that claims to have one) so I've been taking advantage of these while we're here.  We spent Saturday and part of Sunday in Kiel enjoying some time with family.   It was so much fun to have all of my siblings back home at the same time.  I think Lindsey may have actually enjoyed all the commotion.   And I'm pretty sure she'll never forget the night-time mushroom hunt in the woods.  Yep, who doesn't love those?!  What, you think we only tip cows in Wisconsin?  Ha!

Happy Birthday, Biagio!

What is that?!

Giant Puffball mushroom

Great Great Aunty Jo with Max and Canaan

A walk down Millhome Lane

Last Wednesday, David's family started arriving for the Behr family visit.  David's brother, Steve, his wife, Julie, and kids flew in from Texas, David's Dad (we missed you, Mom!) arrived from Washington, and his sister, Laura, came in from Florida.  I was so excited to be able to share my home with David's family and show them where I grew up.  After spending a day in the city, we were able to find a last-minute cottage rental on Green Lake, so I forced everyone to pack up their things and we drove them out there for 2 nights so they could see why Green Lake is my favorite place on Earth.  The water had cooled off a bit since July 4th, but everyone got in at Norwegian Bay.  Even little Abby (19 months), who much prefers the warmer waters of the Texas pools.  Laura braved the cold after the rainstorm on Sunday and joined us for our traditional "jump in the middle of the lake" to end our lake season.  She took the crown for biggest splash with her Can Opener jump off the back of the boat and therefore gets an automatic invitation back next summer to defend her title.  Yeah, it's kind of like The Masters.

David, his Dad, and Laura at Big Bay Park

A Behr Family Picnic at the Lakefront

Laura, Julie and Abby

Reflecting

Max and Opa clowning around

Jack takes a swimming break

Baaaaaalllllll

Julie, Abby, Jack, me, Max and Opa

Has it been 30 minutes yet?

David and Max practice crawling

Behr Family with Rita

A very serious game of Bocce

A Wisconsin skyline - see the rainbow?

All summer, I've appreciated how wonderful it feels to be in such a familiar spot.  I love feeling really comfortable with the area, the people, the culture.  I've taken in the beauty of our surroundings and slowly stored it away in my memory bank, and carefully packed it away in my heart.  Such a blessing to be here for the entire summer!  It can be exciting to see new places, meet new people, and try new things too, but it sure has been special to be home, sweet home.

We're looking forward to our last weekend in Wisconsin, which includes the Color Run on Friday night.  More to come on that.  On Monday, it's back to packing!

Going, going...

Gosh, we're getting close to summer's end!  It's August already!  We've had such a great time here so it's hard to think that we'll be leaving in a few short weeks, but it's true.  Why does it seem like our stay in Milwaukee will be so much shorter than other cities?  David keeps reminding me that we will have been here 2 weeks longer than Omaha.  I'm really thankful that I got to spend a full summer in my home state, just a few short miles from friends and family.  Makes me want to make the most of every last day we have before we leave...


This last weekend, my friends Steph and Jon, with their son Jack, hosted a pool party for our friends and kiddos that are here.  Sarah and her two little ones, Isaac and Audrey, were in town from St. Louis.  Jackie courageously ventured out of the house with her toddler, Charlotte, and newborn girl, Grace, on her own!  And Shannon finally introduced her beau, Ben, to the group!  Sadly, we missed out on seeing the Condons and the Weyenbergs.  The Condons just welcomed their second son, Andrew, only 2 short weeks ago.  And of course, I have to give a shout out to the Mazurs, who recently had their new baby girl, Addison Grace, and who live in Arizona, so couldn't be here.  As long as I'm listing non-attendees, our dear friends, the Scullys, are residing in Denver weren't able to make it either.  So it was a smaller group than expected, but we had such a great time playing in the water!  Thank you, Anackers, for putting on such an awesome day.  We hope this does become an annual event.  Too bad I don't have any pictures to share.  Maybe I can snag some from Stephy and post another time.


Max is on the move!  We've seen him set his sights on an object and go for it.  We rubbed our eyes and pinched our arms to make sure it was real.  Ouch.  Yep!  Sometimes he does the caterpillar and other times he can coordinate getting his knees under his body to actually crawl.  Either way, it's really fun to watch.  It won't be much longer until he gets it down pat.  This will be an adjustment for both of us.  I'm ready, but I'm not.  Better find some baby-proofing gear soon!
Max tries his new skill:

http://youtu.be/sIMtToa4gco
I can't figure out how to cut out the long middle...bear with us here.

We are really enjoying watching the Olympics.  I'll have to catch up on my sleep after the closing ceremony though.  I stay up way too long each night trying to watch all my favorite athletes compete.  Max is getting into it as well.  I think we may submit these pictures to the Olympic Committee to see if they will accept our cute little flag-bearer for 2016.  He'll certainly be more mobile then.  GO TEAM USA!

Max cheers for another USA gold medal!

Stats Update

Max's 6 month wellness visit was last week.  The pediatrician said he is right on track for growth and development.  He gave me the green light to run with Max in the stroller, despite the new guidelines saying to wait until 8 months.  He believes this restriction is based on injuries that occur from parents who run with infants in non-running strollers.  As long as the surface is smooth, we're good to go!  Also, he encouraged us to drop our late-evening feeding cold turkey.  We tried it that night, and now the little guy is sleeping a full 12 hours and hasn't looked back!  Way to go, Maximilian! We all love our sleep!

Here are Max's stats at 6 months:
Head Circumference: 16.7 inches (25%)
Length: 27 inches (75%)
Weight: 16 pounds, 15.5 ounces (50%)

After a rough day of napping challenges followed by his 6-month shots, Max calls it quits on the way home.

Green Lake 2012

Our Green Lake Family

We were so fortunate to spend another summer on Green Lake in Wisconsin.  This year, so that we could share our time with our entire Green Lake family, which includes our family and our friends, the Usedoms, we rented a home and cottage on the Southeast side of the lake.  We wanted to have enough room for them to stay with us.  The Usedoms grew up in the house right next door to our old summer rental, on the West side of the lake, in an area known as the Princeton Cottages.  For 18 years, we have jumped in and out of each other's boats to go water-skiing, tubing, and wake-boarding.  We have shared meals together outside of our cottages overlooking the lake.  And we have caravanned to the middle of the lake to watch the fireworks together year after year.  The Usedoms still have their home right next to our old cottage.  You know the old saying, "There is no place like home."  And that was true again this year.  If I could only don my ruby heels and tap them together...
The home and cottage we rented this summer, although in theory large enough to accommodate our group, was not quite what we expected.  It was a very old home, previously part of one of the original hotels on the lake...and, seemingly untouched in many a year.   Dusty, dark, and dirty.  During our week out there, we found many clues that indicated the owners were largely unaware of how their home was being taken care of.  They live in California, and trust the maintenance and management to a local group.  The dirty dishes were one, the dirty floors another.  A mouse nest underneath the range top in the back cottage...yuk.  But to top it off, a dead bird under one of the twin beds? Just disgusting.  Needless to say, we promptly requested our cleaning fees returned in addition to our security deposit.  Don't get me wrong, we don't need much when we stay at the lake.  Our old cottage was less than simple - a few beds scattered throughout the place, one bathroom, a kitchen.  No luxuries, except for the TV, which didn't make an appearance until a few years ago.  Who needs it all when you've got the lake to keep you busy, right?  Well, that has always been our theme during the summer and I would love to keep it that way.  We like it simple, but we also prefer the inside clean and the wildlife outdoors,   Call me crazy, but I doubt we'll be asked to write a review. 

Aside from those little surprises, we really did enjoy our week out there.  There was a lot of boating, swimming, a golf outing, and of course, the annual Bocce Ball Tourney.  Wait, hold up.  I can't mention golf without giving a shout-out to Mary Usedom, who got a HOLE-IN-ONE during our golf outing!  Whoop whoop!  We had record temperatures this year, with the heat index hovering around 108 degrees.  And with no air conditioning in the house or cottage except for one room, we spent most of our time neck-deep in the lake, which was the warmest I've ever experienced in all my time out there.   For a lake as deep as Green Lake, which is usually just a few degrees warmer than chilly, it was a real treat. 

The flag from Mary's Hole in One.  Mary and Rick

Squaring off in Bocce Finals

Horsing around

Max with Uncle Dominic

Max and JJ hang out

Vincent, Rick and Dominic

Since we were on the SE side of the lake, we could watch the fireworks from the dock.  Some of us even observed right from the water!  The fireworks show was beautiful as always.  This year's event marked the 4th anniversary of our engagement and Max's 1/2 birthday too! We hope this will be the first of many summers on Green Lake for Max.  We've always wanted our children to grow up around water.  Having a home (or renting one) on a lake is a dream of mine for my children because it has been one of those precious memories for me.  Max certainly took to the water, which makes all three of us happy.  It was so much fun to watch him kick and splash and chase after water toys while floating in his canopied swim raft.  It was like he was just waiting to return to the water after a 6-month hiatus outside the womb! 

Max and Canaan at Norwegian Bay

Next year, we decided to rent a home just down the shore from our old cottage.  We'll be in the same bay we grew up on.   Since rentals go fast, we already have it pegged so we won't be stuck with another less-than-desirable option.   To mark the anniversary of another summer with our great Lake Family, the Usedoms lovingly purchased an engraved paving stone at the new marina.  The stone will be revealed later this Fall.  So thoughtful!  It will be fun to see it there year after year when we make our ice cream runs to the parlor.  I think Dad would have really liked that.  I'm sure he was watching our vacation with a twinkle in his eye.

Thank you all for another fun summer vacation on Green Lake!  We love you guys and can't wait for next year!

Max and I with my sister Cristina and Canaan

Max with Mommy

Rick, grilling lunch from his perch

First Bites

Max tried his first bites of solid food on the first day of Summer! Introducing solid foods is such a huge milestone for baby and parents alike.  As I've said before, Max seemed to be showing readiness way before I was emotionally ready for him to be.  I figured he'd have years of eating ahead of him so there was no need to rush into it.  Part of my hesitation was that I wanted to be sure I knew how to start him off on a food journey that included healthy eating habits.  I've looked into several books and websites and of course, I have my nursing education as well.  There is so much conflicting information out there about when to start, what to start with, how long to wait in between, etc.  Now that we've got a good foundation, I've found a few resources that I really like: Momtastic's Wholesome Baby Food, The Healthy Baby Meal Planner, and Super Baby Food.
The brown rice cereal was a hit.  Since then, we've tried rice cereal with mashed bananas, sweet potatoes, pear, avocado, and mango.  Max's faves are sweet potato, avocado and mango.  Here are a few pics of our first adventures in gastronomy:

Getting psyched up for the event

Day 2: Already using the spoon on his own.