Best Summer Ever!

As many of you are already aware, I started a new career with the Kaukauna Police Department this past May.  The change has brought many changes to our family.  We have had to make adaptations to a temporary cut in pay.  I have had to make personally sacrifices in my career, such as giving up being a SWAT officer, suddenly going to the bottom of the totem pole in seniority, and have missed out on a lot of advanced training opportunities.  With all that being said, the benefits has truly outweighed the negatives.  First, I have been able to bike to work on about 90% of my work days, which oddly enough, has always been important to me (don't ask me why).  Secondly, I am now working for a city, which brings different challenges, tactics, and generally is just a different beast.  I felt that working for a city over a county was a better fit for me, personally, and I was correct.  In addition to both of those, I am so close to home, that I am able to quickly stop home during lunch breaks when time allows.  But, by far, the best change has been the schedule.  During my work week I work longer hours, but that affords me more time off to spend with my family.

With all the extra time off, Sarah and I truly took advantage of it by several family trips.  Some of them were just simple day trips, while others were 4-5 days "excursions" around the great state of Wisconsin.  Some of the trips included our annual trip to the Manawa Rodeo and a Brewers' game, where we saw a great game between the Brewers and White Sox (the Brewers won 7-10).  In addition to the Brewers', we went camping three times to three different state parks; Point Beach, Devil's Lake, and Governor Thompson.  We also took a couple weekend trips to La Crosse to visit our best friends in Minnesota and another to Wisconsin Dells.

Without question, this past summer was the best summer we have had as a family.  We really set the bar high for future summers!  Below is a video I put together from all our memories from these trips.  The video does not contain any pictures from simple events that took place over the summer that also made this past summer one of the best ever, but only pictures from our FAMILY adventures.  There are no pictures from the numerous trips to The Mulberry Lane Farm in Hilbert, WI.  Nor does it contain pictures to splash pads, local pools/swim lakes, or other short adventures done as a single parent family.  So I hope you enjoy the video!

As always, thanks for reading and following!
Cheers!

A Summer to Remember

Here is a (somewhat) short video with a bunch of pictures capturing one of the best summer's my family has had in a while.  We did just about everything possible and then some in the short 3-4 months of summer here in Wisconsin.  As sad as we are to see Summer go, we are all looking forward to what fall has in store!

If the video isn't working on the website, here is the link: http://youtu.be/u7E9Qk0qDO8 

2013 Year End Video

Just a simple video created with Windows Movie Maker.  All pictures and videos were taking in 2013 and are in somewhat chronological order.

2013 Ironman Wisconsin in Pictures

Yea, yea, yea, I'm aware that it has been nearly 3 months since the race.  But, I finally got around to putting together a video of some of the race day pictures from my day.