A couple weekends ago it warmed up into the 60s, so Paul and I decided we'd better get out and enjoy it. We knew it could be the last warm day for a long, long time, and we were determined to take advantage of that.

The kids, on the other hand, couldn't have been less interested. At the suggestion of an outing we got the eye roll times three. Going somewhere on a nice day, apparently, proved what they'd already guessed: we are the stupidest parents on the face of the earth. Enjoy a mild day when there are video games to be played, sibling fights to be had, and food in the refrigerator? Were we CRAZY?

Not entirely.

Because we weren't in the mood to drag them through the arboretum, their incessant whining and foot dragging (NEVER let your children know how annoying this is – trust me) making life a living hell, we left them home and went by ourselves. It was almost like re-living our pre-children days. Back when we enjoyed something we called "sanity."

And there was much rejoicing.

This weekend turned out to be even warmer, so we pried them away
from home for a drive to the Lake Geneva, WI area, to spend an afternoon enjoying the sun and seeing what we could see.

We began with the Yerkes Observatory,
now unfortunately defunct, existing for the sole purpose of being
beautiful and hosting the occasional program. Had we gone yesterday, we could have taken a tour. The best we could do Sunday was walk around outside and take photos. And we all know how I hate that.

My question: how did they produce the carvings? Medieval cathedrals took generations upon generations to build. Surely everything on this building isn't hand-carved. That would have taken forever to complete.

Hey, I'm almost a librarian! Surely I can find this one out… Pretty sad if I can't.

In any event, it's a lovely building. We'll head back there some Saturday in the winter, when we're looking for something to do. Then we can take the tour and see what's inside all that pretty.

And wouldn't you know it, another unusually mild day today, too, with another promised for tomorrow. So of
course it's back to work and school. But it's cloudy today, and
supposed to be rainy tomorrow. Looks like we actually had good luck
with the weather this time. Could the Apocalypse be far behind? Stay tuned…