Fall Frisco Day Trip

In mid-September we took a trip up to the mountains to experience the fall colors up there.  It's a good thing we did, too, because fall went fast in Colorado this year with most of the leaves changing and dropping quick and early and our first snow that came in early October.  

But back to our trip up to Frisco.  We hiked two trails, one before lunch and one after.  Neither was super duper long, but hiking both definitely made the kids tired by the end of our day.  In between hikes we stopped at a brewery that has been on Chris' list for awhile now, Outer Range.  

Lily Pad Lake hike

 

 

 

 

 

Outer Range brewery

We grabbed some food next door and enjoyed lovely mountain views

Found a gorgeous park for the kids to run around and play a bit after lunch.  

 

Then the second hike to Rainbow Lake

 

It was a lovely day in every way.  

Cincinnati Easter- Part 6- Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday was spent as usual at Aunt Winnie's house prepping everything for the big Easter celebration the following day.  

Elise and Ava both succumbed to the flu and laid in bed most of the day.  Kayla was feeling better and was up for the better part of the day.  Sophie and Kolbe ran around as happy go lucky as usual.  

Sophie was pretty excited to help Uncle Nicholas and awesome Uncle Mark fill the confetti eggs. 

And she was really good at it too!

Awesome Uncle Mark and Aunt Colleen were able to stop by and chat and hang out which was such a fun time.  I felt bad that we were exposing everyone to a plague, but I was genuinely amazing and grateful that family was so willing to come and visit and take the chance simply because they wanted to see us and we had come so far.  Thank you, all.  

Ava got up from her sleep briefly to participate in a picture and flower headband making (below). 

During the day, Chris, his dad, and many of his brothers visited a couple local breweries together.  While they were having some guy time, we continued to finish up prepping for the Easter brunch. 

 Chris' brother, Patrick's wife, Laura , came over with their daughter.  Aunt 'Tambourine', as my kids have (for no apparent reason) dubbed her, brought along supplies to help the girls make their own sweet little flower headbands.  One of Winnie's sons, Don, came over and joined the estrogen fest.  He is just great with kids and jumped right in helping Kayla dye hard boiled eggs.  

Aunt Winnie began feeling poorly and went to rest in her room, but she shooed us off to the neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  (The other) Laura and I and Don took several kiddos over (the ones who were feeling well).  They enjoyed coloring bags to collect the eggs, playing little games, and hunting.  

 

These are a few pictures Don took when we rode over to the other side of the neighborhood for the hunt with him in his new truck.  

 

Kayla spent a good deal of time when Michael was around listening to him play and asking him to teach her some simple songs.  He obliged and she came home with a few tunes that she bangs out on our very tiny, very off key, somewhat broken toy piano.  It's pretty cute.  

For dinner we all enjoyed a Cincinnati favorite, Skyline Chili (Thanks Don and Aunt Winnie!)

After kids were put to bed and most people left for the day, we had some time with Scott and his girlfriend, Makayla.  Our job was to fill the eggs for the big Easter egg hunt at Aunt Winnie's.  We also filled the pinata and had a lot of good laughs together.  

And thus, we were prepared for the big party-- Easter at Aunt Winnie's 2018

OktoBEERfest 2017

Another fun OktoBEERfest in the books. 

This year we tried a different strategy.

Simplify.

We made a couple beer dips, a main dish, and dessert.
And we asked guests to get creative too and bring a beer dish, or "dippers", or a 6-pack (whichever made most sense to them with their life and schedule).

Chris and I have been become quite the team with OktoBEERfest in the 5 years we've done it. We brainstorm together. We plan together.  We clean together.  We cook together. 
And after having gained the experience of a few years' mistakes and pitfalls for this event, we now have a lot of fun doing all those things because we aren't stressed and worried that things won't get done anymore.  We know what works and what doesn't (or at least have a pretty good idea) and we know what we can handle.  

This year we simplified so much that I didn't need to spend several days in the kitchen prepping foods.  We chose a couple easy-to-put-together beer dips and a few crock pot recipes.  We worked together and got the crock pot stuff going in the morning.  

As usual, Chris carefully looked over our recipe choices and went to the liquor store a few days before to search out just the beers he wanted for each.  

Early afternoon, we prepped some of the dips (they would later be transferred to the oven and small crock pots to heat up).  I also baked the brownies in the afternoon. 

Decor was fairly simple.  Mini pumpkins and some pretty green flowers I found on clearance plus the mum plant that Chris gave me last year just before we had Kolbe was blooming fall colors nicely.  A simple write-up of the menu was made so guests would know what they were eating.  

There everything is, heating and cooking.  

Last year we had a big separation of the guys and gals because Chris' beer is on tap outside in our garage and the guys would end up just hanging out out there when they went to grab a beer.  This year, we decided to use growlers to bring the beer inside in a way that would be easily accessible and keep the group all in the house.  Food and drink all in one area, so everyone could easily eat and drink what they liked and visit at the same time.  

We had a few babies at the event who were very cute.  

The Main Course

 was made up of two kinds of tacos.  

Stout Beef Barbacoa Tacos-- Beer used: Ska Brewing Autumnal Mole Stout

The review: A delicious recipe though we had to make adjustments because we couldn't find all the types of chile pods that the recipe called for.  We also didn't want anything to be too spicy, so Chris eyed the chipotles in adobo sauce and the amount he chose was perfect.  A little kick, but nothing that was going to make anyone cry.  

Beer Braised Chicken Tacos-- Beer used: Upslope Outside Denali IPA

The review: Super simple to make, good flavor, and a nice milder second taco meat style to give a little variety but still stay with the taco theme.  

Appetizers 

were dips with various "dippers". 

Once again we made the Corn and Cotija Beer Cheese Dip-- Beer used: Chris' fresh hop IPA

The review: Delicious.  Last month when there was a huge corn on the cob sale, we bought a bunch, Chris smoked it, and then we cut it off the cobs and froze a bunch of it.  It made the recipe all that much more delightful this year.  

We also tried a Sriracha Bacon Beer Cheese Dip this year. -- Beer used: Liquid Mechanics Altbier

The review: Another delicious dip recipe.  We probably should have doubled it though as it only made about half as much as the other dip recipe.  

A friend brought  a 3rd dip (spinach and artichoke) and tortilla chips.  Another friend made soft pretzel bites (pictured above), and we had a tray of veggies for dipping as well.  

I didn't take any pictures of dessert, but we chose our favorite Stout Brownie Recipe. -- 

Beer used: Chris' blonde stout

The review: Delicious as always though with a slightly different taste this year as Chris' blonde stout has a chocolate-y AND coffee flavor which made for a fun switch up to our normal Chocolate Cherry Stout brownies.  

We were missing many wonderful friends this year as October was super busy for many, and I forgot to take pictures later in the evening as different people came and went, so the pictures don't show our full group, but we had a fun bunch and a great time.  

Thomas, Johanna, and Eleanor

Lizzie, Cate, and I

Chris (with our goddaughter), Nic, Mike, and Ryan

 

Ryan and Cate and Jane                                                  Mike and Emily and Therese

We even took a few pictures after the guests had all left and it was just the two of us again.  

This year, we really made it work so that it was still the event we wanted (with some fun, experimental beer dishes) but it wasn't stressful and didn't feel like a ton of work.  I am already excited for next year because it went so smoothly.  

Prost!  To the best husband around!  He brews delicious beers, is an incredible cook, and is my hugest help when we host parties.  And thanks to Aunt Winnie for the Cincinnati Oktoberfest t-shirts from many years ago.  We were honored to make them a part of the celebration.