MLK Weekend

We had a fabulous MLK weekend in beautiful Fargo!

We left right after school and work on Friday and made our way through some sketchy winter weather. Good news - we arrived safely in North Dakota by 10:00pm. First things first, unpacking the van and playing Uncle Brad's drum set.

We hit the hay and got up early on Saturday for some old school gaming fun. 

We gave sweet Conan love and attention - Grandpa Ken and Grammy Nola kept Ranger for the weekend. 

We had breakfast sandwiches and got ready for our day.

Our big plans? Watching the NDSU Indoor Track & Field event. I have never been to something like this - it was fun to see these college athletes do their thing!

We were cheering on our favorite shot putter - Paul! 

We met Jules and Austin at the stadium - Jules helped with the entertainment between throwing events. ;)

What a joy to watch our nephew/cousin Paul perform! 

Yay! Love seeing that face on the big screen. 

After a full afternoon track and field, Brad and Roman zipped home to let Conan out before supper. The L's + Parents spent our extra time exploring at Scheel's. Of course this kid found the arcade games right away. 

Oh yes, we spotted the shooting games too! 

Fargo Scheel's - we have missed you! Haha!

One piece of bad news to report - the ferris wheel was out of order on this day. Must have been the bitterly cold temperatures. ;)

We had dinner at Granite City - {side note, we were one of the few non-hockey groups in the restaurant! Wowza - Table after table filled with hockey teams and parents. We felt out of place - LOL} and then the kiddos took advantage of Austin and Jules' hotel stay by swimming and hot tubbing at the Residence Inn. 

We had originally planned to leave on Sunday but the weather was rotten {blizzard conditions and extremely cold temps} so we spent the day playing games, watching football and hanging out. Thanks again for hosting us, Uncle Brad!  

We did leave the house briefly to grab some groceries and watch a movie! The L's and Mom went to Zootopia 2.

These goofballs saw Anaconda. Roman raved about the movie and also complained about a patron who promptly fell asleep when the movie started and proceeded to snored LOUDLY on and off throughout the show. Geez! For the record, the snorer was not Dan or Brad. Heehee!

It was a wonderful long weekend - grateful for safe travels & for the extra family time! 

Life Lately - January Updates

We had a busy January at the Storm household. We kicked off the beginning of the new year in the best way - hosting a special friend birthday party for our big 7 year old! 

We gathered at 4 Treasures - an indoor playground in Eau Claire. We sent invites to Leo's entire 1st grade class, I wasn't sure how many would show up but had quite the crowd. I think we ended up with 16 kiddos. Whew! Thankfully no one was lost during this adventure. ;)

Here are some pictures of the crew during pizza time. 

God bless 1st grade teachers! Not my calling - Haha!

Here is Leo with some of his besties. 

Mama didn't have time to make a cute cake so we brought Costco cupcakes for the win!

Let's be real - this is how we really looked at the event! Full of sugar+ adrenaline, surrounded by a pack of friends and fun play equipment? Watch out! 

The next day Roman and I were up bright and early; we headed down the road to Thorp for a basketball tournament. 

Love watching my basketball champ!

Meanwhile Lucy was swimming at the Winter tournament in Chippewa Falls. 

She had a nice cheering section - Grandpa Ken, Grammy Nola, Dad, and Leo! 

On January Sundays we watch football - we had high hopes for our Packers.

Sigh - things did not work out for our beloved green and gold. Always a sad day when you have to throw your football season schedule in the trash. Whomp whomp.

We are so lucky that our kiddos have Grandparents who will do science experiments (AKA make a mess) with them! ;)

Lucy's Northstar swim team had their last big All School Meet of the season. You know that these goofy girls wrote all over each others' backs on the way to Menomonie. Permanent Markers and messaging like, 'Eat my Bubbles!' are par for the course. 

Swim meets and basketball tournaments are the main forms of entertainment around here. Love it!

Back in South Dakota, Mom and Dad have started the daunting task of going through all of their belongings as they prepare to move. This is no joke considering that they have lived in the same spot for almost 40 years. I sometimes get pictures from mom of treasures she stumbles across - items like old valentines from mid-century, fair ribbons from the 1960's, and this special edition of Weekly Reader featuring the assassination of JFK. Wowza - this gives me heartburn because I have the same genetic condition you guys!! I have all kinds of childhood cards/notes, participation ribbons and clipped newspaper articles in my possession right now. Dang - just getting a glimpse into the future of the type of sorting and purging I am going to end up doing approximately ~25 years from now. 

We attended Roman's 6th grade winter band concert in January! How fun to listen to these guys play their instruments! It is just so amazing to me how far they have come in just a few short months.  

We all enjoy hearing this kiddo on his saxophone. 

It is so cool to watch these big kids discover their favorite sports and activities!

Dan's Birthday + the First Days of 2026

 You guys - is there any better way to start your 46th year than a breakfast of champions? Egg Kaka and Cinnamon rolls for the win. 

Dan spent the day hunting and returned just in time for dinner. Guess what - our party of 19 rolled up to Johnny Carino's for birthday supper without a reservation and we actually got a table! What a miracle! 

Quite the crowd! We had a big, family style dinner and it was so much fun.

Love my December birthday boys so much!

When we returned to Eau Claire, we found the Cihacek crew at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Yay!

The kiddos had tons of outdoor adventures. 

These guys had so much fun sledding! We rung in the New Year together - Cheers to 2026! Not sure where in the world the boys are watching on television - probably NYE celebrations in Europe as they chow down on their nachos. :)

I started off the new year with a good snow shoe outside. Feels good to flip the calendar and start a new year with a breath of fresh air. 

Some of my favorite people were out in the woods with me! 

Love to see these rosy cheeked kids on the trail!

We were all very happy to have a white holiday season this year.

After New Years celebrations were done our family was back to regularly scheduled programming - AKA attending swim meets!

It is always a joy to see our girlie in the pool. On this weekend we were in LaCrosse.

We had some time to kill between preliminary races and finals so Lucy and I set out to do one of our favorite activities - thrifting and antiquing! 

We also went downtown. We had a good laugh at this sign by the bookstore

And you know it wouldn't be a trip to LaCrosse without stopping by Jules. We had to grab a selfie and send it to the Hoekman ladies {and our Jules!}

Back at the ranch the boys took a deep dive into Lego Sets.

We got out a-l-l of the Christmas and birthday gifts including the new Marble run and the new playdoh. 

This lucky guy even got to do some slime experiments up at Grandma and Grandpa's house. 

We kicked off our January calendar with a dental visit - do you see that big smile and thumbs up? No cavities for this guy!

Last but definitely not least- Nola and I went on a visit to our beloved Weavers in Fall Creek. These bags of grains, granolas, and gelatins bring me such joy! It reminds me of Golden Harvest runs back in Rhinelander.

Happy 2026!