My birthday can only mean one thing, another cottage visit.    We are so close to finishing up the rental. We had hoped to have renters in by February but since it's not quite ready we figured we could use a break from our nonstop work.     My birthday gift to Scott was a kringle subscription from Uncle Mike's Bake Shoppe. Our first order luckily showed up right before we left for the cottage.  This was the best present ever.   Usually there's a dog here, finally Pepe got to come along. Dad joined the kids to do art projects. 

  One day in December my buddy Nate called and asked what I was doing the 3rd weekend in January. I wondered aloud, "Yes, why do you ask?" Nate replied, "I got two tickets to the Packers playoff game." I was going to my first Packers game of the season and it played out in our favor! The stars aligned when the Packers clinched this Divisional Round home game. The only downside was that the forecast was going to be no more than in the low teens. Before heading out I packed all of our body warmers we had on hand.   A month and a half later I was on a road trip to Green Bay with Nate: a vegan, football hater. I should explain. He was once Vikings fan, but stopped watching after the CTE revelations. Apparently while supper clubs are not vegan friendly, Taco John's are. After arriving at our cottage just north of Green Bay on, well, the Bay, we looked for a bar nearby. Nate found Highland Howie's on the edge of Green Bay. This was the perfect Wisconsin bar.  

  It's been awhile since I've made a big breakfast.  The kids saw me making avocado toast and wanted it too.  Hey lookie, the dining room is finally done.    

Back in the cities I had a shoot in Stillwater to start the week. My client requested some drone shots and aerial 360s from the Wisconsin side. It was below zero and my hands nearly fell off.  

On our way to the cottage we had to make a stop at Mike's Bake Shoppe for kringle. Scott picked up some donuts to eat right away. After eating so many sweets the last few days I had to pass.    This was probably the best donut I've ever had. So rich. The night before while giving Theo a bath, he said he had to go potty. I told him he couldn't pee in the bathtub and that he had to go on the toilet. That's when he admitted his fear of falling in. Luckily my parents have a smaller seat attachment on their toilet. After he tried it out and realized he wasn't going to fall in he peed two more times on the toilet. This is huge for us. He's refused to use the toilet from the very beginning. To celebrate we let him pick out a toy. He's been wanting a transformer since he saw it on Harvey's wishlist. Another year and another NYE weekend at the cottage.  While we waited for the cottage to heat up we said hello to the lake. 

 2021 was big changes for us. I would have never guessed at the beginning of 2021 that by the end of the year we'd have a duplex. The first half was all about hiking and the second half was house projects. January Scott's Birthday at the cottage.   Always one of my favorite weekends of the year.  February  We rented a movie theater for Theo's birthday.    One of those nights you'll always remember. Theo had never been to a theater before. A strange high point of the pandemic years.