Working in Chicago

Last week I spent the week in Chicago for work and Diana had to hold down the fort and take care of the Pup. December is not the ideal month for field work and we were collecting water and sediment samples from the Chicago River all week. The weather started out mild and sunny, then changed to overcast and rain (pouring at times), and finished with temperatures in the 20s. The work was tough, but we finished it and were back in Milwaukee by 7:30 pm on Friday. It was a long week without seeing Diana and Cassie! I included some pictures from the trip.

It's good to be home and it's hard to believe Christmas is just one week away. We are looking forward to having our first Christmas in our new home and will be joined by Mom and Dad Mitsche, David, and Michael.

Working Hard on the River

Chicago Skyline Looking South

Coming into Downtown

Downtown

Cool Building

The Holiday Season Begins

So December is here and that means it's the holiday season. One thing I have learned is how much Diana loves Christmas decorations. Unfortunately our house does not have a fireplace... which means no mantle... which means no place to hang stockings... and that is a problem. To solve the problem we hung some shelves one our big wall to give the stockings a home.

The Holiday Wall

After hanging the shelves and decorating the wall, Diana and Cassie decided it was nap time. Cassie woke up for the picture.

Tired After Decorating the Wall

 This weekend our friends Nikki and Joe came to visit from Madison. On Saturday, Diana was thrilled to see Marquette beat Wisconsin in their annual basketball matchup. She was the minority with three badgers watching. Wisconsin had their moment later that night when they beat Michigan State to advance to the Rose Bowl for the second year in a row. There is always exciting sports in Wisconsin.

On Sunday, we woke up early to go down the the lake front to run the Milwaukee Santa 5k. The weather was cool and a little wet, but the rain held off and the candy aid stations powered us through the run.

Santa 5k

We finished off the day by picking out our Christmas tree and getting it all decorated.

Christmas Tree!

 That's all for now.