Fall catch up.

Yikes, I let life get away from my blog and I'm in major catch up mode! We have been in full swing with school, tae kwon do, soccer and life around and we are on the verge of Halloween and birthday week, so I figured now would be a good time to catch up on life before its too late. Amidst all of these fun things, Maggie and I snuck away for three nights (!) in Minneapolis last weekend. It was busy and easy and fun and went way too fast and we were both sad to see it come to an end. Such is life. Im so glad we are able to make it happen and have some quality sister time.

Greeting daddy at the airport. 

Front and Center for all of the travelers.

Christmas PJs in September. 

Sweet GG. 

Raffle ticket sales tactics. 

Life. 

Tae Kwon Do tourney.

Sweet sisters.

Sully- first grade. 

Greta- kinder. 

Piper's sunflower, look at that concentration. 

Room and Board weekend craziness. 

Weekend getaway with the sis. 

Successful souvenirs.

A cold and long soccer season. 

Team England.

A surprise after school visiter! 

Charleston, SC

Dave and I spent five days in Charleston for our 9th wedding anniversary. It was lovely and hot and our agenda was very flexible with plenty of time budgeted for the pool, happy hour, and wandering.

We arrived on a Tuesday early afternoon and stayed at this cool hotel with so much southern charm and probably the best rooftop pool and bar in the city. Oh, and we had a complimentary upgrade to the concierge level where we had snacks and happy hour provided each day. Mega score. We walked, talked, and enjoyed ourselves without all of the pulls of life, and within about 4 hours, we were officially in vacation mode. We found rooftop bars, lively restaurants, amazing courtyards, shopping, some tours, cemeteries, and great old neighborhoods to walk through and admire.

We spent our actual anniversary at the rooftop pool at our hotel before hitting a happy hour and shopping with a little buzz on, then had drinks and dinner at Husk, a local hotspot where we had orange wine and amazing food.

One of the highlights for both Dave and I was Sullivan's Island. We bought this poster when Sully was born and it was a photo of the lighthouse on the island. We didn't know much about it, but when we did a bit of research we found out it is a small island off the coast and it is known for its charm. We were excited to arrive at sunset for a lovely view of the lighthouse followed by a drink and one of my most favorite meals of the trip at The Obstinate Daughter. To top if off, we had a really good Lyft driver take us back to the hotel and Dave was feeling fine and tipped him something like 150%. Haha, you gotta love the heart on that guy.

We were gone just the right amount of time and were ready to get home to the kids. They were with Courtney and Nicole and did great, of course they missed us, but they were so busy between school and their other commitments. We say it every year, but having these get aways is really what we need to keep our boat afloat. Its fun to remember why we started this in the first place, Cheers to 9 years!

Anniversary photo. 

Husk with the orange wine. 

Anniversary flowers. 

Afternoon stroll. 

Ft. Sumpter. 

Sullivan's Island. 

Dave and the lighthouse. 

Slice of life, the walk to the beach. 

Our rooftop with a view of the bridge we walked to an and over the previous day! 

Back to the Black Hills.

In true Munce form, we don't sit idle for long. It seems we get up and go every chance we get, which is so fun, but also slightly exhausting (if you ask me, Dave would never concede to that). We had been pondering a Labor Day Black Hills trip since about mid summer and finally pulled the trigger on a cabin a few weeks ago.

The day before our departure, Piper came down with a stomach bug that completely grounded us, she had a fever and vomiting that lasted about exactly 24 hours. We started packing at about 8pm the evening before we left because it was so up in the air. Off we went, we headed west and made decent time, we read books, watched shows and iPads, and before we knew it, we were in the Northern Hills at our cabin. We unpacked, went for dinner and came back for a hot tub before hitting the sheets.

Saturday was a full fun day. We did morning reading and then had lunch in Hill City before hiking Cathedral Spires with the kids (and no carrier- one thing we overlooked when packing, darn). It was lovely 2 mile roundtrip hike through streams, rock formations, and raspberry bushes. Next we met the Barkers at Sylvan Lake for an afternoon of fun. And it was so fun. We walked, canoed, and had dinner together. The kids played so well, Rhys and Sully explored while Bea entertained Greta and Piper for hours, literally. It was such a nice rendezvous and Im so glad we took the opportunity to connect while we were there.

Sunday was another full day. We eased into the day and much to our delight- the kids FOUND A TREASURE MAP! What are the chances, the last time we were in the Black Hills during the summer, we also found one. We had so much fun following the clues and finding the treasure. We headed out for lunch in Keystone, stopped by Mt. Rushmore, found our favorite candy shop, then drove to Roughlock Falls for one of my favorite hikes in Spearfish Canyon. Piper had been in a funk for most of the hike and just after we got to the waterfall, she threw up all of the candy she got from the candy store. It wouldn't be a true Munce family vacation without a puker ;). We went back to Deadwood for pizza, had one last dip in the hot tub and then watched a shark show with Sully and Greta before going to bed. We definitely squeezed everything out of Sunday.

Monday was a travel day- a long one, but we arrived home around 5:30 and we were happy to be home, but more happy to have pulled the trigger on the get away. It really is so good to get away from the daily grind and all of the pulls of everyday life, even if just for a few days.

Simple little hike with kids ;).

Easy does it, Pip (I cut Dave out of the photo, but he was
VERY near-by in case of a misstep :)).

We did it! 

It didn't happen unless we do a self timed photo.

Barkers and Munces!

Canoeing on Sylvan Lake. 

My copilots.

The crew- minus Greta and Piper, my arms aren't long enough. 

The treasure map! 

Hunting for the treasure. 

WE FOUND THE TREASURE!!
The looks on their faces says it all. Haha! 

Mt. Rushmore

Too much candy.

Roughlock Falls. 

Lobsterfest

I may be biased, but we have really awesome friends with fun ideas, and the dedication to pull it all together. Maybe nine months ago, one of my lovely friends who also happens to be my back yard neighbor sent a message to our trivia group of this vision she and her husband had about having lobster boil. He was inspired by a tradition a family friend of his started in his college days and he totally pulled it off. We scheduled the first available summer weekend for all of us, which happened to be the last weekend of summer. There was decor, amazing food, beverages, dessert, and a fire pit. We are excited to make this a more regular occurrence going forward. Thanks to the Baloun-Whites and the rest of the crew for the fun and memories.

The lobster cake.  

Flowers from the garden.

Brett prepping the food. 

Rebecca, Skipper, and Dave. The shuckers. 

The Barkers. 

The Kimbers. 

Dave and I. 

Pam and Skipper. 

The lovely host couple, Brett and Jenny. 

The crew.  

An ariel view. 

The fire pit.