Author: amber

  • Chapter 152- Lion’s Den Gorge

    Day off of school?  In our house, that means a family hike!  Even though we do this pretty often, I still get complaints at first when I mention it.  “But I don’t even liiiiiiike hiking!” and “It’s too boring!” are common responses.  While I understand that a 3mi hike is a lot for those little legs,…

  • Chapter 151- Retzer Nature Center

    Happy New Year! It’s been a busy time here in the Storm house, so I’m catching up from one of our best hikes from before the holidays…Retzer Nature Center!  I knew it was a great place to go with kids, but for some reason didn’t make the 25 min drive from MKE to Waukesha.  I’m…

  • Chapter 150- Ways to get outside in winter!

    Hi friends!  On The Morning Blend, I’ll be talking about ways to get your family outside in Wisconsin winters.  There’s never enough time on air to give specifics, so here’s a list of our favorite ways to take advantage of the midwest’s greatest treasure….WINTER! Also, ok.  I know some of you probably hate winter, or…

  • Chapter 149- Volunteering in Milwaukee

    Volunteering and getting to know your neighbors is such an important value to teach your kids, especially in the wake of tragedies that are all too frequent.  I don’t have the one answer to our national community finding its way back to humanity and decency and kindness, but I do know that reaching out and giving can only…

  • Chapter 148- Milwaukee Music

    Need one more reason to love this city?  Look no farther than the music scene!  I’ve found a ton of opportunities to take my kids to see some live and GOOD music here in town, and I wanted to share some of them with you. Let me first say why I think music is important…

  • Chapter 147- First Stage Theater (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)

    While growing up in my family, Thanksgiving meant a 3-5 day celebration with aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends.  Wednesday was an all-night pizza party that ran right into Thursday morning turkey baking.  After our meal on Thursday, we’d play and nap and the kids would invariably get into some sort of trouble before movie time…

  • Chapter 146- Pope Farm Conservancy

    In my effort to cram everything in to the last few weeks of summer, we headed to Madison to see Pope Farm Conservancy’s sunflower farm!  I’d been seeing some beautiful photos on Instagram since last summer, so this adventure has been in the back of my mind for quite some time.  As a bonus, I…

  • Chapter 145- Tamarack Loop Trail at Mauthe Lake

    On our way back from a trip to see my folks in Appleton, I took the back roads to the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest to check out the Mauthe Lake Recreation Area.  We’d been researching hikes in my new favorite book, Best Hikes Near Milwaukee by Kevin Revolinski, and narrowed it down to two hikes in…

  • Chapter 144- Discovery World (New Exhibit!)

    We recently decided to check out Discovery World’s newest exhibit, Zoo in You — The Human Microbiome.  Little T got a family membership last year, so we can come and go as we please without worrying about getting our money’s worth at each visit.  Which is awesome.  Because some days we stay for HOURS upon…

  • Chapter 143- Gibraltar Rock / Merrimac Ferry / Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron

    I believe that fieldtrips are very important to a kids’ education.  And while our school is really amazing, they aren’t able to take my children on ALL the kinds of fieldtrips they need.  Those kind would be hikes in the woods. So when a friend I met on Instagram (weird, I know.  I feel conflicted…