Oct 31, 2026
The story of today actually begins on Oct 28th, the day the Milwaukee Brewers won their first World Series Championship! My first love and first sport was baseball and it was the last sport I played in school (except for a few-month stint of track and field). Growing up in Wisconsin attending Brewers games created a feeling I cannot wait to pass down to my kids as we journey through life in Colorado (Sebastian isn’t quite sure about the big crowds around Empower Field and Coors Field yet). What a night of elation this was.
October 29th came and we headed up to Anderson Farms to enjoy a perfect fall day (at a discounted price) together. And that’s when my sister surprised me with plane tickets departing THAT NIGHT to Milwaukee so that we could attend the parade in the morning! And the shock of last night continued this next night as we flew into Chicago and then drove to my brother’s house at 2am.
October 30th was a day I’ll never forget. Being back in a city I’ve called home on another perfect fall day, soaking up the beautiful blue of Lake Michigan, seeing over half a million people in celebration mode screaming and shouting our collective gratitude to the Brewers players felt surreal. From my sister-in-law’s house as the “best Halloween decorated interior I’ve ever seen”, to seeing the new forever home, shared by my sister’s family and our parents - again in a brilliant aesthetic of suburban Wisconsin nostalgia dressed in Halloween decor - to seeing how much older six of my nephews and nieces look, what a day this was. Oh, and I can’t forget that I made a special stop to see Wisconsin’s largest Ginkgo tree. I grabbed some fallen leaves and stuffed them in my carry-on to be used for trunk or treat and for simple safe-keeping. That quiet moment was as needed as any, standing underneath a giant of my favorite tree.
By 9am this morning, October 31st, after 6 hours of total sleep that past two days, I was back home, ready to stack a 3rd very long but very fun day on top of the two I just had. My wife also stayed up late last night getting materials ready for the trunk or treat I was doing for Ginkgo Blue today. She stepped up big time. Love you, Kristine!!! So I spent 11am to 1pm decorating the trunk and then drove the 1 hour south to my parking spot in line for the trick or treaters. A gust of wind came the second I stepped out of my car, persisting as I tried to set up my poster and tablecloths, but the streak of good luck and absolute winning of days that I was on kept its course, as the wind completely died by the time the trunk was set up and it felt as easy as ever being happy for the kiddos, joyously dressed up for a night of quirky, holiday fun. We all had a blast together.
As you can imagine, I’m not actually writing this on the 31st. After two separate trick or treat outings with my son and wife after dinner last night (a little hot cider and whiskey at one house livened me up a bit), I was exhausted. I cannot remember the last time I was this tired (but I know the next time I will be will come the end of March when child #2 arrives!).
A perfect ending to the Halloween season; a perfect ending to the Brewers season; and an exciting beginning to Ginkgo Blue Nature School, launching the Founding 15 Families campaign and finally meeting so many local families interested in outdoor preschool.