Steve Retka

I had the same question 👀

Our 15-year old corgi named Zoey who we had since 2014.

This morning we had to say goodbye to our sweet Zoey girl. For 11 years you’ve provided more love and laughs than I ever could’ve imagined.

It’s wrecked me seeing you go, but you went so peacefully and were spoiled right up until the end. Rest easy, little girl. I’ll always love you. ❤️🌈

The covers for the first 11 books of the Redwall series by Brian Jacques 1. Redwall 2. Mossflower 3. Mattimeo 4. Mariel of Redwall 5. Salamandastron 6. Martin the Warrior 7. The Bellmaker 8. Outcast of Redwall 9. Pearls of Lutra 10. The Long Patrol 11. Marlfox

A wooden tracking board with green meeples that says 10x10 Challenge. 1. Aeon's End Legacy (5 plays) 2. Avatar the Last Airbender: Aang's Destiny (5 plays) 3. Oh My Goods (5 plays) 4. Sagrada Artisans (5 plays) 5. Tidal Blades 2: Heroes of the Reef (5 plays) 6. Cafe (5 plays) 7. Heaven & Ale (5 plays) 8. Istanbul: Choose & Write (5 plays) 9. Metro X (6 plays) 10. Star Wars Outer Rim (5 plays)

My 2 hobby goals for the year were to read the entire Redwall series and to complete our annual #10x10Challenge for board games. Halfway through the year and I'm right on track!

Duolingo image signifying I’ve hit a 1,000 day learning streak

Feels good, not gonna lie

Being neurodivergent during a heat wave is even worse because setting the thermostat to 72 is too cold, 74 is too warm, and 73 is just a horrible number I refuse to set it to 😩

And just like that, Ivy is off to her last day of the first year of preschool! 🫶

My 2.5 year old son sitting under a blanket with Bluey and Bingo plushies and an unnecessarily large Elmo.

squad goals

And the smell? Toxic.

The player board for Lignum mid-game, showing the saw mill with green food cubes, a light brown lumber marker, and light brown wood marker.

Main game board for Lignum with 6 clearings in the center and a rondel of action spaces around the edge of the board.

Got Lignum to the table today after several years and it’s such a good crunchy heavy euro. If you like the constraints of Agricola, i recommend this one for sure. #boardgames

A small brown mushroom growing out of a retaining wall that may or may not be a morel

Okay mushroom nerds, is this a morel growing out of the stones of a retaining wall??

The full play area at the end of the game of Final Girl for Billy the Bear at Buddyland.

The main feature of Billy is that he has Buddy minions that spawn. I started with one and after a couple kills and some bad luck with the random Bloodlust events (which I love btw) I had 3 to deal with.

Rena is my new favorite Final Girl card. This ability is sick and comes in handy so much.

Got the new Billy the Bear at Buddyland set for Final Girl to the table. Barely squeaked out a win and it might be one of my faves (with my new favorite Final Girl card). Love the arcade setting and it’s not an overly complicated set.

The full play area at the end of the game of Final Girl for Billy the Bear at Buddyland.

The main feature of Billy is that he has Buddy minions that spawn. I started with one and after a couple kills and some bad luck with the random Bloodlust events (which I love btw) I had 3 to deal with.

Rena is my new favorite Final Girl card. This ability is sick and comes in handy so much.

Got the new Billy the Bear at Buddyland set for Final Girl to the table. Barely squeaked out a win and it might be one of my faves (with my new favorite Final Girl card). Love the arcade setting and it’s not an overly complicated set.

Ivy (soon to be 4yrs old) sitting on a walk on our walk home from preschool.

JJ (2.5 yrs old) posing with some Cheetos

Idk who told them they could grow up so fast but I’m not ready for it

The ants just needed more prep time

Overhead shot of Endangered with the insert. Left bottom: All game tiles Left middle: Player dice Left top: Orange and black game dice, calendar marker Middle top: Animal tokens in two trays Middle bottom: Animal placards, animal boards, player boards, money, influence cubes, player mini cards and tokens Right bottom/middle: Animal cards Right top: Player cards, reference cards, U.N. cards, campaign cards

Overhead shot of Endangered with the animal tray removed to show bottom layer. Left bottom: All game tiles Left middle: Player dice Left top: Orange and black game dice, calendar marker Middle top: Animal tokens in two trays Middle bottom: Animal placards, animal boards, player boards, money, influence cubes, player mini cards and tokens Right bottom/middle: Animal cards Right top: Player cards, reference cards, U.N. cards, campaign cards

With the game board placed on top, there is still enough room for the lid to be flush.

No lid lift at all with all of the content in the box including game board and manual.

My biggest #boardgame crafting project is complete. Made an insert for Endangered with poster board that holds all the content through the recent Red Wolves expansion all in one box!

Overhead shot of Endangered with the insert. Left bottom: All game tiles Left middle: Player dice Left top: Orange and black game dice, calendar marker Middle top: Animal tokens in two trays Middle bottom: Animal placards, animal boards, player boards, money, influence cubes, player mini cards and tokens Right bottom/middle: Animal cards Right top: Player cards, reference cards, U.N. cards, campaign cards

Overhead shot of Endangered with the animal tray removed to show bottom layer. Left bottom: All game tiles Left middle: Player dice Left top: Orange and black game dice, calendar marker Middle top: Animal tokens in two trays Middle bottom: Animal placards, animal boards, player boards, money, influence cubes, player mini cards and tokens Right bottom/middle: Animal cards Right top: Player cards, reference cards, U.N. cards, campaign cards

With the game board placed on top, there is still enough room for the lid to be flush.

No lid lift at all with all of the content in the box including game board and manual.

My biggest #boardgame crafting project is complete. Made an insert for Endangered with poster board that holds all the content through the recent Red Wolves expansion all in one box!

Close up of the Marrek Warehouse location board for Final Girl with 6 yellow Victim meeples and a pink Final Girl meeple.

Close up of the Tormentor killer board with a full set of heart tokens.

Full board layout of Final Girl with the season 2 mats and tear dice.

Played the Tormentor and Marrek Warehouse combo for Final Girl and tried out the tear dice too. I was in a position to win but rolled horribly and lost, but this is a great one.

Selfie of me with JJ sitting in my lap while he eats a banana

Got the day off so doing a little father son bonding while Ivy is in preschool. 😊

We were definitely rusty 😆

Castles of Burgundy player board midway through a game, including the Trade Routes expansion.

More Feld fun! Castles of Burgundy is just so hard to beat, beige boards and all. This was the first time playing with the Trade Routes and it was great.

Bora Bora board game set up for 2 players

Player board for Bora Bora with blue player tokens and tiles

Finally got Bora Bora back to the table after 4 years, forgot how much I like this one!

It has WRECKED my sinuses, y’all 😩 8” of snow last Wednesday then 70 degrees 5 days later? C’mon.

Okay but WHY do they have the X and C keys right next to each other?? I almost do this same things once a week

Wild that Kendrick delivered the biggest beatdown of the night after a 24-0 first half

This is my Roman Empire

A hand holding the card game Cavy n Cavy

Cavy n Cavy is the 4th game in a series by Hisashi Hiyashi about different animals.

The previous games in order from newest to oldest are Cabybara n Capybara, Sheep n Sheep, and Goat n Goat

I can’t NOT get any of these small box games from Hisashi Hiyashi 😭🙌

Meme of a car salesman about to slap the roof of a car while a buyer looks on.

*slaps roof of Hades 2*

This baby can hold so many lesbians

The Gang Goes Fascist

Yes…I’m definitely pretending 👀 I can totally open it I just choose not to

The board game Fresco set up for 2 players with multiple expansions.

Finally was able to get Fresco to the table again after almost 4 years for our 10th play. Definitely in my top 5 all time games.