Closing Time

Had a heavy dose of winter shock yesterday after work.  We had a nice day in the upper 70s with abundant sunshine.  On the way home from work I drove by the lake to see boaters enjoying the first sun filled days of fall.  Yes, it's autumn, officially (9/22).  Before bonfire season starts in earnest we had to go through the logical step of closing the pool. In my ever flowing optimistic state I some how convinced myself there would be plenty of swimming opportunities well into October.  Mother nature vehemently disagreed with me slapping us with mid-30s over the weekend.  After receiving the utility bills for heating the pool it was decided it's closing time.  Nothing like a financial jolt to get rid of that optimism and send you back into that blissful pessimistic state we all love.  When I drove up to our vacation home in the north and saw the dark green cover firmly attached, covering the pool it was like seeing a blizzard for the first time.  There is shock, followed by awe, followed by depression when you realize you have to start shoveling.  I changed into shorts, sat in a recliner conveniently placed in the middle of the driveway (a whole other posting) and enjoyed a comfortable evening cocktail staring in disbelief at where my gorgeous turquoise water once laid only hours before. 

As one activity comes to a close others will surely take their place and fall weddings is one.  The family was fortunate to be close enough to attend a cousin's wedding in Iowa this past weekend so we packed up the family wagon, grabbed the pooch and headed west (over the river {literally} and through the woods to Grandma's house we went).  We decided on a midnight road trip and drove through the night.  Eventually the boys went to sleep and even the Stinks rested his furry little head and got some shut eye.  Meanwhile Carrie and I were discussing Romney's three wives and driving through a hail storm.  We had no damage but even if there was I know a great insurance guy.  After roughly four hours we solved the world's financial crisis, won a heated game of "I spy" and arrived at Grandma's house.

We attended the wedding Saturday afternoon while the dismal Hawkeyes blew a game on the gridiron and the keep it close with poor teams Badgers narrowly pulled out a win against UTEP, yes that football powerhouse UTEP.  We had a delicious lunch at the Getaway Bar and Grill, which was one ginormous basket of everything fried; mini-tacos, cheese curds, jalapeno poppers, mushrooms and mozzarella sticks to name a few and picked up the kids for the reception, which was at the same location as our very own wedding reception.  We sang, we danced, we ate cake and my poor child was body slammed to the dance floor by some mean, mean girls.  See video. 

Here my kid is doing his best impression of front man Agnes Young of AC/DC rocking out and making the rounds on the dance floor when out of nowhere a pack of girls conspired to use the momentum of both of them to take out my unsuspecting, song loving, wedding rocking, dancing with the stars champion, which plastered him to the parquet floor.  After his up close and personal view of the floor Gavin officially retired for the evening after sobbing uncontrollably for ten minutes he decided to call it an evening and promptly fell asleep.  It was closing time.

Where have I been???

Gavin's 1st carnie ride

Apparently one of the pros/cons of moving to Wisco is you have too much to do with so many people you know around that increases your body mass and decreases your blogging time.  This is probably the longest I've gone without writing a blog.  If it's any consolation I have written several in my head and even typed out a few but haven't had the time to publish them.  I debated just calling it quits, but it's been fun and with winter looming in the distance I thought I would have more free time and would hopefully get back to writing a handful a month. 

Just to give you a run down of the last few weekends, we had Venetian Festival, which is a Wednesday thru Sunday Lake Geneva event with live music, carnival rides, games and a beer tent put on by the Jaycee's, of which I'm a member.  That translated means I was a bartender (serving/drinking beer for charity - what beats that!?!?) all week.  We even squeaked in a wedding on Friday that weekend 2 hours out of town.  So I was working all day and playing all night.  On Sunday the event culminated with a 50th anniversary of the festival fireworks display followed immediately after by a torrential down pour sending everyone mad scrambling for their cars parked 10 blocks away.  We got soaked but the beer was free all week.  And it wasn't Keystone.  We had 12 beers on tap including Spotted Cow, Totally Naked (ain't Wisco grand!?), Sprecher's and Lake Geneva's very own Wake IPA to name a few.

The next weekend was a fintanstic weekend with Jimmy Buffett making an appearance at Alpine Valley, the single greatest venue to see a Buffett show in all the world.  I dare you to prove otherwise.  There is no charge for parking and the lots open at 2pm for an 8 pm concert.  That equates into far too old people putting together incredibly creative displays of margarita-prirate-shark-parrot themed attire.  We saw a dude walking around in a grass skirt.  No, that was all he had on.  A grass skirt.  They don't make them go all 360 for dudes so you know, well, let your imagination work its magic.  There were squirt guns loaded with not water.  No, no, no, this is Jimmy.  They were loaded with Tequila.  Get it?  You get shot with a shot of tequila.  I, decked out in my grass skirt, coconut bra, parrot hat and leis helped pave the way for my in-laws to spend their 40th wedding anniversary with Jimmy.  Ah, true love.  If you haven't been, by all means get there.  Jimmy's not getting any younger.

The weekend after that was Labor day and the county fair was going on.  Here school doesn't start until after labor day because the local businesses need the high school/college kids in the workforce through the weekend. So the boys had a couple of days at the fair riding the rides, checking out the farm animals and stuffing their faces with high caloric deliciousness like deep fried chocolate covered bacon.  Seriously, it's Wisconsin-skinny around these parts.  We were fortunate enough to attend the Florida State Fair this year too.  Strangely, the food was the same. We have bigger cows and a lot more cheese but they were nearly identical.  It was like finding out the Easter Bunny isn't real.  All fair food can't be the same can it? 

I'll try to do better with the blog writing.  Q and I had a little man weekend this past weekend as Care was whooping it up at a bachelorette party.  All I heard was her going on an on about some dude named Magic Mike. I almost blurted out who the H is Magic Mike but then I realized some things are better left unsaid.  I'll get another blog out this week but I do have a Brewer game tonight, the Packers on Thursday night and the Badger game on Saturday.  Living here definitely has some perks.