Madison, WI (Sun/Mon)

After our full day the day before, I planned on sleeping in on Sunday.  We didn't really have anything we needed to get up for.  The Taste of Madison didn't start until 11am, and we didn't need to be there right away.  Mass was supposed to be 6:30 that evening.  No reason to get up and moving too early...so I thought.

Matt came in and woke me up at 10:30am.  The converstaion went something like this:  "Good morning, baby.  How did you sleep?  Oh, by the way, we're going to mass in 30 minutes." 

Ummm...excuse me?  I could use a little more than 30 minutes to shower and get ready for church!  I literally jumped out of bed, but had already been beaten to the shower by Spen!  Somehow I pulled it off and managed to turn off the blow dryer about 1 minute before we walked out the door.  Awesome way to start the day. ;)

Mass was nice.  We went to a little Catholic church tucked away in a neighborhood (forgot to take pictures in my rushed state ;) ), and the little Indian priest had a good message.  The one interesting thing was the old lady in our row who apparently got tired of moving down after communion and just parked herself right in the middle of the family.  :)

After mass, we went back to the house for some snacks / light lunch, and then Matt, Spen, and I went down to check out the Taste of Madison, which happened to be going on that weekend.  Same location as the farmers market (around the capital), but this was all local restaurants/vendors offering samples of their food.

 Since it was technically still "no shame" weekend, we went to town.  Meatballs, berry panna cotta, Thai food, bacon on a stick, mac 'n cheese, banana foster sundae, sliders, wings, pancake dog, empanadas, cheesecake...who knows what else.  It was all great, and we were all sick by the time we made it all the way around the square.  It didn't help that it was hot and humid.  We literally had to take breaks from eating to relax on the lawn.

Some of the places we ate...

MORE places we ate...

Pancake Dog (upper right) was hands down the worst thing there: sausage deep friend in pancake batter covered in syrup.  One bite and we all about threw up.  Banana Foster (bottom right) was the winner of the day in my book!

Lower left: relaxing on the grass after we ate too much

Chocolate covered bacon on a stick.  For real.

It's okay.  You can admit it.  I look 5 months pregnant in this picture!  It's only a "food baby."  I promise.

We had originally talked about riding bikes down to the Taste of Madison, but it turned out to be a great idea that we didn't.  There was no way we could of rode bikes after that feast.  Matt's mom, however, did ride down and met us on a terrace that overlooked the lake on one side and the capital on the other.  Photo op!

As if all the food and drinks we had just had at the Taste wasn't enough, we decided to go to the local grocery store, Woodman's, to get more beer and cheese to bring back home to KC with us.  It was the biggest grocery store I think I've ever been in!  I mean, it was Costco size, but just food and beverages.  The boys were in hog-heaven in the beer section -- and I was the same when we found the cheeeeeeese!

Woodmans:  the biggest grocery store ever

Beer for the boys                                              Cheese for me

I was exhausted by the time we made it back to the house, and decided to take a little nap.  The little nap turned in to be a siesta of three hours!  I felt like a new woman when I (finally) woke up!  I obviously was in need of a nap!

Matt snuck in and took this of me when I was asleep...probably checking to make sure I was still alive after sleeping for so long.

We all showered and went out for dinner to Great Dane Sunday night.  It's a "Wisconsin staple" I was told.  Of course, I was thrilled when I saw mac 'n cheese on the menu!  Bet you can't guess what I ordered...

The whole gang

Glorious mac 'n cheese with pretzel roll.  SO good.

I was nice and shared with CC (who can never eat enough) so I didn't get too full for dessert!  I had plans in mind...  When we got back to the house, the boys and I walked down the street to Michaels' Frozen Custard. 

As soon as we opened the front door, I heard a familiar sound -- one of my favorites:  fireworks going off.  It was just torture that I could hear them, but not see them over all the trees in Madison!  If I would have known there were fireworks over the lake that night, there is no way I would have missed them! 

Anyways, the ice cream was good, but I couldn't help but be just a little sick that I missed the Labor Day fireworks show - that looked ridiculous in pictures! :(

(I found these pics on the internet the next week...)

This is what I missed Sunday night!

There was talk of going out again that night, but thankfully, they decided against it.  We sat around and talked and watched tv for a couple of hours, and just went to bed.  Which I was more than okay with -- even after my long nap.

_____________________________________________

I woke up pretty early Monday morning.  A full nights rest, PLUS that nap Sunday (and the 5K/10K race outside the window) didn't help me sleeping in, so I woke Matt up, too.  We had a little breakfast before we went out for a nice, long bike ride with his parents. 

Madison really is a cool city.  We rode by three lakes on our 8.5 mile ride.  The weather was great, and we stopped for some pictures at the University of Wisconsin student union (on a lake) and at the botanical gardens on campus, too. 

Our route...

We really didn't stick around in Madison too much longer after that.  Showered and had breakfast for lunch (waffles, ham, fruit, yogurt, etc), and then we hit the road for the long road trip back home.  Which I was NOT looking foward to. I was prepared with lots of candy AND a drink (which I drank very sparingly), but for some odd reason, the AC decided it didn't want to work, and we were all sweating in the hot sun.  CC finally couldn't take it anymore so we pulled off at a gas station to get out of the car and get some drinks. 

And when we all grudgingly got back in the car again...the AC worked.  So weird.

The Wisconsin / Iowa countryside

We stopped a couple of hours later at some outlet malls just off the interstate in Williamsburg, Iowa, and the boys actually shopped for quite awhile.  Nike Outlet, Brooks Brothers, J. Crew, etc...  For some reason, I - the lone female - was the only one who did NOT buy anything!  I am getting more stingy with my money these days, ha.  And I guess I'm getting old, too.  I walked in Rue 21, Aeropostale, etc...and instantly felt like an old lady next to all the littly teeny-boppers!

The outlets (from the interstate)

When we got back in the car to leave and the boys found out I didn't buy anything, I was informed that this was another somewhat un-written rule of the "no shame" weekend.  Apparently you are supposed to buy something for fun - that you don't really need.  Well that makes no sense to me, and my response was, "I'm too tight for that."  The response from the car was, "You need to stop saying that.  Every man alive thinks of something else when you do."  Ugh.  Boys will be boys. ;)

 It was raining as we pulled in to Des Moines...but the sun was still shining!

Our next stop was for dinner in Des Moines -- back at the same exit we took on the way up to Madison.  I was NOT looking forward to this meal, but was of course ruled about by the rest of the car.  I did put my foot down and refused to eat at Popeyes.  I just couldn't do it!  CC and Spen got an absurd amount of food from there, and took it in with us to eat at McDonalds.  Ha, not sure if that is an upgrae or not, but I didn't have many options.

I ordered a Quarter Pounder w/ cheese -- and a fruit smoothy.  I always try and sneak something in at least semi-healthy(ish).  The burger tasted just as bad as Wendy's on Friday night, but I choked it down, and even tried a biscuit from Popeyes (they're amazing).  The boys all ate themselves sick - and loopey.  I think we were all on a food high or something because none of us could stop laughing at the ridiculous amount of food we just ate.  Matt had 85% of his sodium and 89% of his fat for the day in the 15 minutes we were sitting there eating.  No wonder he didn't feel well the rest of the car ride home. ;)

First stop:  Popeye's for CC and Spen

Second stop:  McD's.  Look at all that food. 
The boys are looking quite shameful -- despite the "no shame" rules.

This is only part of what Matt ate...

I slept on and off the last 3.5 hours home - and woke up as we were passing downtown KC.  Perfect timing. ;) We pulled up to the house around 10:45pm, unloaded the car, and passed out for the night.

Another great trip to Madison - but I think next time I'll skip the "no shame road trip" and just pay the money to fly. ;)

Madison, WI (Fri/Sat)

We spent Labor Day weekend in Madison, Wisconsin, this year.  We had to make it up there for a home football game again this year - last year was so much fun - and this was really the only weekend that worked for us.  And since flights were so expensive over the holiday weekend, we decided to just make a road trip out of it.

The trip didn't start out too well.  It was pouring rain when we left KC on Friday afternoon.  We've been in a drought all summer.  Why did it have to rain then??  It took us forever to actually get out of the city with all the rush hour traffic -- and all the people who have aboslutely no idea how to drive when it's raining!

Finally out of the city -- an hour later...

After one quick stop at a rest area for me to pee (you should of heard the boys complaining!), we stopped in Des Moines, IA, for dinner.  Now, the boys had failed to mention some very important "road trip rules" to me before I agreed to go on this little trip with them.  First of all, they have something called "no shame" days where you can eat whatever you want without anyone judging you and without you feeling shameful about it.  It's holidays, vacations, major sporting events, etc.  I didn't realize road trips fell in to this category.  Apparently, it is rule #1 of road trips.  So after numerous complaints from me, we still ended up at this place for dinner:

Wendy's?  Come on.  I never eat fast food.  It makes me feels so gross with all that grease.  There was no way I was winning out on this one, so I played along...and ordered a salad.  I couldn't face the ridicule, and ended up with a cheeseburger and ice cream, too.  They were happy with that.

After a phone call to another friend of theirs who frequents these road trips with them, a few of the other "road trip rules" were confirmed.  

• #2: Don't get an STD.  (What?  Who gets STD's on road trips?)
• #3: No sleeping.  (Please.  I'll do the no shame eating thing, but there is NO WAY I am staying awake in the car for 8 or 9 hours while driving through the middle of nowhere at night.  Not happening.)
• #4:  You must have colorful snack-packs.  (HELL YES.  Finally a road trip rule I was okay with!  I was prepared for this one, I had candy, fruit snacks, cheez-its, granola bars.  I passed number 4 with flying colors! )

Needless to say, after chowing down on the disgusting food from Wendys, I went in to a food coma and slept in the car.  Yes, I broke a road trip rule on my first road trip.  Deal with it.  I actually tried to argue for awhile that I had just been resting and didn't actually fall asleep, but when they started asking me about conversations they had had, I realized I had dozed off ... for who knows how long.

Documented proof of my rule breaking...

We stopped again in Dubuque, IA for gas -- and more snacks/drinks.  I wasn't allowed to drink anything in the car after I made them stop once for a pee break.  These guys are tough!

We found this drink for sale at the convenience store called "Hog Wash."  I think it's another version of the Bug Juice drinks they have for little kids, but these had hilarious names.  We couldn't pass them up.  Spen bought several as souvenirs.

Squealin' Blue Rasberry, Gruntin' Grape, Oinkin' Orange, Swine-Sational Lime, and Piggy Pink Lemonade

Iowa souvenirs

Not far outside of Dubuque, once we crossed over the Mississippi River, I begged and pleaded until they finally pulled over for me to get a picture of this sign.  It's imperative that I have pictures of everything on my road trips.  That's MY rule! ;)

I couldn't, however, get them to slow down long enough for me to take a picture of a road sign.  I think this one (below) said 20-some miles to Madison...

We finally pulled in to the house in Madison around 1am I think.  And of course everyone was waiting up for us.  That meant I had to pretend I wasn't exhausted and talk to everyone for another hour...  For some odd reason, once I did finally get in bed, my mind was racing (quite possibly from all the sugary snack-packs I had in the car?) and I couldn't fall asleep for anything.  Made for a short night.

My favorite part about Madison last year was all the free cheese at the Farmer's Market.  I had been telling the boys all along how I was going to get up at 6 or 7 am and go down there to be sure and get lots of cheese.  Because they totally start setting up for those things at, like, 4am, right?  And I didn't want it to be gone before we got there. 

Well, I didn't set an alarm, and B came in to wake me up...at 10am.  I was NOT happy.  I was supposed to be at the market eating cheese 3 hours ago!  I jumped up and showered, and we headed down there around 11 or 11:30 - with me complaining the whole time that the cheese was going to be gone.  Well, well...guess who was right!

Okay, I'm lying.  There was plenty of cheese left.  Of course.  But I had to rub it in at least a little every time I saw any stalls like the ones above! :)  Actually, I got more cheese than I needed.  I bought the most amazing 8 year cheddar ever, and some fresh cheese curds that squeaked.  Spen got berries and sausage, we got some cinnamon rolls from an Amish bakery.  Oooohhhh it was all just glorious...

I forgot to mention the ridiculously awesome Toms shoes my sister-in-law painted for me for this trip.  I bought the red and white Wisconsin "Campus Classic" TOMS, and she did THIS to them:

Honestly, they are perfect.  You would never be able to tell that she free handed them.  Talk about talent!  That girls got plenty of it!!  I was getting offers right and left for them at the Farmers Market.  $220 was the winner.  Probably should have taken that one, but I just couldn't part with them!  They totally made my outfit!  (And I loved having the coolest shoes in all of Madison!)

After I had my fill of cheese at the market, we went back to the house for a quick taco salad lunch, and then walked down to the stadium for the 2:45pm kick off!  We were almost late for the game.  Apparently I took a little too much time with all the cheeses...

It was a sea of red on the way there.  We found our seats - our GREAT seats - just in time to see the first play of the game.  There's nothing like the atmosphere of a college football stadium.  Especially one that has to have the greatest student sections of all time!

(Spen and CC were making fun of our pose in their pic...)

The first half of the game wasn't too exciting, but the students made up for it.  They did their usual chants (some of which are too inappropriate to even write on here!) and started the wave, did their "Jump Around," etc.  Northern Iowa didn't even score in the first half. 

That changed when they came back out after half time.  The score was quickly 26 to 21, and it wasn't looking good for the Badgers!  They held them off for a win in the end though...

We stuck around for the "5th Quarter" again.  It's totally better than the football game.  Maybe even better than the student section antics.  The whole band comes out and just plays random songs and dances around.  It's pretty entertaining. :)

After the game, we walked back to the house for dinner.  Some guests came over, too, including Bin Bin, their tour guide in China.  He told us some crazy stories about growing up their that just blew our minds.  That's one messed up country...and we are very lucky to live where we do!

Anyways, once dinner was over and everyone left, all I wanted to do was take a nap.  I was afraid the "nap" at 9pm would turn in to me not getting up until the next day, so I skipped that and we all went out to State Street for the night.  State Street is Madison's version of Aggieville in Manhattan:  just a bunch of bars and restaurants along one street. 

Our first stop was The Red Shed.  It's a dirty little hole-in-the-wall kind of place, and we shared two long islands there. 

Since it was an afternoon game and students had been partying all day, it was already pretty sloppy at the bars.  Just watching all the mayhem was more than enough entertainment for me.  I started noticing all the crazy ridiculous shirts the students wear in Madison, and decided to start taking pictures of them.  I got quite a collection in just a couple of hours...most of them slightly inappropriate. :)

No Fear - and a girl in a tutu next to him

We wandered up and down State Street (found DJ Spincycle!), and ended up at bar number 2 for the night: Brats.  It was a madhouse!  I guess it's usually a pretty chill place, but it was anything but that night.  It was so packed we could hardly walk around.  We eventually found a table to sit at and people watch for a couple of drinks, and didn't stay too terribly long.

No one was in the mood to wait in long lines, so Wando's was skipped for Nitty Gritty.  (What a name for a bar!)  When we first got to State Street, the line for this place was out the door and down the block, but it was dead when we got there.  Apparently they have some sort of happy hour earlier.  There might of been 8 other people in the hole place by 12:30am, which I was okay with.  The boys played some Buck Hunter, had a drink, and we agreed to call it a night.  Well, not before they gorged on Qdoba burritous -- a tradition that I did not partake in.

 

Allie - 10

My niece, Allie, turned 10 over the weekend.  So just like last year, I went to have lunch with her at her school.  (Her birthday was Sunday, but I went Friday.)

No school food for us this year, though.  I had a special request for Subway from the birthday girl - which I'm sure beat the breakfast pizza from the cafeteria.  And of course I couldn't show up without a balloon!  The reception was a little different this year, though. She is definitely getting older and it's probably not "cool" to run up and hug anyone anymore, haha.  Oh well, I still love her!

The one thing that did not change from last year was me trying not to laugh when I saw her outfit.  It's September, mind you, and she was in her Christmas dress from the previous year (I think).  Black velvet on top, poofy red skirt with glitter on it -- and the kicker: a glittery poinsetta in her hair.  WOW.  I told her she looked very pretty, and she twirled around and grinned like, "Duh, I know!"  Ha - that girl is too much, I swear. ;)

Jaelyn's birthday was Friday, and she got to sit at the "parent" table and eat lunch with us.

I usually DO something with the kids for their birthdays, rather than get them something, and this year was no different.  But for some reason, I felt bad showing up empty handed at her school (besides the balloon).  So the day of, I bought a Groupon for a pottery painting class that I knew she wanted to do.  Score!  She loved it, it was cheap, AND it's something she can go do with her mom. :)

She also had an overnight stay at Coco Keys Water Park with Jaelyn for her birthday on Saturday night.  I was out of town and couldn't go to that (although I'm not sure I was invited, anyways), but she text me on Sunday and said "It was cool."  Add in plenty of Justice clothes and some awesome purple boots, and I'd say she had a pretty solid 10th birthday.

____________________

On a side note, the cutest baby ever (my nephew, Hunter) is now 10 months old!  He's hardly even a baby anymore!  He claps and waives and can walk behind a stroller. 

Man, do I love this little guy...