I was itching for some Ale House happy hour so I tried to recruit some people for some after work fun. The only person I was able to recruit was my wife. No better person to go to the Ale House with than J so we hit up the happy hour. We sat there for a couple hours and then headed home to change. A bunch of people were heading to the Metro for a birthday party so we joined them briefly. The were just getting ready to move to a different bar when we arrived but it was a place that J and I didn’t feel like going so we slipped out. We went to My Office for a little while, then to Myk and home.

Saturday I was all gung-ho to have dinner and then go out. J and I went to Elsa’s to get some gourmet burgers. I had a Mexican style piece of heaven and J had a huge marinated pork salad. After dinner we went home and as soon as I hit the couch I withered and had no desire to go out. We spend the rest of the night watching episodes of Lost and enjoying the weekend.

This weekend was Jocelyn’s high school class reunion, Peoria Steamboat Days and her grandparents’ last month in Peoria before their permanent move to Arizona. Jocelyn bought a new/used Lincoln LS earlier in the week so we cruised to Peoria Friday afternoon in style. It was a hot and even hotter by the time we got to Peoria. Once in Peoria we checked into the hotel and got ready for the reunion. The festivities were held at an artsy bar type place down by the riverfront. The first part of the reunion was spent watching a jazz band with the general public. After the band finished it was just Jocelyn’s class. They had a bunch of munchies and some sandwiches. There was plenty of beer in the coolers and I mingled with Jocelyn and met the old mates. It was a lot of fun. Around ten the hall shut down we went to this arcade bar type place. We continued the fun there and at about midnight we headed back to the hotel so J could get some sleep for the morning Steamboat run.

J got up super early to run the Steamboat race in the heat. I was unable to get up and support her so I slept in. Once she got back I woke up and walked to McD’s to get some breakfast. I got back and showered up before we went to J’s grandparents’ on her dad’s side house. We spent the afternoon there looking at wedding pictures and eating Italian from a local eatery. Late in the afternoon we got ready at the hotel and headed to the other grandparents’ house. We met everyone there and headed to the country club and had a last family meal with the grandparents’ in Peoria. The family went to J’s uncle’s house and we spent a majority of the night there. I was planning on hitting the Peoria saloons but J was too tired so Arianne and I hit the town. The bar we went to had an amazing beer selection and I partook in many fine suds. Arianne and I played some shuffle puck and we ran into some of the people from the reunion. We talked to them the rest of the night and then headed back.

Sunday we drove home to Milwaukee. We stopped at a gas station to fill up and eat. Also filling up was the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, what a sweet job that would be. Once back in Mil-town we went to the Brewer game to get our bobblehead and headed home.

We had a big Saturday. My first visit to Alpine Valley in two years (to see Jimmy Buffett. This was added after the initial posting becuase Will brought it to my attention that I really just talked about food the whole time and never mentioned Jimmy. Am I addicted to food? I thought music was one of my passions but I guess food eating food trumps it). We headed to Alpine around one in the afternoon and met J’s former boss Gina, her husband Bob and some of their friends in Mukwonago. From there we followed them to Alpine and set up shop. We had a huge carport tent and tons of food and drink for the day. Nothing beats tailgating and the people watching in the parking lot of Alpine. We spent the afternoon wandering the lot people watching and partying at our own camp. I made some teriyaki shrimp and picked at numerous salads that had been laid out. Right before we went in I met up with Silly Billy and we headed into the show with him and Stephanie. We lost them somewhere so J and I watched the show from the railings by the pavilion. The show was awesome as usual and flew by. After the show we headed to the car and grilled up a late night snack. J drove us home and we arrived safely but completely exhausted from the fun of the day.

Sunday we headed out to J’s old employer, the Sports Dock, for a going away party for one of the long time regulars. Gina was working and Bob was also there so we talked about the craziness of the previous night. We had some great BBQ pork sandwiches that they were serving. Once filled up I smoked a cigar with Bob and we all made fun of the locals. After my last puff on the cigar we headed home to relax for the little bit of weekend we had left.

This weekend we had another couple of friends bite the dust. Adam and Stacey were getting hitched. Friday after work we headed out to a park in ‘Tosa where they had a rehearsal party everyone could attend. We drank some beer and played some bocce ball. After the park we headed to the Nomad from some more festivities. J was tired so she went home but Luedke, Hamm and the others were out in full force. We stayed at the Nomad for the entire night. I walked home about midnight to get some shut eye.

Saturday was the wedding. We took taxis to the church because Adam and Stacey had rented a coach bus for everyone to ride on. Once at the church I surveyed the seating for a prime photograph spot and ended up sitting separate from the rest of the group. The wedding was nice and I snapped some good pictures. After the wedding people filled up the coach bus and we went to the ‘Tosa main stay, Lef’s Lucky Town. We piled off the bus and spent over an hour there having celebratory drinks. After that it was back on the bus and off to the War Memorial downtown where the reception was being held. The weather was great and we were all able to enjoy the outdoor cocktail time on the lakefront. It was finally time for the best part of all weddings, the food. We headed into the hall and took our seats. It was a lot of fun because there were three tables of friends all next to each other. For dinner I had some huge cuts of beef and some delicious potatoes. I lucked out and got the crusty butt end of roast. Dinner was good and once it was over it was rockin’ time. The rest of the night was spent dancing and drinking. After the wedding was over, the clan moved things a couple blocks to Aqua where the wedding party and guests wrapped it all up. Another great wedding. Congrats to Adam and Stacey Wians!

Love the long weekends and this weekend was Memorial Day weekend and the official start of summer. J and I went to her mom’s house down by Chicago to spend Friday night. J’s mom and Craig had gotten some steaks for dinner which is never a bad meal. I don’t know if Craig wants me to give his secret away but he brushes a light layer of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce on them for the last couple minutes while it’s on the grill. Doing it at that time really lets the BBQ almost cook off but keeps the steak moist and adds a hint of flavor. Very good. After dinner we sat by the fire outside and drank some beer and wine. Nothing beats a fire.

We weren’t planning on staying Saturday but we did. I spent the day watching TV and catching up on sleep. I played a little pool but didn’t really do anything all day. For dinner Craig had his brother bring over some Italian sausage, gnocchi and some other dishes from the old neighborhood. Craig grew up in a primarily Italian community and this was just a taste of that community. Everything was great, especially the gnocchi. Another couple came over for dinner as well. After dinner we headed to the deck to enjoy the fire the rest of the night.

It took me a little while to get going on Sunday but we got out of Chicago a little after noon. It was blazing hot when we left Chicago with temps in the 90s. The traffic wasn’t that bad and we managed to avoid the plethora of cop cars. What was nice is once we got back to Milwaukee the lake has kept the temperature in the mid to high 70s so once we got back we were in heaven. It was such a nice day and we wanted to take advantage of it so we headed to The Rock Bottom for lunch. The outdoor patio was packed so we had to eat inside. After eating we headed to the outdoor patio of The Harp for one and then McGilicuddy’s patio for one. We then traversed the downtown to the Third Ward. We stopped in at the Public Market to check it out. We picked up a couple exclusive Sprecher sodas and headed to the Ale House. We spent a couple hours sitting by the boardwalk watching the boats and sipping Sheepshead Stout. One guy fell into the river with all his cloths on and he struggled for about five minutes to get out, it was pretty funny. When the sun tucked behind the condos we started the hop home and stopped at The Wicked Hop. Adam and Stacey met us there for the journey home. We ran into Jackie Evraets’ parents there and we talked about our honeymoon. After the Hop we headed to the good ‘ol My Office. We spent the rest of the night there. Once back home I had a college flashback and made some of my world famous creamy spaghetti to soak up the beer.

Monday we laid around, ate some gyros and enjoyed the day off.