What a fun weekend we had this week. J and I put together a get away weekend to the Dells with Adam, Stacey, L, Anna, Chappy and Katie. We left after work on Friday night and drove up. When we got to our motel, which was the same one we stayed at last time, we checked in and got situated in our room. We then headed down to the pool and drank some drinks and enjoyed the summer weather. The second car of folks arrived about an hour after us so everyone was accounted for and having a good time. After a couple hours by the pool we got ready and hit the strip. We stopped by the always cool Riverwalk that is on the way to the strip. We saw a Doors cover band and got to take some pictures with a monster truck. After that we had a couple swigs at Nig’s and played some pool. Our final bar was the Essen Haus and the boot game. At bar time we headed back to the motel and caused some havoc in the pool. We were up until three or fourish causing trouble.

Saturday we woke up early. I can’t really say bright eyed and bushy tailed but we woke up. We headed off to Noah’s Ark for some water slides. It was kind of overcast but it was warm so the park was fun. We all hit a bunch of slides. I knew I had packed on a couple pounds but I didn’t know I was as bad as I am. I was going down Jungle Rapids and I actually got stuck! The slide has a flat portion and my momentum couldn’t carry me through it. Luckily Jocelyn, who was behind me, saw me just sitting there in the slide and didn’t go down the slide and run into me. So I scooted forward and finally got going. Oh man. After the water park we headed back to the motel and slept for a couple hours. After everyone woke up and got ready we headed to the boat ride we had booked. We took the powerboat boat tour of the river and it was so much fun. We got drenched and were laughing the entire time. It was way more fun than the ducks and well worth the cost. We weren’t expecting to get as drenched as we did so we drove back to the motel to change for dinner. We went to Moose Jaw pizza which is a great microbrew eatery. We drank at the bar while we waited for our table. By the time dinner rolled around everyone was famished. We dug into the pizzas and shared some laughs while wearing our paper moose antlers. It felt like a scene out of Lampoon’s Vacation and Marty Moose. We were obviously planning on going out again after dinner but once we got back to the motel and sat down everyone kind of crashed. We had a bunch of drinks in the motel room and hung out there the rest of the night.

Sunday on the way back L, Anna, J and I stopped at the Delafield Brewhaus on the way to the Brewer’s game. I had my third beer sampler of the weekend and a delicious Cajun burger. We then went to the Brewer’s game for the nesting dolls giveaway. It was a great weekend.

Finally a low key weekend. I did some wash on Friday night, exciting. Saturday J and I went for a bike ride around the city. Then at three we headed out to the burbs of Menominee Falls for a little get together with the Delahunts. We picked up some gourmet brats for the mean dish. We grilled out, drank some drinks, and enjoyed the summer weather. Todd and I played some horse with Steph’s friend’s boyfriend. I didn’t win but I didn’t embarrass myself either which was a relief. When the sun went down we headed inside and watched some movies. We spent the night in burbs and had a great time.

J and I went to look at a bunch of houses in the Whitefish Bay area. One was really nice and we’re going to put an offer in on it. After we finished that we headed to Trocadero for dinner. We had to wait an hour to be seated so J and I went upstairs to the Red Light from some beers while we waited. We finally sat down around nine. It was well worth the wait. We had some bruschetta and I got a burger. The burger was grilled medium-rare and topped with a blue cheese and red wine butter, very tasty. On the way home Luedke gave me a call asking if I wanted to head to Bastille Days. Since it’s only two blocks away I headed down there and had a couple beers with him. I headed home at midnight.

Saturday was a lot of fun my Cousin Steve’s girlfriend, Keri, had a surprise birthday party for him in Chicago. My brother and his wife drove down with J and me to Chi. Hamm hooked us up huge and saved us some cash by letting us stay at his place. He already had plans for the early night so we’d have to meet him later. After dropping our stuff off at Hamm’s we walked to an Irish bar for some appetizers and iced drinks to stave off the heat. After getting rid of the hunger pains we tried to find the restaurant where the party was going to be. We ended up being about two blocks away so we back tracked a bit to another bar. After a beer we headed over to the restaurant to wait for everyone to show up. It was hot outside and Emilio’s Tapas had the cure, sangria. We sat at the bar and had a couple different flavors to pass the time. Everyone started to show up and finally the birthday boy arrived. We did our surprise and a pathetic rendition of Happy Birthday and sat down for dinner. We had a bunch of different tapas and then for the main course we had a large dish of paella, good stuff. After dinner we sat at the restaurant bar for a bit and then headed to Clark Bar. It was a small bar but very much like a place I would hang out if I lived in the area. The alley between the bar and the building is where the St. Valentine’s Day massacre took place so there was a bit of history there as well. Steve and my brother showed their age and went home early. Hamm ended up meeting us at the bar so I hung out with him, J and Brett Johnson for the rest of the night. We ran it tight the rest of the night and capped it off with a hunt for some good eats. We started the walked home and passed by the world famous Weiner Circle. I was gung-ho to stop but there was WAY too many people there so we went to a burrito joint. It was a great decision because it was an unbelievably good burrito, but most are at four in the morning. After finishing our late night eats we finished the walk to Hamm’s and called it a night.

Sunday morning we thanked Hamm and drove back to Milwaukee. When we got back we went to watch the free air show on the lakefront. It was boiling hot but that didn’t prevent all the people from coming out to see the planes. We saw the Red Barons, the Golden Knights and the Thunderbirds. I’m amazed every time I see the pilots fly these planes. After the show we retreated to our apartment and sweated away the rest of the day.

On Friday I made my only trip to Summerfest. During lunch I went down to the grounds and got a wristband to see Steely Dan at the Marcus. I bought a ticket for J because she couldn’t make it during lunch. I headed down about six because I had to reenter the grounds by seven to use my reentry wristband. I picked up some Thai and sat down to eat. While I was people watching I people watched Luedke of all people. He and Anna were heading over to the Miller stage to check out an act. So I tagged along with them while I was waiting for J. We watched some no name rock group. J finally showed up and we headed to Steely Dan. They’re actually one of my favorite groups and they sounded great. They’re pretty mellow and Michael McDonald opened up for them so it was an older relaxed crowd. J and I stayed for about half the show and then watched the final couple songs of the jam band the Big Wu. We stayed to the end and got home a little after midnight.

We headed to crew game on Saturday. It was just J and I. My brother had hooked us up with some Brewers v. Cubs tickets. We tailgated and didn’t enjoy the parking lot as much as we usually do due to the Chub fans. L, Hand and their sig others met up with us in the parking lot. We headed into the game and it sucked. I’m done with games when the Cubs come to town. The fans are obnoxious and I do nothing but get irate around them and their ignorance of baseball. After a Crew loss we headed to Rascal’s up on North. Hand’s gfriend worked there so we had the hookup. We stayed there almost all night. J went home a little early so I was solo with the group. I left about 1:30. It’s a long walk from North Ave. so I stopped at the Nomad for a beer to break up the walk. There was nobody there but the bartender so I talked to him for a couple minutes. After that I finished the walk home, safe and sound.

July already, and that means Kondofest. We headed to Kondo’s house at about one ready to party it up. There animals were already there getting the party started. As always the party was a fun. Not too much extreme craziness to talk about, just a fun time. The weather was great. I manned one of the grills and cooked many fine meat selections to perfection. We spent all day at Kondofest and then about seven we headed to a new wingery & bar by Kondo’s called W.O.W. We got sidetracked and had a drink at Patty’s on the way but once we arrived a bunch of the Kondofest patrons were at W.O.W. We ate some wings and played some Golden Tee. We split from the group after that. J, her sister and I started barhopping in the direction of home. We stopped at the Nomad and County Claire and topped the night off with some Myk’s.

We celebrated our country’s independence by watching the Brew crew. We picked up Adam and Stacey and headed to the ballpark to do some tailgating. The weather was great and we got a good amount of tailgating in. The game didn’t disappoint. Everyone received a racing hotdog bobbledog. The Crew pulled out the victory so it was a successful day at the park. After the game we went to Points East pub a couple blocks from our place. We spent the rest of the day in the newly remodeled bar playing bar games and watching some World Cup. A great July 4th but it made for a rough July 5th.