Give me something good to eat.

J’s sister Arianne came up for the Badger v. Illinois game. She arrived Friday night and we went to the Village Pub to have some dinner. I’m really lovin’ the Pub. The food is really good and the drink prices are reasonable. After we finished our sandwiches we headed back to the pad. We watched part of a movie and hit the hay.

No rest for the weary, even on the weekends. We were heading to Madison early so I had to wake up the same time I wake up every day, the dreaded 6:30. We slapped on some Badger red and drove downtown to pick up Luedke and Anna. We got to Madison about nine. We parked in the Kohl Center parking lot and drank some oat sodas. From there we headed to Buck’s for a drink and then off to the game. I was a little nervous watching the first half. The Badgers were losing to the lowly Illini. But never fear, Bucky stormed back and held the southerners to no points in the second half while racking up touchdowns. The Badgers pulled out the W. After the game were going to head back to Buck’s. On the way we coincidentally ran into J and Arianne who were sitting in a different area of the stadium. They were hungry so we decided to go eat at Ian’s but the line was crazy long so we ducked into Doty’s. The wait there was 45 minutes so we put our name down and grabbed a drink. In the process of waiting we decided we didn’t want to wait so we headed out. J drove since she was the sober Sally. The drive to the Delafield Brewhaus was eventful and included a stop at a gas station where craziness ensued. Once at the Brewhaus we chowed down and had a sampler to help the cause. After we ate we dropped off L and Anna downtown and headed to the pad. We were supposed to go to Kondo’s for his Halloween party but we were shot. We called it a night. Shout out to L for hooking us up big time with the ticks!

Sunday was our first trick or treating in WFB. The neighbors organized a block party while ToTing was going on. I didn’t get a chance to get a new costume together so I wore Napoleon again. We ate some chili and appetizers and met the neighbors. It was a nice little get together but it’s kind of hard to meet your neighbors in a fro wig and coke bottle glasses. While we were sitting in the closed off street the kids would come by ToTing. There were prizes given out for the best costumes at the party and somehow I won scariest costume. So my Napoleon costume has won a funniest and scariest award. Time to retire this costume. It was fun and when it was all said and done we have a lot of candy leftover. The crappy part about having Halloween on Sunday is that it feels like it’s over. We need to get back to having Halloween on Halloween. Oh, well.

Friday night J was itching for a fish fry so we hit up our first attempt in our new area. We went to Solly’s on Port Washington. Solly’s is known for their butter burgers which are decent. I personally like Kopp’s and Sobelman’s better but they’re decent. We both got the fish fry. It was ok. The fish was a little dry and it was kept in the fryer a bit to long. It was edible but it doesn’t hold a candle to Turner’s. After dinner we drove the three minute drive home and spent the night watching TV. One great WFB find that occurred on Friday was a fabulous liquor store on the end of our street. The store has a huge wall of mix your own six pack beers. I have a feeling it’ll turn into my weekly bike ride. Friday, to the liquor store for a mix your own six pack. There are so many different beers I’ve taken up a new hobby of collecting beer labels.

Saturday unexpectedly turned into a fun day. We invited the clan to the homestead to check it out and watch the Badgers. The Chapman’s and Wians’ came over. We watched Bucky kick some butt and enjoyed some oat sodas. The Chapman’s had other things to do after the game but the Wians’ stuck around. I had some chili cookin’ for dinner but we needed more brew so we headed to my favorite new liquor store and got some mixer sixers. We hung around the castle the entire afternoon and early evening drinking beers and eating chili. I love these kinds of days, especially in winter and fall. We watched the afternoon football games and a movie. They left before ten which was a good time for us old geezers to start wrapping it up for the weekend so we can prevent the Sunday hangover. J and I watched another movie and hit the hay by midnight.

This weekend was the culmination of months of planning for my ten year class reunion. During the past year I took it upon myself to organize a reunion because it did look like it was going to happen unless someone stepped up. I had the help of a couple ‘mates in the planning and was hoping everything would go off without a hitch.

On Friday after work I hooked up with Will who had flow in from San Fran for the reunion. He spent a couple days in Chicago and was hitchin’ a ride to Falls with us. He met me at he bus stop and we bussed it to WFB. I gathered all the stuff we’d need for the weekend and we headed to Falls. Friday’s activities included checking out the homecoming football game and then some drinks downtown. Before we met up with everyone we said hello to my mom at St. Mary’s. Then we went to a nice little restaurant in downtown Falls called Beans and Barley. We had a quick but delicious dinner and headed into the brisk Falls weather to check out the Falcons. We watched the game for a couple quarters and met up with the class of 96. There were surprisingly a lot of people that came out for the game. We left at the end of the third and went to the O to meet up with all the other cold 96ers. The rest of the night was a blast. It was a great group and we bounced around downtown Falls being crazy and getting caught up on old times. Not much planning of night one but it was a lot of fun.

Saturday was the big day. I didn’t have to do much during the day. J and I hung out by my brother’s and watched the Badger game. About four we headed to Bruce’s in Elkhart where the dinner and mixing was going to take place. I got everything setup and the squared away with Bruce and got ready to have fun. Everyone started to trickle in around five so I fired up the 1996 mix. Once everyone arrived I was able to let loose because everything was done. I drank some beers before dinner, mingled and took some pictures of the classmates. We ate dinner at six. We had the “Sheboygan wedding buffet” of chicken, tips, ham and the sides. It was all very good. For $20 a person I challenge anyone to throw a better shindig that we had. After dinner we hung around Bruce’s and talked some more. We packed things up at ten and headed to the Brown Bear which I think is one of the best bars around. The craziness proceeded to continued. The drinks were flowing and the high school immaturity was resurfacing. It was a lot of fun though and there was some face hurting laughs during the night. As the night went on people trickled home. The last group of us ended up leaving a little after midnight. The party was a success and worth every second of planning and out of pocket cost. We went over our budget by about $80 which is good planning. It was more than worth it to get to have some good times with my old high school mates. Thanks to John, Christy and Sarah for the help. Digger won the crazy drunk of the night award. See you all in five years!

Sunday J and I took off fairly early. We drove to the Kettles and went to Parnell Tower to check out the foliage. It was a nice fall day. We hiked up, snapped some pics and hiked down. The drive home was nice with a little back road driving. Once back in WFB I hit the couch for some Packers and rest.

After a week of unpacking, organizing and looking for a lawnmower on Criag’s List I needed a bit of a break. We didn’t do anything on Friday but Saturday we were able to listen to the Badgers roll over Northwestern. After the first half we went to the Sprecher Brewery to take their tour. We have now swapped our go to brewery tour from Lakefront to Sprecher. Have to love MKE when one of the things you change in a move is your brewery tour. Sprecher is a short drive or longer walk away, probably same distance as Lakefront was. So we took the tour and listened to the yadda yadda so we could get our four samples. We bought some growlers to go (3 for $18 is a crazy steal) and checked out the gift shop. We headed back to the house and drank some Sprecher and continued to unpack and organize. We then got a call from Schwenker and he stopped over. We looked at some pictures, listened to some tunes and worked on the growlers. We were having some heated political talk because everyone knows that nothing goes better than politics and a beer buzz. We extinguished the political talk and got back to reliving the good old days. At about ten we headed to the only local bar around, The Village Pub. We headed over and it was a pretty cool bar. We grabbed a stool and some food and had a good time. We only stayed a couple hours to get a feel of our new local bar. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was something I can get used to. After that we headed home and capped off our first true weekend as Whitefish Bayenites.

This weekend was a very exciting one but I have to admit not one I was looking forward to. We closed on our house on Thursday and our apartment’s lease ended on Saturday. That meant moving all of our belongings over the course of a couple days. We started Friday night. We rented a van from U-haul and took three loads of boxes and smaller things. We weren’t planning on renting the van but looking back on the weekend we’re lucky we did.

Saturday we got to gettin’ early. Conveniently all of my friends were in Lacrosse getting hammered at Oktoberfest so it was the two of us doing the whole thing. My first trip was all the big stuff and I thought the rest of the day was going to be a cinch, wrong. We moved from eight to eight and I swear that our stuff tripled in the moved. I joked that we’re going to need a bigger house. I have to thank Jocelyn’s mom too. She came up and helped unpack some of the stuff while we were packing up the apartment. After an exhausting day we got everything in though. We have a house! My first act at the new place was showering and collapsing on the couch, I sense these exact actions will be recreated many time over. I was wiped from the days events.

Sunday I woke up sore as all get out. My brother and his family came to visit. He evaluated our house and did a little planning on how to go about tearing apart the house and getting it into the millennium. We’re going to enjoy it for a month or so and then start going This Old House on the thing. After some home inspecting we took our first of many trips to Taco Bell. Expect to see me balloon in weight due to all the easily accessible fast food restaurants around our location.