This post could also be titled “The Tale of Two (Booze) Tours”, but more on that later.

Saturday morning Pete was up early. Like, if it were a weekday, it would be before we were dragging ourselves out of bed, and well before we’d be trying to get Pete to wake up. Figures. So we tagged along when Scott headed to the Farmer’s Market, and kind of did our own thing this time (like, purposefully, rather than trying to stay near Scott). First smoothies, then kettle corn. Pete had charmed several handful of samples out of the people running the kettle corn tent while we waited on our smoothies, so I figured the least I could do is actually buy a bag.

A bit of a side note here: Pete has grown up to be quite the social butterfly, something that Scott and I find completely perplexing, considering this is the child of two very introverted, mostly private people. He never stops talking, loves to start conversations with random strangers, and according to his preschool teachers, “Pete always has so much to tell us every day, he keeps everyone entertained”. He’s his aunt Aimee’s mini-me, and frankly it’s terrifying

Anyway, we also perused the market. Pete has an undying love for asparagus and it’s allllll over the market this spring, so of course – every booth he felt the need to chat up the vendors about their ‘awesome’ asparagus, tell them how much he loves asparagus, etc. etc. He also proudly told vendors his name, my name, his address, and other random bits of information. I love that child but YEESH. Time to teach him about polite conversation and personal filters.

After a bit Pete got bored with the market and found a family to befriend. Then he dragged me into the Capitol to explore it a bit, which is where Scott finally caught up with us. He had picked up fresh breakfast empanadas from a food cart, so the guys settled in and had a post-market snack before we headed back home.

Oh, before leaving we also went up allllll the way to the top of the dome (lots of flights of stairs, people) to check out the observation deck for the first time.

A few weeks ago, I read that Death’s Door Distillery was having a Parents Night Out evening coming up – essentially a cocktail and cheese thing, with tours of the distillery and demos from Fromagination; Keva Sports down the street was providing the childcare. All nice and tidy. But at $30 a pop for the cocktail hour and $25 per kid to drop them at Keva, I figured it was maybe something we keep in mind for the future. Except: Edible Madison was giving away tickets, I tossed my name in the hat, and lo and behold: we won. Sweeeeet.

So Saturday night Pete was dropped off at Keva for his evening of sports extravaganza, and Scott and I headed out to Death’s Door.

Super-cool place. This is where Scott went for a butchering session/meat raffle once (yes, MEAT RAFFLE, you did not read that incorrectly), but he didn’t get the tour and not nearly as many free cocktails The spirits from this place are top notch and they have made quite the name for themselves in a short period time, being picked up on both coasts by the hippest restaurants and getting name-dropped in foodie magazines. They also exclusively use the hard red winter wheat grown on Washington Island, single-handedly expanding the acreage for wheat farmers there from 5 acres to 12,000 acres in a mere 6 years. Pretty cool.

We took our cue from Pete and actually acted like we weren’t shy wallflowers for once, mingling with a few couples, the Death’s Door dudes on hand, and near the end I found myself cornered by an older, immpeccably cool French-Canadian woman from Fromagination who told me her name was “Shee-SELL” (Gisele, I finally realized; girl’s accent was THICK). She talked my ear off, and shared me at one point that she really isn’t into cocktails, but “Eef I am dining somewhere and the wine leest is Shee-TEE, weell I geet a gin and tonic”. All those years in high school and at college studying French, and yet I can hardly understand the accent. Anyway, she was like the living embodiment of Marie Calvet. The head guy at Death’s Door regaled us with a story about this one time at a magic fruit party (think: those old acid-dropping parties, only a lot less illegal) where he drank way too much vinegar and was sick for days. I think I need to stick my head out and pretend to be social more often because holy cow, there are some characters out there.

The cheese pairing demos and tour were both really fun. On the tour we were also introduced to a few nondescript barrels in the corner of the warehouse area, which were aging whiskey that they hope to have ready in 3-5 years. Although they hope to age them for more like 8 years. And also would like to take up to Washington Island to be the first freshwater-aged barrel whiskey. And Scott and I decided that if we started saving now, we can maybe afford a bottle when it’s finally on the market.

After a run in with a very nice but terribly drunk woman that we just could not shake to save our lives, we sneaked out (enough socializing for us!) and decided there was no better way to end the evening than with pie, I mean hell as long as we were trolling Middleton. So we scored a booth at Hubbard Ave. diner and got a few slices. I got the derby pie (pecan with chocolate bottom) and Scott got their peanut-butter silk. Scott totally won. I was sad with my (still very good) pie after sampling his.

We picked up our Beez (who told us his ‘new party place’ was ‘totally awesome’ and that he can’t wait to go back), we all went home and crashed. Seriously crashed. As in: Pete didn’t sleepily come in our room to wake us up until 8:45a the next day. It was bliss.

Sunday was mostly playing catch up on chores and stuff. We also finally turned on the AC – the temp wasn’t so bad, but low 80s and super-humidity plus rain is kinda gross. And Plus it’s supposed to be that way for the next 3-4 days, so we officially give up. For now anyway (highs in the 60s after that, OMG I CAN’T WAIT).

New Glarus Brewery was selling its Anniversary Ale starting at 1pm today, only at the brewery, and Scott is not one to miss something like a limited release beer thingie, so away we went on a quick trip down to New Glarus. I know I have said this before but I totally mean it: I love that little village. If it didn’t mean a treacherous, white-knuckled drive to Madison every day in the wintertime, I would move there in a heartbeat. But I am a grandma-level nervous driver so that’s probably not the brightest idea. Ever.

SO ANYWAY. We got there at the height of the day (it was 82 degrees without a cloud in the sky and my friends, we have officially lived here Long Enough because holy lord, that was miserably hot). The Brewery is one of the prettiest ones I have seen, a series of Swiss Village-esque buildings and lovely landscaping. They are still working on a portion of the brewery, Scott told me it was the building they’ll use for their offices. They are quite the thriving company.

After picking up those precious bottles of anniversary ale (I was nice and bought some separately for him, as they had a strict two-per-person limit) we checked out the tasting room, gift shop, and biergarten. Then off for a self-guided tour of the brewery.

New Glarus makes some mighty tasty beer and are well respected. They are easily my favorite brewery around (sorry, Free State and Boulevard, but know that you both will always hold a special place in my heart). And their beer can only be found in the state of Wisconsin, so if you ever find yourself this way: stock up. It’s worth it.

Also it would be totally worth it to work there: they have a pilot brew set-up onsite for all employees to use to brew their own personal beer, as they wish. NICE. No need for homebrewing systems for them.

We spent a little more time in the biergarten after poking around the brewery. Scott grabbed some snacks from the car, but Pete was crabby and complaining about the heat (dude, it was hot) so we packed up and called it a day.

Then we headed home, gassed up the car, and got a DEEElux car wash (oh, to be a kid again and have that much joy over the freaking car wash, man). And we got home just in time – there were thunderstorm warnings chasing us all the way home, and they finally caught up to us a few minutes after we pulled into the garage. So we spent the rest of the day inside, doing laundry and taking it easy.

Next week we are doing our usual for Memorial Day – hitting the city instead of heading to the super-packed lakes. Our neighborhood pool opens, BratFest kicks off, and a roadtrip. We’re starting summer with a bang.

Have a good week everyone! See you after the holiday.

But this week is terribly different, and that’s thanks to the fact that ramps season is here again. So we grabbed several bunches at the market and have had good breakfasts and some lemon-ramp spaghetti. Leftovers are good with fried eggs, yo.

Okay maybe that’s not quite as exciting as I am pretending. But it’s better than saying it was just another week of work and the other boring stuff

Scott and I upgraded our phones, that was a big thing. Especially for Scott, who was still rocking the Razr (circa 2004, yes the CANCER PHONE, from Mr. Only-Organics-For-Our-Health. Heh.) Anyway, Pete was excited because NEW TOYS OMG. I downloaded a few games for him, and the ‘[whatever food]-maker’ ones seem to be a giant hit. I downloaded pizza maker, doughnut maker, and cupcake maker and he’s obsessed. Then we got the bright idea to just load them onto my old smartphone and keep it charged up as Pete’s own personal phone (minus actual cell phone coverage), so he plays on it to his little heart’s content. And takes lots of screen shots of his creations.

Saturday we just kinda stuck to home. The guys ran errands in the afternoon and I did one of those Total House Scrub-Downs while they were gone, because I am uber-weird about having a clean house on Mother’s Day. When the guys got home we took turns taking showers/baths/getting cleaned up, then went out the door: Pete to his monthly “pizza party”, Scott and I off for a date night.

We hit dinner at the Dane, then saw the new Great Gatsby film. I’ve been dying to see it, like for what 7 or 8 months now? I mean, aside from the fact that it’s America’s Great Novel and I (like most) adore the book, I also love that time period, love Baz Luhrmann’s work, love pretty much every actor cast in the major roles, and have been waiting six months to see the darn thing thanks to it getting pushed back from the late 2012 season.

Reviews were kinda mixed, but I liked it. A lot. Even though every time I see Leo on screen, I see him as all jowl-y and scowling like he was in J. Edgar. Have you seen J. Edgar? Well, if you haven’t let me just give you a piece of advice: Don’t. It was horrible and Leo’s version of Mr. Hoover forever made him unpretty to me.

There’s no unseeing that after you are forced to stare at it for hours.

Anyhoo! I loved it, even if a few things annoyed me. No “Her voice is full of money” line. They kinda re-wrote the end portion with Daisy to make her a bit more sympathetic at the end and that kinda kills the whole “people with money destroying the man” and instead makes it a bit “well, Tom is an a-hole but Daisy’s just sad”. And the floaty words thing the director added was kinda distracting.

But! I think Luhrmann really nailed the spirit of the book and the acting was spot on. Even old forever-fleshy-faced Leo; he was a perfect Gatsby (much better than Mr. Suave Robert Redford, although admittedly Mr. Redford’s Gatsby was pretty darn handsome).

We got home a little late and all of us pretty much dropped into bed. The next morning the boys ran out and got doughnuts, our favorite Mother’s Day tradition (also good for Father’s Day). Pete cried when he heard that he had to wait for me to emerge from bed to have doughnuts, so I hustled down to the table rather than taking my time. Poor guy, being a 3-year-old is so darn hard. He still put on a happy face for me when it was time for me to pick my doughnuts

I got a lovely card, my usual Pete-picked circus-clown colored bouquet (which I split up so we could enjoy those eye-searingly bright flowers in all the rooms), and some photo books I’ve been drooling over for awhile.

Everything I have read so far about Artifcat Uprising is true – the print quality is fantastic, colors are perfect, and the books themselves are just so darn pretty. Their communication is a wee bit lacking (like: hey, it would be nice to know you ship books separately and don’t give itemized invoices and don’t send all of the necessary shipping info, but at least their customer service responses are super nice). But overall, I love my books and am ready to get started on a few more.

Later we packed some sandwiches and Scott made my favorite salad (this one, YUM best of all time) and off we went to have a picnic. Which is also something I demand every Mother’s Day We were going to picnic at the Zoo but it was close to closing and the lure of swings was too much, so we went to Vilas Park next door instead.

Real actual metal slide, weeeee!

We ran all over that park, seriously. And since we were in the neighborhood, we headed to Bluephies for dessert afterwards. They were giving out Mother’s Day Emergency Kits to all the mamas. Kleenex, a wee bottle of locally made vodka, and several half-price Bluephies coupons for future use. Rock ON. They really know what a mommy needs.

And then, when we ordered drinks and asked to just see the dessert menu, we were presented with the following to view the dessert choices.

But of course, because at Bluephies it can’t just be a normal old menu. It’s gotta be on a kitschy ViewFinder in 3-D, mofos! We did get a ‘normal’ menu as well so we could read about additional choices, but it was hard to choose after seeing them in that darn ViewFinder.

We settled on a big slice of key lime pie and the Dessert Sushi, which was a sampler of their cookie dough egg rolls, Butterfinger wontons, homemade custard, and Gail Ambrosius truffles. Uh, YUM. Also I felt like I needed to run about 10 miles after all that.

That’s it! Back home, usual Sunday night stuff, and here I am at midnight finishing this thing up, yet again I hope all the mommies had a wonderful day today! Kiddos can be a handful and they make you way more broke than you used to be, but man: they are pretty darn awesome. Having Pete was the coolest thing we’ve ever done, hands down. Thank goodness for that little weirdo.

Then it was cold and rainy and not so much on the biking/cold drinks front. Boo. Saturday we planned to hit up a few things, but the rain kept a’coming, so we didn’t get around to it. That’s okay, we just had a dance party on Pete’s bedroom balcony.

By late afternoon, the rain was done and the sun came out and, while a bit humid, it was actually rather nice out. Go figure. Not one to waste a nice sunny day, we headed out for dinner and a long walk downtown.

First stop was The Side Door for dinner. We just got a bunch of apps and snacked on that. They had a few beers on tap (especially for Craft Beer Week) that Scott wanted to try. Food was good, even if the (very, verrrrrry hot) horseradish mustard took Pete a bit by surprise.

After dinner we went for a long, looooong walk to burn a few of those calories. Off we went down State, all the way to campus.

Stopped at Lake Mendota first to catch the sunset. And watch all the college kids drink to their hearts’ contents. Made me miss college a little, I won’t lie.

We ran Pete ragged all over campus. Even I was exhausted after chasing him up and down and everywhere.

And that about sums up Saturday. We got home pretty late, almost 9pm (!!!), and then I had to tackle the job of making cupcakes for Pete’s preschool’s carnival the next day. This is the only picture I have of them but I have to say, I am somewhat proud. My little Pinterest Copy job turned out better than… well, most Pinterest projects.

Sunday we ran by Pete’s school to drop off the carnival treats, and then we met up with Coco and Cat, for some downtown shopping and lunch (at our favorite spot). Pete was a total spaz and showed off by running around like a strung-out whack job all over the place, but the gals were total sweethearts and were nice to him anyway.

It was nice to see family! Sad to see them go. They need to come visit for shopping more often (only, errrrr, I might leave the wee one at home next time…).

Pete, as predicted, took about five seconds to pass out in the car afterwards. At least all his showing off wore him out.

And that about sums things up. A good weekend, if a busy one! Next week is supposed to be warm and sunny and oh my goodness, so happy about that. I hope all my peeps in Kansas get some warm weather and sun as well, they’ve earned it!

XOXO.

Warmth! It’s been beautiful. Warmed up this week, hardly any rain, and by the weekend we were ready to enjoy it. Friday after work we (all three of us) met up with some coworkers downtown for a few drinks. Pete didn’t run around like a crazy person nor did he seem to get bored at any point, although I think I have to thank Chris for that, he downloaded several train games on his phone just for our spoiled rotten child, and let him sit on his lap and play while we were there. We left around 7pm, and had a late dinner at the Roman Candle (would have been a normal dinner, but it took like 45 minutes to get our pizza. Weird). Anyway. It was kind of a late night for us but fun.

Saturday we headed out to the market kinda late, assuming we’d still miss all the CrazyLegs traffic. Um, think again. Drove right into it, stuck letting all the runners past and streets shut down all over the place. Eventually though we found a parking and hit up the Square.

Scott did the shopping. Pete and I hit up his favorite cookie vendor (he always goes for the rainbow cookie, which has enough food dye in it to give Scott a small heart attack) and then spent a good amount of time watching the runners from the fence at the starting line.

After everyone was out of the gate, we ran around the Capitol and lawn until Pete was ready to drop. We lost Scott for a good long while, but by some miracle he found us when we were clowning around at one point.

Pete was ‘dying’ after all the running, so we stopped for a smoothie before heading back to the car. He was so excited, you guys. The kid is a smoothe junkie. He carefully decided on blueberry, I got a mango-strawberry-something (wicked sore throat with this cold), and he stood and waited patiently (see that blonde little mop at the bottom of the picture…).

Okay not super-patiently, because the siren song of the kettle corn booth next to the smoothies was too much. He didn’t want any to eat, but was fascinated with how they made the stuff. Scott and I took turns holding him up so he could watch. Clearly it made quite the impression, as he recreated it later at home. In the bathroom (at first I found him in there with the toilet scrubber acting it out in the sink, OMG KILL ME NOW THE GERRRRRRRMS, but after disinfecting the place I let him go at it again with his choice of other gear). He played in there for an hour.

And yo, back to the smoothies. It took about 15 minutes, but finally ours were ready (there was quite the line there that morning). He was so happy! Blueberry smoothie nirvana! So euphoric that he insisted that we stop in the street and I take a picture of him with his smoothie. He even chose that rather manly pose himself.

So, we’re heading to the car. He’s happily slurping away. But we’re getting ready to cross a busy street to get to the parking garage, and he’s so engrossed in his smoothie that he’s not listening when I tell him to loosen his grip on the darn thing and hold my hand. So I grab his smoothie and stoop down to get him to face me and listen.

And I drop his smoothie.

I should mention, they pack those things full. The styrofoam is stretched to its very limit in those little cups. So when that sucker hit the ground it was like a blueberry grenade. A-SPLODEE, all over the sidewalk and street and our pants. There was no saving it.

Now, Pete is usually even-tempered when food-related calamity happens. He’s spilled yummy drinks and lost the ice cream from his cone and spilled snack all over the floor, and as long as we can keep him from trying to Hoover it off the ground, he’s not that upset. But oh, Mommy took his smoothie and THREW IT ON THE GROUND! His face crumpled and he sobbed into his little hands all the way to the car.

Needless to say, when we got to the car and I got him calmed down a bit, I gave him my smoothie. Even though my throat was damn near falling off. It was not blueberry, but it was okay, and Pete even told me he still loved me and I was forgiven.

With the crisis averted, we hit up Brennan’s on the way home to sample a bunch of goodies and stock up on cheese. They were having a “choose our new cheese curd flavor” event, so there were more than the normal samples out, plus balloons for the kids. We stocked up on whips and cheese curds. Yay, Cheese!

After going home and playing in the bathroom for over an hour (see kettle-corn making photo from above), we coaxed Pete out and ran to Sofra Bistro for brunch. Middleton is super-close to us, so it was close and we read it was good. Ooooh man, and was it ever. Great pancakes (and I don’t really like pancakes), and the Albanian sausages are totally addictive.

We ran around downtown Middleton to wear off our meal, hitting up the Mustard Museum (always a hit) and racing along the train tracks. Pete wanted to wait for a train but that would have been forever, so we finally talked him into leaving.

We just happened to park in front of Bloom Bake Shop, so I made a point to run in and pick up some cupcakes. Totally locally-sourced bakery, which can’t be easy (how does one get local vanilla?). We had the cupcakes for dessert and they were THE YUM, mine was basically a cinnamon roll in cupcake form and I am dreaming of getting another.

Later Scott ran some errands, while Pete and I hit up the park near our house. I was determined to wear him out GOOD this weekend, as he’s been kind of a pain to get to bed lately. We stayed there and played for about an hour, then came home and prepped dinner. Scott grilled chicken, and Pete played with the neighbor kids. Then off to bed with him, and sure enough: zonked out instantly. I WIN.

Sunday was way more low key – chores, chores, chores. It was BEAUTIFUL outside, so we took advantage and cleaned the cars inside/out and the garage as well. I also went through all of Pete’s toys and deep-cleaned the living room. We opened all the windows and just: bliss. Warm, sunny spring days are so amazing.

Later we went out and got some drinks (at Sonic), then took a nice long walk at Picnic Point. We haven’t been since the fall when the leaves were changing, it was weird to see it so bare. Can’t wait for it to get lush again so we can go and have picnics in the shade.

Aaaaaand that’s pretty much it – we went home and grilled burgers, had a late-ish dinner, then off to bed with Pete and get ready for Monday. I’m off to bed shortly to get over this nasty cold (that I should mention I have had OVER A WEEK AT THIS POINT, GAWD), then start all over again tomorrow.

Doots out.

It’s sad when you are so overjoyed at high 40s and no rain, that you go out for a long (brisk, windy) walk in sweatshirts, as if that’s going to do much about the cold… Which has been the case this week a few times.

The week was mostly rainy and chilly and hell, it even snowed on and off all day on Friday. Blah. Saturday morning the Farmer’s Market moved back to the Square, and we absolutely planned to go, but it was wet and wind chills were in the teens, so we skipped. Instead we headed to Stoughton. One of the guys in my photography group here mentioned that there would be Star Wars dudes at the library there, and Pete was much more excited to check that out than vegetables at a Farmer’s Market. The library had several craft stations set up as well as the Star Wars characters there, so Pete made some yoda ears and a lightsaber and had fun with all the other kiddos there.

He was scared of the characters at first. We went to the basement level and colored for awhile, until one of the storm-trooper looking dudes came downstairs and chatted Pete up. He warmed up nicely to them after that, even following that poor guy around like a love-sick puppy dog.

We planned to check out the rest of downtown Stoughton after the library outing, but it was cold. Like, way colder than our sweatshirt-clad selves were ready to handle. So that was short-lived.

We stopped at Crema Cafe for lunch, as long as we were on the east side of town (which we pretty much never frequent unless we are hitting up the airport).

Much love for this place. It’s teeny tiny, but great. (1) Awesome coffee (it was actually a coffee shop only before branching out to breakfast/lunch several months ago). (2) I love the toy bags they have at the ready to keep little ones busy. (3) Food is delish as well.

Yummy, yummy. I love the fact that salads are served over greasy hashbrowns as your brunch sides. Scott and I both got scramblers (his was some spicy thing, mine involved lots of fungi and truffle oil). Pete got the gobblette kids meal, which was turkey with goat cheese and tart cherry relish. I won’t lie, he and I switched plates about halfway through the meal and I didn’t complain. He told me mine had ‘yummy meat’ but considering how much he usually avoids mushrooms, I didn’t dare correct him.

Afterwards we checked out a few of the boutiques in the shopping area, and then headed to Toys R Us near out house to blow off some energy.

We checked out the Lego sets, played with the trains, and just generally ran amok. The bikes were a hit there. Must be time to get the big-boy bike for a certain someone’s birthday in a few months.

The guys ran some errands, got tons of groceries. Then later when Scott went to make dinner, he realized he forgot to buy a few ingredients. Oops. Since it wasn’t raining (score!) we took a walk up to the Firehouse Subs for dinner. It was a chilly walk. Pete always insists on stopping to stare longingly at the pool on our way. Sorry kid, that thing isn’t going to be open for awhile.

I barely slept that night and woke up Sunday with a nice, nasty cold. Joy. We stayed in most of the day. We did head to the mall for a bit to run off some energy and got some smoothies (sweet sweet heaven to my throat). Then back home, to finally have that dinner Scott promised the night before. Smoky Avocado Linguine, it is sooooooo good. We make this like once a week in the summer and never get tired of it.

And that’s about it. A few photos while Pete and I talked later in the evening, and off to bed for all of us.

This week was my one-year anniversary at my job! Which doesn’t even seem like it is possible already, I still kinda feel like I just started there… I made PB&J bars to take to work and my society sent me flowers for the occasion, so it was a good day all around.

Too bad the flower shop can’t spell.

Saturday we checked out a new doughnut spot in town – well, new to us anyway. And dare I say: better than Greenbush. I think Scott’s Pastry Shop is the new go-to doughnut place for us.

There was an antique store next door and I seriously wanted to break in and steal that awesome olive dish. Perhaps I will have to go back during normal store hours and snap it up.

The goods – there was a seating area in the shop but it was small and looked to be full, so we took our treats home to enjoy. Scott got a turtle fritter (apple fritter with turtle-esque toppings), and I got a MASSIVE German chocolate cinnamon. We all shared that puppy, it was huuuge. We split a few others so we could all get a taste, but the be-sprinkled long john was all Pete’s. He wasn’t sharing that prize.

Of note this week: I introduced Pete to the joy that is known as the Shirley Temple. He loves helping me mix them up (he’s a little heavy-handed with the OJ, but otherwise does a fine job) and I think he feels like a grown-up with his own glamorous little drink. Reminds me of my brother Paul, that was a child who loved his kiddie cocktails (shaken not stirred, as he was also a wee bit obsessed with 007 at that age).

Saturday night was DATE NIGHT! Dinner at Brasserie V, where I got to enjoy a huge cone o’ frites and Scott drooled over the insane beer list (dork alert). The place is tiny and cozy and cheerfully LOUD, so I think we could easily come back with Pete. I was still pretty much too chicken to bust out the real camera, so there’s one lone quick shot of Scott’s second beer, which was warm and flat and smelled strongly of molasses. Not exactly my style of beer but pretty much the only thing in my camera’s (discreet) line of sight.

After dinner we headed to Sundance to catch a movie. It’s Film Fest week and the Sundance theater participates, but we didn’t buy any advance tickets (and the rush ticket line was long), so we went with a ‘normal’ film instead. Next year we’ll have to try to score some tickets to Film Fest, though.

Afterwards we had ice cream, after picking up the Doots. It wasn’t exactly in the plans, but when we picked him up he was very insistent that he was HUNGRY and could we not go home but maybe do ‘something else’ due to his intense hunger? Yeah we get the hint, buddy. The best part is that the ice cream pretty much melts away while he spends his time playing with the Melissa and Doug ice cream sets in there.

Anyway, it appears that will be a new date night tradition.

Sunday we slept in a bit (no Pete until 7:30a!), had breakfast, and glared at the light covering of snow outside. Sigh. April is definitely a wet season here, it rained all week and pretty much the same scheduled for next week as well. Makes it nice for getting home projects done, but it doesn’t help the cabin fever. Cold and moisture aside, we braved the elements and checked out the impromptu ‘petting zoo’ set up at a nearby garden center. It was packed, but fun.

Llllllllllama. This dude, he was sneaking up on everybody and sticking that long neck out to steal from their feed cups. I am pretty sure he mistook my camera’s lens for a feed cup. I felt like I was shadow boxing him for a sec.

That’s about all I gots, folks. The camera got shoved on the console when we got home and that’s where it still sits. Hopefully next weekend is drier. At least slightly warmer. So we can get out and actually do things.

Have a good week!

I got back in super-late on Saturday, so pretty much Sunday has been about catching up on things around the house. I did a massive purge of the closets and packed a ton of stuff that I dragged down in the basement, did mountains of laundry, and still had a little time to goof around with the guys. Pete dug around in his clothes stash and found a super-large pair of PJs (hand me down from his cousin Dylan). He totally looked like a teletubby in them, but insisted on wearing them over his normal clothes and dancing, and then wearing them to bed later. Weirdo.

It got into the 50s today and was sunny, so the guys hit the park and we also had watermelon on the front steps to celebrate. Pete is a watermelon guy (your typical kid). He ate most of the entire watermelon, all by himself.

Later we headed out to one of the trails for a long walk, and stopped at Sonic for drinks on the drive home, to toast the warmer weather. Thank goodness Sonic migrated up here, the first warmish day of spring would not be the same without a Sonic limeade.

That’s it, dudes. Time for me to get ready for work tomorrow and hit the hay. Have a great week!

Good Friday I got off work at noon. Had lunch with some coworkers, then headed home and got busy decorating eggs.

Saturday was pretty chill, stayed home and cleaned and Pete and I spent A LOT of time in the kitchen. Used up some brown bananas by making banana bread, finally did something with the cranberries kicking around the back of the freezer (cranberry orange bread, quite tasty). We chopped/prepped all the veggies and fruit for the week, and he even helped with dinner. With the age of 4 comes great responsibility, I have decided, at least in the kitchen. This weekend he learned to carefully crack an egg in a bowl and pick out the little bits of shell, and worked on his knife skills too.

We had grand plans for Easter – early egg hunt, Mass, Easter brunch at Graze. Except Scott was up alllllll night the evening before sick as could be. He dragged his poor dying, old-man body to Urgent Care as soon as it opened on Sunday, then filled his Rx and went straight back to bed. So Pete and I were left to our own devices most of the day. We didn’t make it to brunch, unfortunately.

To say his collection of ‘buddies’ is getting out of hand would be an understatement. He keeps about a dozen of them in his bed at all times (toddler-sized bed, too, so: good luck finding him in the middle of the night), he drags varying characters to and from preschool and on errands and insisted on taking At Least 4 of them outside for his Easter photo. Good gracious. Takes after his aunt Tinnie for sure.

In the afternoon we went on a hunt to find dad a smoothie. And also Pete a smoothie. And heck, as long as McDonald’s was the only place open with that sort of thing, why not spend some quality time in the playground area.

Scott was feeling a wee bit better by dinner (YAY! We kinda missed that dork), and considering (1) Pete and I had been subsisting on jellybeans and Reese’s mini cups all day and (2) brunch time had been over for oh about 4 hours at that point, we decided to hunt down some take out for dinner. Nothing like some tom kha, squash curry, and pad thai to close out a lovely Easter.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday (or Passover) this year! Next week I’m out for work for a wee bit so we might not have much of an update. I would like to say at least I’ll have a good tan, but I don’t see that happening in Salt Lake City.

To be honest: he’s been sick for weeks. He gets a fever, lethargic, snuffly; then better after a few days. And then back in the same boat the next week. Finally I took him in to see the doctor this week, after a high fever that we just couldn’t shake (I mean, not much a doctor can do for a cold, but this was getting kind of ridiculous). Turns out: he had a raging sinus infection, probably had been brewing for awhile. Eeks. So this week was kind of a wash. I picked him up from preschool early, twice, and then spent two more days working from home. I think he’s finally on the mend as of today. TODAY. This little sinus infection sure was persistent.

As a bright spot to the week, Friday we received an early Easter package from my sister Anne. It perked the little guy right up. Lots of little treats, his favorite cookies and glow sticks and cars, and a nice thick card from Charlotte with lots of new pictures.

It was nice to have something that put a smile on his face.

Oh, and along with the sinus infection came random bloody noses. Which happened a lot in his sleep. Yeah, gross. So anyway, I had to spend some quality time with Photoshop to clean up the bloody streaks on his fresh-from-a-bloody-nose-nap face.

You’re welcome.

Saturday Pete was still feeling pretty yucky, but we took the time to put the window clings (also from Anne). He loooooooves them. We have to keep the folding step stool by the front window, because he likes to climb up and move them around whenever the mood strikes.

Aaaaaand that’s about all I have to share. The Jayhawks eked out 2 wins in the tourney, and we’re (thankfully) on our way to the Sweet Sixteen. The team just seems unpredictable this year, so I was really worried that (1) we would be THAT #1 seed that finally goes down to the #16 seed, (2) when we played UNC in the 2nd round, we’d lose to Ole Roy. Neither happened, so honestly at this point I am feeling pretty good. We could go down in a ball of flames in the Sweet Sixteen and I will not want to just DIE from embarrassment. And that’s pretty much all I’m asking for this tournament

Have a great week, hopefully WARM and sickness free! It feels good to finally have a healthy Pete back at our house, I must say. Missed that goofy smile.

Where was I.

OH, yeah. This week! A week of… well, nothing exciting really! We are officially over winter. For real this time. Snow piles still abound and it snowed 2 days last week. Blah. Meanwhile back in Lawrence, it was quite lovely (judging from all the Facebook posts). I just keep telling myself that I will be enjoying a beautiful summer while they swelter away, marinating in their own sweat in that searingly hot 100-degree weather and unbearable humidity. SO THERE KANSAS, YOUR PAYBACK IS COMING.

(Gawd, can you tell I’m tired and cranky tonight? Yeesh. Brighter attitude coming, I swear.)

One lovely highlight this week was when some of my coworkers and I took a … longish… lunch and went offsite to watch the Badgers game. The Badgers beat Michigan, and then beat Indiana handily later in the weekend. I think they will have a good run in the tournament.

That evening we headed to Brocach for fish fry. Quick warning: my white balance in there was WHOA NELLY SO BAD and there is no way to fix that without some serious editing, so I went the lazy route and made my pictures B&W. Which isn’t as exciting when we are talking food photography, so bear with me.

Anyhoo: the place has serious character and a great fish fry – they immediately bring out a plate of rye bread, slaw, and pickles to tide you over until the main dishes get there. That was most appreciated with a hungry 3-year-old in tow. The fish itself was great, they make a fantastic German potato salad (made with roasted fingerlings and caramelized onions), and the kid’s meal comes with a sundae complete with a chocolate syrup happy face. Total win.

Saturday I came down with a sore throat/fever/icky-cold combo, more than likely from the Pete man (who is still rocking the sniffles and hacking cough from his latest bout of illness). So we stayed in all day, the guys leaving me to run errands so I could get some work done and take a nice, glorious nap. Naps! I never get to nap anymore, so it was very much enjoyed. Also I woke up feeling like a normal person, so I celebrated by getting some baking done, Scott lit a fire in the fireplace, and we made popcorn for dinner. Okay, maybe that isn’t as glamorous as I am pretending, but still. I felt at least a wee bit productive instead of like I wasted the entire darn day.

Sunday was not going to be wasted like Saturday, oh no. I had the itch to get the heck out of town and had just watched a program on PBS on Wisconsin Dells, so it was off to the Dells we went. Yes, in the dead of winter. To the Waterpark Capital of Wisconsin. We are nothing if not brilliant.

If you have never been, just know that the Wisconsin Dells is Wisconsin’s version of whatever-tacky-gaudy-tourist-trap-your-state-has. It’s full of souvenir shops, homemade fudge shops, a casino, and several large theme parks (waterparks mostly). And also Buffalo Phil’s.

What is Buffalo Phil’s, you ask? Why, only the main reason we ran off to the Dells. It’s a huge restaurant, connected to a giant arcade/pizzeria/fun house/thing. It’s cowboy/country themed, and also randomly, one of the large dining rooms has several large model trains on tracks that deliver your food.

Bingo.

It was a 45-minute wait for a train-side table, so we wandered the arcade for awhile. It was, well – a giant arcade. About what you’d expect. Pete is still at the age where he doesn’t realize you can actually put quarters in a machine and play it, so he was content to bounce around and try them out for a few minutes before dashing off to something else. Also I would like to just point out: there was one of those mechanical crane machines and it was full of mustaches. MUSTACHES. Guys: the mustache thing, you know that “hipster fad” is finally offically dead when you are in a cheap arcade and see an old lady in a NASCAR shirt trying to win one out of a stuffed-animal-crane-machine FULL of the things.

After running amok in the arcade, we headed back to the restaurant and bided the rest of our time by walking around and then taking several spins on the motorized train. Also there were a lot of cowboy mannequins sitting in random spots – that girl playing on the motorized buffalo? That’s a mannequin behind her sitting on a stuffed buffalo. This was kind of a weird place. I am sure you have gathered that already though.

We were escorted to our seats in the train room, and Pete was in heaven. We strategized our visit and ordered our drinks/food with a healthy break in-between, so we could hang out and enjoy the trains as much as possible.

A ticket was tucked in with our check, which gave a free ride on the train in the arcade. SWEET. It made leaving the restaurant a lot less painful for Pete. We made our way back to the train ride and I placed myself at a spot in the fence to take photos. And Pete totally wiped out after being let in, he was so concerned about getting the lead train. Poor dude. It wouldn’t have been so funny except there was no one else in line, so I’m not sure who he was trying to beat for the best spot.

After leaving we drove around a bit and took in the town in all its gaudy glory. Actually I won’t lie, we’ll probably come back this summer when everything is open again. A few places have piqued my interest.

Our next quest was for ice cream before heading back home. Except, pretty much nothing was open save for a cheese shop. Their giant sign read “Cheese – Sausage – Fudge – Ice Cream”, that’s promsing, right? But no, actually. Half the place was closed up due to construction they were doing to the building, and while they did have a small case of ice cream, it didn’t exactly look… fresh. And there was nowhere to sit and eat it. So we settled for some drinks and starburst at the gas station on our way out of town. Meh, close enough.

Doots was still pissed about the ice cream though.

Scott made a nice lamb stew for dinner (yummmmmmmmmm) and Pete played with his trains most of the evening, delivering us all sorts of meals and drinks and desserts.

And that about sums things up. We’ve been working on our brackets (yay for Selection Sunday!) and bemoaning the fact that we didn’t exactly factor in March Madness when we gave up booze for Lent. Ummmm, we might just be breaking our Lenten promises next week. We’ll make it up later I PROMISE!

Have a good week, all! Hopefully it’s sunny, warmish, and free of snow. We are due to get another snowstorm tomorrow. Trying to not think about it…