"We're In This Together"

My family was here visiting last week, my parents, and my sister Alissa and her daughter Rebekah. Well actually they left a week ago and I am just now getting around to blogging about the fun we had when they were here. It was kind of fun being the tour guide and showing them some of the cool things we have discovered since being in Madison. There wasn't however enough days for them to try all the food we wanted to them to have so some things had to be left out. For example  Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream and the Old Fashioned's fried cheese curds.

One morning we went to the zoo. The zoo here is free. And it is really nice. Not corny or bad. They have really beautiful animals and it is small enough that you can see it all in an hour or two. My Dad spoiled McKenna and Rebekah by paying for them to ride the train AND the carousel. Callum stayed home with Jeff so they could both nap and it was a relaxing morning with no strollers to push. Just two girls and four adults. That is the way the zoo should always be.

My Dad was a little disappointed that this train wasn't real. 

Pope Farm Conservatory was on the list of must-sees. I was trying to describe it to them "basically it is farm where you can walk around." Needless to say I pretty much had to drag them there. But I don't think that is disappointed anyone. It has beautiful views as it is up on a hill and all the trees surrounding were changing colors. It is a very peaceful place to just enjoy nature. There are a bunch of plaques talking about the ice age and the rocks that are surrounding, how the Native Americans would stand on the same hill and be able to see travelers for miles. It is just really neat.

I have been telling my family about Woodman's since we moved here. So of course I had to take them, and let them experience the terror and frantic-ness that is Woodman's, our local grocery store. It is about the size of a super Wal-Mart but it is just groceries. Even if you just have a couple of things on your list you will be there for 45 minutes because it is just that big. My sister was unimpressed. The fact that they carried Dorthy Lynch (a Nebraska brand salad dressing) and the feat that Ghiradelli chocolate chips were cheaper at Woodman's than at Wal-Mart made her somewhat more akin to it, but not much.

The next day was Alissa's 29th birthday. So we decorated and My Mom made her her favorite breakfast. We then went to dinner that night at Villa Dolce which I find fabulous and she did not. It is an Italian pizza place. Their Pear Gorgonzola pizza is amazing. I drool just thinking about it. So I did feel bad that I forced them to go there on Alissa's birthday and she didn't like it.

Saturday was lucky because Jeff got the day off. He doesn't really have a day off ever. The days that he works overnight he doesn't go in to the hospital until 7:00pm and so that day that he spends sleeping to be ready to work all night is considered his "day off." It is really lame and I know I shouldn't complain because it used to be sooo much worse for first year residents. Anyway, every once in awhile they will give him a random day off. So we made the most of it and drove up to the Dells and rode the Ducks. It is a tour of the lakes and some of the hills surrounding it. We were supposed to go on the "Full Moon Paddle" that they do on lake Wingra on the full moon nights during the summer. I had our boats payed for, but the Nebraska-Wisconsin game was on at the same time, so we decided to ride the Ducks and cancelled our Full Moon boat ride.

We got a babysitter and we went to Tanners to watch the game. Normally there is a group of people that get together to watch the Nebraska game there called the "Mad-City Huskers,"  but apparently they sent out an e-mail saying that they weren't going to pick a venue for this game, and we found ourselves amongst a restaurant full of Wisconsin fans. It was an awesome game to watch. There were a couple of other Husker fans there as well and one of the bad things about watching a game at a bar and grill is that three hours of game time equals three hours of steady drinking. There was one guy who took a liking to Jeff and came over every few minutes and clap Jeff on the arm. He was so drunk and he kept saying the same thing over and over. My parents thought it was kind of funny. Anytime Nebraska would do something good this guy would call over and say "Jeff" really loud from his chair. He asked for our number after the game and invited us to go boating with him and his wife sometime. So Jeff being polite gave him his number and as we were leaving whispered to me "I really hope he loses that."

Somewhere between the Dells and the game Jeff managed to make a caramel apple pie. We were too full after the game to eat it, but we did save room on  Sunday and it was really good. I don't if I have ever mentioned on the blog that Jeff is quite the pastry chef. I am a lucky girl.

Sunday was church and Jeff worked all day so it was fairly uneventful in terms of sight-seeing and then the left on Monday. I totally realized that they were gone when I came down the stairs after taking a nap and saw that Kenna's lunch was still just sitting on the table. I am not a dish doer, but while my parents were here my table was always cleaned off and wiped and the dishes were always done.

I'm so glad that they came to visit. It was nice to see my parents and my sister, and we'll see them next month when we go back for Thanksgiving.