Mom Takes Wisconsin By Storm!

I had been planning on doing a whole "6 Month Review" post, but alas, 1. I'm tired, 2. I have a lot of work to catch up on, and not much time, and 3. There are other things to write about. So, I'm putting off my review in favor of a more timely subject- my mom's visit to Wisconsin!
First of all, I had no clue. She completely caught me by surprise. Supposedly, she's been planning this since Arlo and I surprised her for Thanksgiving. She picked this weekend because my birthday's on Tuesday and she wanted to come to visit as close as possible to then.
Arlo asked me if I could get off early on Friday, and I was able to, as one of my client's cancelled and I typically have an early day on Friday. I was not suspicious, as I thought Arlo was surprising me with something sweet, as he often does (one benefit of being with such a spontaneous and thoughtful man). He wouldn't tell me what was happening, but told me to take the GPS. After work, further instructions: Go to Beans and Barley (or Beef and Barley, if you're Jess and Kevin). When I walked in, he asked me to close my eyes, which did make me suspicious. I mean, come on! I've seen Beans and Barley before and what could possibly be different? When I opened my eyes, there was my mom with her best friend Marylou! I believe my words were, "Are you kidding me?!?!" I was shocked and so excited! No idea! In Wisconsin! So weird! We sat down and had an awesome lunch (mmmm....chili), and then took them to see the house. Fortunately, Arlo cleaned the place like a madman earlier that day so that it was completely presentable. They liked it and surprisingly my mom had no negative comments about it. We dropped them off at their hotel to check in, with the plan to pick them up around 4 for the fish fry.
Quintessential to the Wisconsin trip- The Friday Fish Fry. We are planning to take Bill and Amanda when they came, would have taken Wendy, but she's a vegetarian, and would take you if you visited, the fish fry is a weekly tradition (though we don't go weekly, b/c weekly fried fish would not bode well for my figure.) We took them to an extra-special location, down in Racine, Cliff's Boathouse. It's all wood paneling, Brewers and Packers paraphernalia, smell of fried food, beer served in a can, and only about 10 tables in the place. We ordered five fish fries, and I was pleased that my mom didn't try to order something different (or at least broiled). Arlo's dad joined us, which was cool, as he hadn't met my mom yet. We had a great time, Mom and Marylou ogled at the waiter, and we ate so early that we finished at like 6:30. It ended up being an early night as they were exhausted (as was I), and Arlo had to work at the Yardarm.
The next day we woke up to a snow storm. It was really coming down! But we had guests to entertain, so we weren't going to stay in. We picked them up and headed out. We ate at Karl Ratsches, which is an old German restaurant. Awesome food, lot of fun, and lots of snow waiting for us when we got outside. We headed to Potawatami Casino where Marylou got her slots fix, Arlo and I spent $1 each on like 30 minutes of slot poker, and we all had fun. Then it was back into the snow to look around Milwaukee as best we could. We ended up at Trocadero, a French restaurant we like. We had an awesome cheese plate (you have to eat cheese in Wisconsin), drinks and crepes with sweet potato fries (oh crap! Am I approaching Andrej-level descriptions? Kevin, feedback please.) After dinner, Arlo dropped us off at their hotel room for some lady bonding, and we watched House Bunny (okay movie, but pretty silly).
Today was their last day here. Whirlwind trip! We went to the Milwaukee Art Museum this morning and then took them to downtown Bayview, where they picked up cheese and more kringel for their trip. Then we just hung out at the house for a bit before dropping them off at the airport.
And now here I am. Almost six o'clock, and I'm tired and not feeling great (bit of a cold really), but it was a great weekend and such an incredible surprise. It made me pretty homesick as well, but it was really cool showing off Milwaukee and the home and life that Arlo and I have built for ourselves. I think they both had a fun time and also now have a better understanding of how things are going here. As of right now, there are no plans in the works to visit Maryland soon, as the next trip will be to Florida. The next big upcoming event is the Bill and Amanda (with child) visit of March '09. We can't wait!
Alright, best be going. Looking forward to see who can post a comment first. Will it be Bill, Andrej, or another contender for the premier spot?!?!? We shall see!