The Blackford Three

The Blackfords were here for a visit this past weekend and finally I have something fun to post about! Of course, that makes it sound as though life here with Arlo is awful and boring and not worth writing about, which it most certainly is not. However, unlike him, I cannot seem to get myself motivated to post unless it's something pretty big. I could write about seeing Rachel Yamagata (which was great, BTW, despite the sea of talkers around us) or finishing Phay's harf or scrat, but do I? No. I push it aside for other things, like eating and sleeping. But now, 9:00, I've eaten, it's too early to sleep, and because food is just sitting in my belly, I don't particularly want to exercise. Perfect time to blog.

As you probably figured out, because you are pretty clever and savvy, the earlier post this weekend was a ploy to be silly. Way to go, Drej-bo and Kevin, to turn it around on me. :) It definitely served its purpose, I feel, though, because I found it almost as amusing as when I found 37 comments on one post.

For information on Rachel Yamagata or how I finally completed (but have yet to send) Phay's harf, please give me a call. Otherwise, what follows is a detailed, but not too detailed description of when the Blackfords came to town. Pictures are going to have to wait, as they are on Arlo's camera, which is way in my car, which is way in the garage, and even if I did get it, I have no idea how to download the pics onto his computer. So deal with it. Awesome pics are to follow.

Friday

We picked A & B up at noon, and I spent the first few minutes being in awe of Amanda's burgeoning belly. So cool! After getting their bags, we took them back to our place first to drop off things and do the dime-tour (not nearly as long as the Gutberlet dime-tour, in fact, we probably shouldn't charge that much). Then, it was to Beans and Barley, which is seeming to be the first place we take any guests (read Wendy, and then my mom and Marylou). Great conversation, first of many, focusing on what our life has been like here. Later that day, after hanging out and I believe watching some of a basketball game (like conversations, first of many), we headed down to Racine for a fish fry. Amanda specifically requested a fish fry, and I think this was the primary motivation for getting here by Friday night. They weren't disappointed, I don't think, and to boot they got to meet Arlo's dad, Jerry, and he joined us for the fish fry. After dinner, we went to Woodman's, uber-grocery store with an attached liquor store the size of Beltway Liquors, where Bill was educated about Wisconsin beer by Arlo and we picked up supplies for the weekend. For the remainder of the evening, more basketball. Oh, and baby's first present, a onsie that says, "Daddy and I agree: Mommy's the Boss." So awesome. BTW, I predict that baby will be one big tipper.

Saturday

Calling for snow in the late forecast, we decided to hit the town early and show them around Milwaukee. Oh, I guess I should start by saying that we started off the the proper way in Wisconsin, with lots and lots of kringle. After stuffing ourselves silly, we headed to Bayview, where we checked out the shops and had fried cheese curds (fresh cheese nugget things that have been deep-fried) and burgers. Bill was craving some custard, but we thought we would hold off. Arlo and I weren't sure of the quality of custard at Bella's Fat Cat, but we know how delicious it is at Kopp's and Leon's. So, onto more touring. We drove around Milwaukee downtown, checking out Usinger's for summer sausage, driving through Marquette's campus, and driving by the lake to look at the ginormous houses and admire the beautiful lakefront. (I'll check it out!)We took a break at Alterra's coffee for more conversation and warm beverages, with some crossword puzzle action. By the way, the weather is getting colder and colder by this point, with snow definitely in the forecast. We ended the night by getting custard from Leon's to go (mint and chocolate, two of my favorites) with Bill in the backseat, eating a vanilla custard in a cone, as it is starting to sleet. The funny thing was that there was a line at Leon's. Crazy Wisconsiners. We ended the night with home-made vegetable stir-fry, more basketball, and wine and beer, except for Amanda, who was rocking the hot apple cider. Overall, awesome, yet very tiring day for all, as demonstrated by me falling asleep at around 10:30. Of course, the others, including Amanda, managed to stay up a little bit longer (but not much!) Oh yeah, and at this point, it is actually snowing.

Sunday

I woke up early to find 6 1/2 inches of wet, heavy snow on the ground. Tried to get it all shovelled without waking anyone, but then got some back-up in the form of Bill and Arlo, just when I was getting ready to give up. We rewarded ourselves with kringle. Barely finished digesting the kringle, we headed to the beer tour and tasting at Sprecher, something that Arlo and I have meant to do since we got here. It was fun, though we kept getting the stink-eye from the tour guide, mostly b/c I couldn't keep my mouth shut. After the tour, we got to have beer and all of the free soda we wanted (they have 8 varieties). Amanda probably got the short end of the stick here, because she couldn't have beer and doesn't particularly like most soda, but I think she was having fun none-the-less, and fairly amused by Bill. After the tasting, we were too full for the lunch we had planned at Mader's german restaurant, so we picked up brats from the Outpost and took them back home for lunch (and more basketball!) :) Sadly it was not too much more time before they had to be back on that plane and heading home. Bill got properly snookered on more beer and became almost belligerent in his quest for more custard, but somehow we got him into the car and on his way.

I missed them as soon as we pulled away from the airport and the house was really quiet after they had left. It didn't help that I now had lots of work to do, and did not at all look forward to the next day at work. But I'm so glad they came and got to see our place and spend time exploring Milwaukee with us.

Time to walk Marley and hit the hay. No exercise tonight, it seems. Might as well finish my wine and get a piece of kringle then. Good night, y'all.

I would say good luck to Bill to post first, but it seems to be an impossible task, as it would seem that 10:30 on a Tuesday night is not prime internet time for anyone else but Andrej. Later!