Saturday, March 26, 2011

A Quick Visit Home!

Mom and Grace 3.19
Mom and Grace looking mother-and-daughterly in Madison.

Last weekend I was able to go home for a real short visit (Friday night through Monday morning) to spend time with my mom and my sister. Grace joined the army and starts basic training in a few days, so I thought it would be nice to have a little extra time with them.

I arrived Friday night and mom and I had dinner in Milwaukee before heading back to Delavan. Saturday morning we headed up to Madison to meet grace (she took the badger bus in from MKE) and we spent the afternoon bumming around the downtown area.

Mom 3.19

Grace 3.19
Mom and grace hanging out in the hotel room, while we try to figure out what to do for the afternoon.

In the end we got lunch at the Oakcrest tavern (had to have some cheese curds!), went to Target (something I miss a lot here in NYC), and then decided that we would grab some food from Trader Joes for grace's party the next day. While we were at Trader Joes, one of the employees noticed grace had a particular talent for dancing with the music and awarded her the "Best Shimmy Dance This Year" award. Grace immediately turned lobster red.
Best Shimmy Dancing Award

After that we took some flowers to dad's grave and spent a little time there. Unbelievably there was a group of about ten high school students walking through the cemetery, playing catch with a Frisbee as they jumped over graves. How disrespectful can you get?

For dinner that night we went to the Old Fashioned on the Capital Square - I love this joint, and was re-shocked at how cheap drinks and dining out can be in Wisconsin...$6.00 for a mixed drink?! Definitely not something you see around NYC.
Drinks 3.19

After dinner I managed to get Grace and mom to wait outside while I photographed the Super Moon. I'm generally speaking a sucker for looking at the sky...the moon, the clouds, sunsets...they're all pretty amazing to me. The moon was quite impressive, although I couldn't get a shot nearly as good as many that I've seen on the internet...but I did get one good one.
Super Moon 3.19

Sunday was a busy day. We met our dad's friends Steve and Ned at the Original Pancake house for breakfast. After that I met up with my uncle Bob and Aunt Sally, and later my Aunt Jayne to do some more interviews for the family project I'm working on. Then around 2pm we had a little family get together for Grace over at my uncle Marty's apartment. It was kind of a good luck/farewell party. Over all it was a really fantastic visit - quick, but filled with good times. I can't wait for my next visit...and the chance to see my madison friend!

2 comments:

Laura said...

Looks like a great time! And Grace in the Army?! Wow. I am glad you were able to be home for her party and to see your family. Short visits are special.

Nicole said...

Good luck to Grace!

Also wanted to point out that there is a Target in NYC now. :)