...until we found out my brother Dave and his wife Alejandra were coming to visit. They took the train from Texas to Chicago, caught a quick fun (rainy) glimpse of the Windy City, and then took a bus to Madison. We love benefiting from their wanderlust and sense of adventure! We enjoyed a great weekend together.
No trip to Madison is complete without a walk down State Street and a visit to the Capitol.
You also can't visit Madison without enjoying a pint on the terrace of UW's Memorial Union. (Most people opt for a pint of beer; we go for the other kind of pint. Ice cream! Fresh from the creamery.)
On Friday, Dave, Ale, and I visited David's classroom and joined him for lunch.
As usual, David was attached at the hip to Bailey. Aren't they cute friends?
Mary also had a chance to show Tio and Tia around her classroom. She was very proud to point out some of the lessons in her room.
The weekend was filled with lots of playtime, inside and out. (With a few special spectators.)
One evening David took Tio, Tia, and Mary on a bike ride. I figured they would be gone ten or fifteen minutes. So I was surprised when they returned an hour and a half later--with ice cream on their faces. David took them all the way downtown to Culver's! When they arrived, he looked expectedly at Tio and Tia, assuming they'd buy him an ice cream. (They did.) Then David showed them the way home. I am so impressed with David's sense of direction! And Mary is a trooper. She did the whole ride in flip-flops on her little bike without nary a complaint! My kids rock. Ale took a few pictures on their adventure.
As previously recorded, we enjoyed our fair share of brats at Brat Fest.
On Monday, thanks to some free tickets we scored, we did a very Memorial Day kind of thing: We went to a water park. Water parks aren't exactly my cup of tea. (And I think you all know I have mixed feelings about the Dells.) But we had free tickets, 90-degree weather, and some super fun companions. We all had a great time! (Even me.)
We were all so sad to say good-bye to Dave and Ale. They are so much fun to have around. We are very grateful they made the journey up here. We wish them the best on their next endeavors (law school and nursing!). And we look forward to seeing them this summer.
On Tuesday Greg and I were reflecting on what a great weekend we'd had. We realized it had been a long time since we'd really "celebrated" a weekend. Yay for Memorial Day! Yay for Dave and Ale!
