Memorial Day in Madison

This post is a little late, but better late than never...

Chris and I decided to take a trip out to Madison, Wisconsin to see Jen for her birthday and for Memorial Day. We made it to her house in just over 8 hours from Columbus. With the dogs, not too bad!

Jen, always the planner, had some great ideas for things we could do during our visit. We started out at the Madison farmer's market where we sampled some cheesy bread, delicious croissants, and cheese samples. (It is the dairy state, after all!) It was very cool to see how the residents of Madison really respect locally grown produce and local food products. Very earthy, those Wisconsin-ites.

After the farmer's market, we headed south to Chicago where we took a double decker bus tour of the city. It was great to see all of the architecture and the sites of Chicago. It was a gorgeous day for an open-air tour. After the tour, we stopped by a local pizza shop and tried Chicago's prized food. It was an excellent way to end the day.

The ride back to Madison included many, many bugs. I have never driven through so many bugs in all of my life! The Jeep was covered in carcasses! Gross.

We spent the next day taking a tour of Madison, including the university and where Jen works. Chris even had an impromptu counseling session to help get him through the remainder of the weekend. :)


We also visited a Wisconsin state park and took a hike with the dogs. That hike almost killed me!While the dogs, Jen, and Chris had no problems getting up the steep hill (like a 60 degree slope!), I thought I might have to be rescued by the ranger. It was definitely a wake-up call to get back to the gym!

It was a great visit to the land of cheese and it was so great to be able to hang out with Jen at her place. We already want to visit again soon! Thanks for a great visit, Jen!

My Weekend with the Boys

Russell and his traveling baseball team (The Ellet Blaze) had a tournament in Columbus this past weekend. Russell, Doug, and Jacob arrived on Wednesday night. Russell's first baseball game was on Thursday at noon.

The Blaze did a great job on Thursday, winning both of their games, and were ultimately placed as the number 1 seed! This was quite a feat as there were more than 5o teams competing in this tournament. I was only able to see Russell's last game of the night but I was definitely impressed with his ability!

Since they were seeded #1, the team did not have to play on Friday. This was a great opportunity for us to hang out and do some non-baseball related activities. We decided to grab some dinner and arcade games at Dave and Buster's. We all enjoyed playing the games and competing against one another in skee ball and racing games. The boys were able to turn in all of their tickets for some candy and a basketball hoop.

Jacob had an early afternoon baseball game in Akron on Saturday so while Doug took him back to play (Jacob hit a home run!), Chris and I watched Russell win another game in the tournament! Their next game was scheduled for 11:00 pm (due to rain-outs earlier in the week) but they did not get started until midnight. Luckily, the boys were awake enough to win that game as well!! We all came back to our house and crashed for the night. Early the next morning, Russell and his teammates played one more game. Although they scored several runs, they were beaten by a very good Toledo team. Although it was disappointing to see them lose, there is no doubt they did a great job at this tournament!!

It was great spending some time outside with the boys, watching some great baseball games.