Weekend with Family

This past weekend, I made the long haul to southeastern WI to visit my family and friends. I try to get home every six to eight weeks to hang out with the fam - parents (Kath and Eric), sister (Nikki), brother-in-law (Pete), niece (Lexi) and nephew (Max). My family is really close, and as much as I love living in the Twin Cities, it's hard to be away from them sometimes. The kids are nine and five, and I love being part of their lives as they grow up.

I left the cities at about 3:00 PM on Friday afternoon and made really good time. It usually takes about 5 1/2 hours to get home, and I made it there by about 8:30 or so. The drive really sucked my energy though. My car doesn't have a CD player, and I lost my portable one, so I was subjected to the horrid music that clutters middle WI radio. Country. Lots and lots of country music. I hate country music. By the time I got home, I was pretty tired. So, the parents and I just hung out and chatted and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Didn't see the opening ceremonies? Don't worry - you didn't miss much. Anything, really. They were really slow and a bit boring and really took all of the great athletic energy out of the games. Oh well.

Saturday was SUCH a busy day. My dad took me to the chiropractor to get me all aligned before my really tough training starts for the tri. That was great, but we had to leave the house at about 8:45 AM to get there in time for me to get adjusted and make it to White Fox Den for breakfast with my mom and Erin and her mom. No sleeping in for me. Oh well, it was worth it. I went to breakfast with the ladies, and we had such a good time. We always have a great time together. Erin and I have been friends for so long (since first grade), and our mom have been friends for almost as long, so it just feels so great to spend time with the four of us. Erin is like another sister, and her mom is like a second mom.

After breakfast, my mom and I did some bumming around town and went to see my grandma at the nursing home. She recently fell and broke her pelvis, so she has to be in the nursing home while she recovers. She looked so old to me. It was actually really hard for me to see her there. My mom and Nikki both said that she's doing really well and actually looks really good, but they see her all the time. When you don't see an older person, an older sick person at that, six weeks can do so much that a person who sees her every week doesn't see. I lvoe my grandma, and it's hard to think of a time when she won't be around. My grandpa died four years ago today actually, and it was so hard. We've always been so close to my grandparents. Ok, don't want to think about that anymore so I'm going to move on...

After visiting my grandma, we went to see Lexi's basketball game. Although she didn't score a basket and her team lost, she did a great job.





I played basketball when I was a littler older than her, and I was so bad at it. In four years of playing, I only got two baskets. I think. I may have blocked that out of my memory...

After the game, the whole fam went out to this job site that my dad is working on so he could show us this amazing house. It was snowing out, but it wasn't very cold. The house is way out in the woods, so we ran around like a bunch of idiots playing Man from Snowy River and hiking all over the woods. We worked up quite the appetite so we went to Upper Crust pizza in Pell Lake. My cousin Ashley met us there, too, since I haven't seen her since before Christmas either. This place is so cool - they have funny things hanging from every inch of the walls and ceilings. From a giant T-Rex to hammerhead sharks to airplanes to old license plates. It's really fun the play I Spy in this place.




After dinner, my parents and I headed into New Berlin to see Munich. I was so tired after the long day, but I really wanted to see the movie and thought it'd be a good way to relax. Not so much. This movie is amazingly powerful. It really sort of rips you apart and makes you question humanity and the state of the world as we've known it our entire lives. The thought that people have been fighting each other, mass murdering each other, for thousands of years is mind-blowing and eternally frightening. For those who don't know, this movie is about the violent aftermath of the Munich Olympic hostage and murder situation. Really, it's about the years old fued between the Palestinians and the Isrealis. It's makes you really think. My parents and I left the movie in silence, not really knowing how to react at that time. It's a great film, but it made me depressed at the state of our world. If you can't handle thinking about things outside your own life or bubble, don't see it.

Although amazing and powerful, I don't think this film will win Best Picture, by the way. I just don't see it coming.

Sunday morning, I woke up and hung out with my parents for a relaxing morning before making the trip back up to the cities. The drive was a lot better on Sunday than it had been on Friday. I think I just hate night driving. But I made even better time on the way back up, and I was home in plenty of time to spend time with Mark and watch the world's greatest TV show, Grey's Anatomy. Seriously, if you aren't wathcing this show, you're nuts. Watch it. Love it.

That's it for me for the weekend. This is going to be a really busy week - the intense tri training starts this week. I'm so excited about it!

Up Next: A Valentine's Day Crockpot Extravaganza