This weekend we had another couple of friends bite the dust. Adam and Stacey were getting hitched. Friday after work we headed out to a park in ‘Tosa where they had a rehearsal party everyone could attend. We drank some beer and played some bocce ball. After the park we headed to the Nomad from some more festivities. J was tired so she went home but Luedke, Hamm and the others were out in full force. We stayed at the Nomad for the entire night. I walked home about midnight to get some shut eye. Saturday was the wedding. We took taxis to the church because Adam and Stacey had rented a coach bus for everyone to ride on. Once at the church I surveyed the seating for a prime photograph spot and ended up sitting separate from the rest of the group. The wedding was nice and I snapped some good pictures. After the wedding people filled up the coach bus and we went to the ‘Tosa main stay, Lef's Lucky Town. We piled off the bus and spent over an hour there having celebratory drinks. After that it was back on the bus and off to the War Memorial downtown where the reception was being held. The weather was great and we were all able to enjoy the outdoor cocktail time on the lakefront. It was finally time for the best part of all weddings, the food. We headed into the hall and took our seats. It was a lot of fun because there were three tables of friends all next to each other. For dinner I had some huge cuts of beef and some delicious potatoes. I lucked out and got the crusty butt end of roast. Dinner was good and once it was over it was rockin' time. The rest of the night was spent dancing and drinking. After the wedding was over, the clan moved things a couple blocks to Aqua where the wedding party and guests wrapped it all up. Another great wedding. Congrats to Adam and Stacey Wians!

Love the long weekends and this weekend was Memorial Day weekend and the official start of summer. J and I went to her mom's house down by Chicago to spend Friday night. J's mom and Craig had gotten some steaks for dinner which is never a bad meal. I don't know if Craig wants me to give his secret away but he brushes a light layer of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce on them for the last couple minutes while it's on the grill. Doing it at that time really lets the BBQ almost cook off but keeps the steak moist and adds a hint of flavor. Very good. After dinner we sat by the fire outside and drank some beer and wine. Nothing beats a fire. We weren't planning on staying Saturday but we did. I spent the day watching TV and catching up on sleep. I played a little pool but didn't really do anything all day. For dinner Craig had his brother bring over some Italian sausage, gnocchi and some other dishes from the old neighborhood. Craig grew up in a primarily Italian community and this was just a taste of that community. Everything was great, especially the gnocchi. Another couple came over for dinner as well. After dinner we headed to the deck to enjoy the fire the rest of the night. It took me a little while to get going on Sunday but we got out of Chicago a little after noon. It was blazing hot when we left Chicago with temps in the 90s. The traffic wasn't that bad and we managed to avoid the plethora of cop cars. What was nice is once we got back to Milwaukee the lake has kept the temperature in the mid to high 70s so once we got back we were in heaven. It was such a nice day and we wanted to take advantage of it so we headed to The Rock Bottom for lunch. The outdoor patio was packed so we had to eat inside. After eating we headed to the outdoor patio of The Harp for one and then McGilicuddy's patio for one. We then traversed the downtown to the Third Ward. We stopped in at the Public Market to check it out. We picked up a couple exclusive Sprecher sodas and headed to the Ale House. We spent a couple hours sitting by the boardwalk watching the boats and sipping Sheepshead Stout. One guy fell into the river with all his cloths on and he struggled for about five minutes to get out, it was pretty funny. When the sun tucked behind the condos we started the hop home and stopped at The Wicked Hop. Adam and Stacey met us there for the journey home. We ran into Jackie Evraets' parents there and we talked about our honeymoon. After the Hop we headed to the good ‘ol My Office. We spent the rest of the night there. Once back home I had a…

On Friday I met up with the family after work at St. Ann's for some steaks. It was my belated birthday present to my mom and dad. Randy, Rich and Billie joined us for the affair. There really isn't much to say about St. Ann's that hasn't already been said. Once again, an amazing porterhouse. After dinner I gave everyone their souvenirs from Hawaii. After St. Ann's we stopped at the O. We were going to have one drink but before we knew it it was two in the morning. Jocelyn was taking it easy so she was able to drive us back to Milwaukee. Saturday was the first really nice day of the year. It was seventy and sunny. Wians gave me a call and I met him at Juneau Park and played catch. I really need to start being active again. I threw like a little girl and I move like an elephant, it's depressing. After playing catch I hopped on my bike and took a ride down the lakefront. The lakefront was crowded and everyone was enjoying the weather. After my ride I took a quick nap before getting ready for the Brewers' game. J and I picked up Adam and Stacey and their friend Arlene. A quick stop at the Metro Market for some gourmet brats and we were off to the game. The parking lot was packed to the hilt. We set up our grill and tunes and soaked up some sun. We tailgated for a couple hours and we made the executive decision to skip going to the actual game. We didn't have tickets yet and by gauging the number of people in the parking lot we wouldn't be able to get the cheap tickets. So we packed up the Montero and headed to Wolski's to watch the game. We watched about two seconds of the game because the Crew was getting spanked. We played some darts and shot some pool, all of which I lost. The losing put a bitter taste in my mouth so I wanted out of Wolski's. J was tired so she dropped us off at My Office where the rest of us concluded the night.

This weekend we had to drive to Fairmont, MN for a wedding. Jocelyn's cousin Matt was getting married. We left for MN after work on Friday. Fairmont is in south central. The drive took about six hours and the conditions weren't the best for driving. There was a steady rain for the entire drive. We arrived at our destination about 12:30, checked into our hotel and got some sleep. Unfortunately for Matt the weather didn't get any better on Saturday. The rain continued throughout the day. I skipped the hotel's continental breakfast and ran to the McD's next door to the hotel. We spent the morning in the hotel watching the tube. There aren't very many sites to see in Fairmont. At one we made our way to the church and attended the wedding. It was a small, fairly quick wedding. After the wedding was over everyone went to a hotel bar for a couple drinks. The reception then followed. It was a catered at the local Lion's Club. The food was good but the wine was better. I had a good time. I had my laptop along to show J's family could see the photos of our wedding and Hawaii. After the reception we went back to the same hotel bar we were at before and finished the night with Jocelyn's sisters, aunt Jeanie and cousin Ethan. Once we were done we crossed the street to get to our hotel and wrapped up the night. Sunday was the long drive home. The rain continued for the drive home. J and I shared the driving privileges and we got home about five so we had a little time for Sunday lounging.

The last ten days I have been on my honeymoon with my lovely wife Jocelyn. We left on Thursday morning for the islands of Hawaii. Our flight left from Milwaukee and went to Hawaii via Houston. The flights, though long, went fairly well. We had a bit of a delay in Houston but it wasn't much. We arrived in Oahu at four in the afternoon and took an interisland flight to Maui. When all our traveling was done it was quite a relief but it was time to let the good times roll. The Hawaii-Wisconsin time difference is five hours so I called my mom and told her we had arrived safely before she went to bed. It was strange walking around in the blazing afternoon sun after traveling for seventeen hours. We went to the car rental and got our Jeep Wrangler and drove to our hotel. We checked into our home for the next seven days, the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel. I was running on fumes and needed some food. So I took a quick shower and headed to the courtyard to get some food and drink from the Tiki Bar and the Tiki Grill. We got our complimentary Mai Tais from the bar and ordered some Hawaiian teriyaki pineapple burgers and some unbelievably delicious calamari rings. After we finished eating we got a couple seats at the Tiki Bar and enjoyed the live music of Rudy Aquino. Rudy used to play back-up for Don Ho and he is the consummate hotel entertainer and would account for hours of entertainment on our trip. The bar closed at ten which was just what we needed because we needed to get some sleep. Day One: This is our first full day, hence day one. We got up early and headed down to the banquet room for our welcome breakfast. The welcome breakfast was a small sales pitch for the side tours that were offered through the hotel. It wasn't all sales as there was some good information as well. They were giving away prizes to people who attended and Jocelyn was the Vanna White of the drawing and got to pick the names. We weren't allowed to win but Jocelyn received a ticket for a magic show that we never ended up using. After breakfast we planned and booked all of our activities for the week. After that we hopped in our dropped top Wrangler and drove a couple minutes to Lahaina. Lahaina is a great little town that used to be a whaling village. Now is a little shopping town with small boutique store, galleries, restaurants and bars. Even with all the tourist shops the town is still able to keep its tiny town feel. We walked up and down Front Street which is the main drag in Lahaina. There were a lot of cool spots and one was the Banyan tree. It was a large tree whose branches put down roots and grow more trees. The one tree occupied…