A New Boat and Family

A 90 degree day on Memorial Day Weekend means going to check out my parents new boat and spend some quality time with the family.

Totally Madtown

Last Saturday, we had a totally Madtown kind of day.  Our friend Megan was visiting from Kansas city and we wanted to show her some classic Madison things.

We started with breakfast at Mickies Dairy Bar, a Madison classic.  Great old fashion diner with greasy comfort food and malts that still come with the tin (yes, we had chocolate malts for breakfast)!

Then it was on to the farmers market where we picked up a loaf of Stella's spicy cheese bread and some sweet pickles... and of course the mandatory picture in front of the capitol.

We ended the day at Brat Fest.  Yes, we have a festival all about brats.  But it was pretty great because it was free admission, they had live music, and the brats were pretty darn good.

I am so excited for my first full summer in Madison!

Das Boot

Friday night, Fisch and I went with some friends to the Essen Haus, a German bar close to downtown.  The main attraction of the Essen Haus is the nightly, live polka music and "Das Boot".  The boot is actually a drinking game in which the big boot of beer is passed around the table from person to person.  The boot cannot be set down and the person next to the person who finishes the boot is responsible for ordering the next one.  A full set of rules can actually be downloaded from their website.

It was a night of friends, laughing, good beer, and yes, even a little polka dancing :)

A perfect start to Memorial Day weekend!

P.S. Don't worry there were DD's and taxi rides after said boot game was over.

WW: A Saturday Hike

Last Saturday we went on a hike at Parfrey's Glen in Devils Lake State Park.  It is just one of the things I adore about Madison... you can be in the city and then in less then an hour you can be hiking gorgeous hills and gorges and riding a ferry across the lake (which may be my transportation to my new school next year!).

Mother's Day on a Dairy Farm

Sunday, Fisch and I went to his cousin's annual pot luck at their dairy farm in Western WI.  The day was spent the nicest, down to earth people I have ever met, eating yummy food, riding horses, playing in the hay loft, and visiting the baby cows. 

Fisch and I decided that we need to move to the country someday.

I Love You Mom!

Happy Mother's Day to the best Mom a girl could ask for!

Thank you for all you have done and still do for me!

Love,

Erin

WW: Springtime in Madtown

I love Spring :)

Cinco de Derby Saturday

Happy belated Cinco de Mayo and Kentucky Derby Day!  

Brye, Fisch, and I spent the morning at the downtown farmers market.  Our first trip of the season! We bought lots of delicious things like fresh cheese curds, bread and butter pickles, spinach empanadas, and 2 loaves of our favorite spicy cheese bread (buy one get one free!)  

We then went off to get ready for the derby.  We tried on hats and found a bar that was showing the race.  Brye had $6 riding on Creative Cause.  She lost, but we still had a lot of fun cheering for our favorites and drinking the obligatory Cinco de Mayo margaritas. :)

WW: Spring Break Cruise: Day 5 - Miami, FL

The last day of our vacation we docked in Miami and were off the ship by 9:30.  Since we couldn't check into our hotel until the afternoon we decided to do the touristy thing and hop on the big red bus!  I always thought they would be kind of lame but it turned out to be so much fun.  We learned a bunch of stuff about Ocean Dr. that we didn't know when we stayed there the first night, we hopped off the bus in Little Cuba to get a bite to eat, and we toured downtown Miami.  All in all it was a great way to end a fantastic vacation :)