Politics

Now that the first state has spoken, I wanted to ask all of our readers:
If you consider yourself a Republican, are there any Democrats you would vote for over a Republican? And, vice versa if you are a Democrat. So, after the people are nominated by their parties, are there any match ups that you could see yourself voting for the other side?

Back in Madison

Well, we're back! Did you miss us? Well, most likely if you're reading this you actually saw us in Missouri or Kansas...but, we can act like the postings on here are their own person, so you have missed us in that case...

Anyway, we took a trip out southwest to Missouri and Kansas. We started out after I got off work on the Friday before Christmas. First stop: KC MO. We went to Crown Center on Saturday and stood in line for 2 hours to see Santa. Luckily we were able to trade off who was in line so everyone could go around Crown Center for a list. Then, we went to Mission KS for Faith's baptism--Katie and I were the Godparents! Whoo-hoo!

On Sunday we went to see Katie's grandpa Mac and aunts Vicki (aka Mickey Mouse) and Mary Lou. Then off to Go-Jo's for dinner. Mary Ann says it's "a little scary" when the big flame comes up.

On Monday we drove to Salina KS to spend the night and Christmas morning with my family. We got lots of great presents. Mary Ann did all the right things in acting totally pumped by her presents.

On Tuesday we drove to Lawrence where we pretended to be a day behind, so we celebrated Christmas Eve on Christmas night and then opened presents the next morning. Again, Mary Ann was totally pumped, especially by the big kitchen that Santa gave her!

We drove back on Thursday so I could go to work on Friday. It snowed a bunch on Friday, so we missed the big storm. And, it had snowed a lot on the Saturday we were in KC, so we missed that storm. All in all not bad driving, thank the Lord!

Here's a fun article from a priest in KC talking about how much fun a Wii is!

Lots of new pics in many albums--take a look!

Coming home to snow again

We went to Chicago this past weekend. We went to the Christkindlmarket to see the German stuff. It wasn't that exciting--it was just one small square jam packed with shops and LOTS of people. And food tents that were overpriced. We got a couple of pretzels and 1 glass of glühwein--hot spiced wine. It came in its own porcelin blue boot (small) that we brought home. It was good on a VERY chilly day! Then, we walked down to see the bean, a big shiny reflective thing just south of the main strip on Michigan Ave. Then, we went to lunch and went to Crate and Barrel. Finally went back to Mitzi's and warmed up.

Came back late Sunday. We went to church at the cathedral; the Bishop presided. Then we went to Ikea with Mitzi. It takes forever to drive past O'Hare. We bought some stuff at Ikea. We got home about 9pm. Our house was snowed in. And, snow plowed in. When we went to get out, we found that we weren't just snowed in, we were iced in. The snowfall had been covered by freezing rain, so we could walk on top of the snowfall without falling in. So, we got the girls in and then started working on shoveling out my car so I could get to work. We gave up soon and just decided I would take the van, so we parked that on the street. On Monday we worked on clearing out the car--it took both a real shovel to break up the ice and a snow shovel to haul off the chunks. Our neighbor came over to help clear the driveway off so we could park in the driveway. The ice on the sidewalks/driveway "can" come off in nice discrete chunks if you are lucky. Then, yesterday Katie cleared off most of the sidewalks, with me coming home to finish the job last night. We finally were able to use the snowblower last night to clear off the snow that had fallen on the cleared off parts.

Today I am sick; called in sick. So, Katie snow blowed this morning. She also went to help the neighbor that helped us. I have called work to tell them I'm not coming.

Check out the new pics on the photo page!

Pre-Thanksgiving

Well, it is the week of Thanksgiving. More importantly, Mitzi is here! She has come up for her annual (2nd annual!) week in Madison. We have been enjoying having another adult (Mitzi's an adult?) around to talk to...and play Wii with! Oh...and help with the kids. We bought a new snowblower today--one of our biggest purchases ever, after the house and cars. It's a Madison snowblower--capable (hopefully) of dealing with the big snowstorms. Maybe Mary Ann can even ride on it.

Many people are coming up on Wednesday: the Buschelmans, L'Opa, Nana and Oma. Not Casey, as Mary Ann keeps asking about; the dog will stay in Missouri. Robert's parents are staying in KC to host the Salina family for T-day.

Kalahari

Last weekend Robert got to go to the annual statewide Neurology Conference, held at the Kalahari Resort. His registration included staying at the hotel and 4 waterpark passes. We got there about 11:00 Saturday morning. Robert went to his conference and I got to figure out how to conquer this waterpark (just so we're all clear here, it is an indoor waterpark) with 2 little ones in tow. Our room wasn't ready yet, so the girls and I went to the nearby outlet mall so I could see how many times I could tell Mary Ann we would just go into the store really quickly. Then we went back to the hotel, the room still wasn't quite ready, so we ate lunch and decided that we could go to waterpark anyways and use the locker room as a home base. (Mary Ann and Rose were both very helpful during this conference). I've never been to a water park myself, so I didn't know what to expect, but all three of us were pretty excited. The park was very child friendly, lots of slides and pools for the girls to enjoy. I discovered that Rose has no qualms about crawling into water, in fact she doesn't stop after the water submerges her face. Mary Ann was a little more cautious, but after seeing all the other kids make it down the slides in one piece, she was good to go. Sunday was especially a lot of fun, since Robert could be with us the whole day and we could trade off who was with the girls while the other one got to do the more "exciting" rides. It was a great weekend and a nice change of pace for us all!

Ella's

We went to a crazy restaurant yesterday for brunch. It's called Ella's Deli and it's very kid friendly! It has tons of flying toys in there, and the tables are all boxes with glass tops with things to look at inside. If you've been to Madison, it's the place on East Wash that has the big carousel out front. Rose was the quietest she's ever been; she just stared at the ceiling the whole time. Unfortunately they don't have the best food and it's just a tad pricey, but maybe worth having 2 quiet kids...

Washington, ABC

The weekend of October 6-7 I got the chance to go to Washington, DC for my friend Sara's wedding. Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law I got to go out a bit early and see some of my friends from high school who have made DC their home as well. It was a fantastic trip to catch up with these people and enjoy a little vacation. I got to visit the International Spy Museum and learn that I may not be spy material, navigate the DC area via the Metro (thank you to Darren for the tutorial), eat Greek and Turkish tapas at Zaytinya, and attend a beautiful wedding and reception (Sara and Frank I'm so happy for you).
It is good now to be back at home and settle back into our routine. The girls had a fabulous time with Grandma, what a blessing family is! This week cooler weather has settled in, at least for now. (In all honesty we're ready for it--please remind me of that when it snows in April next year). Next on our list is the Rose Walk Watch. Happy October everyone!