Midwest Weekend
Gramma has her hands full with two babies
Last year when our first grandchild, Brooklyn, was born, Sandy went back to the Midwest for a month when Shannon had to go back to work. She wanted to help with the transition from maternity leave back to a work schedule. This year with two little ones in the house, she thought it was even more important to go back and try to help out. She planned for a month visit which fell from late May through early June.
She admitted that she was a little nervous. She loves being a Gramma but was worried that taking care of two babies at the same time might be a challenge. To give herself a break, she convinced me to come out for a long weekend visit in the middle of her stay. While I am not a natural with babies I would be able to help out a little. Brooklyn loves to sit with me and read her books. More importantly, over the weekend, while Shannon and Jimmy were both home, Sandy would have an excuse to go up to Milwaukee to see some Brewer baseball games. That would give her a needed break.
The plan was that I would fly out on a Thursday. I would help out with the kids on Friday. Saturday and Sunday we would go to Milwaukee to meet our friend Mary Beth and catch some Brewer baseball games. Monday we would be back in Illinois and I would fly home on Tuesday. It was a quick trip but it would be fun. Since the grand babies are growing fast I would get to see them again. And I would see two Brewer games.
Brooklyn thinks it's funny to put toys on her brother's head
It didn't work according to plan. Wednesday night before I was supposed to leave Abby got the runs. She didn't have an accident but she must have gone out six or seven times during the night. A friend was coming over to stay at our house with Abby while I was gone. I talked to Sandy in the morning and we agreed that I should postpone at least a day to see if Abby would get better. We were nervous about leaving our friend with a sick dog. Fortunately I was able to delay my flight by a day. That night Abby seemed to be ok, so I was good to go a day late. I got to Yorkville with no problems Friday evening.
Next morning we picked up a rental car and drove to Milwaukee. We checked into our hotel where we met up with our friend Mary Beth. She had been in in Northern Wisconsin (or as Wisconsinites say "She was Up Nort, doncha know") visiting her sisters. After droping our stuff off at the hotel we headed to the ball game.
Enjoying dollar hot dogs at the ballpark
Now when you go to the ball park it's completely automated. Sandy bought all our tickets online and then sent the individual tickets to us so that they were on our phones. Going into the park was just like boarding a plane. No paper tickets anymore. They just scan a QR code on your phone. And starting this year even parking is done the same way. Sandy paid for it in advance and we just showed them our phone when we got there.
From way back in my college days when my brother and I went to games, I always park in a satellite lot that's across the freeway from the stadium and the main parking lot. It's a longer walk in from the car but it's a lot easier and faster to get out after the game when everyone is trying to leave at the same time. But this time Sandy had paid for preferred parking, which meant we parked much closer in the main lot. That was probably a good thing since it was raining a little and we had a shorter walk to get inside the stadium where the roof was closed.
A bottle of chianti at Barbiere's to celebrate a Brewer win
We were looking forward to a Brewer win. They were in first place in the NL Central, having just taken three out of four games from the second place Cubs. Now they were playing the Chicago White Sox, who had the worst record in MLB. We had watched the first game of the series on tv the night before when they pounded the White Sox 12-5. The Brewers had twenty three hits, the most in a game in MLB this season.
This time the game turned out to be close. The White Sox took an early lead but the Brewers came back and tied it in the seventh inning on a two run, two out single by Willy Adames. The game went to extra innings and Willy was the hero again in the tenth, driving in the winning run with a single. The final score was Brewers 4, White Sox 3. The game was a real nail biter, but a win is a win. And it was dollar hot dog day, so we all had a good ball park hot dog. Ok. I had two.
Mary Beth and I at Gillies
After the game we were embarrassed to realize that none of us had paid much attention to exactly where we parked our car. Because it was a rental none of us even remembered what it looked like. The three of us split up and wanderered all over the lot for about ten minutes before we finally found our car. (It was me. I found it.)
After we got to our car and after we got out of the traffic jam leaving the stadium, we went straight to Barbiere's Italian Inn. It's a small, family-run Italian restaurant with great food. It's near the ball park, and when I was in college I used to go there all the time. The place hasn't changed much in fifty years and I still make a point of going there whenever I go back to Milwaukee. This was Mary Beth's first time there and she thought that it was really good too. Not that she had a choice. If she had dissed it she would have been walking back to the hotel.
Next day we had a little time to kill before going to the game. We weren't far away so I suggested going to Gillie's for frozen custard. It's been there for over eighty five years and is the oldest custard stand in Milwaukee. That's pretty old. Of course, I consider anything that's older than me to be Really Old. Frozen custard is a big deal in Wisconsin and of course what we had was good. The sugar rush was just right to get us psyched up for loud and boisterous cheering at the game.
I must be in the front row!
Since we got to the stadium just as they opened the gates, there was hardly anyone there yet. It was still an hour and a half until game time. Since the place was virtually empty we decided to check off a bucket list item. We wanted to find the Bob Uecker statue and take our pictures with it. We knew it was high in the upper deck but when we went up there none of us could spot it. Finally we asked an usher and he told us the section number where it was located. As hoped, no one was there so we all took pictures with the statue and said the mandatory "I must be in the front row!"
We still had lots of time before the game so we went to several team stores. They're scattered all over the stadium and we wanted to make sure that we didn't miss anything cool because we looked in the wrong store. Sure enough, Sandy found some cool Brewer gear to get for the grand babies. Since they live in Illinois, we have to make sure that they grow up right, as Brewer fans. Sandy also found a nice light jacket for herself. Actually it was the day before so she was wearing it today.
Brooklyn shows me her yard
The game was another close one, with the Brewers going into the eighth inning with a one run lead. A two out, two run single by Gary Sanchez gave them a cushion and they won 6-3 to complete the sweep. A good weekend for the Brewers and we had seen two good games that were Brewer wins. After the game we dropped Mary Beth at the hotel since she wasn't flying back to Boise until the next morning. Then we drove back to Yorkville.
I had one full day to spend with the grand kids before I left for home. Warren is growing fast. He's a pretty good baby. He seemed much more aware of things than he had been two months earlier when I visited in early April. And Brooklyn still loves to read her books. Seems like we spent most of the day with her sitting on my lap going through all her baby books. My favorite was "Quantum Physics for Babies". a book that I got her for Christmas last year.
The next day I was up at 5 am for the ride to O'Hare airport. My flight was on time and I was home before noon. When I got home Abby was happy to see me. Now her and I have another week and a half with just the two of us until Sandy comes home. The forecast is for nice weather so I think we will be taking lots of walks during the day and sitting on the couch watching Brewer games at night.
