Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Hello, 2020! ... Here's hoping the rest of the New Year can live up to my first week

^
Just got back from a great (but too short!) trip to Chicago and Milwaukee.

So much fun with our adorable grand-twins Logan and Jack (aka "LoJack"), and of course their parents Ben and Sammi.


LoJack loves Grandma! (And vice versa!)


Grandpa hangin' with da boyz

As they close in on their 5-month birthdays, the boys have gotten so big. Fun little personalities. A lot of smiling, as Logan demonstrates ...


The boys even are showing an affinity for TV (uh-oh).


Saturday was a darn near perfect day ...
  • Drove up from Chicago to Milwaukee with Robbie, Ben and Mickey (Ben's father-in-law) for the Marquette-Villanova game.
  • Found a free parking spot on the street within 3 blocks of the arena. I loves me some free parking!
  • Met Marquette buddies Tom and Jim at a local establishment before the game to share some great memories and laughs. Also shared some beverages, which in my case were New Glarus Moon Man and Spotted Cow.
  • Watched our Warriors play very well in defeating the No. 10 team in the country.
  • No trip to Milwaukee is complete without a dash to Leon's for amazing butter pecan frozen custard.
  • Went to Ben's in-laws' place in the northern burbs to eat deep-dish pizza and to spend a few hours with family: Ben, Sammi, Mickey, his wife Linda, Sammi's sister Lauren, various dogs ...  and, of course, the stars of the show, Logan and Jack.
  • Drove back to my son's place to tuck in LoJack.
  • Watched the end of the Patriots' playoff loss to Tennessee. Bye-bye Brady!
Hard to beat that!


Rob took this artsy-fartsy photo of 3 old farts:
Tom, Mike and Jim


Mickey, Ben, Rob and Mike up in the Fiserv Forum nosebleed section

Marquette's All-American guard, Markus Howard,
takes it right into the teeth of Villanova's defense
(Photo credit: gomarquette.com)

Leon's butter pecan ... The best treat in the entire world!
Naturally, we were sad to say goodbye on Sunday. And when we got home, we had a ton of work staring at us, as we just had both bathrooms renovated and the entire downstairs painted. 

On Monday, it was back to practice with my Community House Cavs, who just returned from winter break. We'll take a 3-2 record into our first post-break game on Thursday, Jan. 9.

I hope everybody had as great a start to the New Year as I did.

Oh, and here's lookin' at you, kid!


^