Today my mother had planned a wedding shower for a friend of the family, so it was made clear to us that we needed to evacuate the house immediately. I wish you could have seen the transformation of this house from a stamping-and-child nightmare to an immaculately clean house ready to serve lunch to 15 women! Aidan and Zach, my sister’s children, helped Grandma clean the house by standing on the vacuum, making it clear it was time for us to exit stage left.
We took the kids to the Appleton farmers’ market, where we attempted to eat churros and egg rolls while dodging the entire bee population that was still around from our dinner at Fusion. The market takes place in the downtown Appleton area, where they rope off two blocks on College Avenue for people to sell their goods from the local farms and gardens. The weather was perfect and Erik and Jamie met us again with Garrett in the stroller taking it all in.
After the farmers’ market, we took the kids to a local playground where they got to play on the slides and swings while we chased them around with the camera trying to catch them having fun. I will put a picture or two in the article so you can see again just how cute these guys really are. As it was getting to be about 1:00 we decided to head back and fire up the computers to follow along with uncle J.P. Hayes on the PGA Tour, as he was in contention at the Reno Tahoe Open. My dad and I spent the next five hours glued to the PGA tour website watching every shot (as we normally do when he is playing).
After we finished watching golf, we headed to a new local restaurant in Appleton called The Seasons. This was one of the best meals that we have had in Appleton, aside from Tom’s Drive In, and we had a great time. I will let Emily tell you about the food, but let me tell you we had a great dining experience.
After dinner, my sister, her husband, and Emily and I headed to a small hole in the wall bar in Menasha, WI, called Hank’s Tavern, where Pat Toney and I both used to bartend . Some of you might not know that I actually bartended at one point in my life, but it is true. Since Pat bartended there at the same time, we all decided to go back and reminisce about the days of old. The place still looked the same although it was under new management. You can see the building in the picture here.
After Hank’s Tavern, we made the nightly stop at Dairy Queen, headed home, ate our ice cream, and went to bed. It was a full, fun day here in Appleton — see you tomorrow.