Story, Zoo and Oz in all of his awesomeness!

In our never ending battle to update as little as possible but still collect thousands of pics of the little guy, well, here is what is happening.
It was a warm, nay, HOT day near the end of August and a momentous occasion was about to be celebrated.  My brother was turning, don't say it, yes, 40!  Jen and I left the little guy with the grandparents and met them at the Story Inn outside Brown County.  Now if you have never been to it,  recommend a visit.  Nestled in a little town called Story, you drive a twisting road until your cell phone goes dead and round a corner to see what looks like a shack or shanty town.

Now this is a working Inn.  There are at least 4 rooms in the building pictured above and a few other buildings on the property that are also available.  My brother and his wife stayed here one time before, and like all good inns, they have a book that you can leave a little note.  Jen and I happened to stay in the same room that they had over a year ago.  Another story about the Story Inn is the blue lady.  She is a friendly ghost that likes to keep things organized.  Turning mirrors over, rearranging brushes, and also opening the notebook in our room to the exact page where Katy and Scott had written a little thank you on their last visit.  Katy said she did not tell them that they had stayed there before, so it was either a clever and thoughtful trick pulled on us by the staff or the blue lady welcoming us.  I prefer to think it was the latter. 

The room is very quaint, there is a crooked stair case leading up, a balcony in our room that overlooks a courtyard and no TV.  Yep, no TV.  Let me say that again, NO TV.  Some would worry about this, but Jen and I had alcohol and I had her wonderful company, so nothing to worry about. 

There is an amazing restaurant on the lower floor of the inn that people travel to just for the breakfast.  Dinner was awesome and the bar in the basement was small but fun.  You sit on chairs that are made from old farm equipment seats and the bar ceiling is metal siding.  They serve some local microbrews on tap and plenty of beer and wine.  The place is also a destination for biker clubs and apparently, a club of English car enthusiasts.  There were a few MG's, a mini and one other nice little convertible.  A great little time and I would recommend it for anyone wanting a quiet weekend away.  Brown County's horse camp is not too far away and a trail leads right up to the back door of the Inn.  There are almost always a few saddled horses hanging out in the picnic area and a few people in full gear relaxing with a burger and a drink.

On to the kiddo.  We decided to take the kiddo to the zoo, again.  He was not a fan the first time.  This time we took backup.  Jen's brother, Tony, and sister, Melanie, were our responsibility for the weekend and why not take them to the zoo.  They are both amazing with Oz and who doesn't love the zoo.  Well, that would be Oz.  We immediately took him to the walrus area, hoping that he would like that.  And he did.  YEAH!

 That is him, in the striped shirt, trying to get a closer look at the walrus.  Get out of the way lady, let the kids look at the walrus.

 Some super fun time with mommy and aunt mel.  Wait, what is Tony pushing in the background?

 Stroller duty!  What a champ.

 

Feeding the giraffes.  Always fun.  At least this time some lady didn't get in our way and we were able to get the picture.  The last time, some lady was just standing there watching people feed the giraffes and blocking most people as they tried to take a picture.  People really annoy the crap out of me sometime. 

Ahhh, look, Oz looks so cute sitting on the log.  Wait, this picture looks cropped.  Was there more to the picture? 

Yes, that is mommy trying to get him rolling again.  After about his 20th blow up and as he sat there plotting his next move.  He quickly grabbed a rock after this picture and threw it, then ran away.  He knows he shouldn't throw rocks, but you can see that devilish look in his eyes.

Where did we find we spent most of our time at the zoo?  Yep, at Oz's favorite place in the world.  THE PARK!  Yep, we paid all of that money to have him spend most of the time at the playground.  We could have just hit a park in town and had a picnic.  But you have to love the kid, he likes it simple.

 Oz and mommy.

WEARING A BOILERS JERSEY!!!!!!

Oz loves his bike.  He doesn't quite get the pedals yet, but he will get there.  We just love to watch him self propel.  It was getting really hard to bend over and push that little bike around.

Saint Patrick's Day 2009

It has been over two years since Jen and I were able to enjoy Saint Patrick's Day. Jen was pregnant last year so we didn't go, I made her an Irish themed dinner instead. This year, we took the little guy to the parade with Correy, Laura and Eli. Later, we met the extended family for lunch at Rock Bottom. That included Uncle Scott, Aunt Debi, Uncle Darrin, Ethan, Alex, Grandpa Larry and eventually Grandma Janie. So a big crew. Correy, Laura and Eli were there as well. It was a great day and later we dropped the kid off at his Grandma Kates and we headed out to the Rathskellar. Now when we first started visiting the Rath for St. Pat's it was less crowded, the polka boys played and you could actually enjoy yourself. These days it is packed solid, the polka boys still play but it is harder to get anywhere because the Rath just isn't built for large crowds that are constantly moving. Single doors to go in and outside, poor ventilation, but the beer is good and so was the company. So enjoy some slides of the day I will hit you later.

First few days in the wonderful world of Oz!

I used to just agree with people when they said, "you'll understand when you have a kid". I didn't really grasp what they meant. But now that I get to just sit there and watch him breathe, hear him cry, reach out and grab for mommy, I know exactly what they mean. It is impossible to describe that feeling. Jen is still doing great. She was amazing during delivery and I can't comprehend how she was able to do it. 40 weeks of holding this little tyke inside and keeping him safe. Giving him everything he needed to pop out with his eyes wide open and wonder "WHAT THE HELL? WHERE AM I? WHO ARE YOU? NO DON'T CUT THAT, I NEED THAT. OH CRAP, I HAVE TO PEE." Out popped this perfect little boy.
We haven't slept much, and we really don't mind. Every second we are awake we get to watch Oz and he is beautiful. We are watching our first soccer match together. The UEFA Euro 2008 final between Spain and Germany. Go Germany! I want Oz to be a soccer player and swimmer just like I was, but he has a few uncles on Jen's side that might want him to play baseball, basketball or football. Maybe he will be an artist or a scientist, we really don't care. We are just so happy he is here. Let's face it, Jen nor I were exactly the cool kids in school, this kid is doomed to dorkdom for a good portion of his young adulthood. Thankfully, Jen is gorgeous and I did grow up to be the handsome, brilliant and modest man I am today.

This is new!

I thought this would be a nice thing to do since I have so many friends that tend to keep us updated on their lives via their blogs. So as a little precursor to our first child, I thought I would start one myself and see if I had the fortitude to keep it updated and the creativity to keep it interesting. I will get Jen to update as well and as she is the more humorous of our current duo, her posts will be probably be much more entertaining. In the meantime I couldn't help but post a pic of what I am sure many people do when they are expecting their first child and have small dogs. Notice the shock and awe on my face and the look of submission on Cosmo, as he realizes that he has once again been substituted for the future baby Sahm. He is such a good sport!