My brother and clan (sister-in-law, niece, and grand niece - notice how the grand niece has the coolest title) stopped by for a visit during their massive tour of the eastern US. Starting in Wyoming they headed to Arkansas, then Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan, and Minnesota before landing up in Madison. All this while hauling a 30 plus foot RV behind them - wow. Fortunately, all the stops went smoothly, the camper kept its wheels on, and the truck pulling all that kept the motor running.
We started the Madison visit with a stop at the Union to enjoy some brats and views of the lake. While a bit warm, the weather cooperated nicely by providing just enough breeze to keep us from roasting. After the obligatory big chair photo, Babcock ice cream was in order before heading back to their campground to catch a few lightening bugs. Saturday morning began with a visit to one of our favorite diners - the Curve - for their omelets before moving over to the zoo. Unfortunately, lots of other people were thinking Saturday morning, good time to visit the zoo - so parking was a bit of a challenge. But we found some street space and had a fun couple of hours taking in the critters. We must have hit the zoo a perfect time since the zoo keepers were out feeding many of the animals which meant a little more activity than usual for the middle of the morning on a hot, humid day. The children's zoo was a big hit especially the playground. Our grand niece kept Jo running around and probably would have spent most of the rest of the day there if the adults didn't finally decide Jo was going to pass out from the heat if we didn't move on.
After the zoo, we headed to the condo to enjoy the AC and for the little one to catch a nap. Which is pretty much what all the adults wanted to do, but we landed up talking instead. Growing up stinks. Later in the afternoon, we took a loop around the Art Fair on the Square. Saw some very cool artwork and some very, very strange art work. Then it was home for our standard lasagna dinner (Gino's deli in Madison has the best lasagna and since we can't really cook yet at the condo - it is our go to meal when we have to serve lots of people, so be warned if you visit with more than 2 people).
Sunday morning we all met in Milwaukee to give them a tour of our apartment and building and then we headed out to Miller Park to watch the home town Brewer's. Unfortunately, it wasn't their day to shine, but we did enjoy the game. All too soon, it was time for them to head back to Madison and their camper before making the final push home to Wyoming. We had a great time catching up on all that is happening with the WY family and it is always amazing to see how much our grand niece has grown and learned since we saw her last.
As the end of July rolled around so did Northwestern Mutual's annual meeting. This is a five day affair for us and involves five days of cocktail parties, dinners, and enjoyably a concert to finish it off. As Jo will not be with them next July - we hope!!! - this was our last annual meeting. It provided all the usual fun - 6 cocktail parties where I had to make small talk while trying to remember people's names, eat food without spilling it all over my shirt, and hold a plate, glass, and shake people's hands without spilling something all over them. As anyone that knows me making small talk with complete strangers is probably my best skill, so I've had sooooo much fun those five days. The cocktail parties were followed by five dinners where I really ate too much. I know I should be more disciplined, but I hate leaving food on my plate and since we don't usually start with an appetizer, then salad, then a main course consisting of steak and a piece of fish, followed by dessert, I ate too much and now need to lose a few pounds. That used to be easy in my 30's, but I'm not in my 30's anymore so it's diet, diet, diet. Anyway, the Sunday social event was held at the Summerfest grounds and included admission to Italian Fest so it wasn't really all work.
The highlight this year was the concert - NM brought in Jimmy Buffet and his concert was a blast. Really fun music that had the crowd dancing the whole time along with beautiful graphics playing on the screen behind him of the Caribbean. It really made you feel relaxed and wanting to be out on a boat in the sunny south. He definitely has the music you want playing in the background as your ship cruises the warm Caribbean seas. Kathy and John were able to join us for the concert but unfortunately had to head right back to Madison afterwards (something about John needing to work for a living or some such nonsense as that). Fortunately for us, we had just a 15 minute walk home (one advantage of living in downtown Milwaukee and yes, I'm rubbing it in a little bit to John). 
So we are now finished with annual meetings and I will probably be able to winnow my cocktail party attendance down to only one a year (if I'm lucky, Jo usually has a different opinion on parties than I do). We will probably miss having these kind of events to attend in the future as we begin to contemplate what our next stage looks like, but I'm sure we will find new adventures to fill in for them - or we will just spend our time staring at each other on the couch (one of the two).
