The trip was pleasant enough with the kids alternating between movies, music, "conversation," wrestling and arguing while I kept myself occupied and sane by blasting my favorite tunes through iPod earphones between bouts of laughing with and/or screaming at said children. We stopped twice - once for gas and a peepee break and again when I spotted a bright orange Dodge Charger and a black and white Plymouth Fury perched atop a Classic Car and Cycle Museum as if in police chase scene from Dukes of Hazzard. "Oh, look!!!" I shouted. The General Lee! The kids had no idea of course so I got to give them the long, drawn out story of how when I was little, my brother (Uncle Luke) and I would watch that show every Friday night, as well as recreate the flying car scenes with the Barbie jeeps. They were so confused.
And a couple of hours later we were pulling in to the outskirts of Green Bay. I must admit I was I bit disappointed with the lack of interesting scenery, but we found our hotel easy enough and after checking in headed straight to the pool. The kids were excited when we found good size water slide waiting, and I was equally happy with the comfy lounge chairs... and the fact that we had the place to ourselves. Pool time for them, lounge time for mama.
But not for long... We were soon heading back to our room to dress and head out to eat, explore and find Lambeau Field. We got caught in a surprise thunderstorm as we were looking for a place to eat and got soaked as we ran into the Sideline Sports Bar for dinner. We were lucky enough to get seated close enough to the bar to hear pretty much every swear word in existence through the strong northern accents of the construction workers who were hovering around it. After ordering some mouth watering greasy bar food, the kids started up a game at the shuffleboard table while I stepped up to the bar to order a screwdriver - just one - and sat back down, leaned back and put my feet up on the chair next to me ready to sip my drink and watch the kids at the shuffleboard. Just as I was thinking how great this is... being in a new place, no schedule, nothing to worry about except the here and now... one of the construction dudes sits down next to me, mug of beer in one hand and yep, a screwdriver in the other. Uh-boy. He was nice enough, obviously more drunk than sober, but we still had a nice conversation about his hectic work schedule and how pretty I was. It didn't even seem to phase him when I had to excuse myself to take Stephen to the bathroom. Oh well, every girl likes to be noticed so it was a nice ego boost for me. Ah, yeah... Still got it.
But after he overstayed his welcome and started moving a little too close, I thanked him for the drink, excused myself and took the opportunity to introduce my kids the art of darts. Oh my goodness we had such a good time! Once they got the hang of it and started to hit the dartboard more often than the wall, I ended up losing a couple of games! It seems as if I had lost some of those mad dart skills I used to have back in the college bar hopping days. Or wait... maybe I had just never learned how to play sober...
Storm passed, dart competition completed and bellies full, we headed across the street to Lambeau. A nice stadium, not spectacular, but it would be hard to beat Chicago's Soldier Field. Before posing the kids for a picture, we did a little shopping in the Pro Shop where we were able to both wear and learn the official history of the Cheese Head and admire the Aaron Rodgers fat head... "Mommy likes Aaron." I explain to the children as I look longingly at and run my fingers across the life-sized shoulders on the wall. "Awwwww, Mommmmmm!!" They whine.
So after stopping for serve-yourself frozen yogurt at The Happy Cow and one more trip to the hotel pool, it was nighty-night for us. Minneapolis tomorrow. Mall of America here we come!
