Face Plants and Mosquito Bites

Hey, guess what…I finally found a few extra minutes to write a post…crazy right?  I am between bachelor parties and on the verge of this semester’s final exams (my brain has no idea what is happening right now).  To say life has been busy would be an understatement.  With that being said, we’ve been up to a few things since I last rapped at y’all, so I will try and squeeze most of it in. 

Where’d we leave off?  Oh yeah, Gina and I were anxiously awaiting and preparing for our house party.  Well, we ended up with a great turnout.  There was a good mix of people including several of my school pals, “dental school” friends from the Milwaukee area, and Nick and Danita were able to make it for a while with our two nephews Alex and Bennett.  Alex became my little sidekick for a good portion of the day, and besides using his face to break a fall from our swing, and a few Frisbees to the forehead, I’d say Alex had a great time!  Bennett was not able to tell me, but I am going to assume he had fun as well. 

Friends and Fellow Dentists
Back: Drs. Jordan and Katie
Front: Drs. Allison and Gina

 If you asked Gina what my favorite part of the day was, I am very confident she would tell you that it was me being able to grill about 10 lbs of meat on my new grill (she would probably be correct).  We had plenty of grillables, plenty of drinkables, and most people brought a dish to pass as well, so dinner was awesome. 

Embracing Zac

A buddy of mine from school brought two tiki torches and we placed them in the yard about 30 feet apart.  We then turned the empty oilcans upside down so the top of the torch had a flat surface to set an empty beer bottle on.  Some of you know where this is going!  Lastly, we got a Frisbee and divided ourselves into 2 teams of 2, with a team located at each torch.  The game begins with each player having a beer in one hand.  The object of the game is to toss the Frisbee at the opposing tiki torch trying to knock the bottle off.  The opposing team must catch the Frisbee (after it has passed or hit the torch/bottle) as well as the bottle if it was knocked from its perch.  One point is scored for every dropped disk and two points for the bottle hitting the ground.  If the bottle is hit but caught before hitting the ground, the bottle points are nullified (you can still get a point if the disk is dropped).  I am sure this sounds simple, but remember you must have your beer in hand at all times, which makes catching a bottle/Frisbee rather difficult.  We played to a score of 21, but naturally, it can be turned into a drinking game as well, however we had enough excuses to drink and did not need to add fuel to that fire.  Foul language and drunken tomfoolery are highly encouraged.  We also played Beer Pong along with the ladies’ favorite game, “sit in a chair and enjoy a beverage”.  The most popular game of the evening was by far “donate blood to mosquitoes” (unfortunately, there are no winners in this game, except for a few mosquitoes who were probably having difficulties flying straight, if you know what I’m saying).  All in all, I’d say we were best party south of the state line. 

Derek's friends from school
L to R: Nick, Jon(our roommate), Jenn, Ross, Van
Notice the tiki torch with the beer bottle on top!

Zac, Nick, Jon and Michael setting up a little Beer Pong

 The weekend after our party, I had to attend a Neurology seminar outside Chicago  (Nerd alert: I find these somewhat exciting), but Gina had the pleasure of attending our friend Allison’s bachelorette party in Milwaukee.  Needless to say, there are zero pictures to show you.  I was given few details, but it is safe to say that the ladies all had a great time.  On Sunday, Gina ended up at Miller Park for a Brewers game.  Nick had reserved a suite and set up a surprise party to celebrate Danita and her recent completion of residency along with Nick's 30th birthday.  I really wish I could have gone, but I would like to wish them both another congratulations.   

Gina's 2nd affair...#1 is Aaron Rodgers.  I can't complain

A shot of Yovani Gallardo warming up before the game

Brewers game attendees

 On to weekend #3.  Gina and I drove up to Port Washington for Port Fish Day.  I see a common theme developing: we never ever ever ever take a weekend to relax at home.  We have attended Fish Day a couple times in the past and I probably mentioned it in an earlier post so I won’t go into too much detail.  In the past, our friends Mike and Katie who live in Port had hosted a house party during Fish Day.  It is at these parties as well as a couple other events where Gina and I became friends with a few other people from Port.  This year, another couple (Ali and Joel) hosted the party and were nice enough to invite us.  We noshed on good spread of food and indulged in a few beers and cocktails.  Later in the afternoon, we walked a few blocks to downtown Port where the actual festival is.  Fish day reminds me a lot of the Merrill fair but without the carnival rides.  There are several beer tents serving up ice cold beverages as well as an absurd amount of fried fish (no complaints here).  There are also live bands and fireworks to top the night off.  Needless to say, we had a pretty good time.

Sunday morning on our way home from Port Washington, I worked my charm and convinced Gina that we needed to stop on our way home to get a new salt shaker and pepper grinder.  The seal on our current shaker is a prankster and loves to break loose when Gina uses it.  As you can imagine, this always makes Gina really happy.  Anyway, there was a very specific set I wanted, and the only place to get it was a nice 20+ miles out of our way (remember the charm).  Now what I should have done was call ahead and make sure the store had the set in stock, but what I did was use my man brain and drive there only to find that it was probably the only thing the store had out of stock (zero points awarded to Derek).  However, the store was promoting an espresso maker and gave us each a free sample (2 points awarded to Derek).  I would like to tell you that the espresso was worth the drive, but the truth is, no matter how much I pretended to like it, the espresso reminded me Tug Lake during the month of August (minus 5 points for Derek).  I would like to think I learned a lesson from this experience (there’s that charm again). 

*Author’s Note: The Grenfells are still without a new salt shaker and the foreseeable future is without signs of another attempt from Mr. Grenfell to try and acquire one.     

Moving right along…as I stated at the opening of the post, I am between bachelor parties.  Allow me to explain.  This past weekend was Michael’s graduation party in Milwaukee.  Michael is the fiancé of Allison whose party Gina attended a couple weekends back.  As I recall, Michael’s party consisted of a wholesome dinner, male bonding, and good clean banter before a strict 10:00 bedtime.  Well, something like that at least.  We did squeeze in 9 holes of golf in the early afternoon.  This was my first time out this summer on a course I have never played.   Somehow I am actually fairly pleased with my performance.  Anywho, us gentlemen gathered at Michael’s house before heading to an awesome dinner at The Rumpus Room (I promise this is not a strip club).  It is a gastro-pub with an excellent beer selection and one heck of a menu to boot.  After dinner we moved on to our bar hopping and good old fashioned debauchery. 

While I was attending Michael's bachelor festivities, Gina took advantage of an opportunity to head over to Madison and visit with her younger sister Brandi.  They got to spend some quality time together while doing things like having a couple beers at the Memorial Union terrace on Lake Mendota, and heading to the farmers market on Saturday morning.  For any of you who may not have been to the farmers market in Madison, I highly recommend you make that journey because in my opinion it is second to none.

Memorial Union Terrace at night

    

That leads me to the present day.  I have another bachelor party tomorrow evening in Oshkosh for my friend and former college roommate Cody.  Then Saturday and Sunday should be more studying since Monday begins my week and a half stretch of final exams.  It looks something like this:  Monday: 1 exam, Tuesday: 1 exam, Thursday: 3 exams, Monday: 1 exam, Tuesday: 2 exams, Wednesday: 2 exams and 1 Three Year Anniversary!  I also left out the Wedding festivities that take place the weekend in between.  Michael and Allison are getting married, which should give me a very welcomed study break.  Gina’s schedule looks something like this: 0 exams, a wedding (Gina along with our friend Jordan are Allison’s personal attendants), and 1 Three Year Anniversary!  I think it is safe to say Gina has a slightly better (and well deserved) schedule over the next 2 weeks.

Just a note, the day after my final exams, I have an appointment with Dr. Grenfell, DDS.  I’m really looking forward to meeting him!  You are supposed to laugh now.  Actually, I think it is going to be really awesome to see Gina in her element.  I am super proud of her and can’t wait to see her first hand in action.   

That’s enough for now, or I won’t have much to write about the next time.  Until then, thanks for tuning in and I’ll catch you all again soon. 

Cheers,

Derek

P.S. Here are a few pics I took from around our house...enjoy.

View from our back Patio

Some flowers hanging off the back deck

Our Basil and Oregano "garden"