The Brew Crew and the Boo Hoo

Last Tuesday marked the end of my family's visit. I had so many more places to take them, and I would've baked more cookies if they'd only stayed, but their real lives were pulling them back to California.

While Valerie and Kristen spent Tuesday morning doing laundry and packing, the rest of us snuck out because Grandma Susie wanted to get the kids some back to school clothes. Once we squeezed Grandma dry we headed back to my house to get the rest of the gang for our last hoorah.

When we were at the Brewers game on the 4th of July I sent a text to my mom and sisters to see if they wanted to go to a game while they were in town. They all said heck yeah so we threw it on the agenda. We got our tickets for $4.50 each. Baseball games are crazy cheap and so much fun.

Since no one in my house is on board with being the racing sausages for Halloween, Valerie had the idea that we should dress the 5 grandkids up for the game. We assigned each of them a character but in the end a couple of them didn't want to and even though I am not above forcing them for a cute picture and lots of strangers gawking at my kids, we ended up being too busy to get costumes together. Once we got there the kids wished they had done it, so one of these days....

Even without costumes we had a great time! We have noticed that everyone tailgates in Wisconsin. Yes you see it other places but here it is every car, every game. Wisconsinites never pass up a chance to drink beer and eat sausage. We decided to join them, with our root beer of course. Everyone around us seemed to have forgotten a lighter so Seth had to go around lighting everyone's grill, which worked to our advantage when we realized we'd forgotten the buns. Seth just had to ask a few of our new found friends and we had two bags of buns in no time.

After tailgating we felt like official members of the Brew Crew and were ready to head in for the game. The Brewers have been unstoppable this year but for some reason every time we go to the game it sets them on a losing streak. The game never really got off the ground but Miller Park is fun whether or not the team shows up. If you have wiggly kids there is stuff for them to do all over the park all throughout the game.

Alex won this heat as Polish Sausage. Alyssa won in that seat last time. Chloe left Hot Dog vacant and scooted down one to be Chorizo. She loves Chorizo and talks about him often.

My Brew Crew

After the game we left my family at a (scummy, as it turns out) hotel by the airport. Since it was almost midnight and they had to get off to the airport early it didn't make sense to drive an hour back to my house, sleep for four hours and drive an hour back to Milwaukee in the morning. Even though I knew this in my head it still felt awful to leave them there and know that they were in WI but not here with us.

We said our goodbyes and Luke had one more turn with my phone. I got that phone just in time because it was my in with Luke all week.

And Chloe was surprised with a Chorizo doll from Grandma, which she talked about the whole way home. FYI: Chorizo won the race again at this game.

As always, it was awful to see them go. I remember when I was a kid and we used to go visit my great grandma, Grammy. Every time we would leave, she seemed a little more sad than the last time. It never got easier and she would stand on the porch and wave until we were far out of sight while my grandma, Nonnie would coach us from the driver's seat, to smile and wave back as big and as long as we could. It hurt my heart everytime and now I know how she felt. It never gets easier to say goodbye to people you love. It gets harder. With each new visit you love them more, you miss them more and you are left on Grammy's bright red porch wondering when they will come back.

Soon, I hope.