A recap of the earlier part of the trip

On the day we left for WI, Justin and I were taken to the airport by our friend, Judy J., which saved us parking fees. The only question remaining was how to get Justin home from the airport the night he returned to FL, but his father agreed to get him.

An aside: Justin's flight home was not as uneventful as mine---he was delayed leaving MKE, after being dropped off there by my sister and family as they went home to Holmen. It seems the air traffic was messed up from ATL, delaying the arrival of his inbound flight.
     Then, once loaded on the plane and taxiing out, the plane sat another 20 minutes before taking off. This would give him much much less time between flights once in ATL and he was extremely frustrated, and quite angry at Delta Airlines. It turned out his next gate was only steps away but he had hoped to get something to eat between flights. This did not turn out as he had to hustle, only minutes before the next one would depart. He said he would never see his family again unless they came down here if I booked our air flight on Delta! Yes, he was mad! Since then, he has cooled off and even mentioned another visit some day, but not on Delta! (My trip home went without incident, and attribute his problems to the rush of holiday traffic/travel, only days after CHRISTmas.)

My sister, Lynn, picked us up in MKE, and we drove in the dark to Manitowoc, even though it was not even 5:00 pm yet.  We stopped at the Green Street Tavern for perch (Justin had the broasted chicken). Some members of my family joined us there for our first visit together. They have the best perch and the best fried cheese curds, and Justin was just so happy. 

We went to Mom's house where we got unpacked and settled in. Before Lynn left, Mom asked her to help make the bed but Justin and I jumped on it, the job, I mean, and pulled her bed together for her. Mom's arm has an ache and pain in it, and an appointment was set for just days after CHRISTmas to get it checked out. (At the appt. it seems the pain was not directly related to her Parkinson's Disease which was a great relief to her). 

On Friday, we did some shopping, getting the things we needed for our CHRISTmas snacks and such. We met Lisa and her family at the Pizza Hut only a block or two from Mom's house. This was Justin's first time seeing Angelo in the flesh and fell in love with him. He, we, love the other two guys very much, but there is something about Angelo's eyes that suck us in! Babies trump 6 and 7 year-olds any day!

When we walked up to the table, Manny showed us how he colored his placemat, using blue to show a phart coming from one of the characters in the picture. Oh yeah, a true 'blue' little boy! This made Justin laugh, and even Grandma thought it was funny!

Friday late afternoon we went to the Capital Civic Center for a sacred concert performance by Manitowoc Lutheran High School. Besides being well-done, I like going because I can see so many people there that I know, in one fell swoop. In fact, I actually met one of my Facebook friends who knew I was coming and sought me out. Judy S. asked me to be her Friend through a mutual friend on-line and now we have met, just as I met Tammy last summer at the WELS Worship Conference! 

From the concert, Justin and I went to Linda's to see her, since we weren't sure Justin would see her at church due to her knew knee (te he he!). We drove in a heavy snow (heavy for us!) and I could hardly make out the lines on the road. Good thing I knew the way to her house! Justin described the riding into the snow as being like a space ride with stars flying by us. It was a short snowfall, only an inch-worth. Their son and his family were at Linda's, as was her sister, Georgia. Justin was so glad to see Linda again, even though he had seen her in August when she was here with Lynn. As it turned out, she managed to make it to church for the special services, thankfully. Linda was able to continue working from home using a sharing program between church and her home computer, which will be great when the weather turns bad.

My sister, Kerry, parked her car at a Park 'n Ride lot about a half hour from her workplace, and Jill drove the 45 minutes to pick her up the morning of the 24th. In the meanwhile, Justin made breakfast for us at Mom's, causing Mom and Lynn's routine to be disrupted since they 'usually' go for coffee and a pastry Saturday mornings. I already shared the story of the firemen coming to check out the reason for the fire alarms going off. I should have not opened the door to the hallway, not thinking about the smoke detectors out there. Strangely the one in the house did not go off...I have a photo of the fire truck and of the crispy bacon, which was delicious, and I will post it later. 

Right now I cannot recall where or what Justin and I ate the rest of his visit, perhaps someone else will help me fill in the blanks. I do know that Justin got to eat at the Green Street, Culver's, Late's BBQ, Pizza Hut, Perkin's, and the Charcoal Grille. There might have been more, but we hit our favorites. On the night the tree was decorated at Good Shepherd, the pastor's wife asked me about the plans for when we got to WI. I rattled off the places to go eat first, and she laughed, understanding fully what I was talking about. I did have people to see and other things to do, make no mistake, but many of the events involve food and dining! I think Justin's needs were met, especially since he won't be seeing his family again (His angry text message during the airport delay stated, "Say 'good-bye' to the family from me...")