Friday's driving dragged on and on through the endless burnt green grass fields of western Wisconsin. We drove for most of the Olympic opening ceremony, but thankfully my parents have DVR. Not a minute was missed of the Opening Ceremony. My favorite - June and Frankie - great video montage and tribute to English bands!! It would make for a really, really, really good playlist. Hm...next car trip may have to have an English theme?
Saturday morning my brother and I had a date with destiny...maybe that's an exaggeration. We did get out on the tennis courts for some friendly competition (There is no such thing as friendly competition in my family. See Fourth of July post). I am a below average tennis player to his better than average, practice all the time, tennis summer league ability. Needless to say, he became "bored" with playing against me. Ta-Da....My dad showed up to "teach us a thing or two". The game is now balanced....me and my dad versus my brother. It's always better to be on the winning team! After a long deuce/advantage in/advantage out game six, my dad decided to call it a day and became more of a spectator while we played on for another match. My dad's version of a spectator is constantly coaching and helping me to improve my game. It helped - a lot, but I felt like a 10 year old girl in every sport....Yes, I was a coach's daughter.
For the rest of Saturday we hit up pool side to bake in the sun. Saturday night, I tried my hand at my first shrimp boil ---- It was a total SUCCESS!! I had some harsh critiques too. Dinner was served to my aunt, two cousins, and my brother and sister. Let's just say honesty reigns with this group, and I would have been the first to know if dinner sucked. Thankfully, I passed the test, and everyone enjoyed their dinner. The corn, apparently, had the most flavor. I thought the peppers picked up more of the spice, but I also ate most of the peppers. My aunt and I may have enjoyed it more than everyone else with a crisp white wine pairing. We also enjoyed some of the best dessert Wisconsin has to offer: butter pecan from Kopp's. They do deliver outside of Wisconsin, but it's a 7 quart minimum so I've refrained from doing it, for now at least.
Sunday was a little bit less exciting since we were on the road by 2:00 pm. I did fit in some quality time with my parents for a nice, leisurely walk around the park near our house in the morning. For those from a large family like me, you will understand how it is very important to have time with your parents' undivided attention.
And sadly, Sunday ended on a low note since my soccer team lost in the championship again....just like last season. It was disappointing, but it was still good to be out there running around and getting exercise (especially after having Kopp's ice cream this weekend).
