Obama visits Racine

With the Wisconsin presidental primary scheduled for next Tuesday, all of the candidates are making their way through the state, but only one has stopped in Racine - Barack Obama! I got word on Monday night and got a ticket on the internet. The event was free, but only a limited number of tickets were issued. Tuesday morning, there was an article on the front page of the paper, and by the time one of my friends looked for a ticket at 9am, they were gone. I arrived at 5pm on Wednesday night, and by that point, it was standing room only. That was fine with me since I didn't have to wait outside in the cold very long. The program started about 20 minutes late, but Obama spoke for about 40 minutes and then answered questions for about another 20 minutes. I'm not advocating one candidate over another, but it was pretty cool to see Obama in person and hear him speak. Thanks to Kylie for letting me borrow her camera!

Here is a link to today's recap of the event in the Racine Journal Times:

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/02/14/local_news/doc47b34500c7a72143942116.txt

Racine's only ice skating rink

Last weekend marked the opening of Racine's only ice skating rink as we cleared the snow away on the river in the backyard to expose a perfect ice sheet. This is a significant difference between Racine and the Twin Cities where every park has an ice rink. Weather conditions only make this possible for a few weeks a year, so we enjoy it while we can. We had the gang over to experience what Minnesotans do fer fun ya know. Click on the picture to link to the full album.

Blackhawks Down

The Wild were in Chicago on Friday to play the Blackhawks. Laura and I had never been to the United Center, so we thought it was a good excuse for a trip to the windy city. The Wild won 5-2!

January fun!

January is shaping up to be an eventful month so far. We returned back to work on January 2nd after a long holiday break. The next day, Jay got his wisdom teeth taken out. He was a model patient and is recovering quite well. So well, in fact, that we went out with our friends Becky & Kevin on Saturday. The temperatures heated up to the 40s, so we headed out to Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee for some ice skating. The rink is small, but it's free, not to mention the only outdoor rink we know about (besides the river in our backyard, of course).

Above Right - Jay shows off his figure skating skills.

Left - Becky and Kevin with unknown children.

After getting a little much-needed exercise on the rink, we headed out to dinner a newly renovated restaurant/Irish pub.

After dinner, we headed to the Bradley Center in Milwaukee to catch the Milwaukee Admirals take on the Chicago Wolves. (Hockey - for those of you who aren't AHL fans.) As an added bonus, the Goo Goo Dolls performed before the game. The tickets were only $9 each! Great deal for a concert and hockey game! We also had really good seats - right next to the stage and close to the ice. I took a bunch of pictures of Johnny Resnick. The rest of the band was slightly hidden from our view - mostly due to Johnny's collection of over 20 guitars. (Seriously, how many does he need for a 75 minute concert?)

Even though the Admirals lost the game, we had a great time. Thanks, B&K, for inviting us!

The weather continued to be warm on Sunday, leading to lots of dense fog, so we had a cozy day inside. Today, we reached record highs in the 60's, and unfortunately, the unseasonable warmth led to some tornadoes in Racine and Kenosha counties. We spent about an hour in the basement at work this afternoon, and then another hour or so in our basement at home. Fortunately, I got Jay a ping pong table for Christmas, so we kept ourselves entertained! Luckily we did not sustain any damages in our area, but like I said, it's been an eventful month so far!

Happy 2008!

Minnesota Vikings Come to Wisconsin

Green Bay, WI. It's a different world up there. Where else does it not feel strange to crack a beer at 9 am? The Vikings played poorly and I nearly went to volunteer my services at QB, but I decided instead to soak in the ambiance of the place. I was surprised by the number of Vikings fans. I went incognito at first, but once I realized the Vikes needed a boost and the weather warmed, I took off my hoody and showed my purple pride. The kids in front of me kept me fed by picking out all of the purple Skittles after I told them they would get "Purple Power" and end up like me if they ate them. I guess they would rather aspire to be like my buddy Scott in the hard hat and his nephew. Scott wasn't out of place at all in this get up. The tailgating was a lot of fun and despite the Vikings loss, I had a good time in Lambeau. Thanks Scott, for inviting me along!

Fly Fishing the Root River

I found a fun way to spend an autumn Sunday afternoon in Racine, fly fishing on the Root River. It is not exactly like the movie "A River Runs Through It," as you are often looking into someone's backyard (how many plastic toys can one family have?) and it is never long before the next vehicle sans muffler passes, but the fishing is great! The fly rod that Laura got me for Christmas is finally being put to use. Check out the 8.5 lb Rainbow trout I caught. I think I am ready to start guiding fishing tours for guests of Matters' B&B. Book now!

Where have we been?

It's been about a month since we've updated the blog. So where have we been and what have we been up to?
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Sept 29 - I visited Alina & Elliott at their new home in Naperville, IL. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Elliott all day while Alina unpacked boxes. We went to the park twice since it was such a gorgeous day and we also went to lunch in beautiful downtown Naperville!
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Sept 30 - Jay played flag football with YPR (Young Professionals of Racine). He co-organized this event as part of the new Sports and Social League that he started about a year ago. The really cool part of the event was that Jay got the local NAFL team, the Racine Raiders, to come and ref the games. It was a co-ed event, but I decided I was better suited to be the official photographer!

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Oct 1 - Our newest nephew, Charles Henry Feistner, was born!

Oct 6/7 - We drove up to the Twin Cities to meet baby Charlie and also visit other family and friends.
We visited Charlie, big sisters Olivia and Kailey, mom Kari, dad John, and auntie Laura, at their home in Brooklyn Park on Saturday. Olivia and Kailey are very excited about the new baby! He is adorable and we are looking forward to getting to know him!
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Saturday night, we met up with Gary, Deb, Karla, Brian, Sarah, and a few others for dinner and drinks at Champps in downtown Minneapolis. It was fun to be in downtown again and see what has changed and reminisce about what hasn't. It certainly is a lot busier than downtown Racine on a Saturday night! Sunday we met up with Gary, Deb, Ben, and Trisha for brunch at the Egg & I in Uptown. The weekend was too short, as usual, but fun as always!
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Oct 12 - One of my ex-co-workers (Rob) turned 30, so we celebrated at his place in Wauwatosa. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures at the party, but you can see pictures of him on his band's website: http://www.4to1band.com/. Rob and his wife Missy have a cool basement (if you're an Illini fan), and a night at their place usually includes at least one performance by Rob on the drums.
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Oct 13 - One of my ex-co-worker's husband (Kevin) turned 30, so we celebrated at their place in Waterford. We started with a softball game that Becky organized. It was a lot of fun, and even I had a few good hits!
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Oct 20/21 - After watching the Transformers movie with Brad and Aileen on Friday night (we give the movie a C), we headed to Illinois for a few various reasons. First, to see Sue, Scott, and Alex in Schaumburg. Then, to see my cousins Matt and Mike who were in Aurora for their job. We got to play Playstation on the World's Largest Plasma TC - 103"! Finally, to visit Alina, Steve, and Elliott in Naperville to celebrate Elliott's first birthday!


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Our next big event is our 4th anniversary on Thursday, October 25!