Over the past few weekends the Wisconsin Salts have been
playing host to some traveling family members as well as embarking one of their
own.
Three weeks ago was conference weekend and we played host to
Papa Salt, in town for a HR technology conference in Chicago. Believe me, it
sounded about as much fun when described further as the title suggests.
Fortunately, Chicago is just a short flight from Madison, so he was able to add
a few days to his trip and get to spend some quality time with the
granddaughters. As a brief side note, it was kind of fun because I was flying
back from Omaha at around the same time and we ended up on the same flight in
to Madison. Alana wasn’t as interested in Alfred (Grampy’s mustache) as I am,
but she enjoyed the new friend/partner in crime all the same.
This week we were able to play host to another traveling
Salt as Matthew came in to town to go to the BYU-Notre Dame football game with Matt
and I. Speaking of partners in crime, Matthew wasn’t at our house for 30
minutes before he was encouraging Alana in one of her most discouraged activities, jumping on the couch (the naughty uncle
club sure was a lot more fun before I became a father…). On Friday the motley
crew left for Valparaiso, IN, where we would spend the night getting hyped up
for the game on milkshakes from Steak n’ Shake. On the way, we decided to go to
a highly recommended place on the travel channel’s website, Fabulous Freddie’s.
Unfortunately, it was in the heart of the south side of Chicago which was both
a little sketchy and, with traffic, a significant detour (pronounced ‘75 minute
delay’). The food was great (no complaints there), but in the end we just felt
lucky to get out of there un-mugged and without Matt’s car getting towed.
This brings us to Saturday, where we will briefly turn our
attention to what the Matriarch of the Newest Salts was up to while her man was
away for the game. Since I assume you have read the title to this blog post, I
won’t ask you to guess, she was getting a massage. I have never had one (unless
a facial during my mission counts?) and Natalie is always asking me to do a
couple’s massage with her, I am cheap and don’t like other people to touch me,
so she has, to this point, had to settle for going on her own. All reports
indicate that it was exactly what she was needed. I don’t like talking to the
people who cut my hair, so I can’t imagine conversing with a masseuse would be
very enjoyable for me, but here is what came out of it for Natalie (perhaps a
good indication that I would only be more uncomfortable if talking during the
massage). I am not exactly sure how the topic came up, but here is how I
imagine it:
Natalie: Have you ever given a
massage to someone with a hairy back?
Masseuse: Yes.
Natalie: I couldn’t do that. It
would gross me out too much. Did it bother you?
Masseuse: No, not really. I guess
it depends on the person. Everyone has things they are okay with and things
they aren’t. For me, it would be changing poopy diapers.
Now, this conversation is more or less harmless, but I have
to say, if I am getting a massage and poopy diapers come up, I am no longer in
a happy place.
*Note from Natalie... It didn't really go like that, but those topics were discussed. At least I didn't have to watch football : )
Speaking of unhappy places/feelings, let’s now turn our
attention back to me (Nathan) and our tip to Notre Dame. We headed over to the
ND campus early in the day (after a night at a hotel that Matt and Andy say I
am not allowed to talk about…) and enjoyed the day taking in the campus. We ran
into people from Madison (expected) and Des Moines (unexpected), went in to the
Basilica, snapped a photo with ‘Touchdown Jesus’, went to Cougar Town, saw some
impressive ND football memorabilia, and stood with all the other fans to cheer
as the ND marching band march from the Basilica over to the football stadium.
It would have been hard to sit any father from the field, but the stadium was
so impressive that you hardly cared. BYU played well and it looked like things
might go our way before victory slipped away in favor of the Fighting Irish.
Despite the loss (and the unavoidable sad feelings that I get after any Cougar
loss) everyone had a good time and all agreed that it would be worth doing
again.
Now we are looking forward to the next family outing in
November when we all get together for Thanksgiving in Denver. Happy Halloween
everyone!
Oh, and we're also having a baby : ) http://babysalt.blogspot.com/2012/10/baby-number-2.html
