Enjoying the Cheese State
Wisconsin has treated us well. It's given us some snow and cool weather and kind people.
A little side story:
We had to get a few things from Wal-Mart because you can always find one near by. We pull into the parking lot with piles of snow scraped to the edges. Hyrum had forgotten his toboggan and gloves. It was cold and we were going to Madison where is suppose to be even colder.
I asked a lady working there if they had any toboggans and gloves? I mean, come on, it's cold, still snowing and it's Wisconsin. I would think we could find some. She looked at me like I was crazy. And asked me what I said. I cleared my throat, corrected myself (remembering toboggans are sleds in this neck of the woods) and just asked for gloves. She looked confused but told me no there weren't because all the Spring stuff is out. I guess no one ever loses gloves around their Winter doesn't end for almost a month!
MADISON, WI
Madison was recommended because Jarom had a friend that was from there and gave him all these great things to do. One was a zoo...and it was free. It was low 40's and it was free. Zoo's don't exactly have the best reputation for guaranteeing ANY seeing of animals when it's warm so in the freezing cold, I was confident this may go very badly and boring.
It was probably one of the best zoo's ever been to and I've been to San Diego! We saw every animal, up close. It wasn't busy. It was freezing, but it wasn't huge so it was just right.
Well, I thankfully had an extra pair of gloves and toboggan for Bret that Hyrum could use. And he had his blankie. Whatever keeps you warm.
The tiger would come right to the glass. This is the closest I have ever been to a tiger.
Enjoying hump day and mocking camels that actually have to live in hot weather with all that fur.
Marshall found a little, red wooden tractor to match his little, red nose. BRRRR!
The polar bear put on quite a show. He would dive in the water and come up to the glass underwater, come up and out, walk a circle and do it again. He was loving the cool weather!
My camera was fogging up in the bird sanction. The Macaw here followed me down the railing and my camera. He apparently likes getting his picture. I would step away and Liam would try to get close and it would snap at him, every time.
After some freezing hands, noses and soon other body parts, we were ready to move to our next adventure for the day. We loved the zoo but were ready for nice brunch.
Time to head home.
We woke up from our hotel the next morning with our car covered in snow. We always get excited about snow, just not driving or trying to load luggage in it. We managed.
It snowed/sleet most of our way to Chicago, where would make one last pit stop, then it just turned to rain. I was glad we ended up not making many plans there. It was so foggy and traffic so heavy you couldn't even see Lake Michigan or any of the tall buildings. We went straight to the Children's Museum. It's the Mac Daddy of children's museums. It was huge. I'd say we only covered about 1/4 of it's entirety. It was packed. We got there early, but still loads of school buses and visitors. I was afraid we might lose a child! Poor Bret also had a fever. We were having to watch him closely, not loose kids and try to enjoy what we could before we had to head back on the road to get home that evening. ( I don't love time limits very much.)
I guess if you can't see all of the real city, see it by Lego.
I didn't include the video but we just happen to visit this area where we watched a chic hatch from it's egg.
Goodbye, Chicago.
Another successful trip.
It was long but the boys did a good job at keeping peace for the most part. We did experience a bad round of gas (from more than one person), that I thought I was near death. Seriously. It smelled so bad.
The pretty part of the drive was coming from Wisconsin and Illinois where winter still lingers with few flowers and still bare trees. But as we drove it was like watching Spring bloom right before your eyes. By the time we arrived home we had full trees and new blossoms everywhere.
It's good to be home.
A little side story:
We had to get a few things from Wal-Mart because you can always find one near by. We pull into the parking lot with piles of snow scraped to the edges. Hyrum had forgotten his toboggan and gloves. It was cold and we were going to Madison where is suppose to be even colder.
I asked a lady working there if they had any toboggans and gloves? I mean, come on, it's cold, still snowing and it's Wisconsin. I would think we could find some. She looked at me like I was crazy. And asked me what I said. I cleared my throat, corrected myself (remembering toboggans are sleds in this neck of the woods) and just asked for gloves. She looked confused but told me no there weren't because all the Spring stuff is out. I guess no one ever loses gloves around their Winter doesn't end for almost a month!
MADISON, WI
Madison was recommended because Jarom had a friend that was from there and gave him all these great things to do. One was a zoo...and it was free. It was low 40's and it was free. Zoo's don't exactly have the best reputation for guaranteeing ANY seeing of animals when it's warm so in the freezing cold, I was confident this may go very badly and boring.
It was probably one of the best zoo's ever been to and I've been to San Diego! We saw every animal, up close. It wasn't busy. It was freezing, but it wasn't huge so it was just right.
Oh, Hyrum and is blanket.
After some freezing hands, noses and soon other body parts, we were ready to move to our next adventure for the day. We loved the zoo but were ready for nice brunch.
We drove into town to eat Mickie's. They have a massive menu of breakfast items. We love breakfast. We love pancakes! Their pancakes were massive and it was fairly cheap. Completely packed by the college kids and locals. I didn't know we would even fit! It was great service with yummy food.
(Where's the pics of the food? I can't hold little ones, enjoy a good meal and take pictures too.)
You can't be on the campus of Wisconsin and not visit the football stadium, right? It seems like when we travel with the kids we somehow end up near or stopping at a football stadium.
Last stop, State Capitol. Open to the public. We've never even taken our kids to our own capitol in Georgia. They asked if we even had one like this? We learned a bit of Wisconsin history.
Our last stop was the ice cream shop on campus. They make the ice cream right there in the shop and you can watch how they make it. It was definitely a day for good food!Time to head home.
We woke up from our hotel the next morning with our car covered in snow. We always get excited about snow, just not driving or trying to load luggage in it. We managed.
It snowed/sleet most of our way to Chicago, where would make one last pit stop, then it just turned to rain. I was glad we ended up not making many plans there. It was so foggy and traffic so heavy you couldn't even see Lake Michigan or any of the tall buildings. We went straight to the Children's Museum. It's the Mac Daddy of children's museums. It was huge. I'd say we only covered about 1/4 of it's entirety. It was packed. We got there early, but still loads of school buses and visitors. I was afraid we might lose a child! Poor Bret also had a fever. We were having to watch him closely, not loose kids and try to enjoy what we could before we had to head back on the road to get home that evening. ( I don't love time limits very much.)
Another successful trip.
It was long but the boys did a good job at keeping peace for the most part. We did experience a bad round of gas (from more than one person), that I thought I was near death. Seriously. It smelled so bad.
The pretty part of the drive was coming from Wisconsin and Illinois where winter still lingers with few flowers and still bare trees. But as we drove it was like watching Spring bloom right before your eyes. By the time we arrived home we had full trees and new blossoms everywhere.
It's good to be home.
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