Wisconsin: Part One

Our little family decided to take a vacation to see my brother's little family this summer. They live outside of Chicago. After looking into things more we decided to stay in Madison, Wisconsin for several reasons. We have visited Chicago before and felt like we had scene all the tourist attractions. There is no hotel close to their home, and their home cannot squeeze an extra family. Madison had cheaper airfare, hotels, and restaurants. Everything we wanted was close to Madison. It worked out great for us. But, it was a little funny introducung ourselves in church, then explain where we were from and why we were visiting. :)

Our first night away, we slept about 4 hours at Anjie's house so we could be at the airport by 5 am. The kids did pretty well on the airplane. Clare had a hard time sitting still for so long, but I did not expect her to. :) She took a nap on the connecting flight which was a great relief. (That is one of the few times she has ever slept in my arms. I have always laid her down and she goes to sleep on her own.) Breah's ear were bothering her big time when we were landing. But we made it! Craig and Tanja drove both of their vehicles, so that we would not have to rent one. That helped out immensely!

Samantha, 3 1/2. I have never seen anyone as small as her swim so good. She is a fish!

Nathan, 7 years old, and Addison.

The first day the kids were all dying to swim in the awesome hotel pool. Of course, we visited it almost everyday. Swimming was a good icebreaker for the cousins. They had not seen eachother in two years. For little kids, that seems like a lot longer. But they cliqued immediately, ganging up on their dads and showing off all their swimming skills.

Breah, Kylie, and Jacob, 7 years old. All of their kids could swim great, with no help at all. My kids are working on it and loved all the toys to play with.

The next day we went canoeing. We got a great reaction from the employees when we told them that we wanted to rent canoes to take 8 kids 8 and under for a ride. We divided up into three canoes. It was beautiful. The weather was perfect and the scenery was great. We did not realize that the wind was making it easy on the way out. When we turned around to go back it was hard work! I was incharge of Clare, so I did not get as much exercise as the other adults. ;)

Side note: The poor lady was overwhelmed finding enough kids life jackets, that she handed out kayaking ores for everyone. When she realized the mistake she made, she responded with, "well, you have blown my mind!"

Sometimes it was more like bumber boats than it should have been! The employees were relieved when we all returned safe and sound. After canoeing, we found a big park with a fun playground to have lunch. We grilled hotdogs and ate lots of fruit. Clarissa pulling Orion, 8 years old, in the awesome wagon.

After all that we still managed to go swimming at the hotel, eat PB and honey for dinner, and go to the local baseball team game, the Mallards. We ate the most delicious deep fried cheese curds there! My mouth waters thinking about them! :)