After one week of being on the road, we finally made it to Wisconsin!
(This was our ultimate destination, we just planned lots of extra stops along the way. :))
We only had a few hours in Madison and initially planned to rent bicycles and ride around one of the lakes, but our hotel had
an amazing pool area (with water cannons!) that we utilized instead!
After a quick swim, we walked around the square near the capitol and practiced climbing the stairs. :)
Clay insisted that we eat lunch at The Old Fashioned and that we try some of their fried cheese curds,
which were very yummy! After lunch, we ran across this cute little toy store that sold kid-sized cheese heads...but as you can tell, Max wasn't as excited about it as we were. :)
Then we spent a few lovely days in central Wisconsin with my parents!
After exploring the local farmers' market (I am so very jealous!),
Max and his "entourage" headed over to the Stevens Point Children's Museum. :)
He loved sitting in the boat and paddling with Grammie. :)
In fact, he would drag the giant paddle with him all over the museum!
(We have decided we'll have to find a Max-sized paddle, perhaps to put in his stocking?)
Wisconsin is dairy country, so of course we stopped by a creamery!
There is one down the road in Rudolph, where - surprise!
many people send their Christmas cards to be postmarked.
We got a basketful of cheese for under $20 - we couldn't believe it!
That night, my parents watched Max while Clay and I went on a date.
Thanks, Mom and Dad - your recommendation was great!
Since the weather was absolutely gorgeous (lows in the 40s, highs in the 60s),
we spent lots of time outside enjoying it!
On Sunday afternoon, we hiked through a nearby sculpture park and nature preserve.
Those three days went by way too quickly,
but we sure enjoyed our time in Wisconsin and hope to visit again soon
(but not when there's three feet of snow on the ground)!
Next up was the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area.
We spent a few hours at the Minneapolis Children's Museum,
which had LOTS of steering wheels for Max to play with
and a fun Curious George exhibit.
Little man shocked his mama and climbed up the rope ladder
in the above picture - I couldn't believe it!
Afterwards, we stopped by the Mall of America
...and the Lego store, of course!
Clay was disappointed that everything they sold was a choking hazard,
but soon enough he'll be able to buy Star Wars kits for little man. :)
As we headed further south, our next stop was Des Moines.
There was a really neat sculpture park near downtown,
so we stopped to let little man burn off some energy.
Afterwards we perused the Des Moines Art Center,
by which we were pleasantly surprised. (Sorry, no pictures were allowed.)
Max especially enjoyed the acoustics. :)
The next day we drove to Omaha, where we spent the morning
at the Henry Doorly Zoo, which was really cool!
(We like to think we're hard to impress.)
There were some neat exhibits (an indoor desert?!!)
and we saw lots of animals up close - it's usually too hot in Texas
for them to do much. Max loved watching the gorillas and saying, "oooh oooh."
Max also took his first carousel ride!
There was a really neat "excavation" section for kids (it was shaded - thank goodness)
and Max loved digging in the rubber pebbles, even if he didn't unearth any fossils. ;)
Couldn't have said it better myself!
That afternoon we stopped at the Omaha Children's Museum
where Max found every single steering wheel in the place. :)
Who doesn't need their carpet mowed?
At this point in the trip, we were getting a bit homesick
and decided to drive on through to Kansas City instead of spending the night in Omaha.
The next morning we checked out the Kemper Museum of Art.
Again, no gallery photos were allowed, but they had this fun statue out front!
Next we stopped by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
and were totally surprised by its expansive collections.
We had planned maybe a couple of hours there but ended up spending about 4
and
still didn't see it all!
We stopped in Wichita next and spent a few hours at the Exploration Place.
They had an awesome Star Wars exhibit with all kinds of props from the actual movies
and lots of sciency experiments (like build your own robot and watch him work)!
Not everyone was on their best behavior...
Then we hopped in the car and headed down I-35 towards home!
7 hours later (we got stuck in Oklahoma City traffic)...
and we were home again at last!
This was definitely not the most relaxing of vacations,
although we sure did make some memories that will bring us laughs for years to come!
Here's to many more crazy family road trips. ;)
