Wisconsin Vacation

After returning from our vacation to Michigan in June we were ready to plan our next trip.  We already knew we wanted to do a long weekend somewhere but we weren't sure where.  So, after talking about it we decided to spend a couple of days in Madison, WI before our annual visit to see Matt's grandma in a small town fairly close to there.  It was perfect because after spending the day at the fair we drove up to Madison.  We had our hotel room for 3 nights and got to spend Thursday and Friday exploring the city.

Thursday we ate breakfast at the hotel, went for a swim and then headed out to spend a couple of hours at the children's museum.  It was a nice one and the kids enjoyed themselves.  The museum was right downtown so we were able to walk around downtown a little bit too.  The downtown was really neat and I think would have been more fun without kids but it was still fun too see.

Then we went back to our hotel and ate leftovers from dinner the night before for lunch.  After naps we went to visit the University of Wisconsin's campus.  We ate some ice cream at Babcock Hall Dairy Store, went to the bookstore, and walked around campus.  The campus is beautiful so it was fun to see.  Our hotel also served dinner so we went back to eat there (it wasn't super yummy but it was free).

Grace doing art at the museum

Cool lookout from the room of the museum of downtown

Not sure why we even bother to try to take
pictures of the kids together.

Doing some exploring

Friday we woke up ate breakfast and went for a swim again.  Then we head to the free zoo in downtown Madison.  It was a great zoo and perfect for young children.  We were able to see almost everything and were there for most of the morning.  Grace said her favorite animals were the giraffes and penguins.  Caleb can't say but he seemed the most excited about the turtles he could watch swim around in the tank.  Personally, I loved the polar bear.

After the zoo we went out for pizza for lunch, went back to the hotel for naps and then went to the nearby mall for ice cream and to play in the play area for an hour or so.  After that we were able to hang out with one of Matt's friends from college, Eric and his wife Jen.  They were so nice to invite us to their house for dinner (brats).

So cool!  The lions just walked right up to the window and
sat there while the kids looked at them.

Caleb's favorite part were the turtles swimming in the tank

The boys and the rhino

The girls and the tortise

Family and polar bear in the background.

Saturday we woke up ate breakfast and swam (notice a theme here).  Then we hit the road to meet up with Matt's family and visit his grandma.  We spent the day with family and stayed in a hotel that night with everyone.  

Sunday we woke up had breakfast and swam again.  We went to Matt's grandma's for lunch and then started the trip home.  We were able to break up the dive be stopping at Laura (sister) and Brett's for dinner.  We also got to see their dog Penny's 5 week old puppies (so cute).  After dinner we finished the final leg of our journey and pulled in around 9:00 Sunday night.

I attempted to stand on this log thing in our hotel pool several
times.  This is as far as I ever got because it was really hard.
Yes, I was wearing goggles!

Cousins.

Jenna and Caleb enjoying the outdoors

Grace and one of the puppies