What's fun to do in Milwaukee?

So what is fun to do in Milwaukee (other than enjoy the cooler 80 degree and less humid weather)? Lots!
Northwestern does a great job of hosting family events and getting us access to great places in Milwaukee. Here's a look at a few things we did while we were there.

On Sunday morning Northwestern hosts a race. Steve and Catherine did the 1-mile; Marcy walked with Will and Anna in the stroller for the 5k, I ran the 5k, and Jay ran the 8k. One note of adventure for Catherine's run this year: She fell and scraped her knee not long after she started and got to go to the ambulance to get a band-aid. For a girl who loves any excuse to get a band-aid, she was pretty excited that the got one from the ambulance! I was excited to do my first race post-pregnancy. I always really miss running while I'm pregnant and am excited to get back into it.

On Sunday night, Northwestern rents out the entire Milwaukee Zoo. They have tents with food, bands and games for entertainment, and you can see all the animals and exhibits that you normally would at the zoo. This year we rode the tram around to get a faster tour of all the animals since we figured the kids would tire out walking that far. My favorite part at the zoo was when I took Catherine and Will to see the gorillas. One gorilla was sitting in the middle of his area when we walked up. Catherine and Will had their faces pressed right up to the window. When the gorilla saw them, it ran over really fast right to the window. Catherine screamed! It's a little intimidating to have only a 1 inch thick piece of glass between you and a big gorilla. Then the gorilla waved at them and kept moving his arms all around, giving them their own personal show. It was pretty neat!

On Monday morning, I took the kids to the Milwaukee County musuem while Jay was in his meetings. They have a great live butterfly garden, rainforest exhibits, dinosaur exhibits, and a large insect exhibit. Catherine's favorite part was using the magnifying glass to see the beetles and the gemstone collection. Will really liked the dinosaur fossils. Here are they are with one of the world's largest wooly mammoth fossils. Look how tiny they look next to it!

On Tuesday we went to a children's musuem. It's similar to the one here in G'ville, with lots of interactive play exhibits--a grocery store, bank, TV station, post office, art & theater center, a few science exhibits. This is the 3rd year we've gone to this one and they do a good job of changing some of the exhibits each year to keep things fresh. Everyone's favorite thing this time, especially Will, was driving this bus. We spent a lot of time going on trips on Will's bus. (And what did Anna do during all of this---sleep in the carrier!)

While we were in Milwaukee, the Cincinnati Reds were playing the Milwaukee Brewers. Jay and his family have always been huge Reds fans, and have consequently converted the rest of us too. We knew which hotel the Reds players were staying at, so after going to the musuems on Monday and Tuesday we went to that hotel for lunch to see if we could spot any of the players. We waited around for a little while on Monday, but after Catherine spilled an entire cup of lemonade, Anna was crying, and Will was jumping through the lobby we decided to leave. We went back on Tuesday and just after we finished lunch, Marcy came running over saying she saw some Reds players. We met Dusty Baker, the team manager, and Arthur Rhodes, an all star player. The kids had their Reds hats on and were excited about it (although I really think Marcy and Steve were more excited!) So now when we see them on TV playing baseball, we can remember how we met them. They were very nice and more than happy to take photos with us and talk with us.

While we were doing all of these exciting adventures, Jay was having a great time in his meetings. It's always so encouraging for him to be with his Northwestern "family", learn new skills, be motivated by some of the other great agents, and think about goals for our business. I miss being able to go to the meetings with him, but that's just not possible at this point. We want the kids to grow up knowing that was Daddy does is really important, so we feel like it's worth the effort to take them to Milwaukee each summer for this. It was a great trip and we look forward to going back next summer!