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!

Leaving on a Jet Plane....

Last week we all flew to Milwaukee for Jay's annual Northwestern Mutual conference.
(Just a warning...this is the first of a couple of Milwaukee posts.)

Anna was very excited to go with Daddy on her first airplane trip! She really did a great job traveling. Sometimes I actually think it's easier to travel with a baby than with a 1 or 2 year old who wants to get into everything. The trickiest part with Anna was just having all of the baby gear we needed--car seat, stroller, baby carrier, lots of diapers, bibs, burp cloths, changes of clothes for all of us (she did manage to spit up, pee, and poop on the 2 of us the day we came back). She didn't fuss too much about flying--only a little when we were landing each time. She's usually a pretty content girl as long as mommy is holding her.

Catherine and Will were very excited about their airplane trip. Here they are at GSP anxiously waiting to get on the airplane.

We took one of their little suitcases to keep C & W's blankets, books, change of clothes, etc. They took turns with who got to pull the suitcase and who rode in the stroller. Will was super cute walking through the airport with his suitcase. People would stop to tell him he was doing a great job and he would walk up and give them high-fives.

Even though they did as well as you can expect for a 4 yr old, 2 yr old, and 4 month old on an airplane, it was still exhausting. Just keeping up with everyone and who needs to go potty/change diaper (remember how we just potty trained Will?) or eat/nurse was a little tricky (especially when you throw in a time change; I couldn't keep it straight for a few hours). They did much better on the way there than the way back. By day 5, we were all tired and a little less patient with waiting in airports, but we made it!

Marianne's Pre-wedding Surprise

My friend Marianne is getting marriend in August in Montana. On Sunday, Jill, Sara and I (we were all rommates together) drove to Atlanta and surprised Marianne for the day.

We met her at their church. She really was surprised!

Her fiance Jim helped us coordinate all of it. We joked that it really was a test to see how well he did accommodating all of us and our crazy plans. He gets an A+!

We took her to Babette's Cafe for lunch and then hung out at a coffee shop afterwards to give her some wedding gifts and advice. It was a fun day to talk with her about all of her wedding and honeymoon plans.

The 4 roommates (L to R: Sara, Betsy, Marianne, Jill) We've now been friends for about 12 years and even though none of us live in the same city, we all still make the effort to be a big part of each other's lives. I love these girls!

A little hot chocolate love for the afternoon to celebrate.

One month from tomorrow and they're getting married! I'm excited to head to Montana already.

Catherine's Big Purchase

Earlier this year we started giving Catherine an allowance ($1.50/week) if she completed her chores with a cheerful attitude each week. We wanted to start teaching her to give her tithe to church (she puts in a quarter on Sunday), save some (a quarter in the piggy bank), and then she has $1 to spend. When she had saved about $5-$6 she wanted to go to Target to buy something for her baby doll. We went and saw all the baby things you can get for $5---an outfit, a bottle, a little bitty baby doll, etc.

But then she spotted this whole box of baby accessories---it includes a pack-n-play, highchair, bouncy seat, carseat, carrier, and changing pad. That was what she wanted for sure. Only problem: it costs $20. So I tried to explain that she didn't have that much money and she had to make a decision. She could either buy something small today with her $5 or she could save her money (a long time if you're only getting $1/week) and buy it later in the summer. Oh what a dilemma she had! We had to walk around Target and have counseling sessions in the aisles about this. That's a really hard decision for a 4 year old to make, but in the end she decided to not buy something that day and save her money to get what she wanted. So we snapped a picture of the toy box on my cell phone to keep as a reminder/motivator and we headed back home.

So, for the last 2 months, she has been saving her allowance and doing extra chores (helping me clean out closets, organize dressers, and do additional chores without me asking) so that she could earn enough money for her baby doll accessories. About once or twice a week she would look at the picture on my phone and talk about all the things she wanted to do with those toys and how much her baby dolls were going to love them. She is such a little mother to them!

Finally this past weekend, she had enough saved. I told her on Friday night that we could go on Saturday and she was ready to go by 7am. So here she is with her long awaited purchase!!

She had her money in a ziploc bag and gave it to the cashier. She only had 6 cents left over, which she generously gave to Will. She did ask if she really had to give him the money to pay for it. It's a little different than when she "pays" for things when we play pretend, so I assured her that yes, you have to give him the money or you can't have the toys.

This really was a great lesson for her. So often I cave and just get them (and myself) things. It was fun to see her make her decision and stick by it and work hard to meet her goal. Just the first of many times that will happen. And now, we have more baby paraphernalia all over the house. I really think we have more things for her baby dolls than we do for Anna, but that's okay. If you ask what she wants to be when she grows up, she says a mommy (except once when she said she wanted to be a teacher in the day and work at Chick-fil-a at night). I love this little girl so much. I can't believe how fast she's growing up.

It's a Parade!!

Julia, my friend Jill's mom, wanted to have a fun parade with the kids last week. They decorated their bicycles, tricycles, and tractors with garland, bells, whistles, even some cans tied to the back. They had a lovely parade while Julia kept beat to the drum. It was really cute and their bikes still look festive!

Catherine, Eddie, and Will ready to start the parade

Raise your hand if you're having fun

Catherine stayed right behind Julia. Will and Eddie went off course a little more.

Even Jill, Anna, and I participated some. We didn't want to miss the fun!

Julia had also said she would fix lunch for the kids that day. In true Julia style, she brought them apple pie and chocolate covered strawberries for lunch. Only a grandmother can get away with that! We're thankful to have such fun friends.

Baby Marshall

We are so excited to welcome baby Marshall to our family! Jay's sister Melissa and her husband Andy are adopting this precious baby. They've been waiting patiently for a baby for a long time. They got a phone call on Saturday that he had been born the day before and they could come to be with him that day. Melissa immediately went (he was about a 5 hour drive away from her). Unfortunately Andy is out of town, so Jay hopped in the car and drove up to be with her that night and Sunday morning until Jay's mom could get there on Sunday afternoon. Marshall was released from the hospital to Melissa Sunday afternoon. Now they're just waiting for some paperwork to be finished and they can take their son home. We are so excited to have a new nephew and to see how God has answered our prayers with this little guy!

Anything for Free Chicken!

Today was "dress like a cow to get free chicken" at Chick-fil-A. We'll do almost anything in our family for free food, especially Chick-fil-A. Their website had a link to print out cow spots, ears, noses, tails, and the "Eat More Chikin" sign, so I printed out some and all 5 of us attempted to like cows. We were a little worried that we would look like the only crazy people at Chick-fil-A but almost everyone in the restaurant had cow spots on! It was a fun way to make some silly memories with the kids. And not bad if dinner only cost 32 cents (which we had to pay only because I substituted a fruit cup for one of the kids fries).
Once we got there I realized I had taped Jay's cow ears on upside down. He looked more like a puppy dog than a cow. But he's still incredibly handsome!

Catherine was very excited about this adventure! especially when she realized she got ice cream too

Jay asked if we were going to the Chick-fil-A near our house and if we should go across town where no one would know us. We went to the one near our house and had fun dining with friends from Furman, friends from church, and even one of Jay's clients. But hey, they all looked like cows too!