Road Trip!

I figured since we've been back a week now, I better get to posting...  I was so happy that our trip worked out the way we had hoped since we had been planning it for some time.  Our first stop was in Milwaukee to visit with my friend, Sarah, and of course, go to the Wisconsin State Fair!  I was really excited for Allison to experience it since we had such a wonderful time when Matt and I went 2 years ago.  After a long day in the car on Friday and a late night/early morning, I wasn't sure what to expect on Saturday, but she did great!  And despite her teething (and about 100 diaper changes) she "faired" it up til 630p.  She even conked out for a bit in the stroller (which never happens) after enjoying a big cup of cherry vanilla milk.  I guess that was just enough of a power nap to keep her going.  Her favorite thing after the milk, of course, was probably seeing the bunnies.  She kept trying to reach from the stroller to pet them.  I thought she might like some of the other animals, but didn't seem to care much about the cows and the chickens were too loud for her liking.  Other than that, we ate a lot...  Roasted corn, chocolate covered bacon, ostrich burger, deep fried pb&j, and my personal favorite- a brat on a pretzel bun!  We did meet up with some of Matt's family that was also at the fair, but only briefly...  It's just so hard to find people at an event of this size.  I wish I had taken some pictures, but with Allison running all over the place (and trying to push the stroller), Matt and I had our hands full! 

On Sunday, the plan was to head to West Bend to visit with Matt's grandma for a day, but before we left Milwaukee, we had a great breakfast down by the beach and Allison got to experience sand for the first time.

After an awesome lunch from the taco truck, we piled everything into the car for the short drive to West Bend.  I think Grandma J had a great time reading with Allison!

 

After a (relatively) good night's sleep, we piled back in the car Monday morning for the long drive to Minneapolis, where Adam, Aymee, and new baby Maddie live.  It was a really amazing drive on country highways through small towns and lots of farmland...  We did make an impulsive stop along the highway when we saw a beautiful wetland.  It turns out that the Horicon Marsh is actually over 30,000 acres of wetlands and what we could see from the highway was just a small portion.  I wish we had more time to explore the area, but maybe on another trip...

Another stop we made on the trip to Minneapolis was in the Wisconsin Dells.  We weren't really sure what to expect, but it turned out to be kinda like Branson or Gatlinburg, TN.  Very family friendly, with lots of water parks and other kitschy activities.  We had some lunch at one of the restaurants off the main drag.  Matt had a gator sandwich was really actually good (as was my beer battered chicken sandwich).  Then we moved on to the real reason we stopped in the Dells.  I had stumbled onto www.roadsideamerica.com while making trip preparations and discovered that there was a MIR space station that someone had bought from the Russians to put on exhibit.  I knew Matt would love to see it, so I was able to surprise him as we were pulling off the highway.  It turns out that the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory is actually an entire science museum, like our science center, with all kinds of interactive fun for kids and adults.  Allison enjoyed playing around the museum even though much of it was beyond her.  Her favorite was probably the robots...  and the floating balls, of course!

She looks so big trying to reach the balls!

Robot, if you can't tell...

Allison's "head on a platter"

Look! No hands!

 

Piece de resistance!  1 of 3 Russian MIR space stations ever built.

Cozy accommodations...

After the exploratory, we were ready to get back on the road to our real destination- Minneapolis.  Baby Madeline Belle Thurston was born the Friday before (a week late, I might add) and we had to go meet the little lady.  Mom and baby had just arrived home from the hospital the day before, so timing wasn't ideal for being able to really spend time with the Thurstons, but I was glad we were able to help them out, even if it was just by holding little Maddie so the new parents could sit down and eat.  (I know, such a tough job!)  We also figured since we were there, we should go see this thing called the Mall of America.  We didn't actually cruise around the mall much, but we did have fun taking Allison on her first roller coaster and ferris wheel rides!  We had talked about going to the aquarium, but Allison was quickly melting after 5 days of no "real" naps.  We were a little bummed that the Lego Land was closed for some kind of construction, but I guess that just gives us a reason to go back! 

Allison's first coaster ride!