Family Vacation- Wisconsin

In July, we went on our family vacation to Wisconsin to visit my brother and his family.  We had so much fun!   Lexie already did a post here that has a lot of the same pictures and definitely more clever writing :)- but Here's a million pictures of the fun times we had-  

At the airport before loading our first plane.

The flights went well with a few things to make it exciting- one was Owen needed to pee really bad right as we started our decent on our last plane.  He made it till we landed but he wasn't going to make it to the gate so Matt told him he could go to the bathroom and if anybody tried to stop him just say, "I'm going to pee my pants." Well, he went, a stewardess tried to stop him but let him go and he was back pretty quick.  After he was back in his seat the plane stopped and the captain came on the intercom, "we have a passenger out of their seat, so for their safety we'll need them to sit down before we can continue to the gate."  Anyways, a couple minutes later we started moving again and got to the gate.  I was just glad we didn't have a wet clothing issue.

Isaac did pretty good for being stuck on a plane and of course was very friendly with anyone that would look at him.  

Short train ride to another terminal that the kids really enjoyed. 

We landed in Chicago and took a bus to Madison.  It was a double decker and we got the whole upper back part of the bus all to ourselves.  It was a little long but a fun way to travel.  

Then we made it- It was so fun to be together!

On our first day we went to the Madison Zoo.  It was a great zoo and it was free.  Nora & Sophie introduced Ava to the penny smashing machine.  

Oh man, the kids had so much fun being together & playing.  Ava was in 7th heaven playing with Sophie & Nora.

Miles & Owen played with cars any second they could.  It really was impressive how long they played/raced their cars every day.

Nora & Ava planned a little party one night with skits, an awesome play things with pipe cleaners from Sophie, dancing and some delicious cupcakes for a treat!

Playing in the backyard.

Sophie took such good care of Isaac!

First time seeing & catching lightning bugs!  It was pretty magical.  

We went to a couple parks that were close to their home.  On this day it was crazy hot!

We got to visit Brian at his office and see the pretty campus of the University of Wisconsin.  

There was a bunch of these giant chairs outside of their Union building- they were pretty cool looking.

We got to sample the university's ice cream.  It was super good, just hard to eat before it melted.

Go Badgers!

After our tour of campus we got to eat at a fun hamburger place called Dotty's Dumpling Dowry.  Matt & I got a hamburger to share that had cheddar, swiss & provolone cheese with bacon & an english garlic sauce.  Holy cow it was tasty.  

Near their house is Owen Road.  Owen thought it was pretty neat.

Playing with water in the backyard!

Sophie really wanted me to get a picture of her spitting water like a fountain.  You were right Sophie- you look totally awesome!

Ava & Nora with their matching hairdos & Care Bears.

Another day we went to Devil's Lake.  To get there we went on a ferry to cross a lake.  

We went on this awesome hike by devil's lake-  this is elephant rock.

It was beautiful with lots of overlooks.

Isaac fell asleep at the end of the hike.

It was hot & humid again and felt so good to jump in the lake after our hike.

Owen collected a bunch of rocks that he wanted to bring with us. 

Ah, movie time.  

While the Dad's were working Lexie & I took the kids to the Madison Children's museum.  Other than a little scare of loosing Owen for a short time it was a great museum.  

Owen had never seen film negatives before and thought they were super awesome.

Crafting girls.

We were always moving car seats between the cars.  

Ice cream at Ella's Deli-  This place was amazing.  Inside it's a restaurant with a million contraption things everywhere and outside was this awesome carousel.  

We ordered a ginormous sundae and the kids ordered there own dreamy kid treats. 

"Pretty good, right?"

Sophie being a sweet little mom again-  Isaac was a fan!

Lake Ripley- Another beautiful lake that we had a blast playing in plus it had a playground right on the beach.

We went to a fun farmer's market that went around the Madison capitol building.  By the way,  did you know Madison is the capitol of Wisconsin?  I guess I'd forgotten from 5th grade and was brilliant enough to ask while touring the capitol building :).  

Getting some good slides in before the security guy caught us. 

Man, we had so much fun and did so many fun things!   I'm with Owen & Ava that since our trip keep wishing we could hop over to play at your house.  Thanks Phillips family!