We flew into Milwaukee on Tuesday afternoon, and the weather was great. The rest of the days, the weather was not so kind to us. The wind is terrible. The temperature was not so bad, but the wind made it unbearable. That factor limited us on our activities. Living in Wisconsin as long as Echo has, you find lots of things to do when the weather is bad.
On Wednesday, Alannah, Jason, Echo, and Nolan went to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum, which is one of Echo and Nolan's frequented hangouts. It was really neat and educational place. They have different exhibits throughout that teach kids about many different activities in life. Nolan seemed to enjoy the Lawn Mower Ramp more than any of the other activities. Probably because Nolan has his own toy lawn mower that he rams into Echo's Vacuum while she's trying to clean. Unfortunately Nolan thought he could ram his lawn mower into the other kids' lawnmowers. He got a lot of blank stares from the other kids. :)
On Thursday, we had a very busy day. We went to the Milwaukee County Zoo in the morning, while Kenny was at school. It was very cold outside, so we focused our attention on the animals that could be viewed from indoors. We had lots of fun despite the weather. Wisconsin is a nice place, but in the winter you are very limited on your activities. Echo has become quite the pro at finding fun things to do while staying warm. After the zoo, Echo took us home were Alannah and Jason watched Nolan while she met Kenny at the Doctor to check on her baby's progress. We enjoyed hanging out with Nolan, although he had worn the both of us out. Jason tried to get Nolan to lie down for an afternoon nap, but was unsuccessful. Nolan however, was successful in getting Uncle Jason to read him every book in his collection.
On Friday the five of us went into Miller Valley to take the Miller Brewery tour.
It was very cool to see how beer gets made from the ingredients, sent to ferment, then bottled and packaged ready for shipping. Unfortunately the entire factory smells like hot beer and hops. The smell of beer has never bothered me before, but taking a hour long tour breathing in fumes like the breath of a drunken Irishmen can make you a little queasy. Just before the end of the tour, they take you int
o what used to be the Miller beer caves. They are caves that were dug hundreds of feet into the hillside and then packed with barrels of beer in 1849. Then every winter, tons and tons of ice were harvested from Lake Michigan and then used to line the walls of the caves to keep the beer ice cold. Pretty ingenious if you ask me.On Saturday Echo and Alannah stayed home for a baby shower that Echo's friends were throwing her. While they ate and opened presents, Jason, Kenny, and Nolan went to the Zoo with Kenny's Classmate and his infant daughter. Luckily the weather was very pleasant and the boys got to see all of the zoo this trip. We spent a lot of time in Nolan's favorite exhibit were all of the apes and monkeys are kept. Nolan likes all of monkeys except for the Mandrill. He is the one with the pretty colors on his face. But, Nolan doesn't like him causes he looks scary. Watch the movie and see if you can tell why.
What is with his "shifty" eyes? All he does is sit in his cage an look back and forth all day. Both days we went to the zoo he was sitting in the same spot and all he did was shift his eyes back and forth. I think I know why Nolan doesn't like him. ;)
Sunday morning we went to church and then went on a ride through then neighborhood and took lots of pictures of the houses. They are all amazing looking. Coming from Utah, all of the architecture around is relatively young. Out in Wisconsin the houses are all old, restored homes from the 1800s and newer. We went home to have Cafe Rio that Echo had cooking in the crockpot. After dinner we all took a ride to Big Muskego Lake. Its a small lake about 30 minutes away from Echo and Kenny's house. We played on the swings and slid down the slides before throwing rocks off the dock into lake. It was a beautiful park and a beautiful day.
Monday we woke up and went to the Wisconsin Domes. They are giant biodomes that house three different ecosysems. One is tropical, full of tropical plants and birds. It is very warm and very humid. Another is arid, much like Arizona. Cacti, rocks, and sand. The third is reserved for different exhibits. Unfortunatley the day we went, they were removing the Lego exhibit which Echo told us was very cool to see. Nolan knew exactly what used to be in that dome, he kept saying "Choo, choo" mimicking the Lego Train that was housed in that dome for months. We still got to look inside and watch the skid loaders and forklifts at work.
Alannah and Jason had packed up their bags early Monday morning so we spent the rest of the day just hanging out and enjoying one anothers company. Before we left we all went to Oscars, a frozen custard fast food joint. The frozen custard was amazing, not to mention the fried white cheese curds that Jason purchased. We got to the airport around 7:00 and said our emotional goodbyes. Sadly, we believe that Nolan finally understood that the airport can be good sometimes and can be sad sometimes. He hung his head, and cried as we walked to check our bags in.
We had lots of fun, and enjoyed spending time with Jason's Sister and her great family. We are excited for Echo to have her baby, soon maybe, and are even more excited for June when the Merrells will be coming out to Utah to visit and bless Baby Girl Merrell. Take a minute if you can and look at the slide show Jason set up on the right column and watch some of the fun we had. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you all soon.
