Avalanche Ranch

The route home included a stop at Avalanche Ranch to visit the Lemar family. Again, beautiful country and wonderful people. And as usual they were up to some of their usual shenanigans. 

Ready? This swing is intense. Keep in mind that it's just a rope loop.

Yes. That IS Addelaide twenty feet in the air.

 

And here is sweet Calliope. 

Ed and Angie have all kinds of land to explore. It was wonderful to be in the countryside.

I love kids that are book fiends.

Addelaide took this one of Ed. (For some reason - we don't have any photos of Angie. But she was there too.)

On our way out of Chicago we found this amazing playground. Really one of the best I've ever been to. Then we realized that it was Paul Ryan's hometown. Is this going to be part of his platform? Awesome playgrounds? 

Chicago

Next stop - Chi-town! I've never really explored Chicago and it was a great trip. Saw lots of  friends and family. We explored the Shedd Aquarium (briefly getting to see our friend Joy who works there and hooked us up with tickets). 

I love these fish. They just seem so friendly. I didn't realize they got this big. It's about 2.5 feet long.

I tried to both enjoy the fun of the Aquarium while also taking pictures of signage and exhibit stuff (I'll spare you all of those work related pictures).

What a big morning. Lucy feel asleep on my lap during the dolphin and whale show. She did wake up long enough to recount their splashing and jumping later in the trip. 

What a stunning view. I had no idea that Lake Michigan was so turquoise. Beautiful.

Hat on!

Ready to go!

Relaxing on the lawn before heading back to Neal and Kelly's.

We had amazing dinners on the roof deck. This was heavenly.

Lucy had a wonderful time with Neal and Kelly. They were also wonderful hosts. 

We spent Saturday morning at the air and water show. Lucy practiced saying "binoculars".

Reading with Funcle Neal.

Roof view.

What a day.

Wisconsin (part 1) - Baraboo/Madison

To start off the vacation-a-thon we headed South through Wisconsin and to Chicago. After living in Minnesota for 8 years now, I'm finally getting the geography of our neighboring states down. They are big but still a bit unfamiliar, as in I've never been to Iowa. It's still hard to believe that you can drive for so many hours and still be in the same state. 

Our first stop was in Baraboo, Wisconsin at the Wiggy-Krohm estate. We made it the 5 hours to their house in part by telling Lucy that we were going to see Virginia and her chickens. As soon as we got out of the car, she asked about her feathered friends. She was impressed although they did seem to keep running away from her. Go figure. It was such beautiful country and Tony and Virginia were wonderful hosts. Fresh pizza on the deck! 

We try to do our driving during Lucy's nap time. So we went into Madison for the morning and visited the Children's Museum. Whoa. Amazing. Definitely worth the visit whether or not you have children with you. You should also stop at the crepe shop across the street. Oh my delicious.

Keeping with the road trip theme, the cars were popular with Lucy. 

Stickers? Check. Silly bands? Check. The recipe for a happy toddler traveler. Oh yes, and the nuk.

 

More chickens! These were at the museum. We also did some puddle stomping in the roof top garden.

The capital.

Summer is worth squealing about

Do you feel this way about summer?

Summer living

A gorgeous weekend at the Uglems. 

Aunt Kelly teaches Lucy the finer points of beanbag.

A co-worker of Ryan's gifted us this sweet crab/lobster sandbox. It's been a hit. 

Cool as ever Uncle Neal.

Walking the puppies. 

Lu worked on her loon call.

And Ryan caught a fish. 

So glad I opted for the bigger pool. Lu is wearing her earplug headband (hurrah for tubes). This was super fun - until someone peed in the pool. I won't point fingers but it's the younger of the two ladies pictured here.

Note the air between Lucy's bare bottom and the water's surface. Video coming soon...