Midwest Journey 2010

We try every year to make it back to the MidWest..Chad has family in Illinois ( where he was born) and I have a ton of family in Wisconsin ( where I was born).  Sidenote:  Chad and I were actually born about 70 miles apart from one another...he at Great Lakes Naval Base outside of Chicago and me in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

Anyway,  this year Chad's dad's family had a reunion planned in Chicago and so began our midwest journey 2010.

We flew into Milwaukee on a Thursday..stayed with my dad a night ( he lives in Oconomowoc..about 45 min. from milwaukee)..and then on Friday drove down to Chicago for the reunion.  The next 3 days were spent with family..BBQ'ing, swimming, enjoying a boat ride on the Chicago River, and listening to an actual thunderstorm!! whoo-hoo!!  After the reunion was over on Sunday we drove to Chad's aunt and uncle's house ( on his mom's side) and stayed there until Wednesday.  It was during this brief stay that my darling Finn decided he needed to turn 2 years old.....boooo!  I really wasn't ready for this...he was just born wasn't he?    We took him to the Field Museum in Chicago ( natural history) and he was thrilled with all the dinosaurs...so fun.  We followed up with a trip the next day to the Lincoln Park Zoo ( which btw was FREE!)..and time with cousins....:-)

The next 8 days were spent enjoying time back up in Wisconsin with Grandpa and all of our other lovely relatives....my dad has 11 brothers and sisters..most of which live in and around Oconomowoc...so there was no shortage of people to visit and cousins to play with.  Olivia and Finn were thrilled with catching fireflies, playing at the city beach ( on Lake LaBelle), visiting Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa ( my dad's parents), and listening to MORE thunderstorms..:-)

The highlight of the trip was a visit to the new Brewers stadium in Milwaukee...it was the kids' first professional baseball game and they very well behaved...well...that is...until Olivia drank 10 ounces of lemonade....yeah....then barfed all of the place....prompting sympathy vomit from Finn....yeah, and then....well....we got them cleaned up and found better seats.  hahahahah!  It was definitely an experience I don't EVER intend on repeating...*sigh*.

All-in-all a great trip ...we can't wait to return next year and make more midwestern memories....the kids are still talking about Grandpa and Olivia's new favorite expression is " Well, Grandpa would probably let me do that..."   Nice.

xoxoxo