Road Trip 2009 (Part 2)

Next stop, Madison (well, Blanchardville, actually) Wisconsin for the 4th! We had a nice, relaxing weekend with Papa, Gramma Kristi, Uncle Adam and Aunt Jen. Though I am sure it wasn't as relaxing for them! We spent as much time as we could outside the house, so we planned many outings. The first of which was a nice trip into New Glarus (America's little Switzerland) to play mini-golf. Cooper got a 2 on every hole (because he would hit it once, pick it up, put it by the hole and then tap it in) and Jackson scored well over 140. I can't say I did any better either. We then went for "lunch" Ice Cream!! It was filling enough to be a meal in itself!! We forgot our camera on that outing...sorry!

Jackson, Cooper and Papa say "Happy 4th of July--Yay America!"

Jackson and Cooper watch Uncle Adam make snakes!

Just too into it!!

So Papa, having been this way since I can remember...LOVES fireworks. Oh, the shows he would put on when we were kids. He had a few tricks up his sleeve for his grandsons, too! We were all just hanging out on the deck and we heard a "POP" loud enough to make us jump. Papa had gone down to his fireworks cache and secretly brought up his loud firecracker packets. Jackson LOVED them, Cooper, however, liked them only for a while and then would retreat to the house for safety.

Jackson thrilled with Papa's surprise firecrackers!!

The next outing we planned was a trip to the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison. The men went golfing this day so Gramma Kristi, Aunt Jen and I took the boys.

The understatement of the year.

Aunt Jen and Coop feeding a greedy goat!

Jackson deciding which goat should get the next bite!

This was the 4th of July, so that night, since the public show didn't start until 9:30, and how Cooper would handle the noise was really iffy, we decided that we would stay home and purchase our own fireworks to shoot off (Jason got a killer deal on a bag of fireworks at a roadside stand--I thought that was a little sketchy, but it ended up being a great show!) Cooper sat in the car and watched through the window the whole time, though we promised him that they wouldn't be loud!!

Jackson with his sparkler. Cooper was inside the car, fearing for the noise. I honestly don't know what he was afraid of!

So we lured Cooper out and he had his first sparkler experience!
I just wanted a picture of the proud men with their pyrotechnics, this is what I got.Jen and Kristi (and their beers)
keeping warm ready for the show!

The next day we headed over to a Beach in Monona, WI. Madison has the most beautiful lakes. It was 90 degrees and the perfect day for lake play.

Jackson and Cooper taking off into the water! Yippee!

A nice family shot....notice I am never in these pictures! I'm the one behind the camera the whole time.

This part of our trip was so much fun. We filled every second with fun, had great food (Thanks Kristi...and yes, most people do pay $10 for lunch these days ;) and laughed a lot. Thanks to dad and Kristi for your hospitality, and maybe next year we can snag the lake house for the summer visit!


Next, we're going to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come!

Road Trip 2009 (part 1)

7 Days of driving and over 4,000 miles logged on the car. You might be thinking that we are crazy, and if you are, then you are thinking correctly. However, the road trip started remarkably harmoniously as is evidenced by this totally non-staged photo of the boys in the backseat.

On our first day we left New Hampshire (State #1) drove across Vermont (#2) and New York (#3). We stopped in Buffalo to have hot wings at the Anchor Bar, the place where hot wings were invented. http://www.anchorbar.com/ (annoying website).

After consuming wings (they tasted like hot wings), we continued on to Niagara Falls. I was a bit nervous about the customs guy scanning Cooper's passport because he's got kind of a sketchy reputation. However, getting into Canada was easy.

Customs Guy: "Do you have any guns?"
Me: "No."
Customs Guy: "Welcome to Canada."

We parked and walked over to see the falls...


Annnd... here it is. A big waterfall. We were amazed to see how many tourist traps were set up around this thing. We were there for all of an hour yet it seems like many people spend quite a bit of time here. I'm not sure if it looks drastically different from another angle, but once you've looked at it, you've pretty much tapped out the potential excitement for this area.




We stayed the night in Hamilton, ON. I bought gas in liters. We ate donuts at Tim Hortons (the Canadian version of Dunkin' Donuts). We slept. The next day was Canada Day. We did not know this until the hotel clerk wished us a happy Canada Day. Do you know why Canadians celebrate Canada Day? Niether did we. However, we spent many hours guessing as we drove towards Michigan. The entire country shuts down for this day, so it must be a big deal. From Wikipedia:

Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada), formerly Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), is Canada's national day, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the 1 July 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country, which was in turn composed of four provinces. Canada Day observances take place throughout Canada as well as internationally.

Leave it to the Canadians to have a federal holiday without a really kick ass war attached to it.

After traveling through Michigan (#4) we arrived in Indiana (#5). We spent the night in Portage, IN. It turns out that I forgot my book light and since one hotel lamp is capable of lighting a runway at JFK and landing a 747, I needed to buy a new one so I could read without keeping the northern half of Indiana awake. Jackson and I headed to the Wal-Mart supercenter of Portage, IN. This was the biggest Wally World I have ever seen. In addition to the regular Wal-Mart stuff this place had food, fireworks, a car dealership, horse farm, and orphanage. However, no book lights. Jackson found a worker to ask him where the book lights were. I caught up to him in the next aisle as he was trying to explain the concept of a book light to a Wal-Mart Workhere Person. Lets just say that Stephen Hawking would have an easier time explaining the Theory of Everything to Elmer Fudd. Portage is not the center of the learned universe.

The next day was our trip to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL (#6). This place is great. There's a giant cylinder in the middle of the atrium with big fish and small sharks.


Haley and the boys take a pic in the rainforest room.



Jax and Coop get ready for the Spongebob 4-D Experience.


Jax and Cooper row to shore.


After the Aquarium stop we headed out towards Papa and Grandma Kristi's house in Wisconsin (#7). We stopped on the way at Paradise Pup for a Chicago style hot dog and great burger. No pics of that. Imagine the four of us eating hot dogs and burgers. That mental image will suffice.


Next stop, Wisconsin. That's another post.