A Little Monday Road Trip!

A couple Mondays ago Evie and I picked Lyla up from preschool and we all headed out to a little Wisconsin town on the Mississippi River called La Crosse.  My cousin, Bridgit, lives in WI and my other cousin, Natalie, was in town visiting her, so we decided to meet about half way and spend the afternoon together. 

The only day that worked for our schedules was that Monday, and driving for 5 hours in one day - by myself with the girls - on a school night - was just a little bit daunting.  But our little chicks are always up for an adventure, so we just went for it.  And I'm so glad we did!  Because if anything is worth driving all day and totally blowing bedtime, seeing family is.  Even if it's just for a few hours.

I'm always a sucker for river towns, and La Crosse didn't disappoint.  We got there a little earlier than my cousins, so the girls got to run around in a park for a while and took turns chasing squirrels, each other, and pretending to be bears.  When my cousins showed up we walked along the river for a while then found a restaurant for dinner (where we tried alligator for the first time!  Lyla and Evie loved it!), then we topped it all off with a little ice cream. 

Such a fun little Monday adventure!

- K

 

Milwaukee Road Trip

This weekend Ryan had a rugby game in Milwaukee which he asked Lyla and I to tag along to.  I am pretty ridiculously bad at geography, and have basically no knowledge of Wisconsin, so my immediate reaction was a very sarcastic "oh, yay."  But we went anyways for an adventure, and an adventure it was.

My cousin lives in Madison, and she happened to be picking up my aunt and uncle in Milwaukee the day of the game.  We hadn't seen them in over a year, so we met up in downtown Milwaukee that night and had so much fun catching up.  Turns out Milwaukee is a super cool little city!  It's a really eclectic combination of new and old, with a huge German influence.  Don't quote me on that because I didn't actually look it up, but just picture lots of cheese, sausage, and gnome shops.

The next morning we stopped in Madison on our way home and met up with the fam again.  We played at a park and ate at a great restaurant called Weary Traveler.  L was a pretty good little trooper the whole time, but I think she had enough "screen time" with the iPad for about a month in those 3 days.  Don't tell her pediatrician.  She was also quite obsessed with her Uncle Mike.  I think she could tell he's a grandpa.  :)

So, Midwest, you prove me wrong once again.  Every once in a while you really are quite tolerable.

- K