Milwaukee Zoo

As I mentioned we spent a day at the Milwaukee Zoo while in Wisconsin for Memorial Day weekend. Jason was laid off for the week so we wanted to see some friends while we were there. Since everyone was working during the day we decided to take Maddy to the zoo for some nice family time. We picked the perfect day. The weather was overcast and cool so the animals were extremely active. The kids were still in school too so we had the zoo basically to ourselves...a front row seat to all the exhibits. We didn't have to worry about the sun rays on the kids or getting too hot. It was great. I friend of mine from college joined us with her daughter Madeline too which was really nice. Maddy just loved Emily and Maddie and I was very excited to finally meet Maddie. It was an awesome day. Here's the sequence of the day:

Maddy and I were impressed with the flamingos ability to sleep on one leg

Nursing monkey just like mommy
(Maddy's comment)

Snack time waiting for Emily and Maddie

Nap time for Mylee

Elephants

One of our favorites: the lion exhibit

Big Maddy and little Maddie

Family photo opt

Nala

Simba

Jaguar

Polar bear

Up close and personal with Melmon the giraffe

Enjoying the giraffes

Sleeping Seal

We ended with the grizzly bears but their pornographic behavior left us no photographic opportunities.

That evening our friends Josh and Annie hosted a wonderful bar-b-que for us and a bunch of other college friends. It was a fun night filled with yummy food and great company. I unfortunately forgot to take some pictures. Oops! Thanks to the Puds for the hospitality and we can't wait to meet the new little Pud this fall.

Memorial Day Weekend

This year instead of going up north for Memorial Day weekend, we went to Fond du Lac to see my sister's new house, go to a bridal shower in Green Bay, and celebrate little John's 4th birthday. The whole family with all the kids joined in on all the celebrations so it was so much fun. We left Friday after work and weren't sure what to expect with getting through Chicago. The traffic was surprisingly great in our direction on I-294. We didn't stop once until we got north of the city where we merged with I-94. With the two interstates merging and construction we were crawling along. This was when Mylee decided she was starving and Maddy decided she had to go pee...RIGHT NOW. We had no way to get off the road so I took Mylee out to nurse her as we were pretty much stopped and we told Maddy she was going to have to hold it until we could get to a potty. She apparently couldn't as she started crying because she had to go so bad. So we told her to get out of her car seat and she could pee in one of Mylee's diapers. Well, she didn't wait to really get it all the way on so pee was coming down her leg and all over the car. Soon after we were able to pull over to an emergency stopping section. I handed Jason Mylee so that I could get Maddy out and cleaned up. She still had to finishing going pee so I held her over the concrete to pee until a dirt truck came by and scared her which caused her to pelvic thrust and start peeing on me. Meanwhile, Mylee had a blow out all over Jason, so I had to clean up Maddy, myself, and Mylee. What a mess! Other than that the trip was fairly uneventful. Maddy didn't sleep the entire 9 hours because she was so excited to see her cousins.

Saturday, all of us girls went to the bridal shower while the guys stayed home with the kids. My sister-in-law Nicole and I even got a little shopping in. We spent the rest of the night chasing the kids around the garage as my sister doesn't have a driveway or yard yet...pretty crazy with 11 kids in a 3 car garage.

Addisyn, Mylee, and myself riding the snowmobile in the garage
(notice the ride is making Mylee sick)

Jaelyn joins us for a ride

Mylee feeling better now that we're off the mo-mo

Cousins together after baths getting ready for bed

Sunday morning we took all the kids down to the Fond du Lac city park to get them out of the garage. My mom bought the grandkids all 4th of July outfits so we dressed them all up for the park and tried getting a group shot. (TRIED is the key work)

Group Shot

Grandpa with Maddy and Lexi

Maddy, Jaelyn, Lexi, and Addi

Izzy learned how to do the monkey bars

Jaelyn and Addisyn ready for naps

Papa Jack and Jack-Jack

Sunday night we had little John's birthday party. My brother-in-law's family came too with 7 more kids so it was quite a party!

The birthday boy blowing out his candles

Jordyn taking a nap with Mylee before the party

Addisyn babysitting Mylee during the party

All of the family left that night so Monday was pretty low key with just my sister and my families. Well it was low key until we decided to head back to the city park where Maddy fell and cracked her head open. We ended up spending 3 hours in the ER with a screaming child. She was so scared of the doctors that she would cry whenever they were around and then as soon as they left the room she would say, "My head doesn't hurt anymore...I just want to go play with my cousins." They had to glue the cut back together, but that was the lesser of two evils as our other choice was shaving her hair and stapling it. What a day!

The cut...the picture doesn't do it justice though

Maddy on the way home from the ER

We cancelled plans to go visit the VanCamps that night so that we kept Maddy pretty low key. It was a nice relaxing night with just the Coons. The next morning everyone had to go to work or school so we headed down to Milwaukee for the day (post to follow). It was a great weekend with lots of pictures of the kids as always.