A Day In Madison

We kicked off Spring Break by spending a day in Madison with Anna and her boys.  It was the BEST day.  The museum was not that crowded, the kids were SO well behaved, and the weather was gorgeous.  A wonderful, wonderful day!  Hence many, many pictures!

There were only two rough parts to the day.  The first came when Max and Rachel refused to get their hands stamped to get into the museum.  Lots and lots of tears from those two...it was quite the scene!  But, they both recovered and the museum fun began.

This was the second rough part of the day.  :)  Rachel was too scared to go down this little slide, but also wasn't letting anyone else down the slide.  Here she is pouting, what a gal.  :)

Two very similar pictures, but I just love Max's expressions.  

The museum had an entire art area for the kids.  We spent a good hour in that room doing all sorts of things.  

They had quite an advanced playground.  Max and Fitz had been to the museum before, so there was not much hesitation on their part.  It took quite a bit of coaxing and bribing to get Marshall and Bridget up there though.  Max and Fitz were so sweet with them and gave them lots and lots of encouragement.  It really was very sweet to watch it all play out.  Bridget never made it to the top of that metal net to go down the slide, but she at least sat in the net and climbed to some other higher parts of the playground.  Marshall though, once he got over his fears, loved that thing and just had the best time.  

 I would say the highlight of our museum trip was going to their rooftop garden.  The garden is on the 4th floor, and nothing was growing yet, but it was still delightful.  The weather was perfect, the kids loved playing in the stream, and just running around on the path.  We soaked up the afternoon sun up there and had to drag ourselves away at 4:00.  

There was a little observation tower the kids could climb.  It gave a great view of this lake.  

On the other side of the roof there was a great view of the capitol building.  

I must note that I was so proud of Marshall this day.  He had to overcome a lot of fears, mostly pertaining to heights, but he conquered those fears and had the best time.  While we were there he told me he wants to live at that museum.  :)

After the museum, we walked across the street to the capitol.  The kids kept up their stellar behavior; Anna and I were so impressed!

The doors at the top of the stairs lead to the offices for the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.  That is where Tim was sworn in as an attorney.

A kind security guard told us to find the governor's office on the second floor so we could see the badger and rub his nose for good luck.  Mission accomplished.  

This was as perfect a day as you can get with five kids ages 2 to 7!  So grateful we have the Hassells who are always up for an adventure!

Easter Festivities

As usual, every holiday brings a handful of celebrations with it.  Easter was no exception.  The festivities kicked off with an egg hunt and Easter brunch at Anna's.  Unfortunately, it was pouring rain that morning so the egg hunt was moved to the basement, but the kids still loved it.  The food and friends were also exceptional.  

Best friends.  :)

The next day was the playgroup Easter party.  Again, the egg hunt was inside because it was SNOWING!!!  Blah!  This is the only picture I snapped.  Oops!

Fortunately, Saturday brought much better weather.  The kids and I did the egg hunt at Elm Grove Park.  It actually went terribly for my children, but still a memory, nonetheless!  Marshall was irate to learn the egg hunt was open to anyone at the park that morning.  Bridget only got two eggs.  And Rachel was terrified of the Easter Bunny.  Can't really blame her, the costume was definitely lacking.

Marshall and Bridget are too distracted looking at Rachel who was screaming at the top of her lungs.  

Rachel, clearly not recovered from her bunny experience, held Anna's hand through the whole hunt and only collected four eggs.  :)

Lucky for the kids, the day improved and we did our family only egg hunt that afternoon.  Marshall was so sweet with Rachel during the hunt.  Multiple times he would pick up an egg, run by her, and drop it in her basket.  At the end Rachel tripped and fell and spilled her basket of eggs.  Without even being asked, Marshall helped her pick up all her eggs.  So sweet.  

No perfect picture from these three, but I love all the different expressions so I am posting them all.  :)

Easter Sunday we hosted dinner and invited three other families over.  Despite my constant reminders to myself all day long, this is the only picture I took.  My poor mind!

Our evening was exceptional though.  We had the Hassells, Bradfords, and Pitts over and the food was incredible...quite possibly my best Easter meal I have ever eaten.  I tried a new ham recipe, and I will never go back to traditional ham.  The Bradfords brought not one, but three, incredible vegetable dishes.  The Hassells spoiled us with incredible potatoes and Tim's supreme carrot cake.  And the Pitts brought delicious fruit and an abundance of yummy drinks and left all the extras at our house, Marshall is in heaven.  :)  

A wonderful Easter week indeed!

Dancing Queen

Bridget had her dance recital a couple of weeks ago.  This year she got to do both a ballet dance and a tap dance.  She was a delight to watch up on the stage.  Anna and Max also came to her recital, which she was just tickled about.  We love our little dancer.

She refused lip stick, but went heavy on the blush.  :)

After the show we went to Kopps for custard.  These next pictures just make me smile.