Hello Wisconsin!

The first stop of our summer tour found us back in Brookfield, WI - time to enjoy some green grass, backyard swings, and warm days -

I decided the kids were old enough to venture a little further this visit, so we spent a day in Milwaukee.  We started at Bastille Days - because when you think of Milwaukee, French Heritage immediately springs to mind...? Although I suppose those French Canadian fur traders had to go somewhere.  Perhaps the stall hawking cow skin rugs is a descendant?

In addition to rolling on animal hides and cajoling Grandpa Uwe into a shoulder ride, we enjoyed a zydeco band, a peculiar but kinda tasty Cajun catfish gyro, and most French of all, Madam Gigi's Outrageous French Cancan Dancers of Dayton, Ohio.  I can't say that I've give the can-can much consideration since checking out a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit in 1998, so we gave it a whirl.  The dancers were very enthusiastic, and I'm sure they're good at what they do, but they may be a little constrained by their choice of dance.  After about 7 minutes of yipping, frilly-underpanted, skirts-in-the-air, high-kicking hijinks, I figured the kids' interest might be waning.  I figured wrong.  They declined my offer to leave mid-performance, leaving me ample time to contemplate how many can-can enthusiasts could possibly reside in the greater Dayton area.

After our trip to France, we hit Discovery World, a great science museum on the waterfront, where Brennan and Lucie got to try their hands at playing a Theremin-

create giant burps and perform Operations at the Grossology exhibit -

take a deep dive with Grandpa -

and have a nice rest on a really comfortable bed:

I didn't manage to get any pictures, but Discovery World also has a huge room with a giant model of the Great Lakes, and Lucie had the honor of being selected to make the half-hourly storm.  She pushed the button and the blinds dropped down, thunder rumbled, and rain fell from the ceiling on the "lakes".  When the lightning started flashing, both kids retreated to a little "cave" under the Soo Locks and spent the remainder of the fake storm shrieking.

Of course, we returned to the old favorite, Wirth Aquatic Park:

Closer to home, there were tractor rides -

using Grandpa as a lounge chair for TV time -

or just stealing Grambo's seat.

Grambo set up a make your own sundae bar with frozen custard from Kopps'.

And there was time for playing baseball with Daddy -

- blowing dandelions -

- and pedaling down quiet roads.

We had another great stay - the kids had lots of fun, we had a successful trip to the city, Mommy & Daddy even found a restaurant in Brookfield they liked.  See you next summer, Wisconsin!

First Fair & Goodbye SFPM

Life is a little more...unstructured during summer.  Instead of getting to school on time, soccer practice, swim lessons, scheduling play dates, and doing homework...

there's an afternoon dance party, and Lucie proudly defying Coco Chanel's advice to look in the mirror and remove one accessory before leaving the house.

In her defense, I don't think we were actually going to leave the house for the remainder of that day.

Free-range children can also do things like go to Kids' Free Day at the Marin County Fair (since my odd work schedule means I'm available to take them).  I'd sort of forgotten about the existence of county fairs, which is remarkable given that the Ionia County Free Fair was a consistent highlight of my summer roughly until I went to college.

we tried to fit in as many driving and flying rides as possible -

had a lemonade-drinking race and ate junk food -

- and learned about animals, from the wild ones on Mount Tam to the horses, pigs, ducks, and miniature donkey (?) in the 4H show area.

But best of ALL...we rode the Ferris Wheel!

Lucie held up her hands and shrieked in fake terror every time we came over the top.  Brennan had a great time riding with a new friend we luckily met in line, since they wouldn't let all 3 of us cram into a bench.  I don't know if it's a Midwest vs. West Coast thing, or the passage of - ahem - 25-ish years, but the creepy, chemically-impaired, I-think-I-saw-his-photo-on-the-post-office-bulletin-board carnies of my youth appear to have been replaced by a batch of taciturn Latino men who take fair safety very seriously.

Yes, it was too hot.  I should have brought a hat.  That modest glass of lemonade was $5.  Lucie was too little to ride the really big ferris wheel.  But we still had a great day - corn dogs were eaten, poorly made stuffed animals were "won", and the kids spent the entire drive home asking when we could go again.  I thought we could use a day just to have fun, before we had to worry about getting ready for our big trip, saying goodbye to our friends for a little while, and saying one really big goodbye...

In May, we finally got our official contract for Lucie to switch to Grattan for her Pre-K year.  A year ago, that was all we wanted, and after protracted and pointless complaining, accepted a spot at SFPM as a back door way to getting to the #1 spot on the waitlist.  Never expecting, of course, that Lucie would absolutely love Montessori school, and love her teacher even more.

So while Lucie is excited to go to her big brother's school, and excited to be in the same class as her buddy Beck, we were all sad to say goodbye to Ms. Jones.  But as it turns out, she was offered a kindergarten spot next year, so we would have had to say goodbye anyway.

Tuesday July 7th, we packed up the nap sack, cleared out the cubby, and found a new windowsill at home for Lucie's grass hair.

Thanks for all the good times, SFPM - and for coming to our rescue last year!  Ms. Jones told Lucie to come back and visit anytime - and since it's just a block and a half from my job, I bet we will.

Now it's vacation time - next stop, Wisconsin!