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!