July Randoms

 Our summer break is quickly coming to a close. We have caught baby lizards (well I haven't), 

watched the dog sleep in weird places and positions, 

acted goofy, 

and gone to a Braves game.

Madison, Wisconson - Day 5

 Cheese.  You can't go to Wisconsin without visiting a cheese factory. We learned so much about how cheese was made and got to try our first squeaky cheese curds.  I don't think anyone loved them, but it was fun to try. 

Fascinating fact!

This girl loves cheese. We even bought her a shirt from Cedar Grove Cheese. We also purchased a couple of cheeses to try, and they were some of the best cheeses I've ever had.  We aren't fancy cheese eaters here, so we just tried a white cheddar and a Monterrey, and we loved them both.

Our final stop of the day was by far the strangest place we have ever been - House on the Rock.  The creator of this home basically spent his whole life collecting thing and adding on rooms to his house.  It is the oddest thing we have ever seen.  I think I'm glad we went, but I'm still debating if it was a wise use of our time and money. ha! Macy is my collector.  She thought it was awesome.

This was the view from the Infinity Room which stretches out above the trees.

A room with a huge Moby Dick scene.

The builder was fascinated with self-playing instruments.  He only traveled out of the country on one occasion and that was to visit Europe to learn about how these instruments work.  He created about 8-10 of these displays that play music.  The displays were very large, and quite detailed.

House on the Rock is home to the world's largest carousel.  You can't ride it.  It is filled with dolls - many of which are quite creepy looking.

When we left, we were all wondering what in the world we had just seen.  It was so bizarre that it can't be accurately explained, but I can also guarantee there is no way we will ever forget our time here.

Lucky for these girls their dad keeps an eye out for their favorite restaurants that we don't have close to home.  Boston Market is always enjoyed.  Well, it's mostly the macaroni and cheese that is enjoyed.

 We drove back to Chicago for the night since we were flying out the next day.  This was such a fun, adventure-filled vacation, and I'm so glad we had this time together as a family.

Madison, Wisconson - Day 4

 We got up early to start making our way towards Wisconsin.  In addition to visiting as many National Parks in our travels, if we can visit another state we haven't been to before, we try to do that.  Our first stop was at the Anderson Japanese Gardens. These gardens were beautiful.

Cave of the Mounds was our next stop.

On our way to our hotel in Madison, we drove through Mount Horeb.  There are more than 30 trolls in this little town, so we went on a scavenger hunt to see how many we could find. We found over half of them before we grabbed some local ice-cream and headed out.  Mount Horab is a small little town, but we enjoyed our quick visit. 

Seeing all of the different landscapes across the country is another favorite of mine. Rolling hills were covered with corn and soybean fields.

We headed downtown for a stroll on the Monona Terrace overlooking Lake Monona. It was a beautiful ending to a fun day.

 

Chicago - Day 3

 Today was spent at the Museum of Science and Industry. It was fabulous, and I highly recommend visiting.

This science-loving girl was in her element, and she enjoyed every bit of the hands-on exhibits.

Deep dish pizza #2. It was okay. We all definitely preferred Giordano's better. 

We wanted to find a picnic table somewhere at the beach to eat our dinner, but we weren't able to.  Dinner in the back seat worked out just fine - except for the dead bird that was in the parking spot next to us.  That didn't give us a very good aroma to go with our dinner.

We finally made it to a section of the lake that had sand.  It was so different from the beach sand we are used to, but the girls loved playing in it.  

They walked out to the sandbar.  It was a cold walk, but they persevered.

Another wonderful day in Chicago with my favorite people.