Thursday, August 1, 2013

Summer Vacation: Madison, WI (Part 2, Week 2)

Our second week in Madison was full of fun outings and activities with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sara, and cousins Lily and Carter. 

Grandma, Grandpa, and I took Will and Hallie to see Wicked in Milwaukee. I was really nervous about how they - primarily Hallie - would do during a two-and-a-half hour musical, but I needn't have worried. Hallie was literally perfect until about 15 minutes before the end of the show (when, I'll admit, the singing, dancing, and general action slows dramatically), and even as she started to get antsy we were able to keep her calm by letting her move back and forth between our laps. Will was, as usual, well-behaved, though his inability to whisper - seriously, he CANNOT whisper - required my attention from time to time. I love that they're finally old enough for me to start sharing my love for musical theater with them.

Will and Grandpa went camping. On the deck. I'm told they had a good time, but I'm not sure how good of a time someone can have sleeping outside on a wooden deck on a hot night, and being woken up the next morning at 4:55am by the rising sun.

As always, we made multiple trips to both the zoo and park.

And I made everyone - kids included - work out on a regular basis.

We visited the beach, once when the beach was open to go swimming and once when the beach was closed to try out the lifeguard chairs.


A highlight for me - and for Will - was Will's first trip to the batting cages. I absolutely love watching my boy play baseball, and I was so proud of how well he held his own in a batting cage built for a much older, taller, and more experienced ball player.

Three small children in their underwear helped Grandpa open his birthday presents. 

Grandma came up with a new way to keep Will from sucking his fingers at night. (Just wearing the glove hasn't been enough because Will takes it off in his sleep.) The new Cars glove plus the new racing-themed duct tape to keep the glove in place (the duct tape is doubled back on itself so that the sticky side doesn't actually touch Will's arm) has proved successful thus far - Will's going on two weeks of no finger sucking at night!

We went on a number of long - between three and six miles - walks, including our "graveyard walk". Hallie always rode in the stroller, but Will either walked or rode his bike with us. (Will even rode his bike around the lake - a HUGE milestone in the Mueller family!) One perk to walking or riding his bike was that he got to ring the graveyard bell before Hallie did.

The fun keeps on a-coming!

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