Michigan

 We spent another five days of our trip in Michigan visiting Kevin's brother and his family in Michigan.  Claire and Lucy took a dance lesson from Vicki (Lucy's dance suit found at the Dig N Save!) and we hung out in the hammock a lot as well.

 Kevin celebrated his 32nd birthday while we were there and enjoyed several great gifts from our kids, handpicked from the local dollar store. His brother and him went and bought new suits for his birthday but declined our request for a picture in their "birthday suits". Kevin's last suit was 8 years ago when we were married so it was very much needed.

 Vicki and I enjoyed some serious thrift store and consignment kid store shopping while we were there and found several treasures. The kid clothes there are amazing and I found several items for a $1.  We also visited this treasure called Value World which was more amazing than I have words for. Best part? They gave us all our stuff in black plastic garbage bags, there are no changing rooms so you just put your clothes on over your clothes, and everyone that was working there was in sweatpants. It was so cool. I found the best stuff!

 We took an evening and walked around this local lake that is filled with ducks and tons of lilly pads.  We saw several swans and their babies and Lucy collected several bird feathers.

 We also went to the botanical gardens which has a great kids area that has several things for the kids to explore.

 Edyn and Ella were born 3 months apart and had lots of fun saying "hi" to each other over and over and laughing at each other.

 The greenhouse part of the gardens was one of Isak's favorite parts and he loved seeing all the different plants that we don't have back in Washington.

 We also visited the Henry Ford museum while we were there and got to ride a train around the village. We saw glass blowing, rode a carousel and saw tons of great stuff. Everyone that works there walks around dressed in early 1900's attire and acts the part. We even took a little ride in a carriage which turned out to be really hot...

 There was also an inside portion of the museum which was HUGE and had so much stuff inside of it, we didn't get to see everything. The trains were really cool to look at the inside of as well as several of the cars that have been made over the years.

 There was an exhibit where kids could put themselves in a music video and it would project them onto a screen.

 And of course the giant Oscar Mayer weiner vehicle and the kids tried to make themselves into a hotdog.

We were also there for the 4th of July and they had a nice little parade in their town and their ward also had a breakfast and let the kids ride their bikes/scooters around.

 I attempted to get my kids in one picture for the 4th since I actually put them all in patriotic colored outfits. This was about the best I got.

 We had a lot of fun in the afternoon playing in the pool and then we had dinner outside.  Since there a lot of fireworks available in Michigan compared to Washington, Kevin had fun buying a bunch to set off that night.

                                                                     Lucy and Claire.

 The kids loved the fireworks and we could only set off some of our bottle rockets due to their enormous range and we weren't sure where they were ending up. Our kids were exhausted at the end of every day and for the most part, went to bed really well.  I am campaigning for everyone to come live by me and pled my case at Valerie's as well at Jason and Vicki's house.  I'm hoping it works!

Wisconsin

We drove to Madison, Wisconsin first where my lovely sister and her family lives. I haven't seen her kids for two years and it was so good to be able to visit. They have gotten so big! Maddie and Valerie got their ears pierced while I was there and Maddie was extremely excited. She can't wait till she can wear "peacock earrings". She was nice enough to share her room with Lucy and put up with her 4 year old buggings for five days.

My sister has two younger boys that are 7 and 4 and right around Lucy's and Isak's age. They played really well together and had a lot of fun running around and playing.

The zoo is Madison is a FREE zoo and its pretty amazing. We spent an afternoon there and it was very hot but the kids didn't seem too bothered by it.

The chimps there can get very aggressive and have been known to throw themselves against the glass repeatedly when they get agitated. We made sure to maintain a safe distance. I think the heat made the animals more aggressive than usual as well.

They had a fun carousel and a very cool giant climbing/playground structure that we played on for a while before heading home.

 My sister's backyard is pretty awesome. She has bunnies running all over all the time as well as a sandbox and a gated garden. As well as a hammock that the kids liked to sit in.

 These are my sister's four kids. She had a birthday while I was there and I took some pictures of her kids while she was gone and put them up on her wall. They were more than happy to pose for me.

 Madison has gorgeous bike/running trails all over and we took a walk one morning along one. It just got so hot so fast we didn't last very long.  The kids brought their scooters and were able to use those for most of the trail.  Valerie and I ran a few times while I was there but mostly at night when it was fairly bearable. We also went to this place called the Dig N Save where they sell clothes by the pound that haven't sold at the local St Vincent de Paul.   There's a giant room just full of bins of clothes and you have to dig through everything. The best part is that they weigh your shopping cart on this giant scale when you check out. We got a heaping shopping cart full of clothes for $40. Pretty awesome.

 We went to the splash park one day that also had a giant park next to it. The person who started American Dolls is from Madison area and has donated quite a few things to the community. This playground was donated from his family as well.

 Valerie and I and one of her friends went out for her birthday while I was there.   We went to the downtown city art museum and it was so nice to be able to walk around and look at exhibits and read without little kids pulling on me. Valerie and I went running Saturday morning and intended to go a ways but experienced the most crazy rain storm I've ever ran in. To the point my shoes were squishy and I couldn't see because there was so much water. So we just went 7 miles and called it good, it was beautiful scenery and nice to run where there is so much green!

 I tried to get a picture of all the kids while I was there for my parents but it was a bit difficult....

 They have a children's museum there that we've gotten to go to every time we visit my sister. Its the coolest place and the kids love all the stuff there.

 There were chickens to see on the roof along with baby mice and hamsters. There is a water room and a giant art room and tons of legos and a giant kid sized hamster wheel. Benefits of living in a big city!

We left my sisters Saturday evening and made the 7 hour drive to Kevin's brother's in Michigan. We had so much fun and I'm hoping I can talk my sister into driving to see us next summer.