Milwaukee with the Big Guy

Last week we went to Milwaukee with Matt on a business trip. We only went for 2 days, (although he had to stay the week) but we have this tradition of staying at the Holiday Inn Express when we go with him.

It's not exactly "fancy" but it has 2 bedrooms and the kid bedroom has bunk beds. They love it.

But, the real reason we go is for the little waterpark in the hotel. It only has 2 slides, but they are a perfect size for my kids and the slides empty out into water that is shallow, so they can do it alone. We have come here for the last few years with Matt and each time they get more indeendent. It's so great!

The even better part is that no one actually comes to this hotel to swim, apparently, so for the 2 days we were there, we had the pool to ourselves. I mean the whole room was ours!

Granted, the pool is only open 9am-3pm, so the Big Guy couldn't take them swimming at all...we had to do it during his meetings during the day.

I was afraid I'd get water-park-burnout sitting in that room for 2 days, but then I realized something....

They were fine in the pools by themselves as long as I was near them, and I could bring my laptop! So here is where I sat for most of the days. I got in a little, but I got some serious e-mailing done while they swam. It's a heck of a lot better than entertaining them at home!

Sammy didn't get to nap though, which meant that at 5 each evening when we were headed to downtown Milwaukee to get Matt, Sammy would fall asleep in the car. Poor guy.

Here's the Big Guy. My favorite part of going on busines trips with him is looking at him in his suits. He doesn't have to dress up when he goes into the office normally, so I love getting the chance to see him looking so dapper-like.

After eatting giant steaks the first night of the trip, I decided we needed some vegetables in our system, so I found this kid-friendly health food store/cafe called Beans and Barley.

It was perfect. We got hummus and pita and salads and burritos and the kids got a bowl of plain noodles. You have to love a restaurant that knows kids well enough to serve plain noodles with parmesan.

Sammy is physically incapable of making a normal face when we ask him to take a picture.

And, last, but not least, we hit another favorite place: Kopp's Frozen Custard. Oh wow is this stuff good.

They have chocolate and vanilla and then they have two flavors of the day that change constantly. The first day we went the flavors were chocolate/mint and raspberry. Look at this stuff. It is so thick and perfect.

And it is in this ultra-modern ice cream factory-looking place. Aren't the cashier guys precious in their little hats?

They make it in these machines and it comes pouring out constantly so you can see the flavor of the day. And speaking of flavor-of-the-day: look at the Big Guy again in his cute suit. Delicious.

The second day I got banana cream pie flavor. It has toasted coconut and pie crust on it!!! Holy Shamoly.

After two days of constant activity, I had to throw the kids in the car and head back to Chicago. Did you know that the Wizard of Oz, if played in the car on DVD, is the exact length of the trip from Milwaukee to Chicago? Thank you Dorothy!