milwaukee zoo

our last day in madison was going to be spent at the local zoo. however, since we were in wisconsin, we decided we'd try to meet up with nick's brother and nephew. so we decided to head to milwaukee to meet them at the milwaukee zoo! what a great time!! tj and tre go there quite frequently, so they know their way around and all the best things to see! it was our first time at this zoo so we just took it all in!

checking out the pink flamingoes!

 

uncle nick showing tre something very cool!

oh, ya know....just taking a ride on the dinosaur!!

the dinosaurs were definitely one of my favorite exhibits! and i think everyone else probably agrees! they were very detailed and even moved around! very very cool!!

the girls by a baby dino!

charlie didn't wanna stick around by the t-rex too long! lol!

tj and tre by the 'nest' of baby t-rexes and big bro/sis t-rex!

the 'nest'

i'm certain the girls enjoyed this part of the exhibit the most....possibly even their favorite part of the whole zoo! lol! this dino 'spit' at the people walking by! it was hysterical!

the girls even got to ride a camel for the first time! i thought it was pretty darn cool! if i wasn't prego, there's a pretty good chance i would have gone for a spin too! haha! what a site that would have been! the girls said it was really neat and the camel was really soft!!

tre's favorite part is feeding the animals! the animals just wander around a little area and kids can feed them! tre gets the biggest kick out of it! he even chases them around! altho he only feeds the ones he wants to feed! haha!

 

and of course we had to take a train ride! it was pretty neat! we were going to fill up two cars, but tj insisted we could all fit in one! it was a bit tight, but hey, families stick (close) together, right?! lol!

close up!

and the final zoo fun for the day.....the carousel of course!

look at that adorable smile!!

i just love my girls!

madison ~ day 2 ~ part 3....swimming

after our long day of running, walking and checking out the children's museum, it was time to head back to the hotel for some relaxing time in the pool! the girls of course loved it....i'm pretty sure they're part fish! lol! (oh and it's a good thing charlie happened to bring a random extra swim suit.....i only packed half of haylie's! oops!)

i just love this pic!!

charlie was pretty exhausted from all the fun of the day......she floated around on her tube for quite some time! we were all convinced she was going to fall asleep on it! she didn't, but she sure was close!

madison ~ day 2 ~ part 2....the childrens museum

so after the race, we headed back to the room so the runners could get cleaned up for the rest of our fun day.....the children's museum!!  the walk was a little longer than the girls would have liked....and since i forgot to bring strollers, they had to walk the whole way! oops! but they survived and it was totally, 100% worth it!! we all had an absolute blast!! oh and on saturday mornings they have a farmers market all around the capitol square, and let me tell ya, it's by far the biggest farmers market i've ever seen in my entire life! you can't even imagine the vendors and shoppers! it's absolute chaos!! very cool, but very crazy! we had to walk thru part of it to get to the museum! i wish we could have shopped a little, but the museum was way better!!

there was an entire section on the roof of the building that had a mini farm, gardens, and many more fun activities!

the view of lake mendota!

the kids checking out the view!

some crazy monkey bar thing! pretty cool!

a view of the capitol building

taking a little rest on the animals! lol!

charlie had to try out both!

painting on the glass! i pesonally think this is one of the coolest things at children's museums! i wish we had one at our house! lol!

haylie and matt trying out the hamster wheel!

such a happy girl!!

just outside the entrance!

swing me, swing me!!

relaxing on the....turtle?

just having a nap! i think we should also get these for our house! how cool would that be?! they look so comfy!

clearly nick was worn out too! haha!

i'm telling ya, children's museums have a way of just sucking the life out of ya!! i am always exhausted after spending a day there!

the girls tried the wheel by themselves! certainly much easier with an adult, but they eventually got it! :)  and didn't even get hurt! yay!

baking some pies and pizzas for....

....their loyal customers! we spent a lot of time in this area!

even the big kids got to play!

this is for my parents.....refrigerators in the wall.....i bet if they took the doors off it would look like your back garage!! lol! just kidding!  ya know i love ya! (but it still cracks me up!)

and once again....big kid fun!

even matt got in on the fun!!

there were super awesome sayings all over....i truly thought i got pics of more, but obviously not! (baby brain!)

matt and i both tried it with the girls, so of course we made nick try it too!

 

you would never know, but these pics are all out of order. it makes me absolutely crazy, but i really didn't feel like taking the time to rearrange them all to be in order! so you're just gonna have to deal with it.....ok fine, i am just gonna have to deal with it! baby jo has really relaxed some crazy parts of my brain! lets hope it stays that way after he or she is born! ha!