it's a 3 cookie day

ok, this post will probably be out of order, since i can't recall which days we did what while in california, but you'll get the gist. it's a long one with lots of pictures, so hang tight.

thursday before last, oliver was an awesome baby and woke up at the perfect time so that he would be ready for a nap right when we would be getting on the plane. we loaded up our 87 bags and the stroller, and mom took us to the airport. oliver did well. unfortunately for me, the plane was 100% booked, crowded, and noisy. i gave him some motrin before taking off, and tried to nurse him, knowing if i could get that accomplished, i'd have a fighting chance. no such luck. he mostly did whiny acrobatics in my lap for an hour. eventually, i did get him to doze off, but not so long after that the loud stewardess came down the aisle, shouting ahead for who needed a drink refill. i couldn't even look at her for fear i'd rip her face off. oliver did take another short nap on the plane (after dumping half his jar of carrots on me, my carry on, and the floor), so it wasn't a total loss. luckily, he wasn't screaming much at least. he did manage to crash for a nap once we arrived at bill & linda's.

it was about this time that i realized this vacation wouldn't be as relaxing as i had been planning. it dawned on me that in all my fantasies of napping by the pool, there was no baby. talk about a rude awakening. :) he drove me nuts a few times. total reinforcement that i am NOT meant to be a stay at home mom!!

in terms of sleeping, it took a good day for him to adjust to his new surroundings, and still woke up a LOT more than usual. we also forgot to bring the probiotics, so the last 3 or 4 nights we had some serious gas issues, which we're still working through now that we are home. overall, though, i was very impressed with how well he adjusted to the time differences going both ways, and besides a few incidents, how well he napped.

bill & linda's house is beautiful, and the back yard is so relaxing. hannah rarely left the pool, being the fish that she is. she may have managed to get more than, if you can believe that.

that night for dinner, linda made salmon with a tomato caper sauce, lentils, roasted peppers, and her famous salad of deliciousness. after 2 months of no kitchen and lots of eating out, it was SO NICE to have some real food again! it was, of course, absolutely delicious, and had me excited for dinners for the remainder of the trip.

the next day, linda's son carl, his wife larissa, and their sons cade (3 years old) and nicholas (4 weeks old) came to visit for the day. we had a lot of fun hanging out with carl and larissa. they are absolutely great. cade developed a major crush on hannah, which was incredibly adorable. hannah made $5 keeping him entertained all day, though, so everyone one. nicholas is such a mellow baby, he just chilled in his bouncy seat all day. larissa said he is the opposite of cade, so here's hoping our #2 will be the same way!

bill and linda live in the foothills of the san gabriel mountains. the landscape is totally different than what i am used to - lots of brown, lots of rocks, and very dry. it doesn't help that they are in the middle of a drought either. that afternoon, they traveled up the mountain some to visit mt. baldy village. i did not attend, but they assured me that the views were spectacular.

saturday morning, oliver and i both donned our shades and took an early morning walk. diversion is the key! we tooled around the neighborhood, including uphill towards the mountain. so i got a good work out at least.




the following day, i chased oliver around the house as he practiced his amazing ability to crawl, while the gang went on a hike in the mountains. hannah *thinks* she may have seen a snake (probably), but as no one else saw any, her story is suspect. they had a lot of fun, though, and saw some amazing views once again.










that afternoon, bill's sister margie came by with her gentleman caller, jim, and her daughters karen and dawn. dawn is a vet, so hannah was able to ask a few questions, or at least bask in the glow (hannah wants to be a vet). margie quickly decided she wanted to kidnap hannah, so they could go to the beach together every day. they were such a wonderful group. aunt margie is a doll!

a few random shots from that day:

a gecko on the patio -

oliver & his prunes -


that monday, the family visited the huntington gardens, which also includes a library and art museum, while oliver and i hung out at the house. they got to see some beautiful plants (hannah got some great photos which i think will turn into artwork, including one which i swear looks like a monet painting) and eat a cactus. they even got to see a movie set! the filming of a thousand words is being done at the gardens, so they visited the cemetery set. no stars, though.








tuesday, bryan's mother sandra arrived. it was nice finally getting to meet her. she plays webkinz, so she and hannah became fast friends. she confirmed that oliver is the spitting image of bryan when he was a baby. we all had a lovely day relaxing around the house.

wednesday, bryan's brother jeff and his wife karen were due to arrive. bryan, hannah, and bill spent the day in l.a. while linda and i relaxed around the house with the baby. hannah was able to see the hollywood sign, rodeo drive, and all those things you see in the movies. so she was pretty thrilled; l.a. has a special place in her heart for sure. she also got to meet some of the freaks, which she thought was both funny and extremely weird.



that night, we had all the peters men under one roof. we finally got to meet jeff and karen, who were very tired from their 20 or so hour trip in from london, but happy to be there. i had lots of fun chatting with karen - she is such a sweetheart!

thursday, the month of bryan came to a head with bryan's birthday. we both arose early (with the baby, of course) so that bryan could manage junior while i baked his cake. while he already has a custom cake for his birthday (tres leches style coconut angel food cake with rum milk and orange whipped cream), he decided he wanted another one. so we came up with chocolate pound cake with salted caramel cream and toasted pecans. like a turtle, but cake.

one of the moms on my message board, carrie, lives in l.a. and we had been trying to hook up all week. we had made plans for monday but oliver refused to nap, so those plans didn't work out. luckily, we were able to meet thursday morning! it was *great* getting to meet her in person. as she said, it was like we had known each other forever. it was fun watching the babies interact as well. her son, jude, was a little unsure of oliver at first, while oliver was all ready to be best friends. jude warmed up, though, and they had fun staring at each other across the table and showing each other their toys. oliver was a total angel. i wish we had more time to hang out, but it was so great just getting to meet them.

i gave bryan the top chef cookbook, which he had been eying, and his mom gave him some olives and a fine quality olive oil, which we had been needing. his dad and linda contributed towards his ps3 fund (he has a little jar on his dresser for it!). that night, linda made a fantastic dinner of grilled lamb and sausages and i forget what all else (but it was all delicious). i even liked the lamb! the new cake was a big hit (though, of course, i learned some lessons and it will be better next time - and definitely more chocolaty). so all in all, a pretty successful birthday for him, me thinks.

the next morning, we rushed around to get packed and make the drive to the airport. we managed to make our plane on time. i gave oliver some benedryl before the plane took off (his allergies were bothering him, i swear), so he managed to sleep for a good amount of the plane ride. we had such a great trip, but it was nice to be back home.

at some point during the trip, linda took me out shopping. we visited a fresh and easy, which was so cute. they are very small but have a really nice selection of things. we also went to a sprouts market. again, lovely produce. they also had some great bulk items. we hit up a trader joes for some staples (including wine). linda also took me to claremont, which has a fantastic walking district with some great shops and restaurants. i was able to pick up some neat cards (which i like to keep on hand) as well as that top chef book for bryan. it was a very nice, relaxing morning!

we have a california vacation folder in the gallery, but here are a few more random images from the trip:

karen & oliver -

bryan & his mom -

my incredibly cute baby (in his star wars t shirt for bryan's birthday) -

did i mention he mastered climbing the stairs?

oliver wearing 3D glasses -

entertaining the baby -

my step daughter, the model -


like i said, it is good to be home. we're still trying to get oliver back to sleeping better at night, but hopefully once the probiotics kick in again, we'll be back on track. saturday, we tried to stay as normal as possible, just running errands and sticking around the house.

sunday after oliver's morning nap, we went over to mom and dad's house to cook bryan yet another birthday dinner. i got to work in the kitchen while bryan and mom fed oliver his lunch. it turns out he LOVES nectarines! although, he wasn't too fond of the slimy texture and therefore wasn't too keen on feeding himself. he also didn't much like the tiny pieces mom lovingly cut up for him - he much preferred to munch on the whole fruit. it was pretty cute and he polished it off in no time (and he had another one last night!).

for dinner, we had grilled shrimp wrapped in bacon with bbq sauce, grilled rosemary garlic potatoes and onions (from our garden), roasted beet salad with sherry vinaigrette (both the lettuce and the beets were from our garden), beet green gratin (using the beet greens from our garden), rib eye steaks, and, of course, bryan's coconut cake for dessert. everything turned out well (except the steaks did get a little charred on the bottom - turns out 5 rib eyes creates a lot of fat dripping into the coals!). everyone was stuffed and happy, so i did my job right.

hannah gave bryan the birthday gift she bought for him, which included: garden work gloves (he had been needing a pair), a new toothbrush (he LOVES new toothbrushes), and 2 frames which she decorated, one with family stickers (no picture in it yet, though), and one decorated with glow in the dark space/alien stickers. she printed out a vintage star wars movie posted and put it in that frame. all her idea. bryan loved it, of course.

a few additional pictures from sunday are in the july gallery.

katie arrives in town on friday to start getting things ready for her wedding next week friday. she is flying while kevin prefers to drive (crazy boy). she can't wait to see hannah and oliver. i think she will be stunned at how much he has grown in the short time since she saw him last!

the state fair starts on thursday. hannah missed out on it last year since she had to go home at the end of july, BUT since she is staying an extra week this year for katie's wedding, she will be able to experience it. she is pretty amped up about it! i think we'll plan on going late saturday afternoon and hopefully the whole family can go.

sunday i think we'll try to hit up the zoo. a change of scenery is always good for the kids, and we're members, so why not??

beyond that, i don't think we have much going on (i say that now...). i'm sure we'll be plenty busy getting ready for katie's wedding, and i NEED to clean my house before i go completely psychotic.

we are still without plumbing in the kitchen; bryan is working hard on a solution so hopefully we'll be up and running soon. i am sooooooooooo excited to be able to eat again.

speaking of that... i am reading the united states of arugula, about the american food revolution (or evolution, even). i had a light bulb moment when reading a section wherein the author explains the modern beef industry. i'm skipping a lot of the detailed explanation, but see if you can follow. in short, beef is like produce - it has a season. think about it - cows eat grass, and grass doesn't grow year round, right? so to get around that, ranchers began feeding their cows grain. additionally, it takes 2 - 3 years for a grass fed cow to be ready for slaughter. that's way too long in the world of making money. baby cows can't digest grain. hence the hormones and antibiotics. really gross, hey? so it occurred to me that it's always been very important to me to ensure what i am putting into my mouth is food (and not crap), and so i really need to change the way i eat meat. lucky for me, bryan is on board. i have a lot of research to do in order to find where i can get natural, organic, hormone free, antibiotic free chicken, lamb, pork, and beef, and locally if possible. this may raise our food bill each month. but it is truly important to me, and, i believe, essential for living well. so i think it'll be worth it.

that being said, it really changes the way i shop. when we went grocery shopping on saturday, i found myself scrutinizing every single thing i picked up. it made shopping very difficult. of course, i can't avoid some of the things i don't want to eat at a conventional grocery store. but i wanted to know what was in *everything*. and how was it grown/raised? were the raspberries in my all natural raspberry soda grown organically? what conditions were the pork that made my bacon raised in? in fact, who raised that pork? i ended up spending over 2x the $ to get hormone free milk. seeing as how i drink a gallon of milk a week, i'm not sure if that habit is supportable. i'd like to get local milk; i'm in wisconsin for crying out loud. i know it can be done.

like i said, i have a LOT of research to do. i am definitely excited about this, though. we are in the heart of dairyland, so i know we can pull this off. we already have our csa and our garden, so if we can supplement that with local meat and dairy, i really couldn't be more thrilled.

enough pontificating. i have some serious work to do. at work, i mean. not being at work for 7 days = giant backlog. yesterday was worse but i'm very tired so today isn't a whole ton easier. wish me luck.

oliver's first journey

oliver and i made it back to milwaukee last night, safe and sound, if not a little worse for the wear. while i will never travel alone with a 3 month old baby again (or, at least not on the return trip through a large airport when he has had it with the travel), overall he was such a little angel. the trip itself was fun.

we made it to the airport super early saturday morning. getting through security wasn't too bad (the airport is so small), though it was pretty funny how much stuff we had to shuttle through. oliver did fantastic on the plane ride, which was a major concern for me - he ate on the take off, smiled and giggled and took in the new sights through the flight (and flirted not a bit with our surrounding passengers - what a charmer!), and fell asleep as we were landing. as we had flown in on a little carrier jet, we de-planed on the tarmac in the sunny 70 degree weather. it was a little disconcerting getting off the plane into warmth - i had forgotten that weather could be so beautiful! oliver had never truly been exposed to actual weather, so was kind of taken aback by the sun and warm breeze. we managed to locate all of our luggage, bryan got our rental car (a prius), and we were off.

we picked up hannah, who was so excited to see her baby brother, and headed to ru-san's for a late sushi lunch. we've found sushi in milwaukee though nothing quite like ru-san's (and we haven't had the chance to explore much either), plus hannah loves going, so we knew we had to hit it up. we all chowed down while ollie looked on in wonder, made a brief stop at target for diapers and baby gifts (i wanted to buy ALL the little girl outfits for brent & jess's baby emma, due to arrive monday, but bryan made me pick just one) then drove out to stone mountain to settle into the house. we were fortunate enough to have use of the in law's house, which made baby wrangling away from home a little easier. hannah was craving steak for dinner, so that night we went to longhorn's, which was pretty much as bad as i thought it would be. hannah scarfed down her whole kid's size sirloin, though, and bryan didn't mind his giant porterhouse. that place just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, though. something about it just rubs me the wrong way. we stopped at bruster's on the way home so hannah and bryan could enjoy some dessert. bryan had some caramel apple thing, which was an actual baked apple wrapped in puff pastry with ice cream and caramel - sounded sooooooo good!

sunday, we were up bright and early, so headed to the farmer's market for some coffee/tea and light shopping. we had a short list of things we haven't been able to find in milwaukee (and to be fair, we have not had a chance to explore and find all the good shopping spots), and while we weren't able to get everything, it was good to be back. i miss that place! we moseyed on over to thomas and michelle's house for brunch with them and daniel and ronnie. it was great to see them all again! we hung out and caught up for a bit, and of course showed off the baby, and then were off again. we ended up heading back to the house to let oliver take a nice, long nap (and i got one in myself). we ventured out in the rain (it wasn't cold and it wasn't snow!) to meet pavan at caribou coffee. it was really nice to see him again.

that evening, we met up with adam and sara for dinner. our initial plans were to try depeaux, a newish cajun restaurant built in the old historic train depot in decatur (get it? depeaux?). ugh ugh ugh what a horrible experience. we arrived between 6:30 and 7pm, and were seated immediately, next to the hostess podium. there were 4 other occupied tables in the place, and 2 or 3 waiters on staff. we were there for about 20 minutes, and never even got water, much less our order taken. our waiter NEVER came by the table, and successfully never even made eye contact... even though he was not actually doing anything other than walking around. the hostess, while she did hassle the waiter to come to our table, never came by and offered to bring us drink or to apologize. truly the worst service i have ever received anywhere. our only guess was that they were hoping we'd walk out so they could close early. which was a shame, since the menu looked good (and based on reviews i've read today, is totally hit or miss). we ended up walking out. unfortunately for them, it was such an incredibly bad experience, none of us will ever be back, and we'll be sure to tell all our friends how horrid it was. i emailed their management, who has offered us a free meal, which is a nice show of faith (or a desperate attempt to get customers).

instead, we walked down the block to carpe diem and enjoyed a lovely dinner. hannah, who was in a french fry mood all weekend, ordered the Pommes Allumettes (french fries with garlic-parsley sour cream) and Calamari (Lightly breaded tender calamari with jalapeno tarter sauce, crushed red chili ponzu and asiago cheese). she managed to scarf down her entire plate of fries. bryan ordered the Bison Strip Steak (Wood grilled with balsamic glaze and blue cheese crust), which he said was outstanding. i had the moroccan spiced salmon, which was served on a bed of israeli couscous. the salmon was a little overdone, but it was still a tasty dish. sara very much enjoyed her croque monsieur, which is one of my favorites as well (a grilled cheese sandwich with mayo and cream sauce? no contest!). then it was home to bed.

monday, bryan was off to work, so hannah, oliver, and i were left to amuse ourselves. after a very lovely morning, wherein oliver complied with our desired schedule and hannah was a gigantic help in getting ollie ready, we jumped in the caddy to meet up with people from earthlink. driving my father in law's old cadillac is kind of like driving a boat. as hannah said, it really grows on ya (she became very fond of the car by the end of the day :), so we had fun rolling in that. cat brought her kids along, so hannah and madison got to catch up a bit. we walked around the building for awhile with chris to visit and show off the baby, then met up with bobby and headed to papi's for lunch. unfortunately, they were doing some painting, and were thusly closed. we crossed the street for a lovely southern lunch at mary mac's tea room instead. this is not high class dining, but it is fill your belly good. i surprised myself by ordering the collard greens with my meatloaf - apparently bryan has converted me with his new year's day greens. they weren't as good as bry's, but i didn't hate them. he is slowly ruining me. ;) we all went back to earthlink, and let the kids annoy everyone in the game room while cat and i chatted and cooed at the baby.

while we were at earthlink, we received the word that brent and jessica had had their baby girl, emma! so hannah and i zipped back to the house to pick up her things quick, then went to pick up bryan so we could all head to the hospital together. oh my, what a beautiful girl. and so tiny - barely 7 pounds! ollie was ~7 1/2 but i can barely remember him being so small. she weighed practically nothing! she looks so much like her mom AND dad; i could see both their facial expressions while watching her sleep. mom and dad were happy but tired, so after a quick visit we left them to rest.

we walked around the mall for a little bit to kill some time before dinner, then went in search of somewhere good sounding to eat. we chose one of the places at the mall, but it turned out to be on the other side of the mall, outside, so in lieu of walking all the way over there or paying $30 a piece for steaks at the one that was close by, we opted to jump in the car and head down the block to fuddrucker's instead, for an easy meal. oliver had a quick snack as well, and passed out pretty good. the constant travel and attention was beginning to wear on him, though he was a trooper and rarely showed any ill humour (except when alone in the car with us). we dropped hannah off, then headed right home, where we all promptly passed out.

tuesday morning started off splendidly, as we got everything together and got out the door without any hassles. oliver and i were taking bryan into work that morning so that we would end up with only one car at the end of the day. on our way, bryan realized he had forgotten his cell phone, so i gave him mine to use for the day. as we were getting caught in traffic, oliver decided he was going to die from starvation, and began to scream as such (that is the only explanation for such screaming). he could not be consoled by a nuk, finger, or anything. he worked himself into such a frenzy that he spit up ALL over himself. all this, and he had eaten a 5 oz bottle before we left the house (i am starting to wonder if it isn't ready to move on to rice cereal - there have been a few times now when he seems to eat enough to fill his belly but as soon as there is a little room he is starving again)!! as soon as we reached bryan's office, bryan ran inside to his meeting and i parked in the parking deck to feed the baby. he ate for a good 20 minutes and was in much better spirits. i went to start the car (which, on the prius is a push button - there is no ignition) and nothing happened. except a new blinking light to indicate that the key was not in the car. AWESOME. so i unloaded the boy and we went inside to locate bryan and the car key. i asked the security officer at the front desk to call his cell phone, as he doesn't have a desk AND they were all in a meeting somewhere. well, they can't dial non-local numbers so could not call my cell (if it had been HIS cell, we could have reached him - his desk number was forwarding there). eventually, we were able to find the room he was in and got the key. :)

ollie was once again the perfect baby, and slept all the way home and continued to sleep once we arrived, which allowed me to pack up the suitcases and load up the car. i got smiley happy baby fed, changed, and ready (i love smiley happy baby), then it was back in the car to find some lunch. in the car, he decided once again he was hungry or perhaps just not happy (i'm pretty sure he was TOTALLY over being strapped into his car seat every other hour), but eventually fell asleep. so i drove around a bit and let him enjoy that before stopping at alon's (they opened one across from perimeter mall) to grab a sandwich. oliver was awake but quiet, so rather than test my luck and eat there in the loud dining area, we just headed to the hospital to visit jessica and the new family and to catch up a bit. though, there wasn't much to catch up on with me: i'm pretty boring now and my entire life revolves around being a mom. :)

oliver was fussy, though quiet; he was over tired but fighting it; i'm pretty sure he was at the end of his rope with all the disquiet and disruption; too many unfamiliar surroundings and people. i gave up trying to get him to not be distracted and decided to drive him around for a bit instead. he fell asleep almost immediately, so when we arrived at bryan's office earlier than expected, i texted him to let him know i would NOT be disrupting the baby, and that we would wait in the car instead. we had a good half an hour, which gave me some time to eat my lunch (smoked peppered turkey sandwich, and salt and vinegar potato chips). then it was off to the airport, which i was nervous about.

bryan got us checked in, and we meandered over to the security checkpoint. jessica's dad had flown out that morning, and the wait time in the first class security line was an hour. i was NOT looking forward to waiting in the coach line with the baby. he was sleeping, but i knew that if we were in line for any length of time he would wake up and be HUNGRY. luckily, as i was standing there contemplating my impending doom, one of the security authorities whisked me off into a "special needs" line. what a lifesaver - i was in line less than 5 minutes total. i even managed to get myself, oliver, the car seat, stroller, diaper bag, and accoutrements (such as ollie's *3* blankets) through security without a hitch. the very nice woman behind me took the stroller off the x-ray conveyor for me so that i could get the baby settled. being pulled out of his quiet, dark stroller cave and into the very loud, bright security station woke him up without much finesse, so we immediately went to a bench to sit quietly and eat a bit before getting on the train.

he still wasn't all that thrilled with life, and i knew i had to get him out of his seat soon. luckily, we were the second stop on the train so we didn't have far to go. unfortunately, everyone at the train station were jerks, and although i was first in line to get on the train, about 10 people shoved their way in front of me to get on first, and when we got to terminal B, the ONLY other person getting off JUMPED in front of me (i hit his ankles with the stroller) to get off before us. i had a few choice words for him. we made it to B, though, and i found a quiet gate to sit and feed oliver at. unfortunately, as we were sitting there, a plane landed and the gate filled up with loud people from new jersey. we walked up and down the concourse a bit before commandeering a family restroom for a moment of quiet, then headed to our gate, which luckily was at the very end. we were there a good hour early, so were able to enjoy some quiet before having to board the plane.

a very nice passenger with 3 young boys of his own at home helped me onto the plane, pushing the stroller and breaking it down for me (i'm pretty sure i couldn't have managed it otherwise). one of the flight attendants immediately made herself ollie's helper, and was there with pillows and tucking his blanket around his feet and such. he was so over tired and cranky, i feared the worst. but he had a small snack, we found our cuddle spot, and once they turned out the lights and began taxiing down the runway, he was a goner. he slept the entire flight, and woke up as we were getting ready to land. i fed him as we landed and he was in a better mood. crisis adverted. :) the other young children on the plane were crying but not my ollie. everyone commented on what a beautiful boy he was, and what an angel he was during the flight. duh! :)

the same nice gentleman helped me off the plane. i could tell oliver's fuse was completely burnt out and that at any moment we would have a big meltdown. as soon as we got past security and he saw nana, though, he was all smiles. we managed to get ourselves and my luggage out to the car, where oliver started his meltdown for real. i pulled over just before the exit to the parking to feed him; he ate for about 2 minutes but was more interested in screaming. mom sat with him on the car ride and that comforted him. we managed to make it home without either of us crying so much we puked, and as soon as we were inside and he saw his familiar surroundings, he was all better. i got him all changed and ready for bed while he smiled and giggled at me, he ate a big bottle, burped, and was out like a light. that boy crashed HARD. he was down before 10 and i didn't hear a peep until he got up at nearly 3.

i unloaded the car and got myself ready for today as quickly as a could, took a shower to wash the travel off, and crashed pretty hard myself. the night wasn't too bad; ollie was up around 3, ate well and went back down, then was up at 5; he ate a bottle around 5:30 and was back down until 7, which allowed me to get ready for the day. tonight i plan on keeping with our normal routine as best i can, and probably joining him for his evening nap. i'm pretty exhausted from the whole trip, especially the return leg (i even had caffeinated tea this morning!).

we definitely learned a lot about traveling with a baby (such as, don't do it alone when he's cranky!!!). i am going to look very seriously into buying a travel bottle warmer, which will even be helpful with errands and such. i think that 3 days of total unfamiliarity is definitely oliver's limit at this point. he did SO well, though; i really couldn't have asked for better behavior. having hannah around helped as usual as well; she is such an amazing big sister. it was great getting to hang out with her, and to see everyone again as well. hopefully it won't be so long between visits next time.

pictures to be posted later in the week.

on that note, i think it is time for some more caffeine and some serious work.

back to the grind

the wisconsin dells vacation was a success. it's an ungodly tourist trap, but we managed to have fun. ;) hannah planned our first day there, as her prize for winning monopoly (she totally hustled us). we got on the road around 6:30am thursday, and ran into some serious rain. we got in around 9am, and were able to check into our hotel right away.


then we headed over to the canyon creek riding stables, where bryan and hannah had a blast riding some horses while i sat and read my book. the ride ended up being a great deal; $20 for a one hour ride, and they had all sorts of stuff set up in the woods to look like parts of an old western town - plus we had coupons! hannah thought it was the neatest thing.

we then hit the indian trading post, a childhood favorite of mine. bryan got a cowboy hat, as he had been wanting one for some time and they were a good deal so i could hardly turn him down.


from there we stopped at the dells mining company, which is a giant rip off, but hannah loves panning for gemstones so there you go. she got some rocks, and that makes her happy. they charge you waaaaaay too much for the buckets and then they try to get you in the shop so they can tell you how you can spend more money to have them make jewelery from their rocks, but we managed to avoid that.

we went to danny's 90/94 diner for burgers, which weren't that fantastic, but like i said - this place is total tourist.

we went to the downtown dells to walk around some. after a few blocks, i let bryan and hannah know that it's all the same so there's no reason to do it all - t shirt shop, knick knacks, fudge, t shirt shop, candy shop, bar, t shirt shop... we ended up going to ripley's believe it or not, which was fun and weird.




we picked up some candy (including sour candy liquid shots which bryan and hannah did - hilarious video taken by me), including of course fudge and salt water taffy. after that we headed back to the hotel for a cooling dip in the pool before dinner.

we ate dinner at marley's jamaican, which was way overpriced for what it was, but it wasn't horrible. i had the jerk chicken and bryan had the jerk combo platter - pork, chicken, and red snapper. the meat was at least smoked, so it was very tender and flavorful. the place itself is kind of overdone, and they put umbrellas on everything (including water and the food) so we ended up with quite a pile by the end of dinner. we got a coupon for 50% off the mini golf place next door when we paid, so we headed over there and played 18 holes. hannah loves mini golf and she does pretty well so that was fun.

friday was waterpark day. we ate an early breakfast at mr. pancake then headed to mt. olyumpus. we hit the theme park first. bryan and hannah had a total blast on the roller coasters, and of course the go carts. i ended up sitting and reading by the wave pool, which nearly put me to sleep (i do love naps). we then hit some of the water attractions, though the weather wasn't cooperating much (overcast most of the day) so hannah didn't last too long wet. we ended up going back to the theme park for more of that fun. all in all, i wish we had had better weather for water fun, but we spent the day there and hannah is now officially a coaster chick.

for dinner, we went to the cheese factory, a gourmet vegetarian place i had read about online before the trip. it was fantastic! the food was great. they even had a real soda fountain, so bryan and i had handmade phosphates. we started with their "rattlesnake" tofu, (Seasoned charbroiled tofu served with our homemade BBQ sauce and black beans), which was tasty. i had the lasagna (A hearty serving layered high with spinach, mushrooms, veggie “meat” (gluten), and Mozzarella, Romano and Ricotta cheeses, on a bed of marinara sauce, with garlic bread). it weas very good. very cheesy, very flavorful. bryan had the delhi delicious (A unique blend of flavors & textures filled with the aromatic spices of East meets West: crisp fried eggplant, chickpea stew seasoned with fragrant Indian spice blend, served in a nest of organic brown rice. Garnished with cranberry chutney, deep-fried banana and sour cream), which he enjoyed very much. hannah had the kiddie grilled cheese, always a favorite. hannah was too full for dessert, but i had the glorious chocolate cake (Devil’s Food Cake layered with rich chocolate mousse filling and covered in chocolate ganache) and bryan had the hazelnut torte (Toasted hazelnut and pecan cake between layers of sweetened whipped cream. Covered in a smooth chocolate coffee frosting). both were giant pieces of cake which we didn't manage to finish, but leftover cake never sucks. ;) we bought the cookbook since we were in need of a really good vegetarian one, and the place was so great.

after dinner, we went to the tommy barlett exploratory, which is the height of 1972 cheese. i'm pretty sure the exhibit hasn't been updated since it opened. it has space, and science, and optical illusions and such and maaaaaaaaaaan is it outdated!! it was pretty amusing though, and hannah loved it (she got to ride the gyro) so all is well i guess.

saturday we began with breakfast at denny's classic diner (not that denny's!). it was a lot of fun! lots of old school kitsch decorating the place; the little rascals played in black in white on the tv while the wurlitzer offered old classics. definitely old school diner. the food was good - classic diner food for sure. i had a giant omlette with hash browns and it totally hit the spot.

next, we headed on to the original wisconsin ducks for a tour of the lower dells. hannah got to sit in front and be co-pilot. :) it was a lot of fun. our tour guide reminded me a lot of my sister katie - totally snarky. she was a lot of fun.

we went to the downtown dells to try out the wizard quest, which bryan had found good reviews for online. the idea is that you have to free 4 wizards in these different realms. you explore the realms and find clues to answers for a list of questions they give you in the beginning, which you then input into a computer (at the "dragon depot") to earn "glimmers" in order to free the wizards. depending on how many wizards you free in what amount of time you win!.... a discount in the gift shop. the place was dark, and some of the clues confusing, and there were kids running all over yelling. hannah thought it was SO COOL but bryan and i have been more impressed. ;)


we grabbed a quick and late lunch at moosejaw pizza. we ordered the taco pizza, which would have been fine except they used marinara sauce (and they serve it with a side of taco sauce so why don't they just use that??) and by "tortilla chips" they meant "doritos", which was kind of disappointing. they do brew their own soda and beer though, which is kind of neat.

we stopped by an antique shop to pass some time, where i actually found something i wanted to buy - but they had lost the keys to the case it was in so i was out of luck. go figure.

we had a reservation to see the 4pm show at the broadway dinner theater, which was disney's high school the musical. for those of you not familiar, high school the musical is an absolute phenomenom with the 6 - 13 yr old set. it's grease in 2006 for the 'tweens. hannah was pretty pumped and enjoyed the show a lot, even if it wasn't exactly like the movie. ;) during the closing number, i realized one of the dancers looked like a girl i went to high school with, which i confirmed after the show. small world! hannah bought a poster and got signatures from the main stars. she got to meet the girl who played sharpei, and about fainted she was so excited.

we had a small dinner at the cheese factory. i had the grilled cheese (A grilled double decker of Wisconsin sharp cheddar and Swiss cheeses with Roma tomatoes on sourdough bread), which i had been eyeing. it was huge and delicious. the salad that came with it had a raspberry dressing that was so good! bryan had the reuben (Veggie pastrami (gluten), Bavarian sauerkraut, smoky mustard sauce, and Swiss cheese on home made dark caraway rye bread). in his past kitchen travails, he had attempted to make a veggie reuben but was never successful. so he was happy to be able to try a good one - and we have the recipe in the cookbook so i expect to be eating one soon! :) we were too full for dessert this time, unfortunately. we headed back to the hotel and sat by the pool for a bit while hannah swam before bed.

sunday, we checked out of the hotel early and began the day with another breakfast at mr. pancake, at hannah's request. then we drove over to the wisconsin deer park. hannah thought it was soooooooo coooooooool that you could pet the deer - no fences! bryan was impressed by all the animals with horns. shocker, right?

we headed back to the indian trading post so hannah could spend the rest of her money. i let bryan talk me into buying a cowboy hat (i have no idea where i'll wear it), and we sat around while hannah chose a selection of rocks. she got one huuuuge crystal that she's pretty excited about.

our last stop was the market square cheese shop, which is a tradition. i'm just mad i forgot to get a picture of us with mr. mouse! :( i picked up an 8 yr old cheddar (makes the BEST grilled cheeses), and a nice parm reg, and bryan found a swiss spread. we ended up using the parm in a salad we had for dinner last night, and it was very tasty.

after that, we jumped on the highway for the trip home. we stopped near madison to visit with dirk some, and had some tasty lunch at a new-ish old school diner in the area. my hamburger was super messy and quite good. after that, we were back on the road, where hannah and i had a little post lunch nap. we made it home by 3 or so, to some very happy doggies. i was happy to be home and see them!

tonight is national night out. shannon is coming over, since hannah has been dying to have a sleep over with her. we're going to hit up this night out thing and hopefully have some fun.

tomorrow night is the lucinda williams concert at the pabst, which we're pretty pumped about.

wednesday hannah leaves. :( then it's back to house work - painting, getting ready for the baby, and the other stuff on the giant list i've made for bryan.