Three Saturdays

We don't get a whole lot of time with the whole family together. With a solid year of intense professional studies starting in one month that will take up every spare moment, I've tried to make a special effort to have enjoyable Saturdays with the whole family. Here are pics from 3 of the last 4 Saturdays; I was at a week-long seminar in Chicago the other Saturday so we obviously didn't do anything fun that day.

Three weeks ago we went to Jordan's gymnastics class and then hurried over to Home Depot for their kiddie craft project. I'm so glad the home improvement store does these days. Who else does boy oriented crafts? Jordan and Carter both made and painted these fabulous drag race ramps.

Last week we tried going to Home Depot again, but we were too late. So we went downtown to Veterans Park. If you're not from Milwaukee, you've got to realize that you can always count on two things in this city: 1) People complaining about the weather, 2) Wind by the lake. Veterans Park is the premier lakeside park here and we always go there to fly kites. Even when there's no wind anywhere else in the metro area, we can count on flying kites at Veterans.

We purchased some good kites from HobbyTown last year and there's no effort involved by the lake. Pull the string taut and let go. So easy, even the kids can man their own kite. You can't really see Jordan in the second picture, but his kite is a traditional diamond shape with a jet on it. He loves that kite. Which is why it was so distressing when the kite got stuck - REALLY stuck - in a tree. We were able to cut the string, hit the kite out, and retie it, so no biggie in the end.

Today's big event was Discovery World. I got two free adult tickets from my employer last year and we finally decided to use them. Even with two free tickets it ended up costing $34, just for the kids and parking. I doubt we'll ever go again due to the cost, so Cyn and I both took tons of photos.

There are two main areas to the museum: The technology wing and the aquarium wing. Here are some pics from the Tech side. The first pic is a metal model of a double helix that expands and contracts. It is located in the center of a double helix staircase so the effect is pretty neat.

More Tech pics. The second pic is basically a large hamster wheel that generates enough electricity to power lights. When I ran in it with Jordan we were able to generate 40 volts. Carter loved this wheel and didn't want to leave. If only we could hook one of these up in our house...

This brings us to the aquarium portion of the museum. By far, the aquarium wing was the better side. Here is Cynthia on the ground level with a model of the Great lakes water system.

Hanging right above (yes, above) the Great Lakes exhibit is The Challenge, a schooner that shipped between Milwaukee and Chicago. The kids REALLY loved this ship. Just don't look over the deck - it was a long drop down to the first floor. Cynthia is pictured in the captain's dining area, Jordan is in the captain's quarters, and Carter IS El Capitan.

The basement level is the aquarium. My favorite part of the museum. Aren't jellyfish beautiful? Hard to imagine them as the most dangerous creatures on earth.

The really cool part about this aquarium is that the fish tanks are everywhere. In the picture above there is a large tank hanging over Cynthia's head. And, if you look closely, you can see that there's a tank below her feet too. The whole basement level was very well planned out like this.

Holy huge tank! Just look at the size of that thing!