Autumnal

I love Maryland in the Fall!

The leaves are gorgeous and the fresh apple cider is plentiful and delicious!

 No Fall season is complete without our annual trek to a pumpkin patch.

We got a terrific pumpkin, enjoyed the fall colors and Truman pretended to be a Zombie. How could this day have gotten any better...

By getting to see lots of DC hipster/yuppies 

buying pumpkins in a flock, 

that's how!!!!

 Hey Guy in the front! 

Are you serious with the lime green shorts and the loafers with no socks?? Really??

Mother of The Year!

And the award goes to...

(drum-roll)

Merry Rowe!!!

For her exceptional work as a mother when she sent her kid to school in pajamas and then a few hours later realized pajama day wasn't until tomorrow!

Yes, that's right, she is just that AWESOME!!!

I like how Trum's friend is staring at his pajama pants.

BEST DAY EVER!

An Ode to Madison

All right, this is my last post about Madison...for now. I would have posted this sooner but all of my photos are downloaded onto the desktop which is all the way in the basement and that is just to far for me to go most days. So I just use Jack's laptop for my email checking and my Facebook stalking. So, anyway, I haven't posted in a while. But back to the Ode...what's an Ode again? Is it where you sing the praises of something? Because that is what I am about to do about Madison, Wisconsin, and I already titled this post "An Ode to Madison", so if that isn't what an Ode is then we are all in big trouble. 

Or not.

Why I love Madison:

#1

The People

Seriously! The people there are so friendly! But especially all of our friends at church, so loving and welcoming! We miss you guys!

 Why do they need to pull these strange, somber faces? Are they embarrassed to have a picture that documents their Bro-mance?

#2

Downtown

So great! 

Beautiful Capitol Building, Wonderful Farmers Market, Great Walking Street, Fabulous Children's Museum, The UW Campus, and within walking distance to two gorgeous lakes.

Fountain/Map of The Isthmus

 Sorry to the two ladies sitting in front of me.

#3

Nature In The City

I love that right in the middle of town you can go on some really great hikes.

Who called who?

Okay, okay, I could go on and on, but just one more.

#4

Family In The Vicinity

In Maryland our closest relatives are my brother and his family. And when we were in Wisconsin they were still our closest relatives, but they were only 5 hours away instead of 17. And we took full advantage of it!

 And of course, a road trip to Idaho was totally doable from Madison. Where as from Maryland, it is madness!

Love you Badger State!! On Wisconsin!!!!!

Soaking Up The Midwest

Have I mentioned yet that I loved our time in Madison? 

Because, for reals, yo, I loved it! 

The Midwest is great in so many ways, we did our very best to see lots of great stuff before we had to leave.

The Dells

 One of our favorite places to visit near Madison is The Wisconsin Dells. There are like a million Water and Theme parks to visit as well as lots of Kitchy exhibits and shows. We always stay at the Wilderness Resort, where we go wild in the many indoor and outdoor water parks. We went for my birthday and Jack totally surprised me by arranging to have my sister-in-law and nieces and nephews come up from Iowa to meet us. We had a blast! But no pictures because I didn't want to take my camera to the pool. 

Originally, the main attraction at The Dells were the actual DELLS. Which are beautiful rock formations along the river. We took a great boat tour to see the sites.

 Along the tour route the boat lets you off to take little hikes. This canyon was so awesome!

 On one of the stops you get to see a dog jump across this gap. Can you see him?

Jack is famous, his name was carved in the cliff.

 And on this Trolley!

Door County

 We were told by many, many people that we "had" to visit Door County. WI. So we did, and they were right! We L-O-V-E-D it. It was gorgeous, I want to retire there (in the summer only of course) Door County is the little point of land that sticks out from Wisconsin into Lake Michigan.

 We toured a light house. Truman was a Zombie.

 We took the Ferry to Washington Island.

 The Island was beautiful. While there we stopped at Schoolhouse Beach. The Beach is covered in these beautiful smooth white stones. Which I think are really rare, at least you aren't meant to take any away with you when you leave.

Not so great for relaxing on, however.

We stopped to see this awesome Stavkirke.

 Back at camp on the main land we went swimming, and toured around and enjoyed the most gorgeous sunsets over the lake.

Spring Flings!!

Wow, we have had a crazy Spring! That is why it is the middle of Summer and I am just now posting about it. We worked really hard to enjoy our last few weeks in the Midwest. We made the trek east and we are officially back to our "real" life in Maryland. We are unpacked and settling in. It is nice to be in Maryland again but there was definitely some heartache over leaving Wisconsin and all of our friends there. It was the first time that Truman showed any distress over moving. He loved it there, his school and his friends were awesome. But he is a trooper and has bounced back already.

So one of the things we did before leaving was to take a quick trip to Illinois. Our first stop was in Chicago, where we attended the Temple, went to the Lego Discovery Center and ate perhaps the best Middle Eastern Food Ever.

Then we went to Springfield, Illinois. Perhaps you are wondering why? Well, for once in our married life we went to a (an?) historical site that I was yearning to see...

Abraham Lincoln's House!!

It was so cool! They have about four blocks of historical homes that you can walk through and a few that you can tour. We also lucked out because there were re-en-actors there the day we visited. 

And I loves me some re-en-actors!!!

Perhaps the best part was the realistic pile of amputated arms!

 Jack loved it, Truman...not so much.

We also ate some crazy food in Springfield. We went to the original Maid Rite, were we enjoyed some loose meat sandwiches and some homemade root-beer. We also had some Pony Shoes, which are small versions of the Horse Shoe. Which you need to Google right now. It sounds gross but is oh-so good.

 

As we were driving home we saw a sign that said Des Moines this way. We just went ahead and took the turn and headed to Des Moines, for one last visit to the Isaak homestead.

 As always, we had a sing along...

That soon turned into a parade.

Looking at these pictures is making me miss these guys!!

Except this one. This one just makes me laugh!