Wonderful Wisconsin: Part 4-Hitting All the Highlights

[Welcome to Part 4 of our series]

Before the day's events even began, Lauren was exhausted by simply eating breakfast, chasing Maggie (the dog) around, wandering in my mom's beautiful garden, etc. Here she cuddles with her Poppa Umpy. So sweet...

Tuesday was a very busy day of running errands and checking out some of Racine's finer landmarks. We went to Carthage College were Nana is an adjunct professor, as she had some paperwork to file in preparation for her summer session. Then we hit Sam's Club (always a favorite!) and Target (ditto!) before picking up Poppa Umpy for lunch at Kewpee's. My cousin Rachel (Amanda's sister) was working, so we got in another visit with family. This was Lauren's first experience with french fries and ketchup. I think we can all agree that it was a hit...

Naturally lunch wore her out, so we headed home for a quick nap before meeting our family friend, Dorothy at the Racine Zoo. Now, Racine's Zoo used to be one of the only remaining free zoos left in the U.S. Alas! no more...but, they are doing some fantastic things, so I guess the $4 a person is making a difference (sniff).

Dorothy, Nana, Lauren, and Beau (in her arms!)

Right away Lauren started to realize that the monkeys, lions, kangaroo-like thingys (wallabees??) were all alive! She made lots of animal noises as she saw things she recognized- ducks, goats, monkeys, lions, etc. She pointed out a peacock in the bushes to us, and even got to see Racine's own giraffe, Beau.


Lauren and her very own Beau.

The best part was the petting zoo, which Ladybug LOVED!

Here with a Turkey...we couldn't get him to Gobble Gobble Gobble for us.

She kept coming back to this one...it was a baby goat just her size! I think he/she liked Lauren too. :)

She giggled so hard when the goat ate "goat food" out of her hand. I think it tickled. She just had no fears. Before it was all said and done, she even petted a snake-- eewwwwwwwwww!

That evening, Uncle Dan and Aunt Melissa joined us for Tacos on the patio (a Huck Family favorite!). Melissa shared some new Kindermusik songs and finger plays and Lauren just LOVED them. Only minutes later she wanted me to trace circles on her hand to take "the mare around the race track". So neat to see Melissa share her love of music with Lauren who just enjoys it so much.

On the menu for dessert? JUICY WATERMELON....

[Please join us for the final installment in our series "Wonderful Wisconsin' for Part 5- Playdates II, opening to rave reviews on screens near you!]