For the first time ever our entire family of 5 made it to Madison. This trip made my heart so happy!
It was bitterly cold but you better believe I made these three stand on the same street corner where their parents met 20 years ago.
Of course we toured the State Capitol.
Just the most beautiful building!
These 3 cuties enjoyed their civics lesson. They even saw Governor Evers walk by - very exciting!
We found a badger! We had to rub his lil nose for good luck.
We made it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. So cool that this group of justices is almost all ladies!
Roman says, 'Mom, I am going to work here someday'
Roman had my phone for a bit so he took a lot of pics.
The windows are so pretty.
The children were so impressed that I had my LaFollette graduation in this space!
Rotunda magic!
We were the only 4 people on this Tuesday morning tour so we had lots of time to marvel at the art work.
The last thing we did was stop by the podium in the room behind the State Senate, Governor Evers was just practicing his state of the State Address in here so the boys were thrilled to be in this same spot. Can you spy Leo's sweet face in that second picture?
Next on the agenda - a stop at our most favorite thrift store! The St. Vincent de Paul store on Willy Street will always reign supreme. :)
Are you ready for a precious Act of Kindness story?
When we shopped St. Vinny's it was pretty clear that a Comic Book / Games Store had gone out of business because the thrift store was full of Pokemon cards, comics, little characters, etc. Leo was obsessed with the card table - he wanted all of the things! I told Leo that he could get 10 Pokemon cards so he was really serious about making good choices. There was a nice, college aged guy who was combing through the cards too, he gave Leo a few tips and provided some guidance. ;)
We continued on our shopping spree and when we checked out the cashier said, 'Are you the little boy who was looking at the Pokemon cards?' Leo shyly replied Yes and she reaches under the counter and pulls out a package. The college guy / Pokemon expert bought this giant package of Pokemon cards and gifted it to Leo. Awwww! Leo was so, so happy - My annoyance of having a thousand Pokemon cards all over our van/home was replaced by overwhelming gratitude - such a kind gesture and totally made Leo's day!!
We worked up an appetite during thrifting so we stopped at Ian's for pizza. Lunch of champions!
Of course we visited the Madison Public library.
The L's loved all of the fun seating and reading nooks.
Be still my heart - look at sweet Lucy in the same library chair, 11 years later. Awwww!
Speaking of blasts from the past - I took the crew to Epic!
They were so excited to step inside the buildings - we definitely encountered southern Wisconsin during an extreme cold snap.
We strolled through some familiar spaces and went down a few slides.
We made our way to the newer Story Book Campus. But first we stopped to see the Asian themed building - the boys loved seeing the bamboo and the animal art.
Yeehaw! We strolled through the Wild West.
We made it to the Stories campus! First up - Alice in Wonderland.
The boys pretended to be the Queen of Hearts.
We slid down the rabbit hole!
They had all kinds of cool spaces underneath the rabbit hole.
We visited the Wizard of Oz - definitely a hit with the my ‘Wicked’ loving kiddos.
We found Sci Fi!
The cutest alien band! ;)
After the space / sci fi zone we stumbled into the Mystery building.
This spot was very cozy except - can you see that creepy Slappy doll on the shelf? I would not like to work with him staring over my shoulder. Yikes!
We made our way to Jules Vernes-land. By the way, we took over 14000 steps on this day!
Next up - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You know my love of Willy Wonka runs deep.
Roman enjoyed goofing around with this pretend 'edible' wallpaper.
This is the point of our tour where the kids were nearing the end of their ropes with the steps. :) We checked out a few fairy tales and turned around.
We made one last stop before we left Verona - my old building Borealis. I am happy to say that they added to the decor in this space - loved the carpet and the new paintings.
Guess what - here's my old office! I spent many years working here and many hours pumping for my 2 big kids in this very room!
Back to the hotel we went - with tired feet and happy hearts.
We spent the evening puzzling and swimming.
During our last morning in Madison we ventured out to the zoo.
If you squint you might be able to see a tiger back there!
We went to the primate house.
Roman is our biggest animal lover!
My little monkeys loved watching the real monkeys on this day.
Next up - the birds!
Lucy and Roman loved walking through this exhibit when they were babies.
These birdies were quite loud when they were squawking and were free to fly about the habitat, oftentimes very close to the visitors. Let's just say that Leo was not a fan and ready to squeal his tires outta there!
We saw the polar bears - they were probably enjoying the weather on this frigid day!
We love the Henry Vilas Zoo!
I have pictures of the bigs when they were just tiny standing by this turtle - you better believe that we made our way through the reptile house. The boys especially loved all of the snakes and lizards.
It was a chilly but wonderful morning.
We had lunch - sushi for the win!
And we watched Wild Robot at the movie theater as we waited for Dan to finish his work day. Can you tell that Leo got a lil bat from the zoo who enjoyed the film as well? Heehee. It was another fun day and, just like that, our vacation was over.
I know I say this every time I visit Madison but Dang! I hope one of these kiddos lands in this city! Love to visit this special place.
