Milly-Vaw-Kee, Day 1

That's what some people call Milwaukee... and by some people I think it's probably just my dad.  Anyway, we made our annual trip up to the Great Escape but the Lake last weekend on the 4th of July.

Brought along my homeboy, Eli, too. First stop was the zoo. Rode trains and carousels, saw amazing animals, had a peacock storm our lunch picnic. All in all, great stuff.

Okay, so wanna see something cool. Other than the fact we forgot which animal we were on two years ago, check out the below. First shot is May of 2012 and the one below is last weekend.

Before

So what was Pax doing? Well, first he was checking out the brown bears and giving them his "rowr" sound that he basically does most of the time he's awake (strong possibility he actually thinks he is a wild animal).

And then the coolest thing of the whole trip happened. So we went down underneath the polar bear spot to watch the seals swim. So this huge daddy seal would swim by slowly upside down and then he would do a loop and he would swim STRAIGHT for Pax. It was like he was staring Pax dead in the eyes as he would swim toward him all the way up to the glass and then he would swim up and rub his belly against the glass. He did this twice and then Dad took Pax up to Mom for a switch and while Pax was gone he didn't do it at all. Then when Mom came back with Pax and he did it two more times. Then we left and we looked back to see if he would do it again and he didn't. Dude was in LOVE with Pax.

And since you weren't there we're bringing it straight to you just like it happened, compliments of my lovely and talented and always bursting with fruit flavor photo editor, Dad.

 Slightly creepy, right?

So that was it for day 1. Day two of Milly-Vaw-Kee is coming up.

Old Milwaukee, Part 1

So since the NATO Summit descended literally right in our front yard here in the South Loop, we decided to get the heck out of Dodge this past weekend and we went to a little place about 90 miles north of Chicago called Milwaukee. If you haven't heard of it, it's known for a few things:
1. Marquette University, the fine establishment where Dad spent countless hours in the library studying (yeah, right) and didn't miss a class in four years (um...).
2. The Zoo, which we decided to visit.
3. The Lakefront, which is not only gorgeous but is a little less inhabited than Chicago's, which makes it a more breathable experience.
4. The Miller Brewery, which gives a top-of-the-line brew tour, not that my Dad would know; he said someone told him about it.

So we headed out on Saturday morning and went straight to the zoo. A couple highlights included:

This elephant, who they taught to do tricks in exchange for peanuts thrown his way. Here he's doing a little right foot dance move.

The hippo, who walked out of the water and not only pooped, but proceeded to wave his tale violently, thus throwing poop all over the place (kudos to Mom, photographer for the day, getting it in action).

And these chairs, which were pretty fun and a perfect spot for a picture.

Here's the thing, if you're not careful you can get lost at the Milwaukee County Zoo, it's a big place. But not, let me repeat - NOT if you have Finley Skertich with you. Magellan, Columbus, Louis & Clark: your trips would have been just a little more efficient had I been with you on your travels.

After the Zoo we headed to our hotel, which was about three blocks from the lakefront, had an indoor pool and we scored a massive suite. Mae and I snoozed together on the pull-out couch/bed and Mom and Dad had their own digs.

That was just a tiny little taste, just WAIT til you see what we got into on Sunday.

If You're Happy and You Know It...

Go to the zoo! That's what we did today, and it made us, well, happy. I'm pretty confident in saying we have the best nanny in the world. Notice I did not say the city or even the country. I know that's a bold statement, but I'm going with it. In fact, we don't even call her our nanny, we call her our best friend, Stacey.

She took us to the zoo today and we did what we always do with Miss Stace:

We made funny faces

(Solid tongue face, Mae...)

We mosied (that's definitely not how you spell that word but again, I'm going with it)...

We laughed

And then we made funny faces again before she went home... well, at least two of us did. This is our moose face with our antlers, and that's Mabel's "I know it's only 5:00 but I'm ready for bed" face.

We're happy, and we know it.

Zoo Days

So we took our first trip to the zoo this year, and it was as good as I had remembered it. We saw a bunch of animals, my favorite being the Sun Bear. Check this dude out, just chills like a 17-year-old girl at the beach on vacation trying to get tan.

Snagged a pic with Mom and Mae (though I think Mae was busy looking at Mom's shoes).

Then snagged a picture with Dad (just kidding, Dad... well, kind of).

(Side note: This is what happens when Mom grabs you a shirt from upstairs and Dad grabs your shorts from downstairs and they pack them separately and tell you you're gonna get dressed at the zoo. Thanks, guys, I spent the morning looking like a canary.)

Then it was carousel time. I saddled up on the tiger and Mae picked the panda bear...

Banana snack and time to head home.