Chasing Life's Sweet Moments: Our Visit with the Klipsteins

We recently had a very nice family vacation to the Midwest. John had not been there in over 4 years and he had always been during the winter months. The last two summers I have taken Chase back there to see our extended family. It was during these visits that I realized how beautiful Wisconsin and Illinois are! I had forgotten because I too had most recently been during the bleak winter. Let me tell you, it is gorgeous there with rolling green hills and lots of fields with things growing, and black dirt and beautiful flowers, and one of my favorite childhood memories: fireflies!!

We got to see everyone on this side of the family minus one cousin...amazing! It included 2 family reunions. Each of my aunt's that live in Madison hosted a party, and they did a fabulous job!! They each have beautiful homes that are fun to admire. We had a quiet lunch one day with my parents and my grandma. That was nice to have some time with her. Chase loved sticking her toes in her pool in her apartment complex.

One day in Madison, my parents so kindly watched Chase for us so we could have a date day and spend some time with Adam and Rachel. We had fun renting kayaks on one of the smaller lakes in this fine city. That was a lot of fun, I could see us buying a kayak and using it as a family. Then we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant followed by delicious ice cream at the dairy on the University of Wisconsin's campus. This is one of my favorite childhood memories. We lived close enough that we could walk there, we'd cross a huge bridge and stop to stare at all the car whizzing by below us. Then we'd get yummy ice cream and visit some of the ag/dairy buildings that were close by. After ice cream we walked on State Street doing some window shopping and people watching. That's like the coolest street in the city where the young folks/college kids hang out. The street ends at their beautiful state capital.

At the first family reunion we got to go for a ride in my aunt and uncle's speedboat. Chase didn't love it at first because it was too windy, but eventually she liked it. This was the hottest day of the week and my uncle stopped the boat in the middle of the lake and asked who wanted to go swimming. After watching my cousin, her boyfriend and uncle swim, I decided I should too!! So I jumped in to the shockingly cold water, and it took my breathe away! But after a couple of minutes it felt soooo refreshing. That was a fun treat.

One day we went with my parents to walk around Olbrich Gardens. That was a beautiful garden with lots of different flower gardens, a Thai garden that was sent over by the Thai government. And it was totally free! We didn't even hit all of it. It was huge.

We had several nights/parties at my Aunt Gail's house and they had just finished building a deck in their backyard complete with a firepit. Those nights were very fun because we had s'mores each time. And the ambiance of a fire is so nice. She does everything beautifully, so she had lanterns with little white lights and candles and pretty decorations for the 4th of July. This is where Chase first got to see fireflies and she tried catching them. Gail found us a jar to put them in, but once in there they didn't light up anymore. We've learned on Sesame Street that it is because the small jar cramps their style and they can't move around as much. See, tv IS educational!!