I mentioned that the boys and I took a trip to Milwaukee while John was away. We had SO much fun and it really helped distract us from the disappointment of John not coming home as scheduled. It was the weekend before Halloween and plenty of seasonal fun to be had. We arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday (had to delay our departure from Iowa City until after Edward's final soccer game of the season.) After an early dinner, we headed out to the Milwaukee County Zoo for "Boo at the Zoo."

Same as above, but closer and no flash

This is a pretty representative photo of the evening--dashing from exhibit to exhibit in search of animals (a few were not sleeping) and trick-or-treats.

This is not a great picture of the kids (except Maggie!) but check out that pumpkin sculpture behind them. It was an undersea theme and yes, that is an octopus carved from a pumpkin.

There were also some more traditional jack-o-lanterns and plenty of festive spirit. A great night out and not even too cold!

The next day we met for Mass and the boys were very impressed with Uncle Chris's musical skillz. Which is not to say that they were extremely well-behaved, but what can you do? Chris stayed at church to get some work done and Ann and I took the kids to Discovery World, which we'd first visited during our brief stop-over last December. It's a great science/exploration museum for kids of all ages. We liked it so much we got a membership (reciprocal benefits will give us free entry to a number of other museums in our travels.)

The power of levers!

After that, it was home for some down time watching a movie while waiting to trick-or-treat.

 Yes, you read that right, a second big night of trick-or-treating, courtesy of a weird Wisconsin tradition of holding the event on the Sunday before Halloween. This time around, Ed stuck with his ninja costume and Daniel switched to a knight. Maggie was a bookworm, Katherine a witch and Abby a zebra.

We collected treats for a few blocks and then came home to lay by a nice cozy fire.

The boys and I went back to the hotel for a swim in a warm, but surprisingly deep pool. Even the shallow end only gave Daniel enough room for a few steps before it went over his head. They're both passable swimmers, but it made me quite nervous being the only adult.

We fell into an exhausted sleep, blissfully unaware that in a few hours travel chaos would ensue. The next morning, as I was on the phone with the travel agent, the boys impressed the Denny's waitress by inhaling their pancake/bacon/sausage breakfasts in about 5 minutes flat. From there it was on to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum for a morning of play with Aunt Karen who joined us from Cedarburg. The kids had a blast--here are a few examples from the 50 states exhibit.

Building the St. Louis Arch

Using foot power to make the geyser gush (loud!)

Riding a burro in the Grand Canyon (hope to visit for real someday!)

It wasn't until after three hours at the museum and an hour at lunch that the travel agent was final able to confirm John's ticket home for the next day. At one point, it looked like he'd only be able to get as far as Chicago, so I started thinking maybe we'd head to my parents' house (they were in AZ) for the night and then wait to pick up John the next day. That would have meant a late night for all, so I'm glad it didn't come to that.

We headed back to Iowa City (listening to the first Harry Potter book as we drove) and spent one more night and day on our own.