Look out we have a 6 year old in the house now!
Six is one of Henry's favorite numbers.
For Henry's 6th Birthday we decided to go on a little family adventure to Wisconsin.
Our first stop was...
The Jelly Belly location in Wisconsin, right over the border.
We rode a train around the warehouse that included a few videos of how they make Jelly Belly's at the headquarters in California.
It takes 7 - 21 days to make one Jelly Belly, WOW!
After the train ride, we hit the Jelly Belly store complete with a tasting station. Henry tried a booger Jelly Belly, YUCK! Even more disgusting was the sausage Jelly Belly, Joe and Henry tried. They had to try some yummy ones after those horrible flavors. We couldn't leave without buying a bag of belly flops (the rejected Jelly Belly's) and some other fun goodies too.
Photo booth fun! Luckily, Henry and I got the border we chose!
It was a beautiful day in the the low 70's. A perfect day to go to the Zoo in Milwaukee. Too bad October 10th was a FREE day and hundreds of others were thinking the same thing. Cars were backed up for miles waiting to get into the Milwaukee County Zoo. We stopped for lunch and decided to go with Plan B.
Plan B was a tour of the Sprecher Brewery. Luckily, this brewery also makes many different kinds of pop. After the tour, adults get to taste 4 different kinds of beer in the Sprecher Beer Garden and kids get unlimited samples of their pop. Henry's favorite pop was Orange Dream. All guests get a sampling glass that is a souvenir as well. The samples were quite generous in size too. I even tried a couple of hard ciders. Joe thought it was the best $5 he had spent in a long time.
For dinner Joe found a fun restaurant called Organ Piper Pizza.
Henry was surprised when the organist called out his name to wish him a Happy Birthday. Then the organist played "Happy Birthday" to all the guests that were celebrating birthdays.
There was an old school arcade that actually took real coins (not tokens) at the pizza place. Henry is definitely a budding pinball fan. Joe loves pinball.
Ahh, a great end to a great birthday!
Happy chilaxin'!
Happy chilaxin'!
On Sunday morning, we squeezed in more swimming before checking out of the hotel. Next, we went to Discovery World - Science and Technology Center in downtown Milwaukee. This museum was awesome! We highly recommend it! It was reasonably priced especially when compared to most of the museums in Chicago and it was literally right on the lake. It was easy to get to, too.
This section was called Milwaukee Muscle. Per the website (www.discoveryworld.org):
"Explore the forces of power and new modes of transportation. Examine innovative engineering and design as you probe the components and moving parts of machines."
Henry really enjoyed the gears and pulleys section and...
...the flight simulator!
Guess what time Henry was setting this working clock too?
Yup, 6 o'clock!
Another fun exhibit in this center was the "Grossology" exhibit.
Operation fun!
Henry loved this station. Okay, we all really liked this station. We all made some pretty funny toot sounds!
OUCH, Henry looks pretty happy to be laying on a bed of nails.
We all tried it. It really didn't hurt. It was pretty weird though.
Joe and Henry are making music in the Les Paul House of Sound exhibit.
A cool view looking down from the top floor. Do you see Henry?
A perfect day to go for a stroll on the "boardwalk".
The boardwalk surrounds the museum.
A view of the Discovery World Museum from the Lake.
Henry thought we were at the ocean. Nope, beautiful Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, WI.
In the basement of Discovery World we enjoyed the Reiman Aquarium.
A jelly fish.
This tunnel of fish was very cool. It felt like the fish were swimming right at you.
In this touch tank you could touch Sting Rays and Bamboo Sharks.
Whenever Henry sees this picture he'll tell you what happened next. The black Sting Ray swam right towards Henry and came up close enough for Henry to touch it. Henry was thrilled.
I have plenty more pictures that I took during our visit to Discovery World but I tried to keep the blog at the highlights level. We went through 10 very interactive exhibits and enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather and scenery outside of the center too.
Alas, our adventures in Milwaukee must end. On our way home, we stopped at the Brat Stop for a late lunch/early dinner.
Finally, a trip to Wisconsin is NOT complete (in Joe's mind) without a stop at the Mars Cheese Castle.
Joe still misses the old Mars Cheese Castle (the plain ol' building that looked nothing like a castle). He said that was part of its charm. Nah, I like the new "charm" it has now. Henry enjoyed this final stop on our way home.
We all really enjoyed our quick weekend get away.
Happy 6th Birthday to Henry!
