When the Cousins Join the fun

Taylor had to head back to work but luckily he was replaced by 2 really fun cousins and an aunt.

Jilly came upstairs and was taking off her shoes when Isla quite literally attacked her.  She was ALL over her.  And poor Jilly who is a year older than Isla wasn't exactly sure what to do with all the adoring attention.  

Maybe Isla has learned this over-attention from someone.  Hmmm?

And since 6 little kids in 1 little townhouse are a recipe for trouble, we headed off to the booming metropolis of Mill-e-wauk-ay to check out a museum.  Those glass panels on the floor are actually a fish tank under your feet.  I had to move my boys along quickly because they were trying to break the glass to get to the fish.  Kristina's kids are much better behaved.

The fish tunnel was a lot of fun too.

None of the kids would actually touch anything in the water but they sure did want to be picked up to look at the fish.  Isla was all about sticking her hands in the water though.  She's quite enthusiastic about baths and this looked like the perfect giant bath for her.

Of course then everyone had to have a turn splashing.

We went to Milwaukee's science museum mostly because our Salt Lake City children's museums passes got us in free.  We were thrilled with the aquarium and even though the rest of the exhibits were mostly above the kids heads, they found a way to make them all fun.  Who really needs to learn the science behind something- lets just play with it!

The next day was another cold, windy Chicago day and since we'd done enough museums already that week, we opted to crash the unused church gym for the morning.  A quick stop at walmart for balls and snacks and then it was party time.

Sadly my children have no idea who Bozo the clown it, but they enjoyed playing this game.

And our last day since the weather was nicer we went to the best park around.  The boys spent hours climbing up the rock wall and going down the slide in every way they could think of.

Isla got to watch from behind the safety fence.  She's cute in her grandma hat though.  And warm.

But watching was only fun for so long and I gave in and let her crawl around on the very empty handicapped playground.  She got filthy but she was in heaven.

Backwards and on your back?

Then all the boys joined Isla.

And then since Grandma Tina is so much fun, she brought along ping pong ball guns and chased the boys around.

I mean serious chased them around.

It was hilarious.  She had the biggest smile on her face and laughed the whole time.  The kids did too.  They love being chased around.

One last trip around the house with grandpa to check everything out and then we had to say goodbye.  It was a long and short trip and so much fun.  We miss grandma and grandpa already and wish they lived closer.