Milwaukee Mayhem!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Joel, Kyper and I headed west to Milwaukee.  We had been trying to get there for about a year and half now, but  it just hasn't worked out.  The reason we wanted to go--Joel's brother Aren and his wife Leah live there.  The reason we went that particular weekend--Joel had an interview with a hospital there for a neurology residency. I do not plan on traveling with Joel to any of his other interviews, but I couldn't pass up time with Aren and Leah, and I know Kyper would have missed seeing his aunt and uncle.

We drove out on Thursday morning and arrived our hotel (yes, an actual hotel) around 11:30am.  Joel needed to get there and be ready for some introductions and tours by 1:00pm.  Leah was at school and Aren was working, so Kyper and I had naptime in the hotel room.  (The hospital Joel was interviewing at paid for one night at the hotel, hence we took them up on the offer.)  After Kyper's nap we went swimming and went for a walk at the mall, which was right across the street from our hotel.  I was planning on hanging out with Aren and Leah that evening while Joel had dinner with the residents, but it ended up that I was invited to the dinner too.  So, Aren and Leah actually got to babysit Kyper at the hotel.  Thanks guys!  (I think it helped Kyper become really relaxed with them.)

On Friday,  Joel had his actual interviews--he had 5 half hour interviews with different Attendings from the program.  So, Kyper and I hung out at the hotel in the morning--had a nice morning swim.  In the afternoon we headed to Aren and Leah's apartment.  The rest of the day was spent at the apartment.  Leah got home and was able to stay with Kyper while I picked Joel up from the hospital.  We had an easy dinner at the apartment and then headed out to get frozen custard--apparently Wisconsin has really good frozen custard.  We all enjoyed it.

Saturday, we went to the Children's museum.  Leah had gotten a great deal on admission through Groupon.  Aren and Leah were excited that we came, so they could go and explore the museum too with a child. :)  Here are some pictures from our adventures:

Leah and Kyper playing in the sand.

Watching the bubbles with Uncle Aren.

Kyper loved watching the ball.

How high can Aren jump?

Kyper didn't sleep very well on Friday night, which meant I didn't sleep too well either.  So after the Children's museum, Kyper and I took a long nap.  Joel, Aren and Leah went on the Miller Brewery tour.  After the tour, we did Chinese take-out for dinner and hung out at Leah and Aren's apartment.

We left on Sunday morning and made it back in time for me to go to ALIVE, our church's middle school group, in which Joel and  I are volunteer leaders.

Okay, funny story about our sleeping arrangement.  On Friday night, Aren and Leah had given up their bedroom so that we could put Kyper's pack-n-play there.  This way we could stay up later than 7pm. :)  Well, Joel and I slept in their bedroom that night.  Ky woke up at 2am and went down again pretty easily.  But, then he woke up at 5 and was like "hi mommy and daddy!"  He normally sleeps until 7.  my guess is he wakes up around 5, but realizes no one is up yet, so he goes back to sleep.  But, this time he saw us.  We tried to keep him quiet and I think succeeded fairly well in not waking up Aren and Leah too early--we let him out of the bedroom around 7.

The next night, we knew we needed to get better sleep since we were driving home.  So, Aren and Leah had the pull-out sofa bed and got the air mattress out for us.  Yes, a 16 month old had his own bedroom.  While 4 adults slept in the tiny living room/dining room.  I am so spoiled to have such a good sleeper.  We had quite the laugh about it and wished we could take an aerial picture of their apartment that night.