The Z Chronicles: Milwaukee Trip

One week ago our little family of three jumped on a plane to Milwaukee. This was Abby's second flight -- she and I took a trip to Kansas City back in July when she was 8 months old -- and she was once again a happy little traveler. Now that she's walking she definitely needs to wiggle around more, but we picked up a few new toys and packed plenty of snacks and she did great. In fact, one lady behind us commented that she would travel with Abby any day. (She said this as she gave a dirty look to the little boy a few rows in front of us who pretty much screamed the entire two hour flight. I felt so bad for those poor, stressed out parents!)

So why Milwaukee? We've been long overdue to visit our friend Jesse and his family. Jesse was working on his masters degree (trumpet) at Wichita State while Robert and I were there for our undergrad degrees. He quickly became a close friend to both of us and was the best man in our wedding. Jesse is one of the most disciplined and hard working people I have ever met. Not only was he a phenomenal trumpet player, he was also a marathoner. And a fast marathoner at that. He ran 26.2 miles in around two and a half hours. I can't even wrap my mind around that.

Shortly after our wedding, Jesse was diagnosed with leukemia. He endured long rounds of radiation and chemotherapy and the treatments almost completely destroyed his lungs. Things deteriorated quickly and a year ago, he was on oxygen and could barely make it up a flight of stairs.

Modern medicine truly is miraculous because back in August, Jesse received a lung transplant. Can you imagine? His recovery has gone very well and we knew it was time to celebrate with our friend, his wife Sarah, and their almost 4 year old daughter, Hannah.

First up on our visit? Food. But of course! Robert and I were huge fans of Potbelly in Ohio and we often find ourselves craving a "Wreck" sandwich. Sadly, Florida has no Potbellys.

Abby didn't want to share the chocolate malt.

After lunch we took the girls to the Children's Museum. That's Hannah driving the bus.

Then the girls made a deposit at the bank.

Here's a view of the Milwaukee Art Museum through the window. What an incredible building! Robert and I went there the last time we visited Jesse and Sarah.

Abby playing the drum.

And riding a motorcycle!

I love this photo of Jesse and Hannah.

The next day we took the girls to the park.

That evening, the girls stayed home with two fun babysitters while the adults had a night out on the town. We had a long, enjoyable meal with a great bottle of red Zinfandel and then we saw the world premiere of the ballet Mirror, Mirror.

Hannah helped Abby pick out her clothes the next day. If you can't tell, this girl loves pink. And anything sparkly or princess-y. I wish I had taken a picture of her in her church attire because she wore a Cinderella dress. She thought Abby's pink tutu bunny shirt was pretty great, too.

We went on a Sprecher brewery tour later that afternoon.

Cheese curds, yum!

After the tour and cheese curds we stopped at Kopp's for some custard. Yet again, Abby didn't want to share her malt. And not surprisingly she didn't have much of an appetite for dinner that night, either. Only on vacation, little girl!

See the cows in the background?