It's raining, it's pouring...

The first bad weather we've had so far, and it meant a change in plans. We were going to see a farm and baby animals and pony rides and stuff like that, but it was all outdoors. So that suddenly came off the agenda. 

Instead we decided to go visit the Jelly Belly factory. What's not to love about jelly beans!!!

We picked Kim up in our lovely weird car and headed off to the factory. On the way we passed Racine - home of the Racine All American Baseball League team of "League Of Their Own" fame. 

We got to the factory and Charlotte and James were both immediately taken by the Frozen movie playing above one of the displays, and by the seemingly unlimited amount of jelly beans there. Or infinity, as Charlotte said. 

While waiting for the next tour we damples a few of the flavours - the new champagne flavour was yummy! None of us wanted to sample the Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans flavours though - earthworm or vomit flavour anyone???

We jumped on the train for the tour, to discover it was mainly video shown at each "stop" (or pause!) It was still interesting, learning about how they derive new flavours, how they make the middle and the coating, how they sort them so only the perfect ones get put in the packets, etc. 

They spent a bit of time explaining how they perfect the flavours, which made us wonder who was the unlucky person who had to verify the dirty nappy bean taste!!!

We also saw prints of famous Jelly Belly art - Elvis, Queen Elizabeth, the Statue of Liberty etc. 

At the end of the tour we were each given a sample pack of jelly bellys, and then we got to shop!

You'll all be pleased to know that, unlike when Kim and I did the Laverne and Shirley walk at the brewery tour last time, we totally behaved ourselves and didn't embarrass anyone. Well, that, and Max wasn't there to be embarrassed either :). 

After the tour we headed to Walmart for some more last minute shopping. Wayne tried very hard to get himself on the People of Walmart website by 1) wearing his too big jeans without a belt and almost losing them in the middle of the store, and 2) trying on a Tshirt by stripping off in the middle of the store. We haven't checked the website - did he make it???

Our final dinner in Wisconsin was burgers that Scott grilled on the BBQ. Yum!!! We hung out at Kim's for a while, until the kids were almost falling asleep. We said our final goodbyes to Scott and Max and headed back to the hotel to pack and sleep. 

Discovery World

Kim rocked up at our hotel in the morning and we all piled in our weird car to head to Discovery World in Milwaukee. This is a science and exploration museum with tons of cool things to do. 

Scott gave Kim directions on how to get there with the roadworks going on - but we managed to miss the exit and went for a drive over a lovely bridge instead :). 

Once at Discovery World there were some cool things to do, including looking at a massive Les Paul exhibit with not only his guitars, but also things like the recording equipment he invented etc. Les Paul came from Waukesha, not far from where Kim lives.

There was also a very cool aquarium exhibition, with lots of fish and things you could touch. The lion fish was very cool to see. 

At the top of the aquarium was a replica ship you could play on - which was where we discovered James had lost his shoes. Oops. So we tripped off to lost and found to report them, but they weren't there. They asked us what siE the shoes were - like I have a clue about US sizes - so Kim asked the woman behind us in line what size her son's shoes were. The woman thought we were quite strange :)

Next to the ship was an area about pulleys and levers, and Charlotte lifted a 100lb (45kg) stone all by herself. Pretty strong hey!

On the way out we thought we'd check one more time for James' shoes, and the woman told us they'd found them even before we reached the desk. Yay!

We returned to the hotel, said farewell to Kim, and Wayne and Charlotte went for a swim while James napped, then once James woke up both the kids went for a swim. The pool was heaps of fun. 

Then it was shopping time. We hit Target across the road and bought a suitcase and some warmer clothes for the kids (awesome clearance rack since winter was over). We also bought nappies for James - hopefully the brand we chose work out ok. 

We picked up some pizza that Kim had pre-ordered, and headed to their place for dinner and conversation. 

Travelling, travelling, travelling...

Up nice and early this morning to catch a plane to Milwaukee. We headed off to the airport with only a minor panic by Michelle that she'd misread the time luggage needed to be checked by and we were going to miss it. The worry was all for naught though, as the flight was delayed. 

And delayed. 

And delayed. 

For some reason the flight didn't leave Denver, so never arrived. They ended up getting a plane from Oakland - a whole 10 minutes flight away. Lol. So they had to get a crew and pilots etc to fly the plane to San Francisco, just to get off and be replaced by the actual crew. 

We ended up heading off about an hour and a half late, which wasn't too bad in the scheme of things. When we arrived in Milwaukee we headed off the to car rental place to pick up our car. Based on the success of our amazing mini van in San Francisco, we had booked a mini van again, but through a different company. 

Hmm. When you're told "sorry, we don't have any mini vans left, but we have this Ford Transit you can have, it's almost the same," don't believe them. It's not almost the same as a bells and whistles mini van at all. And then when they charge you for a 33 gallon tank of petrol (when you opt for pre-paid rather than trying to find a petrol station on the way home), well that gets very expensive very quickly!

We went straight to Kim's house, where we were warmly greeted, followed immediately by "what type of car is that?" "I've never seen a car like that." Lol. Told you it was weird. :)

We had a lovely dinner of fried chicken, chips (fries), and salad, followed by cooking s'mores on their brand new fire pit which they had built the week before. 

After we had finished eating we thought we had better go check into our hotel before it got too late. We headed over to Delafield and found the hotel - very nice it was too. Our room was only a few doors away from the pool, which made the kids very happy 😊

Here We Go Again...

....we're almost off. T - 4 days and counting.

We can't wait to head off travelling again. It's been 20 months since our last big trip and Michelle, in particular, is getting antsy about the whole no travel thing. This time though, it's a BIG one.

The itinerary in brief is:

San Francisco and Sacramento (to catch up with Nancy and Norm!)
Mukwonago, Wisconsin (to catch up with Kim, Scott, and Max!)
DisneyWorld!!!! Of course, including a day trip to Universal to see the improved Harry Potter World and ride the Hogwarts Express
A Transatlantic cruise from Orlando to Copenhagen, on Disney Cruise Line
A Baltics cruise round trip from Copenhagen, on Disney Cruise Line
A Norwegian Fjords cruise round trip from Copenhagen, and you don't get a prize for guessing that we're on the Disney Cruise Line :)

We will post updates as we can, depending on wi-fi availability. We're not sure what will happen in the 29 nights (!) that we're on the cruise, so we may be pretty quiet and then upload heaps at once, so keep checking in if you're interested in what we're up to.