April Pics

Some more pics I took in April.

 The girls cuddled up in their beanbag reading books.

 It rained so much that one day a Mallard duck couple hung out in our front yard for a while.

 They were so cute.  The girl duck walked along, sticking her beak down in the water looking for stuff to eat, I guess.  Her mate never pecked at the ground, he just simply followed along behind her wherever she went.  She came up into the yard and circled around our lamppost and our tree, and he just followed right behind.

 Jim thought it would be fun to put Lena in the tree.  (Daddies are so weird!)

 Having fun at the park.

 Lena loves to climb this tall rock and make friends.

 Having fun with the Chryst girls.

My Birthday in Madison

I had a fun day on my birthday this year.  It was on a Saturday, and Jim's mom just happened to be in Wisconsin that day.  She and Roger were in Madison for a horse show.  She offered to take the girls for the day if we were willing to drive up to Madison.  We had never been there before so we thought it sounded like a fun adventure.  The drive was about 2 hours; not that bad.  We dropped the girls off with Grammy Tammy then headed out to a fun place for lunch.

We had lunch at Quivey's Grove in a southern suburb of Madison. 

 They actually have two different restaurants there.  The Stone House and the Stable Grill.  We ate at the Stable Grill.  It's in an old barn.  It was very quaint and rustic.

 Happy to be enjoying a kid-free meal!

 My meal.  I chose this restaurant because it was one of very few in the area who were open for lunch and served actual entrees instead of just burgers and sandwiches for lunch.  I ordered the Cross Plains Chicken: crispy fried boneless chicken breast with honey mustard sauce, and new potatoes smashed with cream, garlic butter, and herbs.  Mmm. It was very good.

 Jim's meal.  Pork Hanerville: Grilled pork shank lollipops glazed with tangy barbecue sauce and the same potatoes I had.  He loved his meal too.

 This was my dessert.  Not really what I was expecting.  It was called Turtle Pie.  "Topped with chocolate Bavarian cream."  More like a gallon of Bavarian cream with a tiny sliver of caramel and pecans on the bottom!  All I could think was "dairy bomb!"  I dug the caramel and pecans from the bottom and ate that, leaving most of the Bavarian cream on the plate.  Jim got a chocolate bread pudding and loved it.  

 I'm glad I did my research online before going to Madison, because we never would have known this place was a restaurant from just driving by.  It really looks like a farm.

 This was our restaurant.  To the left is the house where the other, fancier, restaurant is.

 You know I love the historical markers.

 After lunch we decided to drive around and explore Madison a little bit.  It sits on a lake.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but really quite chilly for the season.

 The capitol building.

 Despite the chill, there were lots of people out and about that day.  Madison is packed with bicyclists.

 Jim had to stop and see what these birds were.  At first he thought they were loons, but upon closer inspection, decided they weren't.  

 Never did figure it out.  After driving around Madison a while, and driving the wrong way down a one-way street (oops!), we found a couple of Goodwills and did some shopping.

 Before we knew it, it was time to get the girls from Grammy Tammy.  They had lots of fun at the horse show.  They got their faces painted (in case you can't tell from the picture).

 Eva the Pink Tiger.

 Lena the Ferocious Orange Tiger.

Here's a short video of Eva singing me her very own Happy Birthday song.

Thanks, Grammy Tammy, for making my birthday special!

The Girls' First MLB Game

On the 18th, we took the girls to their very first Major League Baseball game.  Some very nice church members had season tickets that they weren't able to use, so they gave them to us.  The Giants were playing the Brewers that day.  It felt kinda weird that the girls weren't watching the Cardinals play for their first MLB game, but the Brewers are a great team and are now our second-favorite team since we live so close.  We all wore Cardinals t-shirts and Brewers hats. :)

Miller Park.  It was chilly and rainy that day; thank goodness Miller Park has a retractable roof!

 Lena getting her ticket scanned.

 Love the face, Eva!

 The tickets were awesome!  We were nine rows off the field, right behind the visitor's dugout.  Of all the games we've been to, we've never been anywhere near that close to the field.  It was great.  This pic of the field is with the camera zoomed out completely.

 Zoomed in.

 It took Eva a little while to warm up to the ballpark atmosphere.

 Lena watching the game.

 She's already a great baseball fan.  I spent some time teaching her the ins and outs of the game.

 The Brewers hit home runs in each of the first three innings.  That was really exciting!  At Miller Park, whenever a Brewer hits a home run, they shoot fireworks and their mascot slides down a slide.  The girls loved it.

 Ryan Braun coming home after his home run.  

 

 Eva getting a boost from Daddy to see everything.

Eva sitting on Lena's lap.

 Snack time!  Soft pretzels are a ballpark classic.

 Licorice ropes were a hit too.

 

 With such a great view, it wasn't hard to stay focused on the game.  The Brewers kept the Giants to only one run.

 Keeping Eva entertained.

 A fun part of the game is when the sausages race around the field.

 Here they come!

 The hot dog won!

 Daddy and Lena doing what they do best: being goofy.

 The girls did a fantastic job!  We stayed until the bottom of the eighth inning, which is a lot longer than I was expecting.  On our way out they posed with Bernie, the Brewers mascot.

 We had a great day at the ballpark.  Thanks to Tyler for the awesome tickets (and parking pass).  

Jim and I are going back on May 4th to see the Cardinals.