Thanksgiving in WI

We had a great week in WI over Thanksgiving break . . . so blessed to have family that we love hanging out with!  Tyler showing Grandpa the finer points of playing the DS . . .

 One last story with Grandma before bed . . .

Uncle Mark and Aunt Ayuna got us some sweet tickets to Discovery World in Milwaukee -- 

super fun day outing.

 It was fun watching the divers in the tanks --

Kayla trying out the "bed of nails" . ..

Yep, she survived!

This was a gerbil wheel thing that used the energy created to somehow pump gallons of water????  (I'm a musician -- not a scientist!)  It was a good little workout!

Joshua on the flight simulator . . .

 As has become tradition, we celebrate J's birthday a little early when we're there for Thanksgiving . . .

 Score -- legos!

 The weather was beautiful so we had some fun, spontaneous, outdoor time!

A modified game of "memory" with Tyler and Grandma!   A great, much-needed week before coming home and diving in head-first to Christmas Light Show stuff at church!

Discovery Center

 Last week, we had a chance to visit the Discovery Center as a family -- the weather was great outside and we had a lot of fun inside . . .Tyler always hits the car first!

Gotta get those lug nuts on nice and tight:)

The nicest thing about having the whole family go????  Not trying to keep a 3,5 and 7 year-old entertained in the wood-working center yourself!  It was great to have Daddy along!

Miss K hard at work . . .

Chef Tyler and his helper, Kayla

 It was the first time we hit the outdoor learning area -- they had a really cool treehouse built around an old, established tree . . . really fun!

They also had a bike bath with different kinds of bikes . . . this one had no pedals -- Tyler didn't know what to thing of a bike without training wheels:)

And this bike was different too . . .

Happy Birthday Kayla!

 Well, our little girl is 6 years old!  Wow!  We partied it up for several days . . . she had her "school" birthday on Friday, she opened her gift from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson on her REAL birthday (Saturday), and we had her "family" birthday today after church!

So exciting to open the gifts . . .:)  A new necklace, a new lunch bag (she asked me THREE times before she went to bed tonight if she could have a "home" lunch tomorrow . .  . wonder why????!)

Sporting the new boots . . . so many nice things from family!

And a bike from Mom and Dad!  This is her first "non garage sale/hand-me-down" bike, so it was a pretty big deal!  It's a bit big for her right now, but she did great riding it this afternoon...so I think when summer rolls around, she'll be good to go!

She had requested a Hello Kitty cake . . .

And the happy spectators . . . Grandma and Tyler . . .