Midwest Road Trip Leg 3 - The Final Chapter

I know it has taken me a long time to finish my Midwest Road Trip wrap up, but I took A LOT of photos.  I said to Megan today, I'm not sure I can be a professional photographer because editing takes me FOREVER!  She assured me I could do it if I was getting paid.  She's probably right.  Anyways, back from that little tangent...

 4 photos of my independent baby that I compiled and framed...I'm trying to expand my skills!

Meg, Samson, Kayla and I headed up to Milwaukee on Thursday morning.  Kayla's car seat was inclined a bit too far while it was positioned behind the passenger seat, causing her head to droop forward whenever she fell asleep and Meg hit the gas a little too hard.  When we got up to Milwaukee, we decided for the rest of the trip, we would try a new configuration involving me with Kayla in the middle of the backseat, and Samson in the front passenger seat with the seat reclined a bit.  We figured this might be better for all.  Samson might be calmer if he was up front with her and I could watch and entertain Kayla.

We got up to our aunt MEMs house, ate some Culver's (mmmm...fried cheese curd), and had a relatively relaxing afternoon.  Thursday night, my aunt Karen wanted to set up Meg with one of her coworkers.  She (Karen) had convinced him to meet us out for drinks...us being both my aunts, both my sisters and I.  I told her I really hoped she had warned him to bring some male friends, because he was going to be overwhelmed with estrogen.  We got to the bar only to find out it was Ladies' Night!!!  This means FREE (yes I said free) Smirnoff mixed drinks and martinis, and free tap beer and wines for a whole hour and a half!!  We were thrilled.  The five of us had a really great time drinking and chatting and stalking Karen's coworker before he got there from the Brewer's game.  We met Lauren's friend Xai, and the guy ended up being really nice and tolerant of our antics.  I felt kinda bad for him since we had already been drinking a bit and we were a little rowdy (it's easy to get like that with a close family!)  All in all, a really fun night, even if nothing comes of it!  Unfortunately, I have no pictures from this event!

Friday, MEM, Kayla and I took a quick trip to Marquette so MEM could pick up some (more) free stuff for us. :)  And so Kayla could meet some of the staff who are friends with MEM.  When we walked into the gym, I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Novak who plays in the NBA and played at Marquette.  He was super nice, and loved Kayla.  He said his one year old son would just love her....hmmm...another set up? :)  After the morning trip, if I remember correctly (remember it was a while ago) Lauren and Megan played some Michael Jackson: The Experience with our cousins Renata and Ewelina.  (By the way, that game is awesome!)  Then we rested up to get ready for a weekend filled with activity.

Saturday was Dad's birthday, so he, Mom and Brendan drove up for the weekend.  We had some lunch at Grammy and Papa's and then most of us made our way to Summerfest (only the most amazing musical set up in the country...well kinda.)  If you live in the area and have never been you are really missing out!  We parked in the historic Third Ward and walked toward the park grounds.

 Some Third Ward photography with some HDR editing in Photoshop

Walking to Summerfest through the historic Third Ward

More old style scenery

We walked around, ate, and tried to keep Kayla happy toward the end of the day.

Milwaukee Skyline from the Summerfest grounds

Shoreline

My mom will probably hate this picture, but she was so wonderful pushing Kayla around all day.  It was so hot!  Plus...doesn't she NOT look old enough to be a GiGi?

We took a photo with the Bratwurst:

We also rode the SkyRide.

I love Photoshop!

That night we just rested up so Megan and Lauren could be ready for their half marathon in the morning.

Sunday morning, Justin, Brendan, Kayla and I got ready to head over to the race finish.  We ended up waiting for a couple hours in the hot weather to see Aunt Meg and Aunt Lauren at the finish line.  I started to get a little worried about them because it was so hot out, but then my Aunt told me that the race crew RAN OUT OF WATER and was making encouraging people to stop and walk.  Seriously???  I mean you know how many people are in the race and you know how many water stops there are...I feel like this is the LAST thing you should run out of.  So while we waited...I took a bunch of photos from afar.

Kayla and her Papa

With GiGi

With Papa & Gigi

Everyone took turns holding Kayla because she's a hot box...and it was already hot! With Great Aunt MEM

And she made a new friend

I feel the need to point out I took two really similar photos and merged them to create this so I had the best version of everyone!

And I took photos of the scenery:

And then...there they were...looking tired but still running!

Then I took a photo of my sisters, who I am so proud of!!!

I used HDR processing on this one because I wanted to highlight their sweat and how hard they worked!  I'm not sure I LOVE it, but it's kinda cool.  

Here is the original (edited but not with HDR processing)

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, and I took more photos.  Some of Kayla in her Aunt Meg trademarked onesie...#1 cheerleader.

And some of Great Aunt MEM and Kayla in her adorable gingham MU dress.

And in the morning, Meg, Samson, Kayla and I took the long trip home, running away from some big storms, in our new car configuration.  This worked out better we though than the way up, but it's still is a long trip toward the end.  

I can't wait to see my family again.