Saturday morning, we were up at dawn to get a head start on the famous Madison farmers market. Here the girls take a break from the market to enjoy some sprinkle donuts. Yum!
All that walking and those sprinkle donuts sure make a person thirsty. We had a stop again for fruit smoothies and water before continuing our journey around the capitol building.
Mmm...strawberry mango smoothies...I give them one orange mustache and two thumbs up.
After our adventure downtown, we headed for Henry's personal free zoo. Unfortunately, the zoo was not open until 9:30 and since we were all up at dawn, we were too early to tour the zoo, so we stopped at the playground to enjoy the sunshine and some good old-fashioned Wisconsin entertainment. Note: this excitement was only a pre-amble to Uncle Bran's keg of Leini's.
Oliver even got to try out the big boy swings in Wisconsin, with a little help from Grandma. He was just happy to be out of his car seat and that silly pack-n-play.
These two fit right in with the other primates. We almost left them, but Natalie insisted on coming with us.
We had to stop for a quick break in the zoo for a rest. All that walking around makes a girl tired.
Giving Annalise a run for her money at the cutest Polar Bear in the zoo. 
The real deal.
And our own personal pink flamingo.
The highlight of our trip to the zoo...the seals.
Another wild animal in captivity.
OK, this one really fit in with the primates, except maybe for that plaid hat.
After our busy morning at the farmers market, the playground, and the zoo-all before noon-we were famished, so of course we headed to our favorite mid-western fast food establishment which was conveniently located right next to our hotel with an even more convenient stairway and sidewalk connnecting the parking lots-Culvers. Here Oliver enjoys his first Culvers bacon burger. Save some for Ringo, Buddy.
Annalise then stole some of Grandpa's Coke. Such a busy morning made us all famished and a little bit tired. Almost everyone managed a decent afternoon nap-Oliver slept for more than 2 1/2 hours to make up for anyone else who didn't get quite enough rest time.
After such a busy morning, what could top it off better than a good Baptism. We headed over to mass late that afternoon and despite all the afternoon rest, all the Mom's and Dad's in our party were pretty ready for the keg about the time the second reading started. Fortunately for us and for Father, Baptism was after mass and confined to a smaller chapel in the church. During the short intermission between mass and Baptism, Oliver took the opportunity to help the church out a little and cleaned the windows for them.
Three of the biggest wigglers waiting for the big event. They look sweet and innocent, but don't let their cute exteriors lead you astray.
We did manage to get one picture of the newest member of the Catholic church and her adult mentors in between all the pictures Oliver took during the baptism.
Here is the center of attention in all her cuteness. I'm pretty sure this is about the only picture we got of here the whole weekend.
After the baptism, we all headed back to Aunt Becky's to help them drain their keg. Since Oliver was the only sober person at the party, we gave him the keys and let him drive us all home. Unfortunately, this was the vehicle he chose to use, so it took us quite a while to get everyone safely back to the hotel, especially considering Oliver only knows how to drive in reverse and tends to go in circles.
Before heading home or further north for more vacation, we all stopped back at Aunt Becky's for Sunday brunch. In exchange for all the donuts he ate, Oliver was required to mow the lawn before we could continue on our journey. Fortunatley, he thoroughly enjoys lawn mowing and we can only hope this trend will continue for the next 16 years.
Natalie and Oliver took a moment away from their busy day to pose for a quick shot with the doctor. This leaves only Uncle Jim as the only outlaw without the title of doctor.
After departing from Madison, we headed toward the Wisconsin Dells for a mini vacation. We were side-tracked along the way by a train ride. Here are two of the restored engines.
Natalie and Oliver patiently wait for the conductor to call "All Aboard."
We all waited patiently for the conductor to punch our tickets and for the train to move. I'm not sure anyone was sitting in this same position by the time the ride ended, but we sure had fun.
Mom and the Ollie Dollie.
Grandpa and Grandma keep Natalie under control, at least for a minute. This was where the train stopped to put then engine on the other end of the train. We got to learn all about railroad hand signals and even got to hear the conductor say "All Aboard" one more time.
Here is our conductor and tour guide telling us all about how the engine will go through the switch.
A moment of sibling cuteness. Won't happen again until one of them gets married and the other is under the influence.
We even got to check out the caboose after we got back to the station. For an extra $3 we could have ridden on the caboose. Due to the rising cost of fuel, we opted for the economy tickets, but we all still had fun.
Natalie and Grandpa pose in front of the biggest snow blower in the Mid-west. After a record 100+ inches of snow fell in Madison this winter, we certainly understand the need for such a large machine.
After enjoying an afternoon on the railroad, we finally made it to Wisconsin, or at least that was what Natalie thought. She kept asking when we were going to Wisconsin even though we had been in the state since Friday. Apparently Wisconsin for her only involved giant water slides.
Grandma and Natalie tried out the compimentary moose antlers. Much better than the crowns and Burger King. It must be the shirt, but Natalie is looking a little like Madalyn in this pic.
Oh, and Oliver got to come to dinner too. He strongly refused the antlers though.
On our third visit to the Wisconsin Dells, we finally actually went to see the Dells. Here we are on the upper deck of our cruise ship visiting the upper dells.
Here's the Ollie Dollie trying not to launch himself off the upper deck, or at least that was Mom's fear. Notice the very safe looking '80's style lawn chair seating. It was very comfy although a bit windy on the upper deck.
This is what our cruise ship looked like. This isn't actually the one we rode on, but another in the fleet.
Some of the actual dells-sandstone formations made by the Wisconsin River. Another nice tidbit, the Wisconsin River is a brown hue the color of coffee. It is this way because not unlike coffee, it contains a large amount of tannic acid.
Our cruise involved two moorings along the way. Here is the nice sidewalk they built on the way to the concession stand and restroom. Unfortunately this concession stand did not sell any alcoholic beverages and the other one was not open. Boo hoo. Although I guess they say alcohol and water do not mix so maybe it was for the better, that and it was before noon, even in Ohio.
This rock formation was at our second stop. There was supposed to be a dog to jump across for us, but we had to volunteer Natalie instead. Oh wait, no Natalie jumping either, we just has to use our imaginations.
Another rock formation along our hike.
We stopped for a brief rest along the way.
Oops...right here used to be a picture of Oliver doing what he did for most of our boat tour-cleaning the window sills. Unfortunately, I accidentally erased it and really don't feel like going to find it again and then moving it here, so use your imaginations. It's similar to the church window cleaning picture, just not quite as cute.
After all of our touring, we needed to unwind a little, so after a nap, we all went down to the indoor playground and crawled around for awhile.
Even Oliver made it all the way to the top level of the slides. Fortunately, we were visiting the waterpark at a time when most kids were still in school and during the week when most adults were working, so we almost had the run of the place.
Here our two adventurers try out the canoe. It rocked back and forth if you jumped.
Even Ringo got in on the action. We all even went down the big black slide that went straight down from the upper level. It was fun until Mom wound up with a friction burn.
On a side note, sometime while all this playing was going on, Dad dropped the spare set of keys to the car top carrier. Fortunately for Dad, he discovered said loss the next day and it only took about an hour for security to show up to give them back.
On our second day in the dells, we went back on the Wisconsin River for a duck tour. If you are unfamiliar with ducks they are amphibious vehicles used during WWII to shuttle troups. Currently, they are used to tour the dells. I believe this rock formation was called something like elephants rear, but you'll have to be the judge of that.
The view through the trees onto the Wisconsin River from a duck.
The beach.
The view out the front of the duck. This is the narrow path we went through on our journey over land and back to the duck landing.
We stopped for a quick picture before moving on. This is what a duck actually looks like, at least in Wisconsin.
After promising Natalie a game of miniature golf, she was finally convinced to take a nap. Here she poses with her friend the pirate before we head out on the green.
Oliver has been working on his swing and is looking forward to the 2030 PGA tour. Unfortunately no one told him that Mom is probably not the best person to take pointers from when it comes to golf, even if it is just miniature golf.
Along with the pirate theme came pirate activities. We had to punish Natalie along the way by putting her in the stocks. I'm not sure how severe a punishment this is as her feet didn't fit in the holes.
Now Grandma might be a better person to take putting advise from. 
Oliver was so wiped out from all of this vacation and fun that on Tuesday night he wouldn't even let Mom put his pajamas on and just insisted on crawling straight into bed. I'm not sure how you get an 18 month old to voluntarily climb into bed, but he was literally begging for his binky and lovey. I'm sure this will never happen again. Oh well, at least we know he had a good time.
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