Summer Trip to Wisconsin, Part I, plus a funny PS at the end of the post.

Yeah, yeah. It's about time I got on top of this blog again.

Every summer, we drive up to Wisconsin to enjoy time in Lac Du Flambeau at Paul's family's cottage on White Sand Lake. It is way, way "Up North."

Because Max is a little older now, we decided to take a few more detours on our drive up and try some new things.

First new thing: stopping in Iowa to see the Bridges of Madison County and have a little picnic lunch outside of the car.

Bridge #1. Excited, new, food following.

Lunch in the bridge.

After the first bridge, which was, to be honest, not all that thrilling, we headed farther off the beaten path to find some more bridges. Maybe not the best idea, but it wasn't the worst. At least we can say that we did it!

Next bridge: cool because still in place, but Max's interest was waning.

Over bridges. Gonna check out some Duke.

In Winterset, IA, birthplace of John Wayne. Max just wants to leave IA at this point.

No Rooster! Have mercy on me! Don't shoot!

We finally listened to Max and moved on from Iowa. Always a friendly place to drive through.

We stayed in Minnesota the first night, then headed over to St. Croix, Wisconsin, the next day to ride the Pizza Train! Paul found this train, the Osceola and St. Croix Railway, on the internet a few months before our trip, and we thought it'd be pretty fun for Max to put two of his favorite things together. Below is the result.

Outside the depot.

Osceola Depot.

Waiting his turn to get on!

At the depot.

The railway is operated by a group of volunteers.
On the day we visited, a small group was also replacing track. Pretty cool.

Conductor telling us the train's history.

Reading up on the literature.

Pizza! and Trains! Pizza Train! YEEAAAAHHHHH!

Pepperoni. Yummy.

View out the window..

Max and Mommy!

Inside the mail car. Pretty cool, I must admit!

Happy boy, with brownie all over his face!

Illustrating the art of coupling train cars.

End of the line for the pizza train.

Postscript:
Max was still working on potty training when we took the trip. So as a precaution, we took the little toilet seat with us everywhere. Well, we needed it. Max's favorite place to potty: cornfields. But only with the seat.


I shall title this section Children of the Corn!

Max and I exploring the corn, looking for a good place to potty.

Daddy is helping Max try to just go standing up in the field. It was a no-go.

Max ,going after he decided he needed his little throne to help.

On their way back from Wisconsin, Grandma and Grandpa B thought they would do the sequel, Children of the Corn, the Grandparents visit.

Poor Max, you all say? His mom is sure embarrassing him, you say.

Well, just wait until he's a teenager. I say a tech-savvy mom should also be considered a smart mom. Why act out when there is so much blackmailing material online that only I have the password to and ability to remove! :-)