A Blustery Cold Wisconsin Vacay

For our last night in Alaska on Monday we met up with our best friends and went out to dinner. We've made wonderful friendships while in Alaska and really don't know how we are going to handle life without seeing the Langes and the Schlechters on a regular basis. Most of all we are going to miss little girl Liesel who has completely taken our hearts.

Ben, the talented pano-selfie taker, Liesel (in the carseat), Camille, us, Liz and Jonny

We woke up at an insane hour of the day Tuesday morning to travel out to Wisconsin and visit my family. Only my dad knew we were coming, and after a full day of traveling Chris and I were more than excited to surprise my mom and siblings. Once we got home Chris and I snuck through the garage and down a staircase into the basement. My dad told us when it was safe to come up and surprise everyone. Their reactions - priceless. My mom and the twins were the only ones home at the time, and none of them could believe we were actually there. Emily even broke into tears (she's totalllllly my mini-me because I am definitely the biggest cry baby around). After the initial surprise we tricked both Josh and Jessi into coming over so we could surprise them as well.

The whole week was packed with fun and memories. Instead of trying to explain it all, we're just gonna give you a bunch of pictures to scroll through.

While out in Green Bay for Grandpa's doctor appointment, we stopped by Lambeau Field (the Packers stadium).

Emily and I drew whiteboard portraits of each other.

Amy (the real artist) taught me how to paint.

The finished product. We painted this for our friend Sara's new baby Wyatt.

We babysat our nephew Skylar one day, and he absolutely loved getting out and exploring around Lake Michigan. His favorites were riding on Chris's shoulders and chasing the ducks.

Amy and Chris went swimming..... kinda.....

Wisconsin didn't have snow until the day we came in, and it melted right before we left. Needless to say it was taken advantage of while we were in town. The snowman is friendly, the countless snowball fights on the other hand... that's another story...

Twinning!

In my opinion, bowling and golf are very similar: the person with the lowest score wins. In other words I dominated this game.

We celebrated the twins 16th birthday a little late and went out to this fun Asian restaurant where they cook your food in front of you.

Chris loves being an uncle, and Zeke couldn't get enough of their guy time together. He taught Chris everything he needs to know about Pokemon and every superhero (including their arch-nemesis) he's never even heard of.

Our attempt at a family picture... Skylar wasn't having any of it. Josh, Mom, Dad, Emily, Amy, Skylar, Jessi, Zeke, Grandpa Brading, and us.

Sisters!

Josh, Chris, and Amy went shooting one day. Amy may not be pictured but she was the best shot with the pistol. That's my girl!

Shout out to Amy and Emily for making such a big appearance in this blog post - you can check that off your bucket list. ;-) Love you girls!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Cheeseheads Andrew