Beer, Science and Picnic

Yesterday we spent the entire day with "the family".

We met the crew at the Miller Brewery factory for its free tour. Has the tour changed in the past 15 years? I seem to recall seeing more of the process of -making- beer, rather than a lengthy chat about packaging beer and how much is made each day. The 15 minute movie aka commercial shown before the tour is roll-on-the-floor funny. If nothing else, you should take the tour to see the film. Maybe someone else knows if the creators were serious, or realized just how ridiculous they sound...
Since the Dawn of Time, man has waited for... Miller Time.
Ian had the requisite sample and all the kids got beer can coin banks. Not too shabby.
We scooted off to the Milwaukee Public Museum with the adjoining Discovery World hands-on science center. The kids had an absolute blast at Discovery World with all the exhibits and playing with my 11 cousins. My dad bought tickets for everyone to see the "Mystery of the Nile" IMAX movie which was brilliant, and we were just in time to catch a live show with a Disovery World fellow who did experiments with fire and liquid nitrogen. All the kids made their own water squirters afterwards in the craft center.
After about 4 hours there, we descended on my aunt's home and enjoyed a full picnic. Along the way we stopped at a farmer's market and picked up the freshest of fruits to share, which thankfully were gobbled up by all the kids. I'm still trying to detox the family by moving away from bratwurst and everything fried. The kids played the entire time on the large lawn with squirters and soaker balls; by the end Nicholas was thoroughly soaked. Thank goodness I'd brought laundry to do because by the end of the picnic we had clean, dry and -warm- clothes for everyone to change into. Elllie (one of my cousins) had also been sprayed and was miserable, so Katherine shared a clean, dry shirt with her.
By 8 p.m. we were exhausted and ready to go. Presents were passed out (Teresa, a cousin, and Jonathon both have birthdays coming, bu we also brought little gifts for all the kids) and we went back to the hotel. Some of the laundry wasn't done, so Ian and my dad went next door to the laundromat to run the dry cycle.
Cute moment: As we were leaving Irene's house (my aunt), Nicholas looked a little glum. I asked him what was wrong since he'd been playing so hard with his favorite cousins, Josh and Issac. He hung his head and said "I had too much fun." He was worn out.