Grandma's Fall Visit

 My mom came out to Wisconsin this fall to visit.  One of the places the kids wanted to show her was Aztalan, and old Indian fortress/ city from 400 AD.  We hiked all around the walled perimeter and up and down the temple mounds.

 The best part of the day though, was playing at the river.  The Crawfish River runs along the village, and was used as a way of transporting goods, and keeping in touch with the other Mississippi River indian settelements further south.

 My kids viewd the river as a treasure trove of beautiful mussel shells.  Sylvia had a blast squishing around in the warm water and mud.  It was a perfect fall day, with the autumn color at their peak.

 Noel was at her best, hiking along with a stick, exploring for new freshwater mussel clusters. The river was so low from a summer of drought, that the older kids could walk clear across the river, with the water staying below their knees.

 My mom and I finally decided to join the kids.  We are glad we did!  The water felt great on our hot feet.  We too got caught up in the excitement of searching for the beautiful pearly pink/purple shells.

 On the way out of the river, my showed Sylvia how to make squishy mud worms squirt up from between your toes.  She explained that she had loved to do this when she was a little girl. 

 The next day we visited a the WI Historical Museum in Madison to see artifacts from the indians that had inhabieted the area.  Sylvia thought the maple sugar display was interesting. 

 My mom thought some of the games looked like ones she might need to try out with her 4th graders back in Idaho.

 We also visited Olbrich Botanical Gardens.   The Thai pavillion shone beautifully in the autumn sun.

 If there had been real elephants, we would have taken a ride... but this was all we could find.

      On another day, we visited the Milton House hotel.  It was hotel that has been used as part of the Underground Railroad system.  We were able to walk through the tunnel that lead to a cabin in the back of the property where the runaway slaves were loaded into wagons, and taken to the great lakes, to ships with sympathetic captains.  They shipped them to freedom in Canada.  (Unfortunately, I didn't take photos inside the museum.)

  After the museum, we went to picnic in the park across the street.  Grandma was feeling adventurous, and tried teetertottering with Sylvia and Mattias.

 We ended the day with a visit to our favorite pumpkin patch.  It was just starting to rain, and Sylvia was freezing.  But, the giant pumpkings grown around here are pretty impressive to somebody from back west, so I'm glad we stopped.


     It was a busy few days, but we loved having my mom visit.  We hope to lure her back for more adventures another year.