My Mother's Day Weekend in Milwaukee at the Discovery World Museum and More!

I know Mother's Day seems like an eternity ago already, but I have been so busy I didn't have time to write this lifestyle post until now.  As soon as our weekend Mother's Day trip was over I had two weeks to get my vegetable garden planted and mulched, and then we headed to the Upper Peninsula for a spring vacation.  You will hear more about that in an upcoming travel series, and I promise very soon I'll do a spring garden post too!

Now, onto "My Mother's Day Weekend".  My daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren live in Indiana and my son lives in our area, so every Mother's Day we choose a different destination that is halfway for all of us...because I just can't stand to be away from my family on Mother's Day!  This year I chose my birthplace:  Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

There is a "new-to-me" science museum in Milwaukee that I thought looked really cool and that the whole family would enjoy, so we met there.

This beautiful museum is located right on Lake Michigan!

The first thing we did was have a picnic lunch outside the museum.  You couldn't ask for a better view than this and we didn't even have to pay for it!

On the way to Milwaukee, hubby stopped at "Pine Cone" in Johnson Creek because he heard they had a great bakery;  boy, did he hear right!  He purchased two items:  a Cream Puff and a Chocolate Glazed Creme Filled Long John and we split them both eight ways.  Everyone had more than enough to satisfy their sweet tooth as both items were huge!

I think Baby Elisha's favorite was the Cream Puff. 😂.

After lunch the kids played along the lakeshore for a bit.

The Discovery World Museum is a Science and Technology Museum but because of it's unique location on Lake Michigan it has an aquarium that focuses on the fish of the Great Lakes.

It's not often you get to experience both an aquarium and a museum at the same time!  And the grandkids even got to see a real mermaid as we were there just in time for their mermaid show.  That was a real treat for them.

There is a wrap around viewing deck at the top of the museum where you can get amazing views of the Milwaukee skyline and Lake Michigan.  The A-frame building center left in the photo below is Milwaukee's art museum.

Because so much of the museum focuses on the Great Lakes the grandkids got to experience a life-size sail boat!  They had so much fun running around this ship checking out all its nooks and crannies.

The museum had a huge exhibit dedicated to Milwaukee area musician Les Paul called "Les Paul's House of Sound".  This exhibit showcases unique instruments, techniques, sounds, and technology that Les Paul pioneered.  All the musicians in my family certainly appreciate this exhibit.

Even going down a spiral staircase is an educational experience in this museum as there is a huge genome sculpture inside the stairway.

The grandkids had their first Virtual Reality experience.  Atticus kept removing his head mounted display and looking around to see if what he was looking at was in real life 😂

But I think of all the new fangled gadgets the kids were most fascinated with this old fashioned Spiral Wishing Well.  They loved watching the pennies spin and go down into the hole.

After the museum, the fun wasn't over yet!  We met some old friends that we grew up with for dinner then headed over to our hotel to spend some time in the swimming pool.  The next morning we went to the church that my husband grew up in and is also the church that we met, got married in, and dedicated both our children to the Lord in.  We have so much history at this church, yet it has changed so much and is barely even recognizable to us.

The children enjoyed their children's services and they each got to make their mom a Mother's Day gift.

Grandpa of course found the most comfy chair in the place and felt right at home with a grand baby in his lap.

They gave all the Mothers a coffee mug, hair scrunchie, and a Crumbl Cookie!  Oh my goodness, was this cookie delicious!  We just had a Crumbl Cookie open in my hometown and I was so excited to go to it after eating this cookie!

 After church we said our goodbyes as we had a four hour drive home and my daughter and her husband had to stop at his Mother's house to wish her a happy Mother's Day too.

I hope you enjoyed this little snippet into my life!  

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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The Milwaukee Domes

 Now that I've completed my Myrtle Beach Travel Series, I can go back and cover some weekend trips we've taken.  Our trip to the Milwaukee Domes occurred way back in April when we went there for Easter.

The Milwaukee Domes is an iconic city attraction.  If you haven't already guessed by the unique architecture, the domes were constructed in the sixties.  There are three domes, the Floral Showcase dome (my personal favorite) which changes with the seasons, the Desert Dome, and the Tropical Dome.

Each bee-hive shaped dome is 140 feet in diameter and 85 feet high.

The Floral Showcase Dome

The Floral Showcase Dome changes with the seasons.  Since we were there on Easter Sunday, they had a bird/spring flower theme which included lots of Easter Lillies.

Although they had a few live birds in the other domes, this display included primarily faux birds and animals.  But, it was still soooo cute!  And I know if I had children with me, we would have had a blast finding all the birds and animals together.  Here are some songbirds on a fountain, but they also had them hidden in trees, in nests, birdhouses, etc.

Easter lilies were the star of the garden this Easter Sunday.

There were many items placed in this garden to attract birds, such as this bird bath.  I also saw birdhouses and bird feeders.

Here are some cute goldfinches hanging out in a tree.  See the thistle feeder and bird house too?

The spring flowers were absolutely gorgeous.  But it is always a treat to see flowers in spring after a long winter.

I loved this cute Fairy Garden.  I can't wait to make a Fairy Garden with my new granddaughter Alethea!

The Desert Dome

The Desert Dome is such a cool place.  I love the colors and all the texture.

I never knew until we traveled out west how much I enjoy desert landscapes.  It could be because I live in northern central Wisconsin where I am  surrounded by forests of pine trees.  I just find the desert so beautiful.  I love all the color of the various rocks and all the interesting plants that grow there.

The Desert Dome Collections are grouped by geographic region:  Africa, Madagascar, South America, and North America.

We did find live birds in both the Desert Dome and the Tropical Dome.  It was fun to spot them!

The Desert Dome is filled with massive desert cacti and trees to miniature cacti and succulents you can grow in a container.

Succulents are really trending in home decor right now.  They had succulents for sale at the gift shop. I bought a really pretty one!

Desert Plants take all different shapes and have unique aspects to help them survive in the desert heat and lack of water.

The Tropical Dome

There are 1,200 species of tropical plants and some tropical birds in the Tropical Dome.

Here you may notice some houseplants you may have growing in your house, along with some pretty recognizable flowers!

There are pretty bridges, a waterfall, and a lovely pond filled with koi in this dome.

This is one of my favorite houseplants.  I love the foliage!

Many plants that we grow as annuals in northern states are grown as tropical plants in warmer states/countries.  I love this Dragon Wing Begonia!  I can't even imagine being able to enjoy these beauties all year long!

Even though there are not that many flowers in the Tropical Dome, there is still so much color and interest with the foliage!

Isn't this enormous chartreuse elephant plant leaf just stunning?

Another gorgeous houseplant.  I have one of these plants...they are so easy to grow and take care of!

Some hungry koi rose to the surface when we crossed the bridge.

The bridge is definitely one of the highlights of this dome for the pretty view it offers!

A double red hibiscus flower.

Here is a view of the bridge with the waterfall in the background as seen from the observation deck on the other side of the dome.

The Tropical Dome has many plants that provide food or beverages for human consumption, like this banana tree shown below.  Isn't the fruit amazing.  They also have chocolate, coffee, grapefruit, guava, macadamia nuts and star fruit plants plus some spice plants.

I loved walking the Tropical Domes and spotting a gorgeous flower amongst all the green!

The Milwaukee Domes are open Monday-Friday 9 -5 and Saturdays, Sundays, and Major Holidays from 9 - 4.

The cost is $7.00 for adults, $5.00 for ages 6-17, and children under 5 are free.  Milwaukee County residents can also visit the Domes for free on Mondays between 9-12, and there are also reduced admission costs for Milwaukee County Senior Citizens and persons with disabilities.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!