Friday June 22nd: Mitchell, SD to Green Bay, WI, Saturday June 23rd and Sunday June 24th

We realized the night before as I looked at google maps and the atlas that we could probably easily make it all the way to Green Bay in one day.  That would allow us to be able to show up in New London on Saturday afternoon/evening  for our nephew's graduation party.  And we'd have all day Sunday for a side trip to Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay.  Alex had been waiting a whole year to ride the Zippin' Pippin' roller coaster there.
Our plan worked.  We had a picnic lunch somewhere in Minnesota, which by the way has top notch rest areas.  They all have indoor bathrooms, a good water source, picnic tables AND playgrounds.
We crossed the Mississippi River at LaCrosse which is so pretty.  We ran into a few issues navigating some road closures in Wisconsin but thankfully were close enough to "home turf" that we could figure it out quickly.
Got into Green Bay in the evening, dinner and got to bed at a decent time.
Saturday morning we took care of a few errands, some repacking and walked to the park near my parent's house.
Lunch and relaxing and it was time to go to New London.  It was fun surprising everyone!
I have pretty much given up on taking pictures of kids at Ben and Nancy's house.  They are all old enough now that they just take off in a herd and disappear to parts unknown, resurfacing now and then for food or drinks.  So I didn't take any pictures on Saturday.  But I sure am glad we went and got to visit with everyone and got to see Josh before he leaves for boot camp in the next few weeks.
It was a late night and we did manage to get the kids to sleep in a little in the morning.  We took lunch with us and went to Bay Beach.

Alex rode the Zippin' Pippin' first thing.  Ben went with him, Maya and I waited at the picnic tables at the bottom.  He was so excited.  When they got done I asked him how it was.  He said "It was pretty fun.  But I hated it."  He liked the ride and the idea of the ride but did not like the big down hills.  He said he felt like he was falling out of the car or like his body was going down the hill without the car under him.  But he's proud and glad that he did it.  Just not in any hurry to do it again.

Last year was Alex's first time on the Tilt a Whirl.  This year Maya joined him and man, does that girl love to spin!  She wanted to go on the Scrambler next!  So Ben took her, Alex wasn't quite sure yet but after watching them he decided he wanted to go too so they all went.  They loved it!  (I watched, I can't spin in circles anymore or bad things happen).  For the first time this year Alex was told he was too big for some of the kiddie rides.  He can still do the fighter planes and the helicopters though.
We spent almost all day and $15 total!
When we got back to the house my dad was there waiting for us with Charlie!  We had a good dinner and a fun evening visiting.