I'm seven months pregnant. I have a two and a half year old who goes to bed at 7:30. Let's face it - my New Year's Eve won't exactly be glamorous. (Although I may allow myself one whole Diet Coke, just to get really crazy.)
However, I am looking forward to a year of beautiful memories with my growing family. Here is my attempt at creating the quintessential Milwaukee Bucket List for Families for 2014.
(I'm positive I missed some things! Please let me know what I should add in the TalkBack feature below.)
- Ice skate at Slice of Ice in Red Arrow Park, and warm up with hot cocoa afterwards!
- Paint your own pottery at Art Trooper in Fox Point.
- Rev up a motorcycle (within the safe confines of the Experience Galley) in the Harley Davidson Museum.
- Find all 15 geocaches planted in different Milwaukee neighborhoods by VISIT Milwaukee.
- Feed the animals and reptiles at the Urban Ecology Center in Riverside Park or the Menomonee Valley on any Saturday or Sunday.
- Play with the worms at Growing Power (Public Tours are held Sundays and Mondays at 1 p.m.)
- See a bald eagle up close at Word with a Bird at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, every Saturday and Sunday at 1-2 p.m.
- See the 85-foot Kapok tree in the Tropical Dome at the Mitchell Park Domes. The Domes are free to county residents every Monday morning from 9-12.
- Tour the Milwaukee Art Museum with a free, self-guided Art Pack made for kids. Admission to the museum is free all day long every first Thursday of the month.
- Check out a family drop-in at COA in Riverwest.
- Take a family yoga class at Haleybird Studio in 'Tosa.
- Find one new letterbox a month (Don't know what letter boxing is? You should! Check it out here.
- See a First Stage show.
- Go to storytime in the Gallery at the Art Museum, held every Saturday morning.
- Go "grocery shopping" in the child-size Sendik's store at the Betty Brinn Children's Museum (Get in for free during Neighborhood Night on the third Thursday night of every month).
- Explore the exhibits by flashlight at night at the Milwaukee Public Museum for a museum overnight. There's a different theme each month!
- Hear the Festival City Symphony at a Pajama Jamboree at the Marcus Center or Symphony Sunday at the Pabst Theater.
- Check out all the Free Music nights in the summer. Check out the options here.
- Visit each Milwaukee County Beach at least once. Check them out here.
- Go galactic bowling at JBs on 41 on Saturdays & Sundays at 6 p.m.
- Enjoy the view of Lake Michigan while eating an ice cream cone at North Point Custard.
- Pet a fish in the aquarium at Discovery World.
- Slide down the Triple Dog Dare water slide at Country Springs Water Park.
- Fly a kite at a Gift of Wings Kite Festival in Veteran's Park.
- Make a snowman and go sledding in Humboldt Park in Bay View.
- Camp in the Kettle Moraine State Forest.
- Attend a "Tuesdays in the Garden" event at Lynden Sculpture Garden in Brown Deer.
- Go on a Butterfly Quest at Havenwoods State Forest.
- Churn butter, walk on wooden stilts & meet the blacksmith at Old World Wisconsin.
- Run around Possibility Park in Port Washington.
- Slide down Bernie's Slide before a Brewer's Game.
- Visit the Saxe Brothers Movie Palace in the Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear.
- Ride the Safari Train at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Family Free Days happen once a month in January, February, March, April, November, & December.
- Bike along the Oak Leaf Trail.
- Enjoy free kids programming at Milwaukee Central Library every Saturday for Saturdays at Central.
- See the model aircrafts at the Mitchell Gallery of Flight at the Mitchell International Airport.
- Do a community service project as a family. For some ideas, click here.
- Try falafel, schnitzel, and burek at the Holiday Folk Fair.
- Give myself a break from cooking and eat at a family-friendly restaurant. Here's a great list of restaurants to choose from.
- Tour the Jelly Belly Warehouse Factory (and eat some jelly bellies, of course!)
- Attend each one of the festivals at Henry Maier Festival Grounds.
- Tumble around at the Open Gym at LeFleur's Gymnastics Academy in Germantown.
- Rollerskate at one of Skateland's locations in Butler, Cedarburg or Waukesha.
- Spend a day in the country at Green Meadows Petting Farm in East Troy.
- Have a picnic at Hawthorn Glen, explore over 23 acres of woodland and prairie, then visit their hands-on nature center.
- Compost with Kompost Kids at their demonstration and education events, held every Saturday from 12 to 2:30 p.m.
- Go apple picking.
- Eat fresh food and explore local artists at area farmers' markets.
- See Milwaukee from afar from the Holy Hill Observation Tower.
- Ring in the New Year the family-friendly way: at noon! The Betty Brinn Children's Museum hosts a New Year's at Noon party each year on the morning of Dec. 31.
Calie Herbst is a teacher in Milwaukee Public Schools and editor of MiltownMoms.com. She received a Bachelors in Spanish and Sociology from UW-Madison and a Masters of Teaching Spanish from Marquette.
She has travelled extensively through the Spanish-speaking world, but her favorite place in the world is Milwaukee. She lives in Bay View with her husband, two year old son, Hudson and her two dogs. She and her family love to check out the latest events in Milwaukee and spend time at their cabin in Winter, Wis.
In her free time, her ideal self enjoys doing yoga, reading one book a week, and cooking with organic, local foods. Her real self just ends up watching terrible reality television.
