Wisconsin 2016

What a great trip! We had an absolutely wonderful time back in the Midwest with our families. Once again, being able to fly with Grizz and all of his airline perks, and Gigi and Sara and their wonderful helping hands was a delight. I joked (not joking) more than once that the only way we survive is that there's five adults and three children. The kids were decent fliers - Adam gets a little squirrely towards the end and requires a lot of entertaining, but he's three, so it's to be expected.

We spent the weekend in Chicago with Becca and Brian and Benjy, who we love.

 We got to have a really fun Father's Day in downtown Chicago, meeting back up with their friends Sara and Ken, whose daughter Natalie was the co-flower girl with Ellie back in 2013. We went down by the Bean (which Ellie later called "the Wisconsin Nut" and played at the fountains/public art in Millennium Park.)

Ellie could have stayed there all day, but was also glad to get a frozen lemonade (Chicago style hot dogs for the grown ups) and go over to a new park on the other side of the highway. The kids had really struggled going to bed the night before (Adam was a monster) so I was amazed at how well they held up that day.

Good news, Ellie had friends to help her nap.

Bad news, the small furry friends had nowhere to escape from Adam.

We spent the week in Door County in a nice rental with Gigi and Grizz and Sara. We had plenty of bedrooms and more than enough beds, a nice kitchen and a great yard. The kids loved that we had a swing set, which they called their play ground. It was really a great way to keep them entertained - that and the wonderful VHS tapes of older Disney movies.

It was a fantastic week. We had big beautiful peonies blooming in the yard, and we could easily walk into Gills Rock or over to Lisa's. We ate ice cream every day, I drank beer and had cheese every day, we were able to ditch the kids because Grizz was usually home during their nap, and Gigi put them down for us one day so that we could take a whole afternoon to ourselves. The kids got to play with all of their cousins - Olivia and Sweet Baby James, and our big girl Hailee. 

We had a couple of good afternoons down at Sister Bay Beach:

We got to celebrate Juan Dog's birthday with him:

We went to the Olde Ellison Bay days parade, and Uncorked Food & Wine Festival

At every turn, the kittens had plenty of people to love on them and play with them. From Grandma Rosie to Baby James and (nearly!) everyone in between from my side of the family, all in one place. They collected bugs and rocks and dug holes and picked flowers. And Adam did eventually learn to go to sleep without a huge fight, and they were thrilled to share a room.  

Plus, did I mention booze and cheese for the adults? 

One of the funniest, most Wisconsin-y moments of the trip was on Sunday, when Tim and I took the kids into Sister Bay to see the goats outside of the Door County Creamery and have some lunch and ice cream. Because I'm so very fun, I let them get ice cream first. Yet that did not please them, because when we went outside to eat, the goats were not there yet. So, they cried into their gelato for a few minutes until LO, the goat herders came with their goats in a truck, and unloaded them into the pet where they hang out all day and get petted, as they learn how to be nice goats that give milk for the creamery (I think this a direct diss to Al Johnson's, which has only useless boy goats on their roof.)

So, they said hey to the goat. And then a few minutes later, the hippies who take care of the goats got out some twine and leashed their goats for a walk to the beach.

AS ONE DOES.