Trip Up to Door County

John grew up vacationing in Door County, and every year that we've been married, we've gone up there, too. John's aunt and uncle, Kay and John, rent a cabin a street from the water for 2 months in the summer to get away from the Florida heat. They generously invite us to stay with them, and we gladly accept!

In case you are wondering, Door County is the little peninsula that juts out in between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. It's about 4 hours from Madison to where we stay in Door County (5 hours when having to stop with LE).

(Map image not mine.)

Kay and John's cabin is on the bay side and has a water view. It's steps away to the rocky water's edge, which is the perfect place to watch the sun set over the bay.

Fast forward two evenings later... 

There are a few small beaches on the bay side, too.  We spent one afternoon at the beach down the road from the cabin. LE wasn't exactly fond of the water, but she did enjoy slowly shoveling sand into her bucket. It took her about 20 minutes to fill it each time.

The lake side doesn't have beautiful sunsets, but the sand and water are beautiful. We stopped by on our way out of town for LE to put her feet in the sand like she did for the first time 11 months ago.

Of course, we stopped by the Yum Yum Tree candy shop and Wilson's Restaurant, just like previous years. They remain completely unchanged. We don't have any photos of it, but another tradition is to stop at The Main Course kitchen shop to buy some kitchen gadgets from John's cousin. Every item we've gotten from there has turned out to be a can't-live-without kitchen item. Seriously.

Back at the cabin, we continued the tradition of feeding the chipmunks, working on puzzles, and enjoying big breakfasts.

This year was the first time we went to The Farm, which is a big farm that allows you to pet and feed their animals.

I'm fairly certain that this is the largest horse I've ever seen. 

LE really enjoyed pretending to drive.

At the end of our trip, we took a couple of family photos. 

LE was a bit distracted by looking for chipmunks.

Thanks for a great trip, Kay and John!

And just for fun...

Look at how much LE has changed in 11 months!

And, as a side note, last year we came up in September when it was apple picking season. We stopped on the way up to pick apples. This year, instead of apples, we went clothes picking at the outlet mall. We ended up with something like 4 pairs of shoes for LE among other things.

Aren't these the cutest little bitty Merrells you've ever seen? 

Summer On-the-Road Survival Kit + Free Paper City Printables

LE and I are spending more and more time away from the house now that the sun has decided to stick around Madison. There are a few extra things to keep in the car for impromptu park visits, outdoor naps, and play stops.  Since John and I switch cars back and forth a fair amount in the warmer months (we both prefer the one with the sun roof), we needed a solution to make the switch easy.

My favorite way of keeping things organized with all of the extra stuff for LE during road trips is by using a big clear plastic bin, labeled with the contents inside the lid. While we're away from the home, we use the bin as her play center and then when it's time to go, we can always make sure that we leave with everything that we arrived with.

It only made sense to create a bin to transfer from car to car. filled with  the summer surplus. That way, we'll always have our Summer On-the-Road Survival Kit with us without going through the effort of taking out everything one by one.

Here's what our kit includes:

• small blanket to cover the grass for picnics or outdoor naps
• towel for after we splash in the water or get dirty
• swim diaper-- you never know if the splash pad calls our name when we're out
• sunscreen
• first aid kit
• point & shoot digital camera
• snacks
• umbrella to shield the sun at picnics or naps
• book 
• token toy
• bucket
• insect repellent wipes
• diaper clutch
• sunhat

What would you put in yours?

If LE were a year or two older, I'd be inclined to keep paper cities with us, too. Not just for the summer, but really any time that there's a possibility of being away from the home with limited entertainment.

Have you seen the paper cities at Made by Joel? He has free printouts for cities, people, helicopters, cars, etc. The kids color them in, cut them out (or you do), crease them to get it to stand, and then they have a super portable city to play with! He has a lot of inexpensive, creative ideas for imaginative play time. You should go check it out if you haven't already.

All paper city photos are from the Made by Joel website.


Here's where I linked up!

Saturday & Sunday in Door County

I left out this photo from Friday night. LE was tuckered out and rested
in Grunkle John's arms while Graunty Kay finished making dinner.

Well, despite our hopes, Saturday turned out to be a gloomy day. It rained all morning, as forecasted, but then it continued to rain on throughout the afternoon and evening as well, which was not forecasted. This was no real surprise to me, of course, since this was my third trip up to Door County and this was the third trip that it was rainy and cold. At least this time it wasn't super cold like in the past.

Watching the chipmunk stuff his cheeks
(or, if you ask Grunkle John, it was the ground squirrel)

The five of us (Graunty Kay, Grunkle John, John, LE, and me) went to breakfast at the Sandpiper in Bailey's Harbor. They have pancakes as large as a platter. John and I split one of their meals, which included two eggs over medium, two outrageously large pancakes, hashbrowns, and bacon. I can't believe any one human being could eat that on his own. 

Naturally, we did what anyone would do in a food coma on a rainy day: napped. Admittedly, our nap was the shortest because LE wasn't in the mood to sleep. John, LE, and I headed out to Fish Creek to visit Julie,  John's second cousin twice removed (or whatever she is; I can't get it right and John corrects me every time). Julie runs a kitchen gadget shop there, and it's always impossible to leave there without realizing your "need" for a new gadget. It was good to see her and to have LE meet another relative.

We drove to Wilson's Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlor in Ephraim. Wilson's has been around in one way or another since 1906, and remains a cute place to stop for lunch with soda-fountain whimsy with juke boxes on every table (albeit they were all out of order this time around). John and I shared a reuben and a scoop of chocolate peanut butter ice cream.  Even though the one scoop was more than enough for the two of us, we somehow managed to finish it. We wouldn't want to waste, right? Apparently, we don't want a waist, either. (That was bad, I know.)

This photo would have been cooler if the new cars weren't there.

We spent the rest of the day lounging at The Little One, working on Kay's obnoxiously unfulfilling puzzle, reading, and doing a lot of sitting before getting ready to leave the cabin once more for the night to get an early dinner at Coyote Roadhouse on Kangaroo Lake. We finished the night off with vanilla ice cream and a freshly made cherry pie with cherries from Door County (a.k.a. the key to my heart).

On Sunday morning, we had a lazy morning recovering from the busy weekend. We were really tired despite the fact that we didn't do much. I know that I was tired because LE wasn't sleeping very well there, and now that I think about it, I guess John was tired because he was still recovering from working nights the week before.


Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day! John, LE, and I drove out to where the Reis' tend to vacation-- White Fish Bay on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. That's where LE got her first experience of the beach. John took her for a long walk down the beach while I read in solitude. The beach only had a handful of people there since it was the weekend after Labor Day and school just started back.

LE was thrilled to be there. Can't you see the excitement in her face?

Toes in the sand. Ahhhhh. 

We drove up the east side to the Yum Yum Tree, a candy store that has a bathtub filled with taffy.
We stop there every time we go up to Door County. 

Then we cut across the peninsula to Sister Bay to stop to take pictures (but not eat) at Al Johnson's,
a restaurant that's famous for its goats on the roof.

Across the street is the marina, which is beautiful. I think Sister Bay is my favorite place in Door County.

We took one family photo at the cabin before heading out.

LE helped us pack up the last bag in the trunk.

It was a great, relaxing trip. Thanks for letting us stay with you, John and Kay!

Door County (continued)

After the orchard, we continued our drive through Green Bay and onto Door County. It was a beautiful day to drive.

Hi Door County!

Are we there yet?

We made it! This is the name of the cabin.

It was just dusk when we arrived. We said hello to Graunty Kay and Grunkle John (great aunty = graunty, great uncle = grunkle). LE played for a few minutes on the ground.

Wasn't much longer before LE, John, and I walked the few feet from the cabin to Green Bay.

LE rides in style.

Goodnight, sun! We'll see you tomorrow.