Wisconsin Vacation

We made our yearly journey to our family cottage in Wisconsin at the end of July. We packed up the girls Friday evening and drove overnight to arrive around breakfast Saturday morning. The girls were so excited to spend the week hanging out at the cottage and swimming.

Each morning, we would putz around the yard and enjoy the quiet mornings. One of the mornings, my dad, Ida, and I went over to the neighbor's yard and walked around their boardwalk area. There are mounds of moss all over the ground and it is so neat. I would love to have a moss garden like that.

Cora learned to swim this summer, so she was most looking forward to swimming in the lake. She swam all day every day. As soon as it was warm-ish enough to swim, she would be suited up and ready to go. Ida would take a bit longer to warm up to the water, but also loved spending our afternoons in the water.

Towards the end of our vacation, we took our army of kayaks out and Ida really loved riding along on kayak adventures. There is a little cove close to our cottage and I love going over there and checking out the lily pads.

Cora was always off hanging out with my parents and brother, so I spent a lot of one-on-one time with Ida... which is also why most of my pictures are of Ida. I loved getting to spend so much time with her goofy self and watching her enjoy everything the cottage has to offer.

Towards the end of the week, my Aunt and Uncle invited us over to pick blueberries at their cottage. Cora loved running around grabbing all of the berries in sight... and Ida loved tasting all of the blueberries.

We had a wonderful relaxing week. The girls had the best time running around, swimming, and enjoying all of the family together time.

See previous Wisconsin vacation posts here.

2019 Summer To Do List

We've never really done a seasonal bucket list before, but figured this is the time to start. My schedule is more flexible than ever and our kids are at an age where it is much easier to get out and about and enjoy activities as a family. I had a couple things around town that I wanted to try and I added some of our favorite places we like to go. It was fun to get Cora involved in making the list and seeing how many pool/sleepover combinations she could come up with. I'm looking forward to seeing if we can fit all of this in our 11 weeks of summer break. I'll be updating with links as we complete activities.

+ Pool (purchase passes)
+ Bike Riding
+ Cincinnati Art Museum (Burning Man Exhibit) Phase 1 and Phase 2
+ Ault Park and hiking
+ Highfield Discovery Center
+ Zoo Trip
+ Sharon Woods, Gorge Trail, and Root Beer Stand
+ River walk and Smale Park (carousel?)
+ Lemonade Stand
+ Taft Museum (Patrick Dougherty sculpture)
+ Cookout
+ Bike Riding
+ Sleepover with Grandparents (double sleepover)
+ Picnic
+ Parade (4th of July)
+ Louisville trip
+ Farmers Market
+ Movie in theaters (or drive in?)
+ Dye hair mermaid colors
+ Face paint
+ Play date
+ Sleepover with aunt and uncle
+ Paint inside play cottage
+ Vacation... Cottage!

Walks With Ida : Tybee Island Beach

During some free time during our trip to Savannah last week, I took a little walk on the beach with Ida. I was hoping to get Cora to come with us so I could take some sister pictures, but she was too busy playing with her cousin. Good thing Ida is always up for adventure!

Ida was timid putting her hands in the sand because she was fully dressed. She warmed up and was running all around the beach... until she completely bit it in wet sand. She laid there for probably two minutes then slowly started digging her hands in the sand. At that point she was already wet and sandy, so she had no problem going into the waves to try and wash off her hands.

We had the perfect little walk on the beach. I got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with Ida during this trip and I love that I have these pictures to remind me of our little date.

A Quick Trip to Savannah

Last week, we took a short trip to Savannah for a memorial for my Grammy. My parents got a house on Tybee Island about a block from the beach. It was a much needed getaway and an awesome time with family. 

We drove overnight and arrived first thing in the morning on Thursday. We quickly unpacked and headed to the beach. The last time I was at Tybee Island was Cora's first trip to the beach so I was feeling a little nostalgic thinking about baby Cora along with all the many trips we took here while visiting my grandparents. This was Ida's first trip to the beach. Since she loved sand so much on our Wisconsin trip, I knew she would enjoy it at the beach. Ida wasn't really into the waves creeping up on her, but enjoyed the ocean when we brought her deeper in the water. It was no surprise to me when Ida wanted to spend most of her time playing in the sand. 

We spent a couple hours at the beach then headed back to the house where we had lunch, relaxed, and took naps until dinner time. That evening we headed out to AJ's Dockside for dinner with whatever family was in town so far. We called it an early night and set the girls up with a short movie. I love how they cuddle up to each other and get along 80% of the time.

Friday, we spent the day celebrating my Grandma's life. We had a mass at her church. We used to come down to visit my grandparents for spring break, and this was the church we spent many years celebrating Easter. Mass was followed by a reception and a trip to the cemetery for the inurnment. We had a couple hours to rest before spending the evening in downtown Savannah.

Friday evening, the entire extended family went on a riverboat cruise on the Georgia Queen. It was a really cool experience and a perfect tribute to my Grandmother, who went on quite a few paddleboat cruises with my Grandpa. We had a private room, so it was less stressful than I thought river-boating with kids would be. Cora immediately ran off with her second cousins and I barely saw her the whole night. There are 3 other girls cousins around her age and they are all the cutest! It was a great evening filled with good food, music, and even better company... Grammy would have loved it!

Saturday, everyone met up at the beach and we all played and swam and chatted. My girlies were exhausted from the night before so they were a bit whiny. Cora headed out to lunch with my parents and the rest of the crew slowly trickled off to their various plans. Eventually it was just a couple of us hanging out at the beach. I was just saying how nice it was and I turned around to notice the sky behind us was filled with black clouds. We quickly gathered our things and speed-walked back to the house before the storm.

We had another family gathering that evening before we all hit the road. Ben and I headed out around 9 and drove through the night. It was a quick three days, but we packed as much stuff as possible in during that time. I loved catching up with family I haven't seen in years... and the beach was a good bonus!