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.

Thrifting in Iron River

During our family trip to Wisconsin, Ben and I got a chance to take a little date in Iron River. We checked out some of the thrift shops and had fun looking at every little thing. My Grandma used to visit these shops, so it was fun to spot things that reminded me of something she had or that I know she would have purchased. The thrift shops in this town had lots of duck decoys and fish stuff... which is not something you see a lot of in Cincinnati. I love thrift posts, so I thought I'd share what caught my eye.

I wanted to get a little something, so I picked out this little set of Brass Quails. They're currently on the shelf in the master bedroom and I love the reminder of our thrifting date and a little town I love.

Wisconsin Vacation Recap

Photo heavy vacation recap coming your way.... We spent last week at our family cottage and it was packed full of running around after the kids and enjoying lots of our favorite cottage activities.

Cora doesn't really remember much from our last vacation up here, so it was fun watching her rediscover how much she loves this place. We arrived around 9ish in the morning, had breakfast, then jumped right into all of our favorite activities. Cora wasted no time in catching her first fish and kayaking with her Uncle (remember when Cora was tiny and kayaking?!). Ida tried out the kayak, but was more content with dipping her toes in the water and lounging on the dock.

Around nap time on our first day, Cora asked my brother how long we'd been there and couldn't believe it when he told her we got there that morning. She said she felt like it's been forever.

During our first days there, it was Iron River's famous Blueberry Festival. We have never been in town during the festival, but have heard about it from family members. Sunday morning, we headed into town to enjoy the Blueberry Festival parade. I was expecting something similar to our hometown's 4th of July parade (firetrucks, kids biking, old cars, etc), but this was much bigger. There were horses, lots of trucks, decorated ATVs, giant pirate ship float, candy, and even people handing our cheese curds. Only in Wisconsin...

On vacations, I love our slow mornings. In our regular life, I'm usually running out the door right when I wake up, so I really enjoyed sleeping in, getting cuddles with the girlies, walking down to the lake, and having slow breakfasts.

When the weather allows, we spend the late morning and afternoon on the dock. Cora really got the hang of swimming this week. She was such a water baby and progressed so quickly in such a short amount of time. Ida liked the water some days and didn't like it others. She spent most of her dock time splashing around in buckets of water and making sand pies.

Cora heard the mention of s'mores and would not stop asking when she would get to try her first s'more. It took a couple days, but she finally got her chance and she loved them. She kept telling me "they're even better than they sound!" and "I never thought these could be so good!"

Looking back, I can't believe how much we fit in that one week. We also enjoyed a potluck with a lot of extended family, a hike, kayak and boat rides, a thrift shopping date, a visit to my aunt's cottage, and much more. I wasn't in the best mood a lot of the trip due to a bunch of different factors, but overall we had a great time. We loved spending time with my parents, brother, aunts, and uncles and Cora loved meeting a lot of her third cousins. It was fun to watch Cora fall in love with the cottage and see how much Ida enjoyed her time there. We're already looking forward to our next trip back.