Last Minute Weekend Plans!

Did you know how much we love Door County?
This last weekend, we made an impromptu day trip to DC and had an amazing day. The weather was wonderful, Sweetie Pies had the "right" pie available, the girls got to swim in Lake Michigan and we made many great family memories.

Above is the picture from our 2nd stop....the 1st stop was to one of my favorite stores, The Lang Store in Sturgeon Bay. We ALL always go in to shop.... "OK girls...what are the rules? No running, no touching, stay by mommy and daddy...." and this time, guess what the clerk said when we were browsing the store?: "Are you the family from Appleton?!" I have no idea WHY they would remember our large family with 3 girls and 1 "poor" boy....

But back to the first picture: Ava is my pie girl...and I think the upper pictures tell it all--she was in heaven with her piece of cherry pie. The big girls? They were happy to just be out of the van and able to run around the Settlement Shops' grass.

Our original plan was this: Katie and Ava get out for pie; Andy feeds Colin his lunch in the van. Well....Katie and Ava were about 10 feet away from the van when we heard "Wait Mom! I'm coming too!" (Jayna) We made it another 10 feet and "Guys wait! I want to come too!" (Ellie) and then as we were getting our pie...."Girls, why don't you invite Daddy to feed Colin by us?!?!?!"....and hence, the photo sequence of Colin eating was created! Colin is quite obsessed with berries....I have no idea where that obsession comes from...

After our pie fix, we traveled into Fish Creek....another "given" when we go to DC: The Candy Store. However, as we parked the van, Jayna spotted these MASSIVE turtles....with a massive price tag as well! $900 for the lovely little yard ornament she is kneeling next to!

The girls by the geranium flowers was SUPPOSED to be all 4 children....instead, it was just the girls and Colin's displeasure with the photo shoot provided much entertainment to all who were hanging out near the candy store!

Colin fell in love with the Sesame Street stuffed characters in the candy store--we have no idea how he knows them--he's never seen the show! We did find ourselves caving and buying him his very own cuddly Grover....

We were also trying to find the sand dunes....again, we didn't really succeed. I guess we'll have to go back another day! We made our first water stop at the caves. This time, the water was still freezing, but it was enjoyable to be splashing down by the waves. It was very comical to see the big waves just appear at the girls' legs and see their reactions.

After the fun walking around the caves, we entered the state park...to find the dunes...we did find a beach, and we told the girls they could stand in the water. It was like ice cubes....freezing! The girls would try to stand in it and quickly run out. And all of a sudden, there was Jayna--WAY out standing in the Lake! (see upper left photo) The girls had a blast swimming in their clothes and making sand castles...what a memory!

On Sunday, after naps, we made our first trip to the Neenah fountains. Ellie woke up in the morning and said "Well....it's Sunday, and we ALWAYS go to the fountains on Sundays!" We went and enjoyed the water and had a (windy) picnic up on top of the pavilion. The girls mainly had the fountains to themselves and enjoyed running and splashing through the water.

After a couple of hours, Colin discovered another new love: crawling on cement. His legs look horrible and he is not fazed by the scraping of his skin. I think he is trying to set a record for "oldest crawler"....

And speaking of Colin....here he is experiencing the fountains for the first time--he didn't love it so much (left photo) but grew to love them (right photo). And how about his snazzy shirt?!?!??!