I hadn't been to Devil's Lake in years!
Book recommendation: Old Bear by Kevin Henkes
Recipe recommendation: BB's Spareribs
YouTube recommendation: Lindsay Mac
3. Vacation in Napa Valley
This year, we went a little bigger, and rented a Villa:
The week went waaaaay too quickly, though part of that may have been Chip and I joined the Faith Chapel canoe trip Saturday and Sunday morning on the Wisconsin River (our first overnight on a river with our kayaks), so we were exhausted on Sunday afternoon/evening (when my family all met at the campground/resort).
Some things were different (like cabin size (obviously) and free access to the indoor water park), but many things were the same. We again had more food than we could handle, though we did build in a meal made of leftovers, which helped use up several items. The pickle loaf (which is a horrible name for such a delicious sandwich) was devoured immediately, however, so there wasn't leftover of that.
We also still really enjoyed the outdoor water park called the Ranger Station, which has a nice lazy river (though no one did the basket dump this year).
The weather generally cooperated, with only one major thunderstorm rolling through Sunday night/Monday morning, disturbing much sleep. And we enjoyed completing a photo scavenger hunt throughout the three days we were there (Dad found the most flamingos). Oh--and the Marshes and the Bahrs met D for the first time, too!
Of course, before we got there we didn't realize we'd be staying in a FEMA trailer...
"At least it's air conditioned!" became our mantra, as it was a hot and sticky weekend. We also were grateful not to be in tents when huge thunderstorms rolled through three or four times Saturday. Next year we plan to rent a slightly larger cabin so we aren't all on top of each other. It's a good thing we all like each other!
We took advantage of water activities many times over the course of the weekend, the Lazy River and Picnic Basket dump being the two main attractions.
We did a lot of our swimming at night (hence this picture looks dark), as it was less crowded then, but the area with the 'fun stuff' closed at 9 p.m.! We always had to book it after dinner because we found ourselves eating supper at 7 p.m.
The wave pool also was fun--even Brin really enjoyed the nearby water Mushroom and waves!
We also took a morning to visit a nearby county park that had a lake because Chip and I brought our kayaks! We let several people try them out:
(does this picture look slightly familiar to anyone? :grin:)
A few other activities: Mom and Dad toured the Cranberry Museum (we were in the town that has Cranberry Fest at the end of September, after all), Chip and Ruhama hiked to the top of Castle Rock at the county park, Ruhama and Gianna did the chicken dance in the kidney pool, one game of Carcassonne and one game of Seafarers, yummy food for all our meals, playgrounds and Carissa and Bryan took a trip down the big waterslide (right before the lightning started!).
We had sooo much food this weekend!
Book recommendation: Machine Teen by Marc Sumerak
New product recommendation: Vanilla and Black Cherry Diet Pepsi
Recipe non-recommendation: Meringue Mice (Martha Stewart is evil!)
