Newlyweds and Nearly Deads

Homemade ginger ale

Chris and I live to travel and eat!! It's rare that we go a few months without some kind of trip whether it be a long excursion to another country or short excursion in the US. Having a new addition to our family has slightly limited our traveling outside of Chicago this summer. Needless to say, we have been itching to hit the road. ARose is now the ripe old age of 2 months so we thought it was time that she earn her travel wings. (M was just 4 months old when she took her first plane ride to Florida.) We have heard lots of good things about Door County, WI and as a last minute decision we packed the car without an inch to spare (man, I forgot how much "stuff" babies require) and headed on a road trip.

On the way to and from Door County we dropped in Sheboygan, WI to visit our friends---Ed, Ti and their girls. Of course, us being foodies, we had to check out the local farmers market while in Sheboygan. It was small, but had the biggest napa cabbage I've ever seen. Also, Sheboygan apparently has a large Mong population (go figure) so there were several noodle/rice/egg roll vendors---DELICIOUS. Seriously, the best egg roll I've ever had!!!

I have to admit Chris and I were not overly excited about the trip because we weren't really sure what we would be able to do with the baby (without the baby there would be lots of water stuff that we would certainly enjoy) and we set our food expectations really low--don't know why, I guess because we didn't know much about the area. I'm happy to say that the area and food exceeded our expectations. Even with a 4 year old and infant, we had a nice, relaxing family vacation. Something we all desperately needed. The state park was fantastic. We had some of the best pizza we've had in years (in my opinion, this pizza was better than what you can get in Chicago), awesome pesto burger, pork sandwich and clam chowder in red sauce. The state park is fantastic. We all climbed a 75 tower to get a panoramic view of the lake then went for a bike ride. M handled the climb just fine, however, surprisingly, Chris was a little nervous and had to take it slow---albeit he was carrying ARose.

M is usually the youngest one in her circle of friends. On this trip she had her own room and bathroom (which she immediately filled with her clothes and toys and put her toiletry items away WITHOUT us asking). I think she felt like a BIG girl. She also discovered that on vacations you get to do things that you normally would not be allowed to do. Like, have pancakes with nutella, peanut butter and "smarshmellows" (as M calls them) melted on top for breakfast, smarshmellows any time of the day, smores, cranberry juice and root beer, homemade caramels watch movies in her bedroom. According to M, the pools were her favorite part of the trip.

If you are into outdoor activities like biking, hiking, camping, kayaking, sailing, fishing, etc., I would recommend this area. In fact, we would love to come back when the kids are a little older and with a few other families to camp. TRAVEL TIP: We learned from the locals that September is affectionately referred to as the "newlyweds and nearly dead" month so if you want the younger crowd don't plan for September :-))

We truly have the most amazing girls. I am especially proud of M who helped out tremendously every day by picking out clothes for her and her sister, helping get her sister dressed, entertaining herself when needed, suffering through stuffy art galleries and pottery shops. A nice way to end our event-filled, awesome summer!