madeline island

tuesday mid-morning we left hudson and headed 3 hours and 40 minutes north to Madeline Island. It is one of the apostle islands off the shores of northern Wisconsin. the drive up included a lot of crying, but we made it with one quick stop at a mickey d’s. who doesn’t like eating cheeseburgers, fries, an ice cream cone and coffee on a road trip? our highlander was packed to the brim. we had our rocket box on top and our bikes on the back. 3 pack n’ plays, 4 suitcases, a swing, bumpo, chariot, cooler, dry food, diapers…you get the point.

we arrived in bayfield wisconsin and then took a ferry to madeline island. here is charlie after getting out of the car. bill took him up on the top deck of the ferry while I stayed with the girls. charlie had just gotten his mitts on the TJ’s cheetos. love them.

ellie and claire. they were delighted to get out of their car seats. even if just for a bit.

after a quick drive to our little cabin we finally arrived! praise God! check out the adorable wood burning fireplace. the first night it was cold enough we had to light a fire to stay warm. so fall!

this was the main room.

the hard wood floors were a bit tough with the girls. they roll off of anything we lay them on so they would bump their heads. we ended up putting one of the pack n plays in the living area for them to “play” in. imagine that!

drinkin’.

doing a little book reading. charlie is really into green eggs and ham lately. you can see lake superior out the windows. it was so beautiful.

the cabin had kayaks and these great Adirondack chairs. so wish bill and I could have enjoyed a cup of coffee or a glass a wine while sitting in these together. guess we will have to go back ALONE next time.

here is a view of the cabin from the beach.

bill and ellie. the dock you see is the only dock near the beach we were on and it was totally quiet the whole weekend. the sand was butter and it was so private. we loved it.

this is my lame attempt to put everyone’s footprints in the sand. bills are on the far left, then mine and you can see little marks for charlie, ellie and claire. I tried, but it was hard to press their feet in!

wednesday morning we woke up and thought we would take a “quick” bike ride into town for a mid-morning activity. it is a 10 mile ride into town and it ended up taking us a lot longer than we thought it would (40 minutes). for the trip we had borrowed a toddler bike seat that sits on the back of a bike. bill had charlie in that and I was pulling the girls in the chariot with all our gear. it ended up being a lot heavier than normal because we had a bunch of extra junk along (diaper bag, tire pump, baby carriers, etc). the ride in felt like forever because we kept looking for a road that we thought existed. it really messed with our minds. anyway – once we arrived in town we sat down at mission hill coffee shop for some coffee and muffins. the town of la pointe is REALLY small, which made it easy to check out. we also decided madeline island might be wisconsin’s serious hippie capitol (these are not your madison southeast dorm ‘rastafarians’). there is probably a lot of pot being smoked on that island.

we had to find a quiet place for me to feed the girls so I sat on a log to nurse them. charlie entertained himself with this sand toy. this dog just begged and begged for us to play catch with him.

in the picture above you can see how the rafters are all open in the small cabin. there were 2 bedrooms with a bathroom in between, but there were not any ceilings on the bedrooms which made sleeping a bit more challenging. after we got home from the bike ride we hung on the beach and had lunch and then it was time for everyone’s naps (bill and I were dying for one!). things got interesting when charlie decided to not nap. he played and played in his pack n play. then after an hour or more of this he decided to just “pop” out. fun times. this is not the place we intended to have him start sleeping in a big bed. so it began…another standoff. charlie was determined not to nap and bill (and I – but mostly bill) was determined to have him nap. bill said he would have made him stay in the pack n play until nighttime if he didn’t nap (he didn’t tell charlie this). basically, bill explained to charlie that he was going to nap no matter how long he tried not to and if he “popped” out of the pack n play again he was going to get strapped in. charlie actually decided to have bill strap him in. so bill got charlie’s car seat and strapped him in and reclined it back and there he sat. he protested for a bit in the car seat, but finally fell asleep around 3:45-4pm! (he started his nap around 1:15!).

by this point the girls were up so there was no baby break for us that day. drinkin’ new age. family trips are hard work!

the nice thing about charlie sleeping late was then we could put the girls down to bed and build a bonfire and hang out with charlie on the beach. bill and charlie while the sun was going down. someday charlie will master the smile. I was putting the final touches on the honey badgers.

I was able to make it down to the beach just in time for sunset. it is so much fun hanging out with charlie on the beach. you can just let him do whatever he wants.

thursday our plan was to just hang on the beach. here is charlie in the morning starting to play with his “cucks”.

the water was crystal clear. there wasn’t any wind. it was just perfect. bill and charlie went out for a few spins in the kayak. I threw a bit of a fit about them not having life jackets on, but seriously wherever bill was the water was probably only up to his thigh. you could walk out about 100 feet without going above your waist. charlie loved the kayak.

kayaking is another thing we said would have been so fun without kids. we could have just cruised the shoreline together.

he so badly wanted to go out on his own.

after the girls early nap we got them into their swim suits, lathered them with sun screen and moved them to the beach. I was hopeful that they might lay on under this sun shade for a bit. yeah right! it lasted about 1 second and then they started up. it was just too bright and not fun for them.

not happy.

bill took the girls in to put them to sleep and I got to play with charlie. I would build something in the sand and then we would smash it together. the turtle, dori, and nemo actually looked different. the fire truck, ambulance, and pappy’s truck all started to look the same. you can see one of the “cucks” in the background.

smashing it!

thursday for lunch we drove into town. we ate lunch at the beach club, which ended up being perfect for us. wherever we go we are the entertainment. no matter how much I think we have it in control we cannot avoid drawing attention to ourselves. this eating experience was no different. we sat on the porch and it had a beach right in front of it. there were ducks all over and charlie was in heaven. he loves feeding ducks and geese. he basically spent his entire lunch on the beach with the ducks attacking him.

sitting next to us were these three nice ladies. they instantly liked charlie and were giving him their old fries for him to feed the duck. he would eat a few of them and then feed a few to the ducks. classic. then the ladies realized we had TWO babies! I had claire in the bjorn and ellie had come in sleeping in her car seat. ellie woke up right when our food arrived and it was so sweet. one of the ladies said…do you ever let strangers hold them? bill and I said YES instantly. before we knew it claire and ellie were being taken care of by the ladies and charlie was wading into the water. we scarfed down the delicious food just in time to relieve the ladies. 

by this point charlie was getting more and more comfortable in the water and with the ducks. right before we left he had waded up past his waist. he would have gone swimming if we had let him. we left the restaurant with 2 crying girls and a very wet toddler who didn’t want to leave. do you think anyone noticed?

here is charlie just getting comfortable.

this is where the girls played for most of the trip.

reading a book before dinner.

thursday night we had another bonfire after the girls went to bed. I love roasting marshmallows. the best is that bill thought he had found roasting sticks at the cabin, but they were actually shish kabob sticks. his hands were burning the entire time. he also speared his thumb at one point which gave him a serious toby thumb to match his twin toby toes he has been rocking all summer.

bill was the designated roaster. I just burn my mallows. we also discovered the most amazing mallow treat. you perfectly roast the marshmallow. pull off the outer shell. let charlie eat the middle. put a square of milk or dark chocolate in the middle of it. enjoy!

bill showing off the perfect toasted mallow.

charlie eating the middle.

the delicious nugget.

then to end our night we found a toad that bill and charlie played with. it peed on bill’s hand and that is all charlie could talk about.

saturday morning we packed up quickly and headed to the ferry by 8 am. we landed at bayfield and went to a coffee shop for breakfast. I had the most amazing honeybee latte (honey and vanilla) I have ever had. I am not sure if it was the best latte ever because I was starving and I knew we were leaving or if it was just that good. again – we definitely drew some attention while we were in bayfield, but I guess I just need to get used to it. around 10 am we hit the road to go back to hudson. bill and I were talking about our trip and how much fun we had, but we were so exhausted.  we needed a vacation from our vacation. it was definitely the appropriate length of time to be on the island and we were ready to head back home and put the kids in their rooms! I am excited for our many family vacations – I mean trips - to come.