Everett
turned 5 years old today! It’s hard to
comprehend how fast time flies by! Since
he already had a big birthday bash with his friends, and we will be having a large family birthday party when we get home, we decided to do something
low-key today by playing outside, grabbing cake at a local diner, and then
cooking his favorite meal for dinner.
The kids were begging us to let them go outside to play
tennis, so first thing, they chowed down their dry cereal, then ran across the
street to the tennis courts to play and run around. We brought along our tennis rackets and one
racketball racket, so they all had something to hit a ball with.
Our friends’ kids joined in the fun after a while, and then we decided to walk
around the resort and see what other things they had to offer. The resort was a lot larger than I had
expected, and the amenities were pleasantly more improved than I thought as well.
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| The view from our balcony. |
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| Derrick and Eli, doing what they both do best. |
They really did a nice job providing a lot of different
activities right on campus and honestly, a family could enjoy a week there
without even leaving the resort with all there was to do.
The docks were well maintained, the water was clean (and clear)
and with things like a large playground, sand beach, free
kayaks/canoes/rowboats, tennis courts, fire pit with free wood, and an indoor
pool, the kids were happy not to go anywhere at all!
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| Lynx Lake (located directly behind our condo) |
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| Ethan found a fresh water clam. |
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| Kids, checking out the fire pit and lake. |
It was slightly chilly, but the sunshine felt nice, so we grabbed
a few chairs on the beach and let the kids mess around in the sand. It was peaceful, relaxing and nice to sit and
chat with friends while we looked out over the lake and the boats going by.
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| We could borrow any of the kayaks, canoes or rowboats for free anytime they were available. |
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| Beach and swimming area on Duck Lake |
The kids had fun playing in the sand and soon
built up tolerance to the chilly water and were enjoying fishing out trap door
snails, rocks, clams and what ever else they could find buried in the
sand/under water. Soon, everyone was
hungry, wet, and tired, so we headed in to grab lunch, go grocery shopping and
explore the town of Eagle
River a bit more.
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| Elliot found a trapdoor snail. |
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| Eli stayed close to mommy and out of the sun. |
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Elliot's sandy toes.
He came up to tell me he was FREEZING cold. |
Our kids were STARVING (like usual) so we drove around,
checking out a few of the restaurants, and ended up stopping at Lief’s Café,
right along the main drag. They had
$1.59 kids pancakes and a wide selection of foods for us to pick from.
Derrick ordered a steak Philly sandwich with fries, I
ordered a chef salad, and we split the two.
After we were finished eating, I asked the waitress if she wouldn’t mind
helping us celebrate Everett’s
birthday, so she and the staff brought out a HUGE piece of chocolate-chocolate
chip cake with chocolate frosting and joined us in singing “Happy
Birthday”. It’s hard to tell if Everett enjoyed the
attention of the singing, but we did know for a fact he enjoyed the cake! (He did share a few bites with all of us, but
we let him eat as much as he wanted before sharing.)
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| Happy Birthday Boy! |
After lunch we stopped at the grocery store, purchased $160
worth of groceries, and then headed home to unpack food. Everett
requested his favorite meal (penne pasta with garlic cream sauce, fresh grapes,
romaine salad and lots and lots of bread with butter) so I cooked that. The adults sat outside and ate while the kids
all fit around the large table inside, and after dinner, the husbands and the
kids went up to the pool to do some swimming.
It was a great day and it was nice to slow down, relax, and
enjoy our first day in Wisconsin.
