Lenninger Family Blog: Anniversary Weekend

Well, this is what 12 years of marriage looks like for us! :) Not bad, huh?
I'm not gonna lie....Dave and I kind of spaced our anniversary this year. I mean....we didn't forget it exactly, but just didn't spend any time planning anything at all. And...possibly laughed about the fact that it was coming up on the way to our campsite...we had forgotten a little bit:)

Unshowered and feeling a little rough..but hey :)

But, we had a super fun weekend planned with the whole family - what better way to celebrate this marriage! Okay, a date night would be good...we'll try to get that done sometime:)

Here's the fun weekend we planned!
A typical fall weekend in the Midwest....Saturday's high - 86 degrees. Sundays high - 68 degrees:) I packed a little of everything but thankfully we have that big camper.

We wanted to camp near Soldiers Grove, WI where there is an annual Arts Festival we love to attend. I found a campground in Gays Mills, WI which was 7 miles away. We didn't get to leave until late on Friday night and with fall...we lost all daylight by the time we arrived. Boo.

We also lost all cell service! We failed to print a map or directions...so, one of those stereotypical family adventure moments with cranky parents trying to figure where to go in the dark, in a new town, with the trailer behind...but we figured it out!

There was no one at the campground, no office so Dave made a call and they said...put the trailer wherever we wanted:) So, we did our best to assess the sites in the pitch dark! But we found. great one. Dave is a master at this camper right now. He basically does it all by himself and I man the kids and try to keep them quiet and out of the way. It worked well!

The campground was quite empty, so we had lots of extra space and it was perfect level grass. A treat! The kids had so much fun with some glow necklaces as Dave set up. Then off to bed. We didn't have any wood for a fire yet, so Dave and I watched Jerry Maguire in bed the first night:) Fun and wow that movie seems so old now! Hilarious.

Playing in the warm darkness while Daddy sets up the camper!

We slept well and then Ayden and I woke up early and caught the sunrise through the hills...gorgeous! We had a nice leisurely morning, I showered at the campground/city pool shower house....umm...yeah. After a bit of adventure and bracing for a horrible shower, it was perfectly warm and good. Of course, plenty of moths and creepy-crawlies in there...who wants to shower alone?! Ha:) (Our camper has tanks and I could have showered there...but we like to reserve it for the kids baths at night)

I badgered Dave to get moving (oops, we didn't get our little grocery run in the night before...no coffee!) and we headed to Viroqua. We hit the new Kickapoo Coffee - I've been wanting to go there for so long! It's beautiful. So yummy. So perfect. Then the farmers market where we got some honey, maple syrup, jam and a rug:)

He was the pro. He'll be our coffee drinker for sure:)

We then walked up the street and went through an antique store where the kids were pretty consumed with the fountain and the two doves that were in a cage. Then we walked up to a local favorite cafe and I was just drooling and so excited for lunch! But it was closed. Ah!! They were randomly closed for lunch. Open for supper.

So, we decided to grab some groceries and go back to the camper. I had prepped a chickpea salad and we brought tomatoes for BLTs..so that was a yummy lunch while we watched the Hawkeyes and the kids played outside.

They had So. Much. Fun.

I know, Mom. No clothes. He took them off! It was 86 degrees:)

Kate and I walked over to a heritage park nearby with a number of local homestead cabins that had been moved. They are not being kept up...but are preserved I guess. It was interesting.

The floor in the school house was amazing!

Then we hit the road again to check out an orchard! Gays Mills is known for apples and we'd heard about it plenty! Next weekend is AppleFest..so we missed that, but one of the orchards was having their Honeycrisp weekend...score!

The famous ridge that these orchards are on...was breathtakingly beautiful. And the apples were insane. We bought a bunch of apples and some apple cider donuts. We drove the road and saw a half dozen orchards.

Sunrise Orchard, the first one on the ridge

We doubled back to Soldiers Grove and decided to eat at this huge, beautiful Victorian Bed & Breakfast (The Acorn Lounge, at the...something Oak Inn) They had a lounge that was very 80s/90s and we ate there. :) It was a little ridiculous and but a whole lot charming. And when we noticed the lights above us...it felt right. :) Very Festhalle Barn, Amana, 2005.

We did these flashcard things while we waited, was pretty fun

The kids were pretty good. Well, nevermind. Ayden took his shoes off and kept getting out of his chair. The place was like a living room...I didn't feel too bad that he did it. We indulged a bit with the food, but the bill was cheap. We then headed back to the camper to have a fire and smores.

It was a really lovely evening and then the kids went to bed well. Dave and I stayed up and a number of drinks:) It's been awhile and was lots of fun...but I felt a little peaked in the morning:)

Sunday brought coffee in the camper:) and then packing up and heading to the Driftless Arts Festival. We met up with our friends the Plamanns and we had our regular good time! We bought a few pottery pieces, ate local food and enjoyed the sunshine and 68 degrees. The kids then got to play at the playground for awhile before we drove home.