This past weekend we had a fall mini vacation to La Crosse. Caden was so funny, every time he said La Crosse he would cross his fingers like this so people could understand what he was saying. I'm not so sure that made it easier for anyone to understand! Anyway, it was a nice way weekend to get away from home and enjoy some of the beauty Wisconsin has to offer.
When we arrived at the hotel on Friday the boys immediately wanted to go swimming. It was super cold, but of course they didn't care. I've been pretty good at avoiding swimming lessons the last many months (I'm too overwhelmed by scheduling issues with it!), but they still love to swim and want to do it as often as possible. Friday evening we stopped at the local farmer's market and then boarded the Mississippi River Cruise for a sunset wildlife tour. We were allowed to bring dinner on the boat. Above is the boys' first experience with lunchables. :)
Shepard was fascinated with looking out the window, though Caden seemed to have about zero interest.
The boat went through some of the backwater channels of the Mississippi where a lot more wildlife can supposedly be seen. All we saw were birds, though. A lot of bald eagles. I'm pretty sure I've never even seen bald eagles in the wild before, so it was neat to see so many. There is one sitting in the tree above.
I was a little disappointed by the lack of beautiful colors in our sunset, but it was still nice to watch.
The boys had to start finding their own ways to make fun on our two hour ride. Fortunately there was a lot of space between groups of people for them to run around.
And the end, the guide took out some bones and feet to look at. This is a beaver skull.
Gross.
This is a claw/foot... I can't remember for what bird. I was pretty disturbed by all the feet!
Such a cutie. :)
On Saturday morning, Cindy (my mother-in-law) and I went to a craft fair. Then we gathered up the guys and headed to Grandad's Bluff. Strangely, fall colors haven't really hit that side of the state yet, so this was the brightest "tree" I found all weekend.
Shepard was not in a photogenic mood Saturday.
I think "the mountain" was Caden's favorite part of the trip.
After the bluff we went in search of a restaurant for lunch. After that we decided to check out an apple orchard in Dakota, MN.
I was pretty disappointed in the store, but the orchard itself was beautiful! Such an awesome location for all those trees.
We stopped at a better apple place on the way back and bought a bunch of gourds. Then we went back to the hotel so the boys could swim and I went to check out a local quilt shop. Which was AMAZING. Anyway - here are a few pictures of our "theme suite" at the hotel.
This is how I found my men when I got back from the quilt shop. The in-law's had left and we decided to spend the rest of the night at the hotel.
I picked up Subway for Greg and I and Shepard ate half of my tuna sub! He had a pretty cranky day, but perked up with some food.
After dinner we walked outside our hotel room into this. There were trails all through a slightly marshy area. It would have been really fun to explore all night, but Caden wouldn't cooperate. He may only be five, but you can't really force him to walk somewhere if he doesn't want to. :(
Nobody would walk back to the room so Greg attempted to carry both of them. I had a good laugh.
The boys played in our hot tub and fell asleep - much more quickly than the night before. I was so exhausted I was out by 8:00!
We planned on going to this really great park on Sunday morning, but it was 20 degrees colder than it was supposed to be so we skipped it. Instead we headed back to the in-law's to get our van. We spent a few hours there and then went to get caramel apples to end our weekend vacation.
My first caramel apple in two years! So delicious.
And that was our trip! I love fall getaways. :)
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