Scott started the day with an hour and a half bike ride to Cedarburg and back.  After a breakfast of eggs and bacon we headed to the beach. Cody patiently waited for us to get our things together for the beach by doing one of his favorite past times: playing in the dirt.

It was a little chilly for beach weather and the fog enveloped us while we were there, but the kids had a ton of fun anyway.

After the raindrops started to fall we took our first showers of the trip.  I was the only one motivated to shower.  Everyone else complained a little that we had already had showers two days ago. At least everyone is easy going with the slightly gritty nature of camping.

First junk food shopping of this trip.  Scott picked up more chocolate in this one trip than he has all year. The kids were more than happy to help Scott with unhealthy food suggestions. Then we ate out for the first time on the trip – more healthy choices – Wendy’s. I’m not sure what Cody is staring at starry eyed, but I am focused on my frosty.

The highlight of the day was getting a personal tour of a dairy farm from Steve whose wife is related to Scott’s mom.

1100 diary cows. Milked three times a day. 5,000 gallons of milk in a tanker. 3-5 minutes to milk a cow ~ 30 lbs of milk. Scott wanted to try his hand at milking a cow.

Baby cows. The girl was two hours old. The boy was twelve hours old.  They have on average five calves a day, but sometimes as many as ten or twelve.

Thanks for your time Steve.  You left us with some great memories and an unforgettable experience.

Next stop: Peninsula State Park, WI.

The ground was a little rocky at our next campground, so we removed the bigger rocks before we set the tent down.

We had spaghetti for dinner.  The picnic bench was wet from recent rain.  I suggested we eat in our chairs.  Scott gave me a raised eyebrow, “Cody eating spaghetti in a chair?”  The words I replied that I wound up eating, “Yeah.  He can handle it.”  Scott took photo evidence of me having to clean spaghetti from Cody’s entire body.  It was worth a try…

Brooke set up a rocky mountain bike course inspired by a bike park Scott took her to in Carpentersville. The thing was that Brooke told Cody that he had to go through it in just the right way.  He didn’t give up either even though she kept yelling, “Cody! No! Not that way!”  Scott started calling Cody by his new Brooke given name: CodyNo.  Eventually we had to put the kibosh on her course in order to save the eardrums of the entire campground. Cody still managed to have fun racing around the campground and shouting, “I’m coming in hot!” on his way back into our campsite.

Our campground in Nicolet Bay was very crowded, but a quick walk to the beach and beautiful scenery.  The wet wood struggled to stay burning, but everyone gave their best effort so we could get in some s’mores.  Brooke worked until dark on her ranger badge workbook.