A Roadside Hotel and a Spring Thaw Three Lakes Weekend

Meadow was on spring break. Our original plans was to go to Mexico. Since we don't have passports and our plans to drive a camper van into Baja fell through we substituted for the cottage.

That's after our plans to go to Chicago for the weekend also fell through.

We left Thursday after I got out of work. Almost halfway along the rain turned to snow. The roads weren't bad, but the snow was so thick and it was foggy that we could barely see the road.

It was like Star Wars hyperspace bad.

We were going at most 30 mph. It was getting late and we knew it would take us at least 3 more hours to get there.

We decided to stop at a hotel right off the highway near Prentice.

Meadow thought this place was great. She especially loved the bedding. This motel was so basic they didn't even have a crib for Theo.

We all slept pretty well, but Meadow wasn't happy that we had to leave.

Cheap motel family photo.

All packed up and ready to finish the short drive to the cottage.

Our "continental" breakfast wasn't much of a breakfast so we headed to the diner across the street.

Prentice Family Restaurant would have to do for this family.

I was hoping to save our budget for a Friday fish fry, but the hotel and this food replaced that.

When we arrived at the cottage we brought everything in and turned on the heat. It was colder inside than outside. Then we left right away to head to town.

Sadly two of Three Lakes iconic businesses burned down recently, Oneida Village Inn and Three Lakes Diner. 

The fires were only about a month apart. Something fishy seems to be going on.

I had finally gone to the bar at Oneida Village Inn when Mr. Mike and wanted to go to a less busy location to watch the Brewers game 7 in the NLCS. Who knew it would burn down just months later.

Meadow had also eaten here over New Years with her cousins. I on the other hand hadn't been inside since I was a teenager.

On our way to the grocery store we stopped at our favorite thrift shops. Also Meadow packs her own clothes and apparently she only packed costumes.

One of us probably should check her bag next time.

Meh she can get away with it.

I really wanted this silly mug.

Every year or two I leave my camera behind somewhere. At the second thrift shop I put my camera down on a chair to try on a flannel jacket.

We went back and I couldn't find it where I thought I put it. I must've picked it up and hung it on  clothing rack. It took me a second time coming back in to find it. Whoops.

After our lost camera scare we picked out some food for the weekend.

Theo loves the car carts.

I love these two sillies.

Our finds from the thrift stores. Shoes for me, two shirts for older Theo and a dress for Meadow.

A Superman shirt for Meadow to wear for pajamas. A bunch of legos for $4! Also not shown is a lap desk for Meadow to use in the car.

Video score. Classic Superman cartoons, Willy Wonka, Charlotte's Web and Raising Arizona. I think Meadow is going to be the only kid in her class that knows what video tapes are.

I sadly did not find anything for myself, but the kids finds were pretty epic.

Coming to the cottage in April means watching the lake and forest slowly thaw.

I was surprised to see so much snow still. And apparently the lake is still frozen enough that we saw ice fisherman out.

We stuck close to the shore.

Meadow taught me science class. I tried sharing some insights, but she was adamant that she was the teacher. Tough girl.

We really need to make this Airstream road-ready.

Nachos for dinner.

Nothing better.

In the morning these two were having a riot.

Meadow and I sorted through all the legos knowing there were other toys mixed in. Eventually we had a bag full of little toys perfect for geocaching.

The next morning it rained and became super foggy in the woods.

That didn't stop Meadow and I from going outside.

I only brought one lens with, so I couldn't quite get how foggy and creepy the lake looked.

All of Meadows pants have holes in the knees. My project this weekend was to patch them all.

Meadow got bored with our umbrella and traded it for G.G.'s "pretty" umbrella.

I love walking through the forest with Meadow. She always protests at first, but caves in eventually.

We noted all the living things and the green peaking through the snow.

We came back around the woods and ran into Brooke.

I've never seen the lake so foggy.

When at the cottage..

Trig's old fashioned summer sausage is life affirming.

I also found s'mores fixings and we ate some before our brat dinner was ready.

We had rented Ralph Breaks the Internet from the Red Box the night before. Since we had to come back to town to bring it back we decided to go bowling. 

When we arrived the parking lot was packed, but inside nobody was bowling. The bar was full of people playing darts. Do people not bowl anymore?

I think most everybody was there to watch March Madness.

Our first frame Meadow tried out the ball roller thingamajig.

I love bowling even though I'm not very good at it.

Meadow kept herself busy between rolls.

Then we moved over to do bumper bowling.

Teenager.

After our second game it turned to cosmic bowling. Scott picked out all of Meadow's favorite songs on the jukebox and she was so surprised the bowling alley knew her playlist.

Then Brooke got mad at me for picking more music (It was a dollar) and I got mad at her. And that's married life. Meadow just wanted to dance.

Though. overall, this was a great weekend with some weird twists and turns.