Wisconsin Vacation- Farm Animals

For Munch, one of the most anticipated things of our farm stay was getting to be with the animals. For weeks leading up to our trip, she would ask whether there would be chickens or pigs or cows and so on. I remember having my own week-long farm stay when I was a fifth grader attending school in San Francisco- some sort of agriculture/outdoor education for city kids. Students were hosted by farming families- I recall ours had vineyards and several pigs. Other students stayed at dairy farms and fed the baby calves. After our daily class excursions, we'd have plenty of time to explore the farm we were staying on and classmates would walk over from the neighboring farm to play. It was a wonderful experience and I hoped that Munch's visit would be just as memorable.

Living on my aunt and uncle's Wisconsin farm are several heifers and a young bull. My uncle and aunt do not live there year-round (too cold in the winters!), so his brother works the fields and keeps his heifers there until they are impregnated. Then the cows are tranferred to his dairy farm. Munch's bedroom window overlooked the cow barn, and every morning we'd peek out to catch a glimpse of them. The animals kept their distance for the first few days-
but eventually got used to us and allowed us to pet them. I've always thought that cows were adorable (from a distance), but when they're standing next to you, it's hard to forget that they're HUGE animals.

Living in the woodshed were the other animal residents of the farm- dozens of cats! Some were wild and hid during most of our visit, but a few had been tamed by my aunt. Munch and I were delighted to meet the kittens and after that, every spare moment was spent cuddling them and getting them used to being handled by people.This is one of the tiniest babies, Cole-
This little kitten caught Munch's eye and was so sweet.
Little Annie tolerated all of Munch's random handling, turning into a rag doll in her arms, as Munch cooed baby talk to her.
Within days, we found the kitten waiting patiently for Munch to come to the door in the mornings and lingering in the driveway for us to return whenever we went out.
After growing up with large dogs, it was a treat for Munch to have a kitten to cuddle that was just her size

Wisconsin Vacation- Farm

After spending a week exploring northern California, Munch and I were ready for a change of scenery. So we headed to Wisconsin, where my aunt and uncle have an old family farm. We arrived in Green Bay, which has the quietest airport I have ever seen-
A half hour drive takes you further and further into the beautiful countryside and I got my first view of the farm-
The front porch was a perfect place to relax and on our first night, we were surprised to enjoy a fireworks display happening in a nearby village.
Inside, is the bright blue kitchen where my aunt would turn out huge delicious breakfasts-
Munch and I stayed in the bedrooms at the top of a steep flight of stairs. Hers was a cozy room overlooking the woodshed and cowbarn-
Once we settled in, we explored outside. My aunt has gradually been adding garden areas to the front of the house- and also tied a swing into one of the large trees for Munch to enjoy-
Next to the house is the woodshed- then the garage- then the barn-
Another building housed the tractors and equipment-
And beyond the farm buildings lay acres and acres to explore and enjoy a nice, quiet walk-

Family Vacation- Playing Tourist at Home

We spent the remaining days of our week-long vacation with AudioDad's family playing tourist around San Francisco.
The Marin Headlands-

Coit Tower-
Lombard, The "Crookedest Street"-
Ghirardelli Square-
SF Cable cars-
The nicest thing about a "stay-cation" though, was getting to enjoy dinners at home and sleeping in our own beds!

Family Vacation- Monterey Aquarium

Day 2 in Monterey was spent at the aquarium. Munch really enjoyed seeing the animals and exploring the exhibits.
Best of all, it was a fun day hanging out with the cousins-

especially when we headed to the Dennis the Menace park-

Family Vacation- Monterey, Cannery Row

As we hadn't been to Monterey and the aquarium since Munch was quite little, I was really looking forward to a nice few days there with the extended family. First stop was Santa Cruz, for lunch and surf-watching.

Munch couldn't resist getting closer to the action so she and her daddy headed down the stairs to the water.

We got to Monterey and checked in to our hotel with plenty of time to explore the Cannery before dinner. A local attractions magazine featured an ad for the Mystery Maze, which sounded like fun for both the little and bigger kids, so off we went.
Everyone donned their 3D glasses-
and we proceeded to feel our way through the mirrored, flashing maze-
After a few runs through the maze, it was time to meet up with everyone for dinner at Bubba Gump's. The movie references were lost on the kids, but they had fun snapping photos nonetheless.