Door County - Day 3 Washington Island & Beach

Day 3 - Saturday, August 7

Noah finally slept through the night!  First time in a week!  

Nels made us some yummy eggs with leftover brats.

Then we all dressed up and took cute pictures on the front steps of the cottage.  Aren't these the cutest kids?!

I brought my tripod so I could be in the picture too.  :)

Then we drove to Gills Rock to catch the ferry to Washington Island.  We rode the Island Clipper.  

Oh boy, the kids loved the big boat.  Especially, Noah.

We rode inside and on top.  The kids kept changing seats.  :)

We all sat on top for a minute.  Super windy.

We saw this cute lighthouse from a distance.

So relaxing to watch the water.

Then we rode on the tour train for 2 hours as we toured the Island.  The first stop was Mercantile Shop.  They had a little playground, Swedish building with grass for the roof and a little store.  We bought a Washington Island magnet.  Here's my little gnomes.  

The Swedish building.  There was art to look at upstairs and a souvenirs downstairs. 

This is the "train" we were on.

The kids were so good.  They ate snacks while we rode around.

The second stop was Stavkirke - a christian church.  

Pretty area.

We drove by the beautiful lavender fields.   

 Then we went to the Farm Museum for the third stop.  The kids loved the horses...rocking and stick.

They also liked the goat and feeding the goat too.

The last stop was Schoolhouse Beach.  It's 1 of 5 beaches that has the smooth rocks.  It was beautiful.  We enjoyed stacking the rocks, knocking over the rocks and throwing the rocks.  You're not allowed to take any rocks though.

We stacked 10 rocks...

Someone else stacked this big one.

One last picture of the kids before getting on the ferry for the ride back to Door County.

I enjoyed that part of the trip so much.  I liked learning about the island from the tour guide.  I liked having just the right amount of time at each of the 4 different stops.  I liked not being in charge so I could just enjoy the kids and not worry about directions, etc.  

We ate lunch at the cottage.  Then we took a short nap-which one of the kids woke me up early from - and that's probably when my bad mood started to boil over.  I had tried SO hard to have a good time and take care of everyone and connect with everyone.  But Nels was sick and I felt like I was doing a ton of work, plus not sleeping well to take care of Noah.   I was falling a part.  :(  But I kept going...I got all of the kids ready for the beach while Nels slept.  Then we all went to our favorite beach...Ellison Bay Beach.  

Sofie was so cute and funny.

Isak jumped off the dock a few times.  The water was COLD!  Outside of the water it was barley 70 degrees.  I had a jacket on!

Noah surprised us and played in the water and sand!!  He was pretty proud of himself too.  

He even buried his feet in the sand!

Kira liked to bury toys and she neatly buried her legs too.

Wild Sofie made sand angels.  And yes, sand was everywhere and took a long time to get her clean...but look at the joy...

Kira's legs buried picture.  

It started to rain.  So we spent the next half hour cleaning sand off the kids the best we could in the little bathroom by the beach before going to the cottage.  It was a lot of work and I was drained.  I knew Nels wanted to shop for a t-shirt before the shops closed at 7 and it was almost 6.  I felt stressed and frustrated...I totally blew up at poor Nels.  He blew up.  We blew up.  Wow.  It wasn't good.  But we got it all out...So maybe that's good?  

He left to shop for his shirt.  I showered the 4 kids and got all the sand cleaned up.  Then I fed the kids.

Then I popped popcorn and watched Pink Panther with the kids. 

After the kids went to bed, I had a meltdown again.  I was just so hurt, tired and angry.  I hate when I feel this way.  :(  Especially on vacation!!  Nels and I worked through it and went to bed not so mad.