Our first trip with the trailer! I had been waiting for this trip for weeks. Months even. I had dreams of quiet relaxing afternoons, the older children playing nicely outside in the perfect weather while the baby naps (independently!) inside. I am swinging in the hammock sipping a (definitely not lukewarm) cup of coffee and a craft. Then after enjoying an effortlessly prepared meal with Tom after he returns home from work, we all snuggle up around the camp fire to chat with our new friends we’ve made in the campground. Okay. I’m not THAT naive. But I did not expect the first few weeks to turn out as tumultuous as they did! We asked for adventure, and adventure we were given. Some fun, some not so fun, but all of it was true living with no boundaries. And good or bad that’s what I’ve really been dreaming of. Here’s a brief overview of our time spent in Kenosha Wisconsin:

Lesson #1 was learned before we ever pulled out of the driveway. While redecorating your new trailer may be fun, and making the new house feel like home is important… it’s probably more important to test out some of those essential trailer functions. You know, like the bathroom. Because, let’s just say, for example, if you realize the night before you embark that your black tank has a crack in it, that may make things a little stressful. No worries, some goop glue and a day of running to the porta potty and you’re good as rain. Speaking of rain… It stormed the first few days we were in Wisconsin. Trapping me inside a 30′ trailer with 3 kids. And no toilet. But I am grateful for that rain, because without it we wouldn’t have been staring at the ground so much on our trek to the potty. And the princess wouldn’t have noted that “the people here sure do throw a lot of apples on the ground.” Prompting me to look up and notice that we were surrounded by apple trees! What a pleasant surprise to brighten a dreary day.

 

Happy Acres Kampground, Week 1 Aside from the rain. And the toilet issues. And a few trailer life learning curves leading me to get very creative with my dish washing and reflect more seriously than ever about the amount of water we use on a daily basis….. week one was great! Highlights of Happy Acres- multiple playgrounds to the keep the kids fully entertained (once things dried out). Aforementioned apples. A lively pond with (surprisingly aggressive) crawdads, turtles, fish and frogs.

And we actually had a glimpse of that scene I dreamed about earlier with the campground friends. But only for about five seconds because normal people arrive at RV parks on the weekend, just when we’re leaving.

The Sights We squeezed as much Kenosha fun as possible into Tom’s one off day. Mars Cheese Castle. Jelly Belly factory tour. Thompson Strawberry Farms.and Tim & Tom’s cheese shop. We had a blast falling into all the tourist traps in town.

The factory tour was a little on the boring side, but the sample bar, free bag of jelly beans, and cheap “belly flops” made up for it! And by far, my favorite place in Wisconsin…. Every new state we visit makes me hate Ohio grocery stores just a little more.  Woodmans took it up a notch. Grass fed everything. Local this and that. Every organic and off the wall flour I’ve been searching for. LENTIL.PASTA. I spent way too much time in here, and it will be the first place I visit if we go back! AND Ocean took his first *real* set of steps in the trailer. I will struggle a little selling our house because that’s where he was born, and where the other two had all their firsts. But he made it a little easier transitioning to the new home. So there it is. Our magical first week of trailer life. It was…. an experience. One that pales in comparison to week two.