We finally made it to Madeline Island with Madeline Swapp(along with all the other Swapp children).

Dotting the Wisconsin coastline of Lake Superior are 22 various sized Islands that encompass the Apostle Islands.  Madeline Island is the largest and easiest to access, with a 25 minute ferry ride from Bayfield, WI.  We mounted all insurmountable obstacles to have a mostly splendid time (vacations are for people without young children).

It was so cold, we didn't wash faces or come into contact with the water unless it was to drink.  Remnants of dinner remained with us all. We slept with gloves, hats and winter coats over two layers of clothing.  The first morning, we awoke to rain in the wee hours, and spent 3 hours entertaining each other waiting for the rain to at least slow down so we could leave the tent.  We colored, read books, wrestled, played sudoku, and ate sugar cereal.

Our friends didn't make it the first night, and we didn't tell them they should be glad they missed the coldest day and night.

Hehehe.  Sam had eyes only for the fence that lead to the sudden drop off into the lake.  We went on several hikes and bike rides, Ella on the tagalong, Max and Sam in the trailer, and Madeline on her bike.  Sam and Max appreciated the ability to roam and explore an immense amount of space, and the cliff areas were no exception.

Madeline and her friend Tessa spend time around the campsite playing Sudoku.  

Ella and Abel played with Adelaide.  We enjoyed the company of our friends again, we went camping with them more than a year ago, visiting the North shoreline of MN, and we had a system down for managing the chaos.  Our menu planning enabled us to all eat well and also happily, which doesn't always go hand in hand.  There were just enough treats and snacks to keep the complaining at bay.  

We spent a lot of time by the beach, as we had expected.  We saw kayakers come in from exploring the surrounding sea caves.  Sail boats also came near as they visited many of the surrounding islands.  The water was frigid, but it didn't stop the kids from throwing and skipping rocks, and daring the water to lap their feet.  Every time we went to the beach, several of the kids came home wet.  We exhausted our clothes supply several times.  The last day, everyone wore pajamas.

The highlight of the trip for me was the last night we were there.  We had safely committed our children to sleep with a half of a melatonin, and then Ryan build a campfire and the two of us sat by the fire for what seemed like forever.  It was blissfully quiet, just the sound of others in the near vicinity stoking their fires and quietly talking.  We likely would have stayed until late into the night, but a gigantic storm flew in and we ran for our lives into the tent.

We awoke to torrential rain, and loaded the kids in the car while we took everything down and packed it in the car.  It was a wet ride home.

On our way out of town, Madeline decided she wanted to buy a Madeline Island tee-shirt.  After doing a quick mental analysis of her financial state, she knew how much money she could spent and we ran in the gift shop, while Ryan waited in the line to get on the ferry.  The storekeepers gave her a "Madeline" discount, which she appreciated.  Then we ran to catch Ryan as he drove on the ferry.

Our trip home was delightful, we knew in a few hours we would be warm and have a roof over our heads.  Everyone peacefully listened to "Little House on the Prairie", as we drove home along the Laura Ingles Wilder highway, the very trail her family took so long ago.  We had to stop once to clean up vomit from Max (car sickness), but we are now pro's at that, it didn't faze us a bit.