Growing up we spent many a summer traveling to Wisconsin. There was the time we took a month to camp through all of the west's National Parks in the back of our blue Jeep Cherokee. The time we took Amtrak across the midwest until we arrived in Milwaukee. And the time we flew back when my uncles were giving public tours of the nationally recognized tree farm. As mentioned in Joe and Jessie's wedding post, last month I had the chance to make it back to my mother's little hometown in northern Wisconsin. We stayed at the farm, the same home she and her six brothers and sisters grew up in, and spent every morning (and most afternoons) walking in the woods. We saw bears and deer and turtles and cranes and loons and turkeys and in between animal sightings we caught bluegill on the lake. We spent late afternoons kayaking with my cousins and spent late summer evenings enjoying fish-fries and dinner on the deck. We fed the cows and picked fresh lilacs for the kitchen and more than anything we cherished spending time with family. It was the most wonderful start to summer and my only regret is not having stayed longer.
While my mom gets to return this month for the Solin family reunion, I'll be staying home and shooting three (3!!) weddings that week. I'm jealous that my mother will be getting another dose of warm summer nights, big skies full of stars, and fishing on the lake, but I think it just means I'll have to plan another trip soon with Colton. Until then we'll be relying on these pictures to remind us of sweet Wisconsin life on the farm.
