Wedding, Wisconsin, and Wilder

Our niece, Brianna Miller-O'Neil, got married in Bayfield, Wisconsin on July 14th.  No kids were invited to the wedding but that gave our girls a chance to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Greenwood in Wisconsin Rapids.  The girls went to Jurustic Park (a park populated by fantastic creatures fashioned out of metal), went to a cheese factory, went miniature golfing, and explored an uninhabited island in the middle of the Wisconsin River.  Jay and I had fun driving north through Wisconsin at our own speed.  We took time to drive Rustic Roads and to read historical markers along the way. 

Jae, Wendy, Lisa, Jay, Cindy

Brendan was a groomsman

The Miller family was housed in a beautiful "lighthouse" resort.  Brianna's rehearsal dinner was on the front lawn there and the wedding was down on the beach.  The wedding day was warm and sunny.  The guests sat on white wooden chairs facing Lake Superior.  With musicians playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" Brianna walked down the aisle with her mom and dad.  Brianna and Brian together planted a tree in a bucket that they will replant at their home in Minneapolis. 

The reception took place in a boat house in the cute town of Bayfield.  The atmosphere was magical.  Brianna and Brian had transformed a plain wooden room into a beautiful dinner environment.  The food was great too.  I took some pictures to file away for the future :) 

Each leaf is a guest's fingerprint

Pie instead of cake...good call!

Ashleigh displaying the handmade pie plates.  Goblet glued to a plate and then spray painted...love it.

 

Steve leads the O'Neils in singing "Lola"

After the wedding festivities, Jay and I headed back to my parents' home.  Dave and Lisa have a cabin nearby and we spent the next day playing in Lake Camelot. 

And then we packed up the covered wagon...uh, 12 passenger van...and headed for all things Laura.
Here we are looking at a letterbox we found outside the "little house in the big woods".  This is a re-creation on the original site.  There are no woods, only farms.

 We drove on to Walnut Grove, Minnesota; "On the Banks of Plum Creek" took place here.
We were the only campers in the campground...bathrooms to ourselves, yeah!  Beautiful views and lovely prairie flowers. 

We waded in Plum Creek, just like Laura, minus the leeches.  We fed the fish our bread crusts below the banks into which the Ingalls family had built their dug-out house. 

Ma with her daughters and niece Sarah

It is tough work keeping a sod house clean

We loved our time in De Smet, South Dakota.  This was the setting for four of the Wilder books.  We camped at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead.  There were animals to pet, ponies to ride, rope to twist, corncob dolls to make, and much more.  I'm hoping Jay can add photos here...my camera batteries were low.  

This is Sarah holding a day-old chick.

Sonja playing an organ similar to the one that Laura helped buy for her sister, Mary.  

We took a covered wagon ride out to the schoolhouse

We stopped overnight at the Berggrens.  The cousins had such fun together!  Emma stayed in the Twin Cities as a mother's helper with her good friend, Jane.