Return to Sheboygan

Last weekend I went on my second annual "Solo Weekend".  I also repeated my accommodations.  I stayed at the Lake Orchard Farm Bed and Breakfast, which is a quiet, calm bed and breakfast located on a working farm just across the road from Lake Michigan in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The owners, Mary and Nate, are gracious hosts and will make sure your stay is great. The breakfasts are incredible and the rooms are brand new, spacious, and very clean. I would highly recommend it.

Most of my weekend was spent in relaxation, meditation and prayer. I missed my boys, but I know that taking these few days once a year for myself, is an important part of me feeling balanced and resetting my mind in the right place.

In the morning before I left, the boys had fun coloring some pictures that our friend Danielle had given them. I like this picture of Mason because he's usually making weird faces in pictures and he actually looks like himself here. 

Once I got up to Sheboygan and got checked into the bed and breakfast, I went to a local store called "Olivu 426" that you can check out here. I had waited a whole year to be able to go to this store.  Last year, they were closed when I came by and over Labor Day we were passing through again, but they were also closed.  I needed to get up there on a day other than Sunday! This year I left earlier on Friday and got there when they were still open! It was worth it.

I got to meet the proprietor, Caitlin. She told me about many of her products and we also talked about kids since she is pregnant with her first baby. You can read all about how the store got started here. I love supporting local businesses and hers is worth going back to.

You can pick any of her natural and home-made lotions and add any of over 100 fragrances. I chose Lavender to go in my Avocado Whipped Lotion and one of her specialty scents, "Polynesian Red" for my Rice Bran Whipped Lotion.

Here, I'm mixing one of my fragrances. So much fun!

They have a large variety of products from soaps, lip balms, lotions, and body washes, to microdermabrasion products and men's shaving creams.

You can help create or personalize many of her products. I love that they are all natural. For example, the ingredients for my Avocado lotion are: Avocado oil, purified water, beeswax. Nothing I can't pronounce and nothing that would irritate even sensitive skin. All of her products are made right in her shop.

Here's a view of the room at the bed and breakfast that I stayed in this year, "Ella's Room". I had my own balcony and separate entrance as well as a jacuzzi tub, flat screen TV and unlike at many bed and breakfasts, here they will bring your breakfast up to your room!

Just about one town over, is the town of Kohler, where the headquarters for the Kohler brand are located. I appreciated that my bed and breakfast also supports local businesses.  (They have Olivu 426 products in their rooms.)

This was breakfast on day 1. They even give you cider pressed from the apples in their own orchard.

Self-portrait #1. You know I have to do these.

I took a walk down to the lake's edge.

Quiet and pristine.

And of course, I needed another self-portrait.

Breakfast on day two. I had this breakfast last year and I had been secretly hoping I would have it again. The thing with cherries on it, I don't know what its called or what it is, but I think it's like the food we'll eat in heaven. It melts in your mouth. I would go back just for that.

Sunday, I drove home just in time to spend some time outside with Mason. He was enjoying what was left of the snow. 

And including as many activities as he could.

Meanwhile, Max fell asleep, holding his very own Olivu 426 lip balm. He's been obsessed with chapstick lately, and just as I guessed, it was the best gift I could have given him. He wouldn't put it down  and there was lip balm all over his cheeks, which later collected a lot of lint so his face looked really dirty. But he couldn't have been more excited.

Finally, we all came inside.

The family is back together. I'm always so glad to come home.