When you’re an active family of eight, finding time to be together can be a challenge.
So Colleen and James Wolbert have learned to get creative — and be intentional — in carving out time for making memories with their six kids. Door County has become a special destination for the Wales, Wisconsin, family, and it’s shown them that the best place to be is wherever they’re together.
At home, life is busy, with James working for the City of Waukesha and coaching baseball, Colleen running her own photography business and the kids — who are in third, fifth, sixth, eighth, tenth and eleventh grades — involved in a slew of sports.
“We can have up to twelve games on a weekend,” says Colleen.
Finding a time when everyone’s schedules align can be tricky, and so can choosing a travel spot that fits the family’s interests and budget. As a family of eight, plane tickets and entertainment costs add up quickly, but the Wolberts’ happy place doesn’t require either.
“Things we love in a vacation: privacy, nature, water, camp fires, family dinners and of course places that are dog friendly,” Colleen explains on her blog. The family also likes to swim, fish, hike, play board games and enjoy a reprieve from the fast-paced and technology-filled way of life at home.
Door County wasn’t on Colleen’s radar until she and James moved from Chippewa Falls to the Waukesha area and learned that many families vacation there. And when a friend purchased a cabin on the peninsula, she asked Colleen to photograph it — and then encouraged her to do lifestyle shoots at other rental properties.
That work has led the Wolberts to visit Door County regularly, and they’ve fallen in love with the area in all of its varied seasons.
Their first trip, a few summers ago, hooked them from the start.
“My kids spent hours fishing, swimming and kayaking,” she says. “We never even left the cabin.”
Since that initial vacation, they’ve been back to stay at different cabins and explore state parks — “You could hike for days,” Colleen says — as well as lakes, caves and more. Colleen loves how each season offers an entirely unique mood.
“Door County in the winter is very different than in the summer,” she says. “It’s quieter, but it’s such a beautiful landscape. It’s a whole different experience.”
And the time away together as a family, no matter the season, has been a wonderfully unexpected blessing for the family.
“Door County is something I never knew I needed,” Colleen says.
– Katie Vaughn
Photos by Colleen Wolbert.
Katie Vaughn is the editor and co-founder of Northerly. She is a University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stanford University-trained journalist with experience as a writer, reporter, editor, blogger and author. She lives in Madison with her husband, daughter and son, and is always up for an adventure.