The Insta-Home Challenge: Appleton, WI

by Angela on April 11, 2013 · 5 comments

Strap on your cheese bibs, my friends — we are in chilly Wisconsin for four weeks!

More specifically, The Lion King is slated to perform at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Apple-who, you ask?  And where are we living? A little hamlet city called Menasha, which is about 7.5 square miles — and 1.5 miles of that is water. Our actual house is a colonial-style 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath beauty in a little community known as Doty Island.

It’s really cold here, ya’ll. Gray, rainy, dreary. We left Omaha just as it was getting warm and nice. Then we get to Wisconsin, and an ice storm hit. Luckily, our house (which I found us months ago on VRBO) is pretty darn wonderful and we don’t mind holing up for a while.

We’re sharing the house with Nick Cordileone (Timon) and his family, as well as Mark Kaplan (Zazu). So far, it’s the nicest house we’ve lived in to date.

We’re right on the Fox River! This is the view from our backyard. I’m sure it’s waaaaaay lovelier when everything isn’t tinged in grey and frost.

Our large, gourmet kitchen has everything we could ever want — including what looks like a brand-new set of cookware.

We’ve got a little bar area with a wine fridge and a ton of glassware for the raging parties we’re about to have. And they even left some liquor — expensive liquor.

Bottles of Johnny Walker Blue, Green and Gold are there for our consumption. Incredible! I don’t even drink scotch, but I’d imbibe just to say I did.  Shhhhhh….

The owners Tom and Lily have brought new meaning to “all-inclusive”.  They thought of everything, including leaving us full-size toiletries like toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and mouthwash.

There is a whole cabinet full of board games, and a closet with sports equipment. This vacation rental is seriously like a bed-and-breakfast! Here’s the sunroom that opens up to the backyard.

This morning, Mike made me a wonderful breakfast which I enjoyed in our sunroom looking out into the water, next to the fresh red roses the owners left us.

Mark and Turkey take a peek out back as the ice begins to melt. That river sure runs fast.

Another shot of the sunroom.

Our master bedroom is on the second floor, featuring a sleigh bed with some of the softest sheets I’ve ever felt.

Evidently, Turkey feels the same.

There is plenty of storage space in this dresser, and we’ve wedged Max’s GoCrib in the corner.

We’ve got floor-to-ceiling windows that surround two sides of the room, and this is the view of the river right from our bed.

The corner adjoining the windows is a little Max corner, with a diaper station (potty-training still in effect, in case you’re wondering) as well as toys and a flat screen TV and Roku showing a rotation of the kid’s favorites, including Wonderpets.

With the walls of windows and the vaulted ceiling, the cozy room feels open and comfy.

The master bath is even larger than the bedroom. Really. The tile work is beautiful, and the whole place was spotless.

Max’s deluxe tub has jets, a bathrobe, and mood-setting candles.

There’s a separate walk-in shower for us grown-ups.

The formal living room has a gas log fireplace…

The formal dining room seats six, but with our traveling high chair, seven warm bodies will fit very easily. Turkey needs no seat, as the world is his booster.

Love this — a half-bath comes in handy!

Nick, Hero and Amy have a large upstairs office bedroom, with awesome closet space but no drawer storage to speak of. They crash out on a surprisingly comfy sofa pull-out. Our master bedroom has drawer space out the wazoo, but the owners locked their walk-in closet, so we actually have no place to hang our garments! Mark has an additional upstairs guest bedroom that seems “just right.”

Turkey wants you to come over anytime to play.

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

Kathleen April 11, 2013 at 10:41 am

Make sure you have some Green Bay Cheese there! It’s sooooooo good!!

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Emily Rosenwieg April 11, 2013 at 11:32 am

We saw the Lion King on Wednesday night and really enjoyed the show! Unbelievable and magical!

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ANGELIQUE April 11, 2013 at 3:22 pm

HEY HEY HEY STAY WARM HOLLICKS!!! SPRING IS AROUND THE CORNER!!!

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Janeen April 11, 2013 at 4:01 pm

Love the house!

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steve m April 11, 2013 at 6:40 pm

appleton is a nice place. i have been there a few times for hunting trips and the area is really beautiful, but i guess not this month. stay warm!

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