5337. Go to Vande Walle’s Candy in Appleton

 Driving home from the T-Rats game, we drove by Vande Walle's Candy by the mall. I casually mentioned, I've never been in Vande Walle's. . I've had their candy before and even did a chocolate book pairing with the Menasha library but in the 20 years I've been here in the Valley, I never stopped at Vande Walle's. Not sure why. I drove by it enough. The hubby was like "really?" and turned around so we could go check it out

Vande Walle's Candies is located by the Fox River Mall in Appleton.. technically Grand Chute but minor details... It is open 8-8 M-F, 8-6 on Saturdays, and 10-6 on Sundays. 

The hubby warned me it is not a big store. Looks are deceiving since the building looks like a giant 2 story house. It is definitely not that big inside. It is bigger than Oak's in Oshkosh and does have displays of chocolate goodies scattered on tables around the floor. I thought the Nutterflies looked adorable.

Like any good chocolate store, there is homemade truffles and other yummy treats in the case.

Besides selling chocolate, they also have a bakery. There were cookies and cakes and all sorts of yummy goodness to ogle over.

We ended up picking up the mini cheesecakes for dessert, along with a dozen cookies, and some truffles for me. I also splurged on some mini macaroons. 

I know the truffles were good since I them before at the chocolate tasting.

The hubby and I both said my cheesecake is better. Theirs was good but apparently I make a mean cheesecake. 

The cookies were delicious and we would definitely get the cookies again.

The macaroons were not bad. The watermelon one did taste like watermelon bubble gum but the tiramisu was lacking in flavor. The root beer one sounded intriguing. I got the watermelon one because it was cute looking.

I definitely needed to get to Vande Walle's sooner but it was probably a good thing I didn't... my wallet might not like me. Now I just need to get to Wilmar's in Appleton and check out their new location in Neenah for the melted chocolate bar.

If you are by the mall in Appleton, definitely check out Vande Walle's. I'm sure you will find a treat you can't wait to indulge in. 

7473. Drink in a cornfield

Drinking a cornfield is probably one of those iconic teenage things kids in rural Wisconsin do all the time. Being not one to drink much and go out, I definitely did not have that experience. Now living across from a cornfield in the city, it has crossed my mind a time or two.  However, now there are houses by that cornfield and it just seems weird as an adult trying to sneak into a cornfield.

Then the perfect opportunity presented itself. As we were navigating our way through the corn maze in Kohler, I turn to Andrea and told it would be a great day to drink in a cornfield. We threw around ideas of going to the gas station to having her dad bring us some wine. Since they sold wine and beer at Flora Fields, we decided we could totally drink in a cornfield.

Looking at our options of three beers, a rose wine, a sparkling wine, or a margarita in a can, we decided to go with wine. We were given the Rose... for $13 a glass. 

Since we didn't want to walk the entire large corn maze, we headed to the small corn maze. To my delight, we found the hidden games. There was checkers and tic-tac-toe.

We were going to play pumpkin checkers but I decided that would take too long.

So we played pumpkin Tic-Tac-Toe. I beat Andrea. 

For $13, the wine was awful. It was a dry Rose. We are not dry wine drinkers. I finished mine but Andrea tossed the rest of hers. We did keep the glasses.

We drank our wine in a cornfield while playing pumpkin games. Okay so maybe not quite the teenage experience most kids have but it was fun. 

I am so glad I have friends to indulge in my crazy, random ideas. If day drinking in a cornfield is not on your fall bucket list, it should be. It is the adult version of drinking in a cornfield. Maybe next year, we will bring our own wine and sip it while we navigate the corn maze.

AHA Adventures: Sunflowers and Corn Mazes

 Andrea sent me a post about a sunflower field a Flora Fields in Kohler. I love sunflower fields so I wanted to go. I mentioned it to Heather and the three of us decided to have an adventure. 

Flora Fields is a field of flowers.. tulips in the spring, sunflowers in fall that is part of the Kohler Experience. Cost for the sunflowers was complimentary for resort guests and $15/adult for day guests. It is card only. Flora Fields is open Fri-Sun 11-5 through Nov 2. Parking is on sight.

Flora Fields is full of fall fun -- Sunflowers, corn mazes, a hay fort complete with slide, pumpkin painting, and hidden fall games. Food trucks and live music make it a great way to spend an afternoon.

After a brunch of croffles, we arrived at Flora Fields. I was expecting a huge field of sunflowers. There were barely three rows of sunflowers and a lot of short varieties. I was not impressed by the sunflowers. I want rows of huge towering sunflowers. Since it was their first year and the first weekend, maybe there will be more sunflowers in the future.

The hay fort was so much fun. We got there around lunch time and so there were very few people around which me the big kids were able to play. And by play I mean, me going down the slide while Heather and Andrea supervised. My sandals were useless so I kicked them off. The slide was actually a lot of fun.

We then took turns swinging on the swings. Okay so I swung and then we took fun pictures. 

Then it was time to conquer the corn maze. We opted for the large maze. They gave us a map which I put Heather in charge of. We all know my map reading skills and we would still be lost among the stalks nibbling on field corn to stay alive. 

They did have checkpoints that pointed you in the right direction if you got the question right. 

Inside the 9 acre corn maze, was not scary ghosts and goblins, but fun photo opportunities. 

There was also a giant crop circle.

After successfully completing the corn maze with only a few mishaps, we took a break and painted pumpkins.

As we were wandering through the corn maze, I said I never drank in a corn field. I joked to Andrea she should have her dad bring us some wine. We opted to just buy some wine and day drink in a corn field. 

We stumbled upon the hidden games and played tic tac toe while we day drank in a corn field. 

$15 was fair price for the afternoon fun we had. If you are in the Sheboygan area and looking for fall fun, definitely check out Flora Fields. I'm hoping to go back in Spring for the tulips. Andrea said they were better than the sunflowers.