So, the day before we left, I had meticulously packed all of our things and gotten it all ready to put in the van. As I was putting everything in, Chris was like, "hey we could really use a new van." I said, "um, no way." Eventually he talked me into test driving a couple later in the day, but still wasn't feeling it. After dinner, and after I had the van ALL THE WAY PACKED and ready for our trip, he calls the dealer and starts haggling. It went back and forth for a while, and we decided to just wait. Long story short, he went back in at 9pm, and came home with the new van at 1am. Just in time to pack it all up and leave at 4:30am for our 1700 mile roadtrip. Um, ya....crazy?! Yes!! Stupid? Maybe. Exhilarating? Most definitely.
So here she is. Shawna is her name. She is a nice piece of equipment that we are still learning how to use. The kids approved of the DVD player that made our trip so much easier. They were entertained for many hours by that thing. It was really a bonus to be able to fit all the kids in one row and then have the entire back for stuff. That really was the biggest selling point.
Anyway, back to the vacation. We arrived exhausted after 2 long days on the road. We hit up several playgrounds and just let the kids run around the property. My grandparents are on 40 acres of wooded land. It is paradise for kids, especially Neil. He could have lived there forever. So much space to just run and explore.
We spent lots of time on the four wheeler, walking in the woods, riding bikes,
helping stack firewood for the winter, playing bocce ball and/or croquet, and making fires.
We also had the chance to go swimming several times. There was a great place not too far that had a nice beach area with roped off swimming area. It only got about chest deep at the edge of the rope. It was perfect. We could see fish around us, and the girls tried so hard to catch them. Chris was afraid of leeches, but we talked him down and he ended up swimming across the lake and back. Got to keep up the training for his races.
This is the same place where my sisters and I came back to after dark for a quick skinny dip. It was on my sister's bucket list and somehow she talked the other two of us into doing it. I thought it was a crazy idea, but it ended up being pretty fun. It was extra thrilling to try not getting caught. We pulled up to the lake in the dark and tiptoed across a parking lot next to a building where we thought a person was working. We quickly and quietly got into the water and it actually seemed somewhat warm. We stayed out there for several minutes enjoying the moonlit lake and peaceful night, until we started getting creeped out and worried about getting discovered. As it turned out we left right in the nick of time too. A car of people showed up right as we were leaving. Phew!
(sisters skinny dip 2013...no actual pics, sorry, or rather.. you're welcome)
Another day we spent time with some family friends who took us out on their boat for some crazy fun tubing. Even my girls got really into it. Grace was even brave enough to take a solo turn. She did amazing out there. Neil was super content to chill on the boat. Chris and I got to ride together, and we had a blast trying to hold on for dear life. Afterwards we headed back to the house for a game of kickball. Besides being eaten alive by the biggest/hungriest mosquitos ever, it was all really fun!
Another day was spent in the city of Duluth. We visited the canal into the port where all the ships have to pass. There is a maritime museum there and plenty of fun shops and restaurants. We got to see the largest ship that sails the Great Lakes come into port. At 1000 feet, it was pretty impressive to see maneuver into the narrow channel. We had dinner at the Duluth Grill which was probably the culinary highlight of our trip. It was even on Diners Drive in and Dives. Of course we tried the signature dish of pasties. We even decided to make them ourselves a few nights later. Turned out amazing!
We also spent some time down in the Minneapolis area. We hit up an amusement park called Valleyfair. It was muggy and hot, but there weren't too many people so we managed to have fun. It's hard to go on normal rides when you have to spend all your time in Snoopy land. Oh well, joys of parenthood. We briefly stopped at Mall of America. It has expanded since I was last there. It is pretty massive, although you really aren't missing much by skipping it. It's just a mall. (with a giant themepark in the middle). The lego store was a hit. They had some pretty cool displays.
Towards the end of our trip, Chris and I were lucky enough to be able to get away for one night on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters area. It's a beautiful protected wilderness area along the Canadian border that is open to canoes and backpacking. We left one morning and set out about noon. We leisurely paddled for about 5 miles and through one small portage of about 500 feet. It took us about 3 hours. Then we found the perfect campsite along one small secluded lake. Out there you have to camp in designated places, and this lake had no other sites on it, so we knew we would be the only ones around. It was gorgeous out there! We saw rabbits and chipmunks in our campsite, and thankfully no bears. After we set up camp, we set out to explore some more in the canoe. We paddled another couple miles before calling it a night. The scenery up there is amazing. My pictures just don't do it justice.
In the morning we had breakfast, took down camp and set out for home. We had really taken our time the day before and had several breaks while paddling. Today, however, was totally different. It was super windy! And, we had to paddle into the wind. Basically what this meant: there was no stopping and no breaks, just hardcore paddling for 3 hours straight. My arms were falling off. It was so exhausting. The water was also really choppy in places and it made me a little nervous in our canoe loaded with all our gear. Then to make it worse, at one point Chris starts yelling and swinging in foot around in the canoe. All I hear is "leech! Get it off me!" He stops paddling, and is rocking the boat like crazy trying to get this leech off of his toe. There's really nothing I can do to help him from the front of the canoe, and all of a sudden we are getting turned by the wind in the super choppy water. So, now I am freaking out. I am yelling at him to stop being a baby, and start paddling before we die, and he's still yelling for help to get the thing off his toe. I'm sure we were quite the sight at that moment. Eventually, he was able to rip it off, and we managed to stay afloat.
When we made it back to shore we were so glad to be off the water! We were also starving! More hungry than I remember ever being before. Ravenous. All that paddling was a great workout!
Our perfect little campfire along our own private lake for the night. So fun! Even with the less than awesome paddle back, I would still do it all again. It was nice to just get away from everything.
Once we got back to the house, there was more relaxing to be done. We got to go shoot our guns. I finally had a chance to shoot Chris's rifle that I bought him a couple years ago. It was really nice to shoot. Super smooth. It was fun because we were at the neighbor's house (about a mile away) and he is a state trooper. He had this really old handgun that he let us shoot. It was very cool! It revolved and you could really anticipate the shot as you pulled the trigger. The other fun thing was the flame that came out of the barrel with each shot. I have some pics on Chris's phone that I will have to post another day.
Overall, we had a really great time! It was nice to spend some time with my grandparents who we don't get to see very often. Their property is such a beautiful place and we always have so much fun! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for letting us all crash your space!!
2 comments:
Sounds like the perfect family vacay! So many funny parts-Chris and the leech, I would've smacked him with my paddle if that had happened to me. Falling in would've been horrible! And the skinny dipping-that is awesome! Which sister had the bucket list to work on??? Glad you guys had fun! :)
It was my little sister Keara. I was more afraid of drowning. I'm not really a big swimmer. But, since we scoped out the place earlier I knew it was shallow. Bree was pretty much the longest holdout. I think she thought it was fun in the end.
And, ya Chris was lucky that I couldn't reach him, and that my arms were about to fall off by then.
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