Sunday, July 6, 2008

Back From Vacation!!

Well, we are back from a week at this great Minnesota resort! The name is kind of silly, which is what got my husband's attention in the first place, I suppose, but the resort was wonderful! Below is a view of beautiful Lake Mary. Here in Minnesota, people go "up north" that means either fishing, or camping or to a cabin. It's how most Minnesotans vacation. Day one: (Sunday afternoon, after Mass) Check out the resort, check out the docks, the play ground, the put-put golf, the pool, the lake, the beach, the cabin. Then go get groceries. The kids were not very happy about having to go get groceries, but if they planned on eating on this trip, they had to go with! Now, my husband wanted to make it easy and not bring anything at all, no cooler of ketchup, mustard, pickles, syrup, veggies, salt and pepper, nothing. So we didn't, and the groceries came to $300 (for one week). Our van was pretty packed, we were not sure we'd fit a cooler. In the end we probably would have been able to and will next year. I did manage to sneak in banana and pumpkin breads for breakfast and monster cookies! (I'll post my recipe soon on my cooking blog, they are so good, especially frozen!)These horses were at the resort, for us to take walks to and see. They were SO beautiful!
This is our cabin! It was wonderful, it had air conditioning, a screened in porch and a kitchen bigger than mine! I know some people like camping, and that's great, but I really loved having a cabin to go to and make our home away from home! It was just so nice to have a place to spread out!

These are the brand new pools they just put in. They were nice and warm and the kids had a blast! Yes, those are all our floatie things! (we had more in the cabin) The dragon's name is "Focus". I have no idea why, but that's what the kids have called him for the past 5 years!

The first 2 days we lived at the pool. I love pools, I love the sun! It was so much fun! Then, day 3: I got my period. (is this blog now pg-13?) Yes, we have not gone on vacation in 3 years, yes, 3 years, and my period decides to come, now what are the chances? Well, I am not a tampon kind of woman, so I was quite worried. I get pretty crampy and sick for about 3 days after the first day. Well, God helped me out with this one, Day 4: the temps dropped down to the 60's! Too cold to swim! So we decided to go into town and check out things there! It also gave us a chance to play games in the cabin!
Ok, I'm a bad homeschooling mom, we did not go to the museum...there were actually 2 museums, the other one being "Maritime Museum" What is Maritime? I have no idea and was not in the least bit interested in this small town's museums...so we did not go. I think we still had fun. Maybe some year we will go. I know my friend Sarah, (the great homeschooling mom that she is) would have hit every museum if she were here...oh, well...! We did see Big Ole. Maybe it's his big feet they named our resort after?

I do have to say, this town was beautiful though, it is surrounded by beautiful lakes. (remember I live in MN, the land of 10,000 lakes) There were resorts everywhere. I can't imagine how this town must change in the winter.

Beautiful Noonen Park was one of our stops on our town day. There is a park across the street and this small lake full of ducks to feed and a great path to walk around.
Ducks are always fun to feed!! This might be my new header picture, what do you think?

On the last day we checked out this indoor water park! It was SO much fun, for everyone!! We want to come back sometime on a weekday in the winter! It was a great way to end out vacation. The time went by so fast. The week felt like 2 days, where did the time go?
I was able to read every night and relax. I finally went through all my art books I bought at the MN Catholic Homeschoolers Conference over month ago! I went through all my curriculum catalogs and circled everything I want to get and now just need to go through and write it all down and order in August. It really was a great vacation. Spending time doing fun things together, making great memories.

Home sweet home! Home always looks so good after being away from it. We were ready to come home. We were ready for our own beds.

We came home to do our own fireworks in our driveway!! The kids still love these small fireworks. Our neighbors even joined us! Jedi did ask if next year he could go to the "big" fireworks though...so I guess, our driveway fireworks might have to be exchanged for the "big" ones next year. Since we were gone for the 4th, I have no cool treats like Christine or Margaret to show you, but if I would have been home, we sure would have done those cool jello things!
I hope you all had a blessed 4th of July!


11 comments:

  1. Welcome home! Thank you for sharing the recap of a wonderful family trip. What a great memory for the kids.
    "Up North" is such a fun place to vacation. This post was like a trip down memory lane for me, recalling my own Minnesota vacations from childhood. There is always a big statue of something in every town. Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox seem to be everywhere!

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  2. One summer we were in Brainard and saw Paul Bunyan and Babe. It was hilarious and the kids loved it! Lovely holiday you've had. I suppose after those long, hard winters you all have, all those resorts are a result of that. Look how beautiful MN is when the sun comes out!!!

    I think that pic is perfect for your new header. :-)

    Blessings,
    JOT

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  3. What a fun vacation. The simple, relaxing ones are always the best!

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  4. Well...I wrote this whole long comment then something happened to it??????

    Question: why did you put the "word verification" back on? Something I should also do?

    Good for you guys for having a blessed vacation together. Sounds like it was fun, safe and memories made.

    Cabin...that is not a cabin that is a house. Looks about as big as ours before we added on! Looks comfy! Yup....I wouldn't mind that one bit but my husband is a camping guy.

    Glad to see you are home safe and sound.

    I am going to look up that monster cookie recipe!

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  5. I did check out your other pictures!! Fun to see more especially that sweet baby girl of yours. She does have the best butt!

    You and your sweet-heart look great! Brian and I never get any pictures of us together either.

    Fun to see Jedi's First Communion pictures also. Thanks for reminding me about your scrapbooking site.

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  6. We've stayed at the resort & have been to the indoor pool in the past, too! It's a great place to stay. I didn't know that cabins were available. I do like your idea of 'camping' . . . that's my way, too. Glad to see you had such a nice and relaxing family vacation.

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  7. Welcome home, Jamie! Sounds like you all had a wonderful week. I can't wait for our vacation. but it's always great to come home. The picture were great-your state is a beautiful place. Luv, Nerm

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  8. Looks like so much fun! I'm so sorry you got your period on vacation. I was worried I would get mine but I didn't (I'm still waiting on that first post partum cycle 18 months later). I can't imagine the weather in the 60's! That must have been so nice. :-) The kids looked like they had a blast.

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  9. Welcome Back!!! I have not been commenting near as much either... In fact, my computer time has been SO LIMITED lately!

    I LOVED seeing the pictures from your trip. HOW FUN!! It looks (and sounds) like you all had a wonderful time.

    So glad that you had time to relax and read! God Bless!

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  10. This looks like a great time and I loved seeing and hearing you describe it all.

    I'm envious that you've had cool weather.

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  11. I agree, that new picture is too cute to put away. I just added a new top of my page image that better fits my style with more recent pics of our family. I like how the older girls are holding your little one's hands. How sweet!

    PS- thanks again for a wonderful day today and such christian giving. I have been hoping to find a really good friend around here for years - and I am so glad it's you! You're so complimentary and great at making conversation. I told Tom that we'd be better off if more people were like you. He of course agreed! At supper today, we asked God to send an extra blessing your way! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU times a bizzilion!

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Thank you so much for stopping and commenting!