Cabin 2015

My grandma, the completely generous woman that she is, rented a cabin for an extended weekend for my extended family.  People came and went as fit their schedules, with my aunt, parents, and grandma holding down the fort for the five and a half days they had the cabin.

Best outfit ever, unfortunately I didn't get a good photo
under the dress, long shorts.  Footwear - rain boots.

Lilly did amazing on the ride.  She didn't nap but did a great job of entertaining herself.  My mom sent me a link to a blog with this neat idea for a travel kit.  I made one for Lilly and it was the best thing ever.  It kept her so entertained throughout the drive.  We also checked out an audiobook from the library but unfortunately it didn't have a beep to turn pages, so Lilly couldn't really follow along.  I ended up reading her the book instead.  Greta . . . now that was amazing.  She slept for most of the ride.  She woke up hungry and screamed until we could stop in Hayward for lunch for all of us.  Then we made one more stop a little over an hour and a half later.  Nick and I were almost worried during the drive but we learned that babies can actually sleep in the car!

We arrived on Friday afternoon and heard there were already a few adventures.  My favorite: the cabin is just down the road from a YMCA summer camp.  My mom and grandma were taking a walk Thursday evening and walked past the camp.  The camp happened to be having a fancy dance outside that night and they asked my mom and grandma to dance.  And they did.

He's 19 and going to the UMN Duluth in the fall

I actually don't have many stories to share from the weekend.  And really, can you top that story?  Much of our weekend was spent at the beach.  A few years ago my grandma did the same thing, renting the cabin for us and the weather was freezing cold.  We spent most of our time inside playing games.  This time we spent all our time outside at the beach, on the deck, and hardly any time inside. It was a relaxing time and great practice for Lilly in the water.

Saturday night when everyone was there, we celebrated my parents' 40th anniversary and my mom's retirement.  My aunt read some anecdotes from my mom's years of teaching and we shared some memories from my parents' wedding.  We also enjoyed Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

So here are oodles of photos from the weekend . . .

Fun in and around the water

Eric and Lisa brought that cool inflatable island, or as Lilly called it,
the sunshine bathtub

The wedding cake and wedding-esque photo

Fishing with Grandpa

Underwhelmed?

A fish!

They gave up on fishing and just tossed worms in to the fish

Lilly listened to the entire 62 page book from Caitlyn (who I cannot believe is going
to be a senior in high school!)

Phil sleeps with a giggle fit next door.  Taylor tried to use her fingers
to zoom in on a photograph.

S'mores!

While roasting s'mores, my mom burnt her marshmallow.  Lilly asked my mom, "Who is your mom?"  My mom pointed to Grandma Phyllis.  Lilly then said, "Nana's Mom? Nana burnt her marshmallow."  What a tattletale! 

It was a bit hot for a bonfire, but Lilly needed s'mores!

Family Photo

Here are some photos from my aunt Julie. 

Taylor holding Greta

Paddle board fun

Yoga on the paddle board

Taylor and Caitlyn

Racing in

A few from my brother . . . he took tons, I hope he shares!

Ignore my poor paddling form, enjoy the beauty of the sunset

It was a great weekend.  I was able to get two of my runs in for my training without worrying about the girls giving Nick a run for his money - he had plenty of back up.  Nick and I were even able to go out for a sunset paddle together.  Two pontoons full of women hit on him until they saw me paddle behind him.  (They said he was going to be on the calendar for July).  Thank you, Grandma, for the great getaway!