Me Too

And we're back! from a wonderful trip.  Each time I load up the car and buckle in those two girls and wave goodbye to my boy it gets a bit easier, less stressful, more exciting.  While I surely am 100% exhausted upon our return I also feel pretty satisfied.  We did it! and it really was so fun.

The drive up was good, just long.  It took us almost 8 hours just to get to St Paul!  I blame it on the frequent potty breaks (Ainsley!) and me allowing Louise to walk everywhere.  Those little legs needed some stretching!

We started our trip with a too quick stopover at Nana and Grandpa Dan's.  It was my first time staying with them alone with the girls (which is so bizarre seeing as I've known them for almost 9 years!)  We ate oh so well (we always do there :o) and played hard.  Ainsley particularly enjoyed co-piloting Grandpa Dan's new scooter and Louise was a huge fan of the big park right out the back door.  I was able to run, pop into my favorite kids store solo! (Peapods in St Anthony Park) and enjoy some quality time with the best in laws.  What a start to the trip.

On Sunday morning we packed up to head to Excelsior for cousin Griffin's baptism.  The girls sat so well through the long Lutheran service (they've had some practice) and we all enjoyed brunch at Jenny and Joe's afterwards.   Then it was back into the car for the 4 hour drive north to Turtle Lake.  It felt SO quick after the 8 hour drive merely two days before and once we got there it was absolute heaven.

We grilled and had our first campfire that night, the perfect way to kick off cabin festivities.  The weather simply could not have been better, chilly nights, sunny hot days, a lake temperature ABOVE 70 degrees in June...perfection.

watching Pop build the perfect bonfire from a safe distance 

(later in the week I built one with them right underfoot, amazing how quickly we acclimate up there)

If possible the activities were even more numerous and fun and EASY this year.  Ainsley was desperate to fish with Pop just about always and in just one off the dock session she caught nine!  I think next year we can graduate to a fishing boat trip.  She's pretty much a pro (even grabbing her own minnow, something I still squirm over).

Oh and the campfires.  Louise tried her first s'more this year and shockingly, disturbingly, she is NOT a fan.  Plain marshmallows for that one, but the roasting is oh so fun.

Ainsley would have toasted the whole bag of marshmallows had I let her.  She loves lighting them on fire declaring that they're wrecked, tossing them into the fire and, starting anew.  Ah, the simple joys of youth.

Towards the end of the week Louise decided that she too needed to "cach a fisssh".  Of course Pop helped lots but thanks to our lake full of hungry little sunnies Louise caught her first fish!

She was fairly elated.

Oh that dumpling.  I think back to last summer, her crawling all over the dock, reticent to get in the water, or ride the boat.  Look at her now.  What a big little girl.

Louise's favorite activity was far and away the swinging.  Clever Grammy brought up her swings from home and she and Pop added two new hook ups so three grandkids could be swinging at any given time.  I'm pretty sure each and every adult was pushing Louise and singing a Mary Poppins or Sound of Music song at one point or another this trip.  Thanks guys!

booty shaking with Auntie's Jooj and Jenny, sorry guys, too good not to mention.

Ah, and then there's the water.  I myself am a bit of a water worm, we all are up north.  It was a right of passage in our family to learn how to water ski with mom in the water with you, directing you from behind while the rest of the crew directed from the boat.  It was a matter of pride to learn how to drop a ski before the sister younger than you did (if it weren't for Julie I may never have learned, now it's all I know!)  It was a whole other deal to get thrown out of your tube while on a wild dad driven tubing ride, a deliciously terrifying deal.  We spent all day every day in the lake.  Swimming, kneeboarding (360s and all!), skiing, dropping skis, sloloming, rowing, canoeing, kayaking, floating.  That glorious glorious lake.

After being pregnant and having newborns for the past few years I'd stagnated a bit with my zeal for watersports.  Suddenly the tubes felt a bit too wild and the wind in my face cutting the wake on my ski a bit too breathtaking.  But this summer I regained all that joy and confidence that I once felt.  I skiied nearly every day, even giving the thumbs up the go faster towards the end.  I had the wildest best tube runs of my life holding tight to my little Ainsley squealing with glee "faster Pop, more bumps Pop!  THIS IS SO FUN MAMA!!!!" over and over.  We tubed 5 times, my girl and I.  Sometimes in life you can have it all.

Some photos from our second pontoon lunch.  We make a lunch, pack it up, take the boat out to our favorite spot, a calm bay across the lake, anchor, eat, jump and enjoy.  Oh we enjoyed.

Oh my Ainsley girl.  You are so independent and carefree in that water.  I love seeing you swim.

Louise was full on in the action this year, kicking her little legs and giggling with delight.  

30 feet deep ain't nothin' to us.

I wasn't too sure how the boats were going to go over this year.  Ainsley is our little daredevil and she's always loved the speed and wind, happily accomodating her bulky life jacket if it means adventure, but my sweet Louise is a different story.  She's can be more cautious and weary at times (wonder where she gets that from? :o).  Once she got used to her life jacket my little one LOVED the boats.  She'd toddle around the pontoon with glee and happily wave at me continuously while perched on Grammy's lap as I skied behind the boat.  I'm quite thankful to have another happy water girl on my hands!

I found myself feeling thankful a lot on this trip, sometimes selfishly for the girls napping and sleeping SO well, others for the gorgeous weather and full happy days, but mostly for this beautiful place that we get to enjoy and the new ways in which I get to enjoy it with my girls.

At first I'll admit it was hard to get used to vacationing with my little ones.  Feeding schedules and naps kind of took over and I really missed the carefree ways that vacations used to unfold.  But this year?  It's suddenly easy, better even, than ever.  Because now I get to see this place with them, through them, do things I wouldn't do if it were just me up here, move slower, savor more.  I'm really thankful for all of that.

One of my favorite "new" things to do with my girls is take nature "hikes".  We meander 20 feet into the Great Unknown of the woods, searching for wild strawberries and pinecones, or stroll up and down the winding driveway to the main dirt road, spotting wildlife, picking flowers, and breathing in that piny air.  My sisters and I used to go for hikes like these.  One summer we even found an abandoned swing that coasted you right over the edge of a steep hill.  We'd put on our hiking shoes, bring a backpack with snacks and water and a notebook just in case.  But then we grew up and sort of forgot about how magical the woods are.  This year I remembered, and I kind of wanted to build a treehouse and stay forever.

birch trees lining the gravel drive

long lane, little lady

grammy caught frog + 2 curious preschoolers = the best find EVER!

identifying tracks

wild buttercups, oh and those pretty yellow flowers too

I found myself taking lots of photos of the Place this trip.  The calm reflective waters just before sunset, the reedy, rocky shore, the trees that grow out of nowhere and go forever.  It's all so magical to me.  Especially now that I live in a place that is so far from there, in many many ways.

Almost as soon as we waved our goodbyes to Turtle Lake Ainlsey has been desperate to go back.  "But I love it there mom.  It's the best.  I want to see Grammy and Pop and Connor and babies and I want to fish and tube and JUMP in the lake and swim and swim and swim."  I hear you girl.  Me too.

Me too.