Vacation!

We have had a fun week and a half….

It all started on June 28 when we headed to Milwaukee, WI for “Nonnafest.” My great aunt Rita turned 90. We went to help celebrate with her! We saw a lot of extended family. Some I had never met, and some I had not seen in more than 10 years. It was fun to see everyone. I enjoyed the company, I think the girls enjoyed the hotel pool the most! Both were able to put their feet in Lake Michigan while we were there. Leah enjoyed playing in the lake, Amber was not too thrilled to put her feet in the cold water, and wanted to be held most of the time!

 

After coming home on July 1, the girls and I headed up to the cabin on July 2 along with my mom (dad was already there) and my good friend Sara and her boys Michael and Joshua. Joe had to stay back to work (boo)! We had a nice (hot, hot) day at the cabin, even though the lake was flooded and the dock was underwater! We had a bad storm that night which left us without power which was interesting because it was hot and muggy! I was ok (but I am always cold, the others were a bit uncomfortable (maybe I am saying that too gentle)! We also did not have a working toilet, thank goodness for lake water cuz I did not want to take a potty training 2 year old to the outhouse! We were still without power on the 4^th. We headed over to Eveleth for the parade where the girls made out with lots and lots of candy! Power was restored the evening of the 4^th. The fireworks had already been cancelled due to flooding, so we did not see fireworks this year. We spent a lot of time in the lake as both girls just love the water. Amber was constantly jumping “off” the underwater dock! Joe joined us on Thursday with a surprise guest for the girls…Grandpa Shorty who came all the way from Michigan! Leah was so excited to see him. She was grinning from ear to ear. Priceless! Dan and Tiff and the girls also came on Thursday. Shortly after their arrival, with enough time for them to remove a window, but not have time to put the new one it, the power was out again! Again it was hot, so we got a hotel room and figured the girls could use the pool in the morning since the weather forecast was for rain! Power was restored Thursday evening. We headed to the hotel (Joe, Shorty and I). The morning brought rain and cold. The girls had fun swimming in the “water park” which only had 2 slides – one was broken, the other was in the kiddy pool! They didn’t care though, they swam, jumped and went down the little slide. They just love the water. Amber really loved the kiddy pool since she could do everything herself! We celebrated Tiffanie’s birthday Friday night. Saturday brought a good bye to Shorty. Both girls were sad. As grandpa left, Amber said “Grandpa come back.” We finally got a boat ride as the water started to go down and my dad could take the boat off the lift. Joe and I left the girls with my parents Saturday afternoon to head back home. Amber and Leah came home with my parents on Sunday, I was told as they were leaving, Amber said “go back to the cabin.” Since driving up to the cabin, and being told by Nonna to look for cows and horses…every time we are in the car, Amber says “I see horses, I see cows!”

Sunday July 8, Joe and I were lucky enough to be able to go to the “Brothers of the Sun” tour with Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw. The opening acts were Jack Owen and Grace Potter. It was the first concert held at Target Field. We had fabulous weather. The music was great (well, neither of us really were impressed with Grace Potter, but loved the others)! What an amazing night.

 

Recap

1^st road trip in our new vehicle

10/10 days with family and friends

9/10 days swimming

6 days at the cabin

2 states

2 birthday parties

1 Flooded lake

2 Power outages

2 trees down

1 visit from Grandpa Shorty!

1 boat ride

1 potty trained (yup, I can say that now) 2 year old!  

2 tired girls

1 great concert

200+ pictures!

12 days of not working!