Labor Day weekend-2014

Labor day weekend we did a little "lake living" again; it's been about 8 or 9 years that we have held this tradition. And it's probably our favorite weekend of the year; not one of us can tell you our most favorite part....because I think all of it is our favorite part. Each minute of each day, we have a great time just hanging out in/around the water. 

This year again we went with my parents, Uncles Ben and Jon, my cousin and her family with 2 young girls and my aunt/uncle to Idlewilde Resort on Lake Osakis. Nothing glamorous, in fact, it's anything but. However, it's less than a 2 hour drive and provides some great entertainment. 

The cabins are set just up the hill from the lake. The docks are wobbly (though several have been replaced) and walking on them gives everyone the heebie jeebies. The kiddos love spending hours on them :) 

And as long as my cousin's husband-Shane or grandma Jan are around, the kids ask to fish.
And fish. 

And fish. 

Off those not-so-glamorous docks. 

Sid was a great fisher-gal, catching a great keeper sunny right off the bat! She squealed and realed and brought in that sunfish for Shane to un-hook (lucky guy!).

There are some amazing sunsets and sunrises off the lake. Thankfully we didn't see any sunrises....which means the kids slept beyond the sunrise each morning!

Tried as I might to make it 3 days without bathing him, I just couldn't do it. And so, little Lincoln had a bath right in the kitchen sink one night. Something my mom used to do with me, and really our only option in this particular cabin (the first night I noticed a nice large mushroom growing in our walk in shower so the girls now call it the "mushroom shower"; not to mention it was much too small for me to hold him while showering). 

The girls scored the biggest Mr. Freeze we had ever seen at the local gas station.
Seriously it was 1/3 of the size of Sidney's height! And wouldn't you know it, she ate the whole darn thing.
I didn't even get one bite.

Lincoln seemed to be very at home the entire weekend. He happily slept most of the car ride there and partially back (not like that middle sister who whined "I'm hungry" "I'm tired" "I gotta pee" "I'm bored" for two full hours). He ate great, trying new foods and eating a lot of table food. He napped wonderfully in the cabin, and we were mighty thankful for that (thanks to a big box fan to drown out any noise) and he played all day outside with the rest of us. 

 He sat on the golf blanket, surrounded by toys and eager to pet my cousin's puppy when he came around. It was lazy days at it's finest as we watched the world around us and soaked in some fun belly laughs.

And he waved at each and every boat one afternoon.
Each. And. Every.

They'd cruise along past and he would wave and wave and wave. Sadly a ride in the boat for him means a really uncomfortable life jacket, so he was much happier just waving as they drove past.

Not the same story for these cuties. They delighted in the fact that Grandma Jan found an awesome deal on a 4 person tube at the end of summer. Thankfully both Grandpas let us use their boats for some rides around the lake throughout the weekend.

SCORE! 

We could hear them from shore screaming "faster!" as the boat went back and forth for 30 minutes at a time. They loved it!

I'm thinking Lincoln was ready for his own ride on a tube....ready to crawl off that blanket :) 

He hasn't quite got the movement part of it down, but he is "moving" so to speak. One lunch, he and I shared the blanket for mealtime. I kept him a few feet away so he wouldn't steal my plate and dump it. By the end of the meal, he had scooted himself all the way over to me and was resting his hands on my lap. So although he's not crawling, he sure is moving. 

It's no tube ride, but the giggles are just the same. And flying through the air with daddy is a lot of fun when you're 10 months old.

The kids know of a park nearby and so we took a couple of walking trips there to get away from the resort for a bit. Regan is strong enough to go around these circle dealio's with ease...ok, maybe not ease, but she has the strength and determination to accomplish them. 

And in Sidney fashion, she was pouting about something during my attempt at a picture. I think she was mad that I let them all come up on "her" rock so I could snap a picture. Oh the things she will need to learn in Kindergarten this week. 

Camp fires each  night are just one of the many loves of the weekend. Who doesn't love sitting around a fire, eating s'mores and making memories? The girls grabbed up some glow sticks, glow wands, glow poop (yes, Regan had glow poop) and had some good giggles around the fire. 

And on our final night, while Sidney whined and complained about her tooth hurting (add that to the list of things she whined about...oh so tired little girl), her Uncle Jon offered to pull that wiggly wiggly tooth. And she let him! One little tug and out it came!! Boy oh boy was she excited the next morning to see that the tooth fairy had found her at the lake; she was mighty worried that the fairy wouldn't know where she was. And after looking under her pillow and finding a handwritten card and $5 she announced "I love the tooth fairy!". (note: her adult tooth happened to be growing in behind the baby tooth so we were pleased as punch to learn she wouldn't need it pulled by the dentist; only Dentist Jon! She, however, exclaimed "my big tooth didn't move up like you said" immediately after the tooth came out. Here she thought that the adult tooth was going to instantly move into place; oh how we wish!)

Lincoln seemed to be smiling no matter what we were doing, including packing up to leave for home. Even in the midst of a power outage at 9:30pm when we were putting the kids to bed, he smiled and went with the flow. It was pitch black in the cabin! Like dark as dark. And he never made a peep. Someone sarcastically mentioned during our vacation "don't you wish you had a happier baby; geez, he's so grumpy and crabby all the time", because he is anything but. He might just be the happiest baby on the planet! 

Seeing Uncles Ben and Jon are always a lot of fun. They fished their hearts out in the early morning hours and caught many o fish this time around; making a trip from DC well worth their while! Oh, and they get to see their sweet nieces and nephew too :) 

Regan and Sidney had to share a bed for the weekend; something we completely discourage on any other trip. But at the lake, they are outside from morning til night and totally on the move. So night time rolls around, and they crash...hard. Normally Regan will read for 30-60 minutes each  night, but not here. She was simply too tired to keep her eyes open. 

I chuckled one night as I went in to check on them and noticed Regan sprawled out over Sidney who had a very small fraction of the bed. 

They are so adorable, quietly sleeping all snuggled together. 

Whenever I couldn't locate Regan, I would immediately look on the dock, and she was usually there. Fishing. That girl loves it like no other! Ryan smiled and said he wished he wouldn't have stopped fishing because now, having so many years without it, he wants nothing to do with it. He's bored sitting on the dock, he's grossed out putting on minnows/worms and he certainly doesn't want to unhook anything! Kuddos to Regan for loving it so much, and for having the patience to sit and take in the beauty of it all. 

She's convinced Grandma Jan that she can handle a bigger fishing pole, so I would have to imagine that I know one Christmas present that Regan will be getting :) And she is so ready for a big kid fishing pole!

A huge THANK YOU to Grandma Jan and Papa for yet another wonderful Labor day weekend at the lake. 

Until next year.....