Lenninger Family Blog: A True Summer Vacation!

WARNING: It's a long one:) Scroll through for pictures if you are short on time!

Long, long ago, the Brown family decided that we needed to take a vacation together. And not just stay at some one's house for a weekend as we normally do. We road tripped to California in 2006 - yes, 2006!! - and that was probably the last "road trip" or getaway we had. Well, clearly that was eons ago. Anyway, we have been talking about this since last year and around Collin's birthday this year, we put the pressure on ourselves to finalize our plans. We found a home for rent on a lake in Northern Minnesota. We synchronized a week off in July. We booked it.

This place was about an hour north of Brainerd, so pretty far up but not ridiculous. It was about a 5.5 hour trip from Mom and Dad's in Burr Oak. Since we had hosted for July 4th and we had a busy week prior, I wasn't super prepared for our week away. Luckily, Dave didn't have to go in to work the Friday before (July 10) since he was on call that Thursday and we worked all day to get ourselves out of the house! Good. Lord. It took us all day to get out of the house! We needed to take care of some lawn things and of course get the house ready for a showing while we were away as well - so that complicated things a bit.
.
BUT, we eventually had the car packed, the boat hitched and the house clean. Abby was at a nice pet retreat in the Dells. All was ready. We hit the road to Gma and Gpa's house and the big kids did alright. Ayden did okay, I think. All the car time is starting to blur... but the cover on the boat kept unsnapping and flying up a bit. It's safe to say that Daddy-O was a little distracted. We stopped three or four times to re-snap the cover and deal with Ayden. We are definitely not traveling with a newborn anymore, he doesn't just sleep the whole trip. I'm already counting down until we can turn him around to face forward (and thus be a whole lot happier) but we aren't supposed to turn them around...until....forever anymore :(

SO excited to be on our way!

Our first time trailering the boat this far!

Passed out mid-snack

Anyway, I was texting Gma about our impending (and cranky car) arrival and we rolled in and unloaded the kids at the bottom of the driveway and let Gpa and Dave deal with the boat:) No crankiness for Gma, the kids and I! We were on vacation! We let the men be their - ahem!- super-fun selves and knew they wouldn't probably relax until we got on the road or at our destination:) PS - Gpa had rigged up a bike carrier for his pickup truck that would also allow a cover for the bed of the truck, where all their gear/bags would be. Pretty impressive and a lot of work. So definitely kuddos to Gpa and Dave for dealing with all the logistics! (Gpa and Dave also fixed the snaps on the boat cover that night so they were fine for the long trip up to the cabin!)

Dave and I packed well for the trip, got the kids down and we all went to bed at a decent time to get up early and GO! We were actually all ready and packed back into the suburban on schedule! Super amazing bonus of the morning? Tara and Quinn came out to say goodbye and they brought coffee (real espresso!) and pastry. I mean, come on. Is that not awesome?! We got to play and chat while Andrew and Kylie arrived and everything got loaded into Gpa's truck (and some in the boat, I think?) While we waited, we got some great pics...

Yay! A great pic of all four grandkids!

And we are off!

Wow, I can't tell you how happy and excited we all were to be on the road. Also, no one took us up on the offer to trade places and ride with the kids while we sat a spell in the truck. :) Actually they did great all the way through the Cities up until near Garrison. Really, quite wonderful. There were some fun times getting through the construction in the Cities, only a couple wrong turns and Dave did really well for towing the boat through it all! We had fun with a couple walkie talkies we brought along too - a la road trip in the 90s:) (I still found it easier to just text them, but oh well).

We planned on eating in Garrison but of course, about ten minutes before we got there, Ayden really started firing up. I pulled a rookie mistake and let us just keep going. I should have said - we are stopping and eating right here! (Grand Casino Mille Lacs, I think) but....we kept driving. Then the lead car (truck) missed a turn or two and we were headed out of town with a SCREAMING baby. Since we had the boat, we couldn't turn around easily or quickly. So we kept going and I pulled up a map to get us turned around. I told Dave to follow my Google map directions and we ended up going too far, in some sort of campground, had to stop because someone was blocking the road/path....ugh. Not good. We eventually got back into Garrison and parked. I sat with Ayden and nursed him/cuddled him after crying for 20 minutes straight. We ate a little diner place and got the hell out of Garrison:)

The rest of the trip was fine! We made an epic grocery stop at Cub Foods in Brainerd (Andy, Kylie, Mom and I shopped) and I felt like I was on some sort of stupid Food Network challenge show. We had no idea where anything was, I had a huge list, there was a time crunch with Dave and Gpa and the kids in the car outside....ahh! Oh - side note, I was starting a 21 Day Fix program the Monday of our vacation - I didn't realize it was starting then and it definitely complicated matters. BUT - I had committed and wasn't going back. By the way - how we decided to do the food for the week was brilliant. We gave each family a day to handle the meals for that whole day. Breakfast was a kind of on your own, we had various options for that. But then lunch and supper were made by either Gpa/Gma, Dave/I or Andrew/Kylie. It worked out perfectly. You knew which days you needn't worry about meals and which days you made a meal. All the meals were SO good and it took a lot of stress out of the week. Dave and I wanted to boat out to the one restaurant that is on the water. It was nice to explore and see something new (Deer Haven) and it was a nice boat ride too!

Kate writing her name on the chalkboard at Caribou:)

Going uphill while towing the boat - says 6 MPG but it was down to 3:)

We came out and loaded up the boat with our groceries (!) and then the truck stopped at the liquor store while our suburban made a potty/coffee stop at Caribou:) We left the parking lot with only an hour left to go! So....we turned left and the truck went straight. Some hilarious texts between Kylie and I ensued and the Lenninger car definitely won the race to the cabin:) The Brown truck took a ......scenic detour:) But we arrived and the place was glorious. The owners were super nice (very concerned about invasive species for their lake!) and soon we were walking around our digs for the week and unloading the cars.

The place was simply gorgeous. Beautiful, laid out perfectly and just....ahhh, relaxing.

The backyard, I'm standing halfway to the dock

The dock! We tied up our boat here all week

Fire pit area

Looking west on the beach

Master bedroom - beautiful!

"Porch" off the master....so cool

Great room

Our family stayed upstairs in a huge room- with this adorable nook (twin bed)

Our king bed - twin built-in bunks on the left, picture below

Great room fireplace

Built-in bunks. Kate and Collin loved them!

We spent the week mostly skiing,....

Big side note here - the whole crew skied with the exception of Gma and that was due to her back. I skied three times, I wasn't looking to do a lot, was super happy I can still pop up right away and really enjoyed it! But I kind of was looking for more of a "lay in the lounger on the beach" kind of vacation:)

This sums up much of my week:) Nursing and trying to get this guy to sleep (and stay asleep)
But.....not too bad when you are sitting in the shade on the beach, watching your loved ones ski in front of you!

Dave skied every day and eventually learned to drop one ski and slalom! He was super proud and should be - that is NOT easy! It did not take him many passes to get it down. I have a feeling the pressure is on for me to drive the boat, this guy is going to want to get dragged around Castle Rock Lake:) Gpa skied every day, I think. He of course dropped a ski and also got up on one - whew hoo, someone still has it after all these years! :)

(I don't really have photos of Dave and Dad skiing! I wasn't out on the boat for a lot of it. I have some great video from the dock, but not sure it will load...)

Andrew skied every day! He has learned quickly and he was all over the place, skiing a ton and on the very last day, he dropped a ski as well! That was super fun to watch and cheer on and nothing can replace the grin on his face. Priceless.

Such a pro!

Kylie skied every day, I think. Here's something I know about Kylie. No one perseveres more than she. She doesn't give up. I have watched her try and get up on skies probably.....a thousand times. Okay, not that much. But multiple vacations and visits we have had her floating in the water, trying to get up. She has had bad wipe outs. Really bad wipe outs. She Just. Keeps. Trying. It is pretty amazing to watch. I have about a dozen videos of her almost staying up:) She definitely wanted documentation when she finally got it! And guess what?! SHE DID. You could hear the cheering across the lake when she got up! And she went around - far! And she went outside the wake. Again, a rather awesome progression throughout the week. I'll have to get some of the pictures off her camera, she had some great ones. I also have a lot of cool videos of the guys ending their runs at our dock. They would come in hot, whip the boat around and come flying outside the wake...throw up the rope and glide in to the beach. Sometimes, literally walking up to the beach in the skis! So cool!

Okay, back to what else we did...playing cards, playing catch and ladder golf, boating, reading, nursing Ayden:), biking, etc. We really only left the "cabin" once (besides a couple quick grocery runs) and that was to go to Longville for the Turtle Races on Wednesday! We loved how settled and relaxed it was and having the boat right at the dock in the backyard was....SO NICE. Here are some pics from the Turtle Racing Capital of the World...

It was like a carnival - games for $0.50

Prizes when you won

Watching the races so we knew what to do. The kids' numbers were 305 and 306,
when we got there, they were starting at #1...

It. Was. Hot. They got lemon shaved ice and sat for a bit. We were lucky to get some chairs in the shade

Ayden and I stepped into a little shop to nurse and hang out

Getting their turtles!

On your marks, get set...

Go! Cheering them on...Kate's turtle immediately sucked in all it's limbs when it hit the pavement:)
BUT all the other turtles were fast! It was crazy!

Collin did awesome (and Dave:)

He really almost won!

Ice cream afterward to celebrate. Collin didn't eat his ice cream, just drove the arcade game

Oh, other things to note. The lake (Thunder Lake) was the clearest, most beautiful water. Honestly, Dave said yesterday that the boat was cleaner after sitting in the water up there for one week than sitting one day in our driveway. You could see to the bottom everywhere. You felt cleaner when you got out. I can't explain it. God bless those Minnesota lakes.

Jumping in and swimming

The water was a bit cool, the kids didn't want to be in it. Oh well.
The rest of us thought it was very lovely and refreshing!

You can see Mom's toes! It was ridiculous!

Aww:)

We found some sunshine!

These guys had just a little bit of fun last week:)

It stormed and rained. Almost each day. We had some rain, we had some wind/thunder/lightning. But amazingly, we still got the boat out each day, skied and we still got plenty tan! It was just those lovely middle-0f-summer storms that can pop up. We watched a few go south of us and though it was "fun" to watch from across the lake, Brainerd was hit very hard and they are still cleaning up from "the big storm." SO lucky that didn't hit us.

There was a tree down near us!

We were due to leave Friday by noon. Of course, that was the warmest, sunniest day of the whole week. So, Mom emailed the owners and they said we could stay a little longer and stay on the lake as long as we wanted. So, we tried to get ourselves all the way out of the house (for the cleaning lady who comes) but stay out in the water and sun for as long as possible. It worked! There was some great skiing by Andrew and Kylie that day (Andrew on one ski! and Kylie outside the wake!) we boated to a cove and just floated for awhile. We truly soaked up every last ounce of fun on our final day. And then packed up to leave.

Uff da. The drive back. We stopped in Outing (closest town) to eat as it was 5 p.m. (!) already and we wanted them to eat and then sleep. Also, Kate has to go potty 1,259 times during any road trip. The rest of the crew didn't want to stop yet, so we said goodbye in the parking lot of The Pickled Loon Saloon:) A log-sided bar/restaurant on Lake Roosevelt. The rest of the family headed south and we went in to eat. It was really wonderful food and we sat and looked at the lake, exhausted. Then we watched a pontoon pull up to dock. Then we realized it was Santa. Seriously.

Santa pulling up to the dock

I took some stalker photos while they docked. Then he (and Mrs. Claus of course) came in and sat next to us! Okay, Kate had a pretty hilarious look about her. She kept saying it wasn't him but looked extremely curious and was on pretty good behaviour:) At some point, he turned around and started talking to us. He said that he likes to fish, but the ice is too thick at the North Pole to fish, so he comes down south to Minnesota;) He handed me a card and when I asked if I could have my picture with him, he whole-heartedly agreed (though whispered that he won't take pics anywhere near alcohol, so we went outside:) It was So. Priceless. Kate was unsure at first, but by the time we got outside, she was smiling and talking to him. We left to go and she had to have the card he gave me and exclaimed it was the most amazing moment of her life. She of course, made up songs about meeting him in the summer, and so on. You can imagine:) Collin was pretty oblivious about it all and Ayden just smiled as usual...

Quite the pic:)

I mean....

The rest of the trip....I'd like to forget. It was hard. For awhile, they all slept. But mostly, Ayden was up and unhappy. Like screaming unhappy. We stopped a bunch for potty breaks and attempts at soothing him. I wanted to just stay in a hotel so bad. Dave did really good at staying calm. We rolled in to our place about 1:30 a.m. Yeah. The next day we had to get up and moving, pick up Abby down in the Dells and get to a birthday party in Baraboo at 11 a.m. We made it and it is a wonder.

The one time they were all asleep at the same time

This trip was truly a summer vacation. Thank you to Gma, Gpa, Andrew and Kylie for dealing with, helping with, playing with our kiddos. They are not at the easiest ages for this kind of stuff! It was all that we wanted from a "cabin" up north and I think we all are dreaming of doing it again as soon as possible. I know we live "on a lake" and can boat and such but it still felt like a real getaway and we LOVED it!

This feels a little random and like I'm missing a million things and I don't have all the pictures yet, but here are a few more pictures from the week...