We returned yesterday around 4:00 p.m. from a full week away on vacation with my family. It was such a lovely time. Last year was great too, but Cora was 1, and one of us adults had to be 100% watching her to keep her from destroying something or killing herself. This year we just had to make sure she didn't run away from home, so it was a major improvement and created a far more restful vacation for the parents, even if she is a feisty little thing still. ;)
This year we rented a large lake home in Lake City, MN. It's on Lake Pepin, which is made slightly famous in the Little House on the Prairie books when Laura and her family move out of their house in the big woods of WI and head west. They stop at Pepin, on the WI side, and prepare there for the big move. In the book, Pepin was the largest town and lake/body of water Laura had seen so far in her little life. As I was reading Little House on the Prairie to the kids earlier this spring we already knew that we would be on Lake Pepin for our vacation, so it was fun to talk about going RIGHT THERE and seeing what she saw. It makes me look forward to when the kids are older and we can regularly go and explore the U.S.A with all of us (without the stress of young kid travel...so we wait a bit more).
The house we were in was so SO lovely. It had just been renovated, months before we came, so everything seemed almost brand new. It fit our family, the Horsmans, my parents, Greg and Andrea and Eamon, and my siblings Dan and Lauren...all just fine! We've come a long way from the little cabin in the north woods of MN, baby! :)
Here are a few photos from J's camera. I took a fair amount of photos, but frankly 3/4 of them are of baby Eamon, who makes a delicious camera subject at 6 weeks old. I took most of my photos in RAW because Renee started teaching me Lightroom on the trip, so I need a bit more time to do some editing and export them properly.
On the first night we were there, Jonas took the kids on a walk to the marina, which was just to the left of our house.
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| Jonas fell in love, again... |
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| The reminder ended up being too much for him. :) |
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| I love this one. Kind of fun, huh?? |
Layla grabbed J's phone and took some photos for you:
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| Her puppy featured in many of them, as did half her face. ;) |
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| Grandpa in his happy place, on a deck outside with some theology...and often followed by a good scotch or cigar. |
An exploration of part of Frontenac State Park:
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| Mr. Climber / Explorer |
And then there was the swimming! We weren't right on a beach, but if you're looking out the front door of the house at the lake, to the left was the marina, and to the right just down a bit was a very easy beach to walk or drive to. Jonas or Jon took the kids every day so that it could be a TRUE MN vacation experience. My little fish Layla might shrivel up, I fear, if she spends too long out of the water... ;)
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| Next up: learning about proper diving form! :) But man does she love to make a big splash! |
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| Lake Pepin is not really a "true" lake, I believe. It's just a very wide part of the river. Because of that, there were a lot of sharp rocks and muscles in the area that were a bit rough on the feet, but they did not deter fun or happiness in one big. Maybe other than for Jonas. ;) |
The house had a HUGE bench table, so that was fun...we could basically all sit around it at the same time! That's rare for us to find, outside of my parent's house. :)
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| Early morning jumble: cartoons, eating, puzzles, conversations...the works. |
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| One big highlight of the vacation for Finn?? Putting together at least one puzzle a day with Grandma. |
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| One highlight of the trip for Layla?? Getting to hold baby Eamon so much. Big, big love for Layla. |
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| Steak and risotto dinner on our last night there, thanks to Andrea and Greg. |
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| Jonas spent a good amount of vacation this way... |
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| Could be another photo by Layla? Or Finn? |
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| The view to the left of the front porch. |
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| The view to the right of the front porch. |
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There is always one golf trip, often more, on a Berube vacation.
This year the course sounded beautiful, or at least more so than usual, situated up on top of a bluff overlooking the lake and river.
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| Hats off to my Dad, who golfed despite his stroke causing him to be blind in his entire left field of vision. That takes some serious determination, folks! |
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Jonas and I took turns keeping Cora from waking up the whole house in the early mornings. Outside was pretty much the only option...on the front porch, or in the empty garage. :) She gets up early no matter what. Good thing I have older kids, and can at least hope for the child that eventually sleeps in past 6:00 a.m. At least she is a very, very, very happy morning person...
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Towards the end of the trip, watching all the sailing boats were just too much for Jonas to take anymore. He went out and bought a boat, and got to sail it at least twice on the trip. While there is absolutely zero part of me that has ever wanted to be "boating people" (due to the crazy cost of: upkeep and maintenance, storage, docking, fuel, upgrades, etc.), I am very happy for Jonas to have 1) a fun new connection to his childhood memories, 2) a hobby that would be very easy to do from where we live, which he has not really ever had while we've been married, and 3) something that he could eventually teach to the kids...he does love to teach. :) Because we live just a block or so from the lake, this actually is a hobby he can regularly do...time won't hold him back, at least. And I guess the boat and trailer together are fairly light, because one day he just walked it down to the lake, rather than drive it. He got lots of raised fists in admiration, and "Good for you, Man!" shouted to him from random strangers during that walk. :)
Frankly, I probably should have a picture of me parked in front of the TV, because I did a LOT of Olympics watching. And it.was.glorious. :)
We had one rainy day out of our 8 there, and so we drove about 20 minutes south of us to a place called Lark Toys. They are the largest independent toy store in MN, and they were pretty fantastic. So many GREAT toys, not just crappy ones. And such a great selection of books! I honestly could have spent tons of money there, on really great things, but we got out of there with each kid picking out a $10-$15 toy and calling it a vacation splurge. ;) Here are a few Lark Toys photos...it's a HUGE place!
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| It was hard to take photos in the store, frankly, because one of us had to be 100% watching Cora, and then one of us tried to keep track of the other 4 older kids. :) |
