Moooooving right along to the next leg of our trip. After a lot of research and phone calls, Patrick and I decided to head north to Brainerd, MN. Just a short two and a half hour drive from New London, we set out after dinner on Monday night. We stopped at Wal-Mart to get food and headed to the "resort", but not before my oldest child peed through his diaper on the floor at Wal-Mart. Awesome family vacation memories :)
So. We check in and go to our "cabin". Let me explain a little here: the resort, as it's called, is a series of condos near a lake with fun things to do within the Kavanaugh (the name of the resort) boundaries. There are several "resorts" in Brainerd. And our "cabin" was a really nice two floor condo-ish place. It was perfect for our family.
We only have two full days here, so we jump into resort living right away. We ate breakfast and took a walk. We enjoyed the scenery and then decided we should play in the pool. Since it was after Labor Day, there were {maybe} eight or nine other families there. We didn't see much of them, though. After the pool, we had family nap time. If you have children, you may be extremely excited about this! If you don't, please be excited about this! We took our time getting out the door for dinner and headed further north to Nisswa.
Nisswa was a super cute, very small town. It had Rafferti's pizza - which is apparently of the top 100 pizza places in the US. We ate there for dinner and did not think it was that fantastic. To each his own. Nisswa also had Stonehouse coffee and roastery. Any time I can get freshly roasted beans, I'm on it! We stopped for a coffee {and hot chocolate} break and grabbed a pound of beans. And finally, we saw Babe the Blue Ox.
You don't know who Babe is? Come on! Paul Bunyan?!
Minnesota is, indeed, the land of a thousand lakes {contently "made" by Paul and Babe as the crossed the Northern US - you don't know this?! :)} and Paul Bunyan is big time in Northern MN. And if you know Benjamin, you know that he loves Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox! And when B saw the blue ox, he ran up to it and said {in his ever husky, dinosaur voice} "BAAAABBBBE! HEEEEEEEYYY. Hey, Blue OX!" Patrick and I laughed.
The next day we enjoyed more of the resort. Since AR is so little, he couldn't really do any of the fun water activities. But fear not, he and I walked the resort trail for ever while Patrick and B rode in the canoe and the paddleboat and then played on the beach. Benjamin loved every second and I imagine that Patrick loved it just as much. B was in daddy heaven! He is a daddy's boy and didn't really leave Patrick's side the entire trip. *big sigh* I love seeing them together.
We went to a place called Grizzly's for dinner because we forgot our phones to get directions to the place {can you say technology dependent?} we really wanted to go to. Oh well. We had a nice, quiet dinner with all the folks over 65 since we ate at 5pm. We grabbed some ice cream and headed back to the resort.
This part of the trip was really nice. Quiet. Just the four of us. Patrick and I got to talk and read and sit and nap. The boys got to see a little more of the world and be outside more in 10 days than they have been all summer!
And one more thing: B slept in the second bedroom with two twin beds. He sleeps in a twin bed at home {with a guard}. On the second night, I heard a loud thud and then a little cry. Friends, I had no clue I could run so fast. From the time I heard the thud, to the time I grabbed B into my arms was {maybe} 4 seconds. I felt like a Superhero! I'm SuperMom - faster than the speed of poop. Quicker than a bunny. More responsive than any trained medical team!!! Get out of my way!
Ok, ok. Pictures.
Ugh! AR's cute jacket. It has eyes and antennas. I love it.
View from our deck.
B on the tire swing!
By the beach.
Please look carefully at Benjamin. He's taking a picture with his fake camera {that he insisted on bringing from home}. That's my boy!
Pool time!
B has NO inhibitions, ever really, but especially in the pool. He had such a great time playing with us!
This is how Andrew enjoyed the pool time.
Throwing B.
Having fun!
"Blue Ox!!!!"
The post sun set view from our deck.
B on the dock.
Canoeing.
Me and my baby. Isn't his face too much!? I laugh every time I look at this picture!
AR's first time swinging. He loved it, as I assumed he would.
Paddleboating.
SO many pictures. But we're not done yet! One more stop before we got home....
1 comment:
so many pictures!!!! such cute kids!!! can't wait to see the next leg!
Post a Comment