Best Family Vacation Ever: Itasca State Park

For the last day of our fabulous vacation, we made our way to Itasca State Park (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/itasca/index.html) to see where the Mississippi River has it's humble beginning. It was only like a 40 minute drive so it was great for the kids. Actually except for the 1st initial drive- which was only 3 1/2 hours- all the rest were 2 hours or less. That made the trip ever better for the kids and the mother taking care of them. :) AND the sun began to shine as we got close to the park. So yeah for us!!! An absolutely gorgeous day, I must say!

We made our 1st stop at the Jacob V. Brower Visitor's Center. It was way hands-on kid (or grown-up kid) fun! There were displays and puzzles and stuffed animals and Firemen and poles and bears...... oh my! (Trust me--It was all Haylie! LOL) Oh, I mean dressups and listening stations. Tons and tons of things to do.

Next was the Headwaters. Over a bridge and through the woods, it's off to the headwaters we go... At the end of the trail, there's a marker that reads, "Here 1475 ft above the ocean the mighty Mississippi begins to flow on it's windin way 2552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico". Pretty amazing! We all took a little jont safely across the slippery rocks. Well, not really---first, we lost Victoria to the water. Oops! Oh and there goes Justice. Double oops! Oh and little Glory decided she wanted to do it on her own. Oops! Oh well, right? What's a little wet clothes in the grand skeem of things. Once we got over the initial crying and complaints of wet pants- we had a blast splashing and playing in the river.

This whole trip, we were really amazed at the beauty of this Earth that God has created. Truly remarkable! We got to see an eagle and a family of ducks. More of HIS amazing creation. What a great way to end the trip.

Before we headed home, we stopped in the little cafe for lunch and a Mommy-Only Stop in the gift shop. Yeah for Mommy! I found a few souvenirs along with an awesome "Sh'mores" Game! A little reminder of our vacation. Anyone up for a round of S'mores? We got it if you're up for the challenge. LOL!

Thanks to Matt & Haylie for joining us. We just adore you guys and are so glad that you're a part of our fam. We have to do it again soon. Luv ya!

And thanks to my wonderful husband for forcing his black rain cloud wife out on a very enjoyable vacation. I love you so much, Honey! Thanks for being such a patient and loving head of our household. We would be lost without you!

And last but not least to my AMAZING Heavenly Father and His magnificent creations that we are able to enjoy. Your world is just beautiful!!!

Truly- the Best Family Vacation Ever!! (or at least so far! :)

Best Family Vacation Ever: Bemidji

Another purpose of this vacation was to enjoy the things there are to see while we are living in the Midwest. One of those things is Paul Bunyan and the Headwaters of the Mississippi. So, we found a little resort on Bemidji Lake that had 3 room cabins. Perfect for sharing with our extended family, the Ironroads. Matt & Haylie met us in Bemidji to finish out our vacation with us. YEAH for Matt & Haylie!

As part of our evening, we made a trip to say hi to the big man himself-- Paul Bunyan, that is and his Big Blue friend. We got a good laugh over the HUGE statue in the OPEN of Paul and then the Indian statue hidden behind the trees and in the cage. We LOVE ya Matt! LOL!

We got there too late to go to the Visitors Center but in fine fashion there was a Mini-golf course that we got to walk around. Yeah for the vacation famous for Mini-golf! :)

http://www.visitbemidji.com/bemidji/paultales.html

The weather turned out to be a bit chilly and rainy so the beach playing at our cabin was more of a quick walk. We stayed at a family run resort called Ruttger's.  http://www.ruttger.com/index.htm Very peaceful! They had great screened porches on the cabins so the bugs stayed out but we could watch the rain along the lake. Quite pretty!

We did a little BBQing in the rain. Well, the men did while Haylie & I took the kids swimming in their indoor pool. The kids had a great time. The Pool house was great as along as you watched out for the slippery tile. It was a death trap. OUCH! Back at the cabin, dinner was fabulous as usual! After dinner, we put the little ones to bed and played a mean game of Sequence. OK, in Ironroad terms- it was very tame. LOL! We are yet to be broken in to the real Ironroad Game nights. Someday, though, we hope to be! ;) We've heard CRAZY things! With all thekids tucked in bed, we were going to watch a movie but Matt said he was good for only an hour or so so we opted to just visit. Well, Matt should have taken choice A cuz our visiting lasted longer than a movie. Oops! Sorry Matt! You can sleep when you're dead. LOL! We just love Matt & Haylie. They are fabulous!

The morning, we had a great FREE breakfast (I LOVE that about vacation) and did a little more swimming.
Are you swam out yet????? The weather was still a little overcast which was a bummer since the rest of the week was so beautiful so no beach play. Bummer! Good thing we had the Ironroads to make up for the icky weather. Thanks for coming guys!

Best Family Vacation Ever: Goodbye to Hill

For our final Hur-rah in Hill City, we rented the Pontoon. (and of course took one last swim) It was perfect! We were like the only people on the lake. All the kids took a turn driving and had a blast! The weather was great! What a fabulous way to say goodbye to our little hideaway! If we are here next year, we totally plan on going back and taking people with us! Yeah for Quadna!

Glory's Two!!!

My baby is TWO!!! Can you believe it? We celebrated her day with a bang! Literally!! We bought a few fireworks which are legal in Minnesota. The kids did snappers and sparklers. At dusk, we did other ones. We ate Dora soup, watched a couple Dora shows and got a couple calls on the telephone from grandparents. (She loves to talk on the phone) For gifts, we bought several Dora and puppy things which was 7th heaven for little Glory-Lory! She was a very happy girl!

Love ya girly!

Happy Birthday!!!!

Best Family Vacation Ever: More Duluth

The family choose to spend most of our Duluth time in the Waterpark but we HAD to make it down to Lake Superior once at least. We walked across the Hotel Walkway over the freeway and down to the shore. We went down on the rocks and had a blast playing there. Everyone had to take turns throwing rocks in the water. Brett says there nothing like throwing a humungous rock as far as you can to make you feel like a real man. I'll take his word on that one! LOL! We even got to see one of the big ships so it was perfect timing. It's was just beautiful!

Before, we headed back to Hill City, we made a stop at Olive Garden. When school got out, we told the kids we'd take them there to celebrate their great school year for some Zuppa Toscana. We are very proud of you, Liberty & Justice on what a great job you do at school! Way to go! Luv ya!

Best Family Vacation Ever: Edgewater at Duluth

On one of Brett's vacations (oh, I mean work trips :), he stayed in Duluth, MN. He had mentioned since we'd already be half way there that maybe we should go. I found this awesome Waterpark Resort for a great deal so on Tuesday, we went for the night. It was so fabulous! We stayed at the Edgewater in the Tiki Suite. The kids had bunk beds and Brett & I were back in a King sized bed. YEAH!!! It was such a fun place. It had a walkway to Lake Superior, and outdoor pool, a basketball hoop, mini-golf, an Arcade, a continental breakfast and included tickets to the Indoor WaterPark. See it all here: http://www.duluthwaterpark.com/waterpark/index.php

The Waterpark was crazy huge! It had slides and dumping water buckets and a Vortex pool and an Animal crossing and a lazy river. Glory was way nervous and we discovered that she doesn't care for splashing water. But the rest of the family had a blast. We even ate at Tiki Tom's Grill right in the waterpark. It was really reasonable and yummy!

All but little Glory took a turn on the HUGE slides. They were pitch black and super fast but way fun!

We enjoyed the Lazy River quite a few times. It was funny to see what kids avoided the waterfalls and which ones purposefully aimed for them.

The Edgewater also had an Outdoor Pool which was way more up Glory's alley. The day was pretty nice and there weren't a whole lot of people so it was like a personal pool for the Seamons. AND they LOVED the hottub!

We couldn't pass the chance to do a little family mini golf. It didn't turn out like we had planned since the kids made it into a Speed ball game and were done before Brett & I finished hole 2. Too funny! Justice thought the big Tiki man in the middle was where you put your balls when you're finished. Well....no! It took Brett like 5 minutes to fish the ball out with the golf club. Gotta love boys thought processes. LOL!

We were way excited because the Edgewater does S'mores at Sunset. Just right up our alley! We had a great time and there was a beautiful sunset in our honor!

Best Family Vacation Ever: Hill City

As if the Resort wasn't fun enough already, there were lots of other thing to do there. We checked out equipment and did a little family Tennis. We are NOT good at it but we had a lot of fun!

It was a little rundown but they did have a Mini-Golf course (and a 9 hole Golf cousre but we aren't Golfers) that we enjoyed. It turned out to be kind of a joke cuz everywhere we stayed ended up having Mini-golf. Too funny! The kids and I had a good time while Brett and Glory took a nap. Like I said VACATION, people!

 

Even though they didn't plan for it, Brett and Justice and Victoria decided that they couldn't let this lake vacation pass without doing a little fishing. They bought a license and a couple of poles to get up early and go fishin'. It was perfect. They found Hill City Park which was 5 minutes down the road and fished right off the dock. They caught tons! After their early morning excursion, they took the rest of us back later for an encore. Justice got really good at unhooking them. Glory LOVED the fish. She would hold them and carry them and give them a drink and then let them go for a swim. She had a blast! It was a perfect day for fishing and the beach. I had to drag them all away! Even wth my eye-rolling, we ended up freezing and bringing home three of them. Gotta love the non-fish-eating fishermen in my family!

At the park, they had a fun playground that Liberty loved. She wasn't too hip on the fishing expedition. She dragged Glory away from the fish for a bit and they had a blast. The two little ones LOVED the beach and splashing in the water. Unfortunately, goose poop was all along this shore so we had to keep an eye on them. But it was still tons of fun!