Top Ten: 2011 Family Vacation

We vacationed this past week up on Lake Mille Lacs, and had the most wonderful time just the four of us!  Ahhhhhh sunshine, family, scraped knees, bandaids, no cooking, reading, bugbites, smiling, drinking coffee with someone other than myself, and laughing.  What's not to love? 

10. Bowling ~ was a hoot!  This was Piper's first experience, and she loved every bit of it; from the lights, to Daddy's patient help, to watching Hadley wipe out & drop her ball, she loved it all.  And so did we.

9. Rides ~

We visited Paul 'Onion' (as the girls mistakenly thought it was, hehe) Bunyan Land on one of our first days there, and thoroughly enjoyed the old time feel and several rides.  We topped the 40 foot Ferris Wheel together, the girls bravely tried out the really bouncy Frog Hopper, and Hadley happily 'eeked' her way onto the Flying Swings with me (by .25 inches!).  Here's what Piper had to say about that...

Thankfully, another go on the Frog Hopper seemed to cure those tears.

















8. Treats ~ In keeping with last year's vacation tradition, and made certain to find some form of ice cream every day, sometimes even eating it on our preferred mode of transportation while there... the golf cart!

Getting to try her first Chipotle burrito, one of Kyle's favorite things!

7. Swimming ~ both at the resort pool & at the beach.

I could not help but(t) take this next photo :)

6. Golfing ~ We hit Pirate's Cove for mini-golfing one afternoon, and Kyle managed to get in two rounds of nine with all of us tagging along in the cart as well.  The girls were thrilled to get their first taste of a real golf course, and are seemingly anxious to get out there and try it themselves one day, as long as Mom supplies them with lots and lots of snacks :).

It wouldn't be a vacation on a golf course, if you didn't do a little golf ball hunting in the evenings, now would it?  This is the girls' version of golf ball hunting once they were tired of it...

Piper to the left, and Hadley below. 

5. Fishing ~ We all love to fish, and were very happy to have caught some 20+ fish (sunnies with a bass and a perch mixed in) off of three different docks over the week.  That, and no one fell in :)

As you can probably tell from the photo, they are both far more excited about the (dead) minnow that Piper captured, and the (barely alive) frog that Hadley captured than the nice little bass Daddy caught with them.







Hadley requested this picture, as she wanted to show her Grandpa in MN that she too can kiss fish :)

4. Practicing Positive Attitudes (& Patience) ~ Our packing felt amazingly light this year, as we were sans pack-n-play, diapers, highchair, and stroller!  But while we did not need any of the essential baby gear, we did need to strap on a little bit of extra patience and practice our overall positive attitude while vacationing with a newly 3 year old...

First it was, "I don't like the wood chip feel; I NEVER like the wood chip feel", then it was the sand feel, later it was just plain old walking. The best part of it all was being with Kyle as it was happening, making it twice as funny!

And not to leave Hadley B out, much of our 3+ hour drive was spent like this (with Kyle & I snickering so hard up front that we were nearly crying)...

3. Hiking ~ through three different parks was quite the adventure.  It began in the Twin Cities with the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden & Quaking Bog, followed by Father Hennipin State Park on Lake Mille Lacs, and finally Kathio State Park also on the giant lake.  

Taking time to smell the roses, er oxeyes.

Quick smile for the camera between complaints. 

Believe or not, we actually conquered this 100 foot Observation Tower, complete with open stairs, without a single complaint from Pipey!  The view was worth every nerve racking step...

2. Sister Love ~ I would venture a guess that one of the girls' favorite parts of the vacation was their adjoining bedrooms in our resort condo.  Whether Hadley was serenading Piper to sleep, or waking her up at 6 a.m. to start playing, they LOVED being together. (Showing me just how much they disliked the mosquitos below.)

Apparently standing next to a giant blue ox makes you feel kind of silly?

1. Family Time ~ nothing is more precious.  Every moment together was a blessing, as simple and as lovely as that.  I will hold these memories especially close come this winter, when I need a glimpse of the warm sunshine.