Wrapping Up Vacation

Day 7 - the last of vacation. The following morning, we would be packing up and heading home. The last day means one thing: do everything one more time! It was a cooler day, so Jacob wasn't interested in swimming. That is the only thing we didn't do. Hard to believe we all survived a week in that cozy little cabin, but we did! A week was probably a bit long to be away from home for our first vacation, but it was a lot of fun.

Playing at the playground. Thank goodness for that!

Superman!

Underdog!

I finally got a picture of one of Mariella in her favorite spot. She spent a lot of time on our laps in that swing. She was surprisingly mellow.

Doing a silly walk. It was very cute.

Success! Both kids by the resort sign. So what if you can't see Jacob's face?

Mariella pushing her big brother on the merry-go-round. She really enjoyed doing that.

Getting a ride by herself

Making sure to play in the dirt one last time. This girl loves dirt.

We packed a picnic lunch and headed back to the public access to Lake Winnie. We wanted to check out the big lake again. Mariella got to stay in the stoller instead of standing by the steps with no rail right next to the lake.

Jacob got to check it out, though. He was impressed for 2 seconds.

We sat on the boat launch for awhile, to get right next to the water. Luckily, it wasn't a busy day for boats so we could sit there for awhile.

It was another breezy day, and the water was choppy. We had some good splashes by the rocks.

3 musketeers sitting by the lake. Jacob found (of all things) a small car on the boat launch. It was officially the highlight of his vacation. He was THRILLED.

We ventured out on the dock to get an even closer look at the lake. Finally, it was time to head back to the cabin and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. That night, the cleaning and packing began. I picked up a sweatshirt from the gift shop, because who goes on vacation and doesn't bring back a souvenier?

Vacation Continued

Day 6 - Our day started out with more of the same (playground, swimming) and then after lunch we set out to explore some more. Jacob asked to go back to the "park with the brown slide."

Jacob and Mariella having a snack in the "living room"

Back at the park by the river, Jacob put on his best cheesy smile for a nice shot.

This is the famous brown slide. The kids loved it. You can see how breezy it was that day. Mariella has a blow-over.



It was such a beautiful day. Cool puffy clouds!

We walked up to the street to look on the other side of the dam. This is the Mississippi River, pre-dammed (is that a word?)

Knowing that the Big Winnie was nearby, we set out to find it. This was the road winding through Chippewa National Forest. Just road and trees, and the very occasional street sign.

We found the lake! Judging from the size of it, you'd think it would have been easier to find. However, most of the access points we encountered were campgrounds and just to drive in would have required a fee. We finally found a public access.

Lake or ocean?

Treasures

By day 5, we were all ready to do a little exploring off of the resort grounds. Translation: the kids were getting a bit rambunctious and we wanted to have them confined in the van for awhile! Knowing the Big Winnie and Chippewa National Forest were out there, but not quite sure what we might find, we set out for adventure. Just a few miles from the resort, we came upon a recreation area. Our first treasure!

The Winnibigoshish Dam, cleverly nicknamed "The Gosh Dam" by locals. History lesson: this was the first dam to be built on the Mississippi River, originally constructed of timber in 1884. Six years later, it was rebuilt with concrete.

The Mississippi River, looking so small and cute only 170 miles from its source (courtesy of the dam, of course)

I thought I'd get a photo of Mariella sitting on the banks of the river. She had other ideas. In the time it took me to move back 3 steps to take the picture, she was scrambling to climb over the rocks. In my scramble to keep her from tumbling head first onto a rock, I dropped the camera. Thankfully, I got to her in time. I'm also thankful that this camera is apparently extremely durable. No real damage done.

This is Mariella's reaction to being whisked away from her perilous rock climbing expedition.

Nothing like park swings to soothe an unhappy Mariella!

After lunch, the resort had a treasure hunt of its own for the kids. A clue at each site helped them find the next location...

The final treasure was hidden in the freezer. Ice cream for everyone!

Jacob, not having napped all week, was tired after the treasure hunt and fell asleep from about 5-7pm. Just when we thought maybe we would leave him and he'd sleep all night, he woke up refreshed. We decided that would be a perfect night to let him stay up late for his very first campfire. After Mariella was asleep, we all went outside to set up. Jacob thought it was pretty cool to be out when it was getting dark.

The fire wasn't roaring yet, but the boys broke out their beverages of choice.

Jacob roasting a marshmallow for the first time, with help from Daddy.

After tasting the marshmallow, he decided he prefers them uncooked. S'mores weren't going to happen with this one, so I gave him the chocolate anyway. That is what he is holding up for the camera. And, finally, here is what he was doing just minutes after eating the marshmallow, the chocolate, and finishing his juice:


He did this for about 5 minutes nonstop. The cabin neighbors were all quite entertained. I think it was the combination of the snacks and his excitement at staying up late.

Water Fun

Days 3-4 found us enjoying beautiful weather and spending lots of time in the water.

Jacob and Daddy had a water fight

Reloading

Direct hit!

An evening's walk to the lake, this time with an impromptu dip. The lake wasn't very busy during the week, so the boat access was a nice place for the kids to play. It was shallow and had lots of rocks to throw.

Mariella joins in the fun

She loved the lake! She waded in to her knees and then sat down in the water.

Eating dinner outside. "Who, me? Messy?"

The next day, Daddy took Jacob to the pool and I kept Mariella at the cabin. She had already tired of the pool, so we had fun with a bucket of water.

We walked to the pool to see how the swimming guys were doing. Jacob got really brave with his floaty. He figured out how to spin around, and he could kick to propel himself wherever he wanted to go.

There were several basketballs at the park, but it was most fun to chase after the same one

Happy 4th of July!

Day 2 started off nice and lazy. As lazy as waking up with Mr. Can't-Sleep-Past-7AM can get, that is. At least Mariella slept in. It had rained overnight, and there were puddles just waiting to be splashed in. I don't have pictures, but I can tell you that the morning playground time left us with 2 water and mud-soaked, but happy kids. Later, we visited the pool for the first time. Jacob was beyond excited to use his floaty ring. We spent much of the day going back and forth between the pool and the playground.

Eating a snack and watching a little TV in Jacob's bed before heading to the pool again. Side note: I always swore we would never get a travel DVD player, but we decided to try one out for this trip and it was Worth. Every. Penny.

Mariella tired of the pool long before Jacob did, so I took her back to the cabin to play. Here is her famous stinker face.

4th of July parade! They even threw candy!

We think this one of Jacob is pretty hilarious. He looks so tough, possibly flashing an inappropriate gang sign. What it actually is, is what he did when I told him to make a 4 for the 4th of July.

The kids with their parade candy. Yes, we let Mariella have a sucker. She actually did a great job with it.

Back to the playground. I got Jacob to stand by the resort sign. He was a bit wound up from the candy.

Mariella loved playing in this little house. She spent a lot of time going in and out, and running around the outside as we chased her.

We took the short walk down to the lake to check it out. The kids were not very impressed, but the adults enjoyed the view. This is Little Winnibigoshish. It looked huge to us, but apparently it would fit into the Big Winnibigoshish 62 times! (We did eventually drive to see the big lake. Pictures to follow.)



Walking back to shore. Jacob did not really care for the bobbing of the dock. He also looked at the lake for about 2 seconds before he was ready to head back.

That was it for Day 2. The kids didn't stay up late enough for any fireworks, but Tom and I could hear some fellow campers enjoying some. There was also a pretty impressive display shot over the lake. We could sort of see it through the trees in front of the cabin.