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.

Family Vacation - Day 1

We finally took our first ever family vacation, spending a week at the Little Winnie Resort (named for the lake) near Deer River, MN. That's 4 hours north of the Twin Cities, for those who are wondering. We packed up what seemed like everything we own and crammed it in the van (thank goodness for stowing seats), along with a week's worth of groceries. Feeling a bit like the Griswolds, we pulled out of the driveway right at our "latest time we should leave to make the most of the day." Victory #1.

The drive was mostly uneventful, aside from neither child napping and Mariella being pretty fussy for the second half of the trip. We arrived at the resort, got checked in, and promptly discovered that we would be quite cozy for the week. The entire cabin could fit in our living room--possibly with room to spare. Mariella's pack-n-play just squeezed in next to the double bed in our room. She was mere inches from having to set up shop in the kitchen. Luckily, we weren't planning to spend a whole lot of time inside.

We unpacked the food first, leaving for later the issue of what else to bring inside vs. leave in the van, since clearly everything was not going to fit! The resort has a great playground, so we headed over there first.

Jacob immediately found the "merry-go-round." This toy nearly made him throw up more than once, yet he just couldn't stay off of it.

Mariella got in a lot of practice time on the basketball court

Jacob worked on his dunking skills

Mariella liked flying down the slides at breakneck speed. They were slippery.

We took a quick look at the lodge and pool, had a little dinner, and let the kids play outside for a bit longer until they were worn out and ready for bed. Day 1 of vacation was a success!

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

No good ever comes from this stinker face. We've learned to be a bit wary whenever we see it. Sure is cute, though!

No More Bump

Jacob's surgery was successful and pretty uneventful. We tried to prepare him as much as we could, to the point that he seemed tired of hearing about it. The weekend before surgery, we took him to Build-a-Bear to pick out a "hospital buddy." He had a lot of fun doing that. Then, a couple of days later, we had a tour and information session at the children's day surgery center. That was very helpful, for us and for Jacob. He got to check out some of the equipment they used, like the anesthesia mask and the heart rate monitor. We were very impressed.

Jacob and "Moe"

When we arrived for the surgery, he was weighed and had his blood pressure taken. Then he got to find the room with his name on it, where we changed him into his hospital pajamas. After that, he had time to play in a fun toy area until it was time to go to sleep.

They had a garbage truck! Best hospital ever!

We were both able to go into the anesthesia room with Jacob, and he sat on my lap while they administered the gas. He hummed a bit, and then flailed his arms a bit as he fell asleep, but within a minute or so he was out. It was hard to put him on the table and watch them wheel him away, but we knew that soon he would be good as new. The operation itself only lasted about 20 minutes, according to the information screen in the waiting room. When the surgeon spoke to us afterward, he said it was a "medium sized" hernia and was very easy to repair. We had to wait a bit longer while he woke up, and then a nurse came to get us. Jacob was unhappy and disoriented, and they let me sit with him in a rocking chair. Even though he was kind of miserable, it was nice to sit and snuggle with my boy for what seemed like the first time since before he could crawl. It took him about a half hour of whimpering and drifting in and out to feel up to a popsicle. It took about 5 minutes after the popsicle for him to perk right up and demand to go home. Our Jacob had returned.

Changed back into his own pajamas, watching TV and waiting to be discharged

Instead of wheelchairs, the little kids get a wagon ride out to the car. How fun!

We went home with instructions to have him take it easy for a day or two, and restrict his activities for 2 weeks. Jacob had other ideas. He wanted nothing to do with resting, even right after we got home that day. We had been prepared with movies and shows that he likes, so he could sit on the couch and soak up the TV to his heart's content, and all he wanted to do was go outside and run around. Afraid that he would pull his stitches, we tried everything we could think of to get him to sit still, to no avail. Luckily, he has healed quickly and completely, and as of 6/12 his strips have fallen off. He has one more check up in a couple of weeks, and then we are done with this. As Jacob told us, the bump is gone!

In Memory

James Skluzacek, 9/11/1918 - 5/10/2010

Jacob at his 1st birthday party with Great-Grandpa Jim

Mariella (7 months) at Great-Grandpa's 91st birthday