Bay Lake Trip

We went to Bay Lake for a "trip". I was instructed that this was a trip and not a vacation. Evidently calling it a vacation implied that there would be some relaxation. As long as I wasn't expecting any relaxation I wouldn't be disappointed and should be able to have more fun. Well it worked. We had alot of fun at the lake and all of the neighboring cities. We hit up every city park within a 30+ mile radius. More pictures to come.

Here is the view from the cabin.

These 2 did get some time to relax. Here they are chilling on the couch eating ice cream and watching TV.

Putting the hurt on a pizza at Rafferty's Pizza in Brainerd.

That look is well worth the 50 cents for the ride.

A place in Nisswa put glitter on your eyes for a dollar. Guess who picked two shades of purple? We ended up going back to get here eyes done twice. We had a rough morning and the tears washed off the first round. So once we settled down, we went back for seconds. This one lasted until bedtime.

Turtle races in Nisswa. We stumbled across this and did not plan on it at all. There were 300+ people there to race turtles on a Tues at 2:00. Don't these people work? We each "rented" a turtle for race. When it came to race time nobody wanted to touch the turtles...so dear old dad did it. We didn't win and we didn't even come close.

Serious face with Superman ice cream and a mini donut. Doesn't sound bad to me. Not sure what the sour look is all about.

It seems like every town had a huge statue as you came into town. This one is in Crosby on Serpent Lake. It's right next to quite possibly the best park in the world.

Going to town on a couple pieces of corn at the BBQ place in Crosby.

This is the big fish in Garrison. LW wasn't  a fan of any of the statues. So you wont see her in any of the pictures.

The Cousins are Back in Town!

The kids could not be more excited. The cousins are back in town! They are going to be spoiled and expect this is going to happen every other week. Grandpa Jim had surgery on Tue to remove a cyst and everyone came back to town to support him and help out. The surgery went smooth and he is already back on his feet. He's not picking up the kids or playing on the floor yet, but that will come. We are just happy to have him returning to his normal self and have a huge weight off his mind.

Kate is in town this time. LW is happy, she has someone to pal around with.

Clowning around on the ottoman in their PJ's and getting ready for the sleepover.

We are huggers. Here LW is giving the other LW a hug and a kiss.

Cousin Fun

Half of the Wings of Tulsa were in town last week. Boy did we have non-stop fun. It's great when we can get some of the cousins together. We did miss Kate though. We seemed to do almost the same thing every day. We woke up, got dressed and headed to a coffee shop and then a park before nap time. LW was the only one that took a nap, it would have been nice for the rest of us but why waste your time sleeping.

Talking to mommy on the phone.

Playing on the bike rack in front of the Angry Catfish.

Lots of hugging, laughing and holding hands with these three.

BFF's coming back from the park.

We could be dad's of the year. Who else would let their kids have chocolate chip cookies for breakfast?

Daves, a frog and a lawnmower

Recognize this place? Yup, Dave's is  open for the season! We have been there twice. I'm trying not to overdose on popcorn too early in the season. The kids would be there every day if they could.

Not sure why, but they both felt the urge to kiss this frog at Bachmans.

 Uncle Bruce brought his riding lawnmower to Gramdma M's house to mow the lawn and aerate the grass. NW didn't know that mowing the lawn could be this much fun.

Uncle Bruce is showing her what everything does. He controlled the throttle, but she did all of the steering. She was a little apprehensive at first. But she got comfortable in a hurry. LW was a little under the weather and not feeling the whole riding the mower thing. We tried and she resisted.

Even more random pictures

It's great to be able to take pics with your phone, but more often than not they never go anywhere. More pics have surfaced that were on someone-else s  phone. The kids don't have phones, so I think you know who I am talking about.

For those of you that tuned in last year, you may recall that Grandpa John and Rosemary have a garden and the kids absolutely love it. They get dirty, spray the hose and see what they can grow. Grandpa loves it as much as the kids do. He lets them do whatever they want and plant anything anywhere. Even if that means a whole package of green beans in a single hole. Anything goes. 

Grandpa digs the trough for the seeds and she plants them. It's a pretty good division of labor.

LW gives it a shot.

They grow better if you pat the top of the dirt after you plant the seed.

Selfie..with mommy

She brought her pom poms to NW's trike-a-thon at school. NW was the only person that had her own personal cheering squad.

Random Pictures

Here are a few more randoms that I have had on my phone for a while.

NW had a field trip to a farm and I went along too. There were 2 adults to every 5 kids. Pretty good ratio to make sure they didn't get lost.

That's a hidden door that they drop hay down to feed to the animals. Maybe it was for straw. There is a difference, but I cant remember what they told us.

City kids petting a day old chicken.

That's a brisket and a kid on the patio watching TV and eating breakfast.

Mom was at Target so we decided to sing in the rain. They danced on the step and sang songs. They were wet when mom got home, but it was fun.

Phone fun

Here is a funny little video of the girls singing in the rain. But it's slowed way down so they sound like whales. The girls think this stuff is hilarious and to be honest so do I..it's the little things.