We recently spent a weekend up north with some good friends. We traveled about 3.5 hours on Friday early evening. When we pulled in at 9ish, the car would not back up. Then the battery died. We were jumped a few times and were able to make it home, wheezing. Scary! We took it in this morning to a shop in town and it will not be an easy (or cheap) fix. Diagnosis? Transmission overhaul.
We managed to not think about the car much on the trip, which was lucky for us. We had a great time with some wonderful friends.
Last year all five families; 10 adults, 5 toddlers, and 4 infants headed to the Chadwick's cabin for a fun weekend. This year the Clark's kindly invited us to their cabin on Stalker Lake. Same group plus one little new babe. The kids just love being around each other, so it was fun!
We split the meals up by families. Chadwicks had breakfast on Saturday morning and I think I can safely say that we were all excited to try the recipe they had pinned using Pinterest. Cinnamon Pancakes. They were delicious!
We had lunch on Saturday. We kept it easy with hot dogs, brats, salad and chips. Andy enjoyed grilling out and of course having some beers.
At Clearwater Presbyterian Church Camp growing up, we used to learn to canoe every summer. It's been a while and I don't remember much. Andy and I took the boys on a quick canoe ride. I easily forgot how unsteady the canoe is. We went out a little ways, but I got nervous that Aiden was going to make some impromptu movements from the middle and I didn't want my babies to be falling over the sides. Okay, I didn't want too either. Andy just would have laughed. So, we headed back after a short trip out and back.
It was a bit chilly in the mornings. Perfect weather for a weekend at a cabin. We were tenting it and it got quite cold. Thankfully we have great friends that offered up their blankets. The second night was much nicer. The boys loved camping. We brought a Queen air mattress for Andy, myself and Alex to sleep on. We set up the pack and play for Aiden. They both slept through the night. They got away with no nap on Saturday. Temporarily. Aiden fell asleep at dinner that evening and didn't wake up until the next morning. Aiden also slept the entire 3.5 hours back home the next day. Alex held strong and didn't sleep.
Pat and Tiffany had thought of everything. They rented a boat (as they couldn't get theirs up there), meals were nicely planned and divided up, and the space was ready for all of us.
They had play dough to make into play dough birthday cakes...
I think it was the Slavik's who brought the water balloons. A big hit with the kids in the pool.
They had a beautiful water stream off to the side that the boys (well...all the kids) really liked looking for rocks and playing with the water. The landscaping was beautiful!
There was a nice large pool for the kids to play in and it was the most gorgeous day we had all summer long.
Bean bags were a favorite. Whether they were playing them the right way, climbing on them, running their tractors down the wood, or trying to figure out where the bags went after going in the hole.
The kids also spent time in the sandbox. Whether they were burying each other, digging, playing with the toys, building sandcastles and running their tractors through the sand making noises, they were highly entertained.
When it comes right down to it, none of us would be friends or even know each other existed if it were not for these babies of ours. We all met in the 3-4 year old's first ECFE class in New Prague. Alex was about a month old and the youngest, and Olivia was just about 1 and the oldest.
I feel so lucky to count these women as friends and to be able to share stories and get advice from them on stuff we are going through right now.
Now that we are comfortable (as one once stated) with each other, I hope we are able to keep up the friendships down the line.
The mom's were able to sneak off after lunch into town to do some exploring and tourist type shopping. It was fun to be together, the five of us.
After we got back, the men all hurried out the door. We thought it was planned, but Andy insists that is just how it happened. They went on their fishing excursion. Along with some fish, they said they also picked up some of the beer cans that were just lying out in the lake. Yeah, like I bought that.
Looking for some little turtles.
Playing some ball.
The daddy's found some turtles when they came back from fishing and the kids all thought they were neat. Alex was a little freaked out by it, and held it for about 1.5 seconds. He thought the turtle was going to bite him. Aiden just laughed.
Slavik's made a delicious chicken taco dinner and the night was capped off with s'mores and fishing for the kids. After all the kids were down, the men went off to fish some more and came back and we all had a fire.
It was a wonderfully relaxing, bug free, good quality friend time weekend!
Looking forward to many more fun things with this group...
