Mini Golf Fun

Thursday afternoon everyone took good naps before heading out for more adventures. Our first stop was an urgent care clinic to have Lydia checked out. We wanted to make sure her ears or throat weren't the cause of her high fevers and other symptoms. The nurse practitioner couldn't find anything indicating something other than a viral infection. So, we made our way to Pirate's Cove Mini Golf.

Lydia golfed with me in the moby wrap. She got really excited when she saw me putting it on. I think she was in need of some cuddle time!

This was the boys' first time mini-golfing (unless you count Jonah when he was 7 months old!). We tried to teach them the basics about holding the golf club and hitting the ball. But then let them be 4- and 2-year old boys as we made our way through the course.

When we were through mini golfing we grabbed some Subway for supper and had a picnic on our hotel room floor. Fun memories were made this day!

And More Swimming

Thursday morning my parents and my sister's family came to the waterpark at our hotel for a morning of swimming. 

Lydia was still running high fevers. So, she and Grandma took a little snooze by the pool.

After swimming we enjoyed lunch together at the restaurant at our hotel. 

Silas got this massive grilled cheese sandwich. When the server set it down in front of him, his eyes got huge and a grin stretched across his face! He was so proud of his sandwich (and he ate most of it, too!).

Here is Grandpa with all of his grandkids in the shirts he brought back from his recent mission trip to Serbia. All of the girls are wearing red shirts from Serbia. The boys' orange shirts are from Grandpa's layover in Amsterdam. 

Racing Turtles

The Wednesday afternoon of our vacation was spent in the touristy town of Nisswa so the boys could try their luck at the turtle races. This year was the 50th anniversary of the turtle races. Mike and I both raced turtles when we were young and now get to let the boys do the same! 

When it was time for their heat, the boys each picked out a turtle in a bucket. 

Here we are lining up for the race. Jonah was a little timid with the turtles last year and wouldn't hold one himself. This year, he just reached his hand in and grabbed the turtle. Silas wasn't so sure he wanted to hold the turtles.

Neither of the boys' turtles did well during the first race. In fact, Jonah's turtle kept turning around and going the opposite direction. The boys also got to participate in a race for kids from out of state and in a race for kids there with their grandparents. (Grandma came with us while Grandpa stayed back at the cabin with sleeping Lydia).  

By the last race, Jonah knew just what to do. He got his turtle ready to go...

Set him on the starting line...

And encouraged him on by tossing a bit of water behind him. 

After the races, we visited an ice cream shop where the boys shared a dish of chocolate ice cream before heading back to Breezy Point for more swimming.

More Swimming

On the Wednesday of our vacation we spent time with my parents and my sister's family where they were staying at Breezy Point Resort. We went swimming in the morning and in the afternoon with Nisswa's Turtle Races in between our time in the water. 

Lydia first tried out her floaty in the kiddie pool with Silas' help. 

This was her first time in the pool.

Never mind my arm in this picture. I just love how happy Lydia is in the water at this point.

The boys love the waterslide at this pool because they are able to go down it by themselves. One of us would catch Silas as he came into the pool.

Jonah did a great job of swimming to the ladder on his own while wearing his puddle jumper. 

Yesterday, Silas saw this picture on the computer and exclaimed, "Grandpa caught me! And he saved me! And he's a superhero!" From then on when he has seen a picture of my dad he usually says, "There's the superhero!"

This is the only picture of Lydia smiling during our afternoon swim. She definitely was not a fan in the afternoon. You maybe wouldn't guess it from these pictures, but Lydia had been running a 102-103 temp for a day and a half at this point. Out of the water and wrapped up in a towel was what made this girl happy. 

After swimming, we enjoyed supper with our family before heading back to our hotel. We hit the arcade again as an end to our night. We were given 50 arcade tokens a day!

I LOVED how quickly and easily everyone went to bed and fell asleep on our vacation. We were tired out from all our fun!

On to The Lodge

Tuesday morning we packed up our suitcases and drove north to The Lodge at Brainerd Lakes. We spent a few days there last summer and had such a fun time that we decided to go back again this year. 

Not long after we got to our hotel room we got ready to head down to the water park to swim. The waterpark has two large slides that are 4 stories high. One of them is an inner tube slide that we are able to put the boys on our laps to ride down on. Silas was too small to ride with us last year, but both boys got to enjoy it this year. Mommy and Daddy got lots of exercise walking up those stairs carrying inner tubes! The boys also enjoyed the 0 depth - 18 inches play area that had a few slides and play areas. 

Sadly, Tuesday morning Lydia developed a fever along with being extra sleepy, fussy, and not eating well. She slept quite a bit of the 4 hour drive to The Lodge. Then, she slept in her stroller while we were in the water. Even though we were sad for Lydia, we enjoyed our time with the boys. I ended up mentioning this to our pediatrician on Wednesday when I took Lydia in and was describing how sleepy she has been (yes, she is battling this virus - most likely the same one - again this week!). After telling about Lydia sleeping while we enjoyed ourselves in the pool, the pediatrician chuckled and said, "What you just said tells me that Lydia is definitely not your first baby. If she was your first, there is no way you would have been having fun swimming while your baby was sick." He was absolutely right! It's funny how your perspective changes as more babies come along.  

We spent about an hour and a half in the pool before deciding it was time for supper. We enjoyed some Pizza Ranch buffet then spent time in the arcade at our hotel using the tokens we got for the hotel special we were on during our stay.

Last year at the Lodge (June 2012)

I just loved this sweet picture from our time at The Lodge last summer. So, I brought with our Good Night Minnesota book - a board book that all of our kids have loved - so we could take a similar picture this year. 

Amazed and blessed to see our family growing!

Lydia's First Sucker

Yes, you read that title right. Lydia got to try her first sucker during the parade...in the arms of Grandma and Grandpa, of course! 

The purple one fell on the ground so Lydia moved on to a blue one. 

Blue stickiness was everywhere!

This crazy baby girl with spiky hair doesn't look like she needs more sucker

But, she can't resist!

"Grandpa, give me that sucker!!!"

Hmm...maybe if I'm really cute he will give it back to me.

Pow Wow Monday

The Monday of our vacation was filled with more Pow Wow activities including rides, bingo, supper in the park (egg rolls and Pow Wow Pups again!), and the grand parade.

Jonah has been talking about the Dizzy Dragons since last summer and wanted to go on it first this year. 

Silas and Lydia enjoyed the carousel

If you asked Silas, he would say his favorite ride was "The Doggies." These doggies are pretty tame, but they make an almost 3-year old happy.

My mom and I took the boys on the tilt-a-whirl. Jonah absolutely loved it. Silas experienced just about every emotion possible in those few minutes we were on the ride. I don't think his little body knew what to expect. He went from tears to laughing and back again. My mom and I kept telling him how much fun we were having. Maybe he believed us...

Going down the big slide with Grandpa took a bit of courage, but he did it. And then he went down many more times!

And, this picture of Jonah makes me so happy. He has always been a bit cautious about uneven or uneasy surfaces. He hasn't been a big fan of the moving bridges on playgrounds. But over the past year, we have seen Jonah face these challenges head on. I didn't get a picture of this whole thing, but it had a rope climb, inflatable slides, these bridges, and some other activities that you went through. I didn't count how many times Jonah went on this ride. It was tough to get him away from it!

Jonah and Silas got their first experience with bumper cars.

All of us had a good time :)

This dragon roller coaster was by far Jonah's favorite ride at Pow Wow. Thankfully, we had wristbands this year so he could keep riding over and over again. One thing that is so strange to me about this picture is that all of the other kids in the picture are kids of my high school classmates and friends. Even though I will turn 30 in just over a week, I still feel sometimes like there is no way that we are all old enough to have these growing families. When we were teenagers none of us would have been hanging out by the kiddie rides at Pow Wow. Twelve years later, we are catching up on life and meeting each other's kids (most of whom we have seen many pictures of on Facebook...how times have changed!!)

Ready for the Grand Parade! 

These guys got WAY too much candy. I don't think I even want to know how many pieces of candy Silas ate that night. By the end of the parade, Silas had figured out that the way to get candy is to smile and wave and say hello to the people with the candy. They would throw it to him and he would shout, "Oh yeah!"

We ended our night watching a drum corps in the park, playing a few rounds of Lions Club Bingo, and eating mini donuts. Oh, and staying up much past our bedtimes!