Labor Day at the Lake Part I

Once again, we spent the week before Labor Day weekend up at the lake with the Reisetter family.  We left town Saturday, August 27th and began the trek to the lake.  We made it there by dinner time, only stopping twice-the first time to eat lunch and feed Norah, and the second time to just feed Norah.  We made dinner, unpacked and then got ready for bed.

Sunday was a pretty nice day, as we were able to spend some time down at the lake and playing on the beach.  We did some more unpacking and organizing while we waited for the Reisetters to arrive!  The Reisetters arrived just in time for dinner, so we all sat down and enjoyed a meal of spaghetti together.  After dinner the Reisetters got unpacked and settled in and then it was already time for bed.  

Norah and Daddy hanging out!

Kyler playing on the beach!  He could spend all day out here if we let him!

Monday was a beautiful day!  It was so nice that the kids were able to spend the day playing down at the beach most of the day.  Mason started working on building a waterway all the way down the beach.  Soon it became a group project with several different waterways all leading into one.  Of course, we also had to try it out and make sure that water could flow down all of the waterways into the lake!

Hanging out at the beach!

Working on the waterway!

Tuesday started out kind of cloudy and then started raining in the afternoon.  Even though it was cloudy in the morning, the guys & Jillian decided to go on a canoe ride.  They looked up on Google Maps how to get down a channel from our lake to another lake and to another channel to yet another lake...(Sounds like a great plan doesn't it?!?) :)  Anyways, they were gone for about an hour and a half and made it all the way to where they were parked, so it was successful! :)  The afternoon was just hanging out and taking naps since it was raining.  After dinner it cleared off a bit, and the guys and Jillian went fishing for a while.

Dinner time!

Norah's bath in the sink!

Watching an airplane movie on the computer

Wednesday morning it was still raining quite a bit, so more time was spent hanging out inside.  Then in the afternoon, after naps, we decided to head up to Itasca State Park where the headwaters of the Mississippi River are!  It's about a 30 min drive to Itasca from my parent's cabin, so we made it up there early evening.  We had a fun time playing in the headwaters for a while-Mason even wore his swimming suit and submerged himself under the water!.....(I wouldn't have said it was THAT warm out but....) :)  After the Mississippi, we went over to the lodge to order their awesome milk shakes to take home with us and have after dinner.

Norah's first time at the Headwaters of the Mississippi!

Kyler in the Mississippi!

Thursday was another beautiful day!  It was actually hot out too!  The day was definitely spent down at the lake, building sandcastles and playing in the water.  We also took the big boat out after lunch so that Mason could tube.  While we were out there, Jillian decided she wanted to tube too!  So, Mason and Jillian rode the tube for a bit while the rest of us enjoyed a nice boat ride.  

Norah enjoying the beach!

Paddle boat ride!

Late Thursday night my parents and brother snuck in and crashed on the couches.  Then on Friday the Reisetters packed up and headed for home.  We had such a fun week with their family.  Kyler loved playing with Mason and Jillian and having other kids around.  Two funny stories from the week...1) Jillian brought a couple pairs of flip-flops to wear while she was up at the cabin.  Kyler (who didn't have any flip-flops) thought they were the best thing ever and decided he had to wear Jillian's flip-flops all week.  So, it was a great thing that she brought more than one pair!  But the best part came at the end of the week, when she was so kind and gave one of her older pairs (that didn't really fit her that well any more) to Kyler so that he could keep them!  Kyler is still wearing Jillian's flip-flops today! (And yes, we did get him a pair of his own at Old Navy when we got back) :)  Story 2) Kyler has had a difficult time learning to pronounce Jillian's name.  Even before we went to Minnesota, he would call Jillian "Dee-Dong", which sounded a lot like "Ding-Dong".  So all the time we were in Minnesota Jillian was known as "Ding-Dong".  He wasn't saying it to call her a name, or be offensive, that's just how he said her name.  Since we have been home, we have been working on pronouncing "Jillian" normally and he now calls Jillian "Jillian". :)

We always enjoy spending time with this family and this week we no exception!  We added one more kid (Norah) to the mix this year and everything just went so well.  We can't wait to do it again!!