Last Cabin Day

I got home from my week in Texas around 2:00pm on a Friday. Mike picked me up at the airport and dropped me off at home. I emptied my suitcase into the laundry basket, found a couple more suitcases, and packed the whole family. Then I picked up the kids, we swung by to see Mike at work, got home and loaded the car, and off we headed to GR. I waved to my bed in passing.

Between traffic, dinner, potty spots, and a leg stretch/pj stop, it was close to 10:00 by the time we got up there. That's awfully late for our humans, but they did really great. The late arrival was SO worth it because that meant we got all day Saturday at the cabin. We don't get enough "all days" at the cabin ... although the kids love it so much there (and love their cousins so much) that it is quite possible we will be making more trips up in the coming years (yay for kids getting older and more resilient!!).

We headed up to the cabin late morning and decided to eat a quick, early lunch before we got in the lake (mostly because it seemed like a lot of work to haul the big cooler down to the lake!). Yet again, it was a little on the cooler side for August (although I got rather warm in the direct sun a few times ...) so the lake water was quite brisk. That didn't stop us for going all in! Em and I even swam across the bay a couple times and we brought all three kids out to the middle of the bay to get poor Q calmed down at the thought of Nyko coming.

Declan and Quinn fished off the dock for a short time and Dec caught several fish all by himself. He was pretty excited about it and I even got him to hold his big fish up for me. Quinn's fish kept jumping off the hook before she could pull them up. But Grandpa caught a couple nice fish with her pink pole.

We were all super excited when Otto and Milo came and Quinn eventually made her peace with Nyko as well (I don't think it was ever Nyks. The neighbor's large dog had come over earlier in the day and scared her to death). Dec and Otto had the very best time playing together and Fiona enjoyed supervising them. Quinn had the very best time snuggling Milo and supervising his care.

We took the pontoon over to what Otto calls the "nude beach" - but everyone stayed clothed ;). My children showed Otto how to use the pontoon as a diving board (sorry Anna!) and my sister tried to demonstrate how she could leap on to the pontoon in a single jump as gracefully as Mike. The resulting bloody gash on her leg said otherwise.

We ended our day with Mike putting on a one-man water show for everyone. It was a variation on his show from the 4th of July week - and was Otto's first time watching. Mike's finale was a dive through three stacked tubes - and he nailed it. The kids (and adults) vow to never pay for a water show again. Mike is our entertainment - forever!

We dearly missed the other cousins who had plans that day, but were so happy to spend one last day at the cabin before summer ended. The kids were quite sad when I told them to wave good-bye to Johnson Lake for the year. They waved good-bye, but also yelled that they would see it as soon as it was summer again.

Quinn is Five

I can barely believe I am writing these words: Quinn.Is.Five. How on Earth did that happen?!?! But wait, there's more. On Tuesday, she starts Kindergarten!! Yep. You read that right. Kindergarten.

Q and I spent the afternoon together today. We had her well check right before lunch and I promised her if she was brave for her shots, we would go out to lunch together. She was SO good at her appointment. She answered all the doctor's questions, was super cooperative, and was incredibly brave for her shots. She cried - but we had established ahead of time that crying was still being brave. Freaking out, thrashing your legs, and screaming like a limb was being removed ... not so much. Q is very healthy and right on track across the board. She is 36.5 lbs (26%) and 41.5 inches (25%). Dr. H teased her and told her she was a square.

I knew I was going to be out of town for work on Quinn's actual birthday and so we celebrated the weekend before. For her special birthday activity, Quinn picked SandVenture in S-town, a sand-bottomed outdoor pool. Thus, we spent our second Saturday of August in the pool, splashing, going down waterslides a million times, building sandcastles, and celebrating our birthday girl. The day was cooler than we are used to in August, especially when the sun went behind the clouds, but the cooler temps didn't ruin our day. It was especially awesome that Quinn picked the pool, as she has not been our water child. This summer, she has really turned a corner on her confidence and enjoyment of the water!

We had a special pancake dinner Sunday night, completely with strawberry shortcake cupcakes. Then Daddy made pancakes again on her birthday and my sources tell me that the children ate 46 mini pancakes that night! She loved her Trolls balloon and I got to FaceTime with her and eat a cupcake together (my sweet co-workers got me a cupcake so that I could celebrate with my girl). Daddy did such a good job making sure birthday proper was appropriately festive.

Quinn got an "American Girl baby" (the Target version) for her birthday from us and she couldn't be more excited. She lovingly takes care of it at all times. She loves changing her clothes, doing her hair, and accessorizing her. Being a mama is just her favorite thing. She also continues to love to cook with me and is extremely intrigued by my new Instant Pot (and enamored with its ability to make her favorite Orange Chicken). We've also noticed her increased interest in art projects/coloring. As she kept me company while I worked today, she happily drew pictures and colored.

We had some behavioral challenges lately, but suspect they are mostly due to anxiety around starting Kindergarten. It's probably also related to the fact that we've completely cut out naps during the week in preparation. Girlfriend is tired by the end of the day. She is still really fearful when things are unknown or unexpected, but we also see that she is trying (and succeeding) in adjusting to things more quickly when they throw her. It's a work in progress. But it is so clear that she is growing and maturing and we are very proud of her. Quinn likes order and predictability in her world (like some other lovely Vanneste female) and it's probably never going to be easy for her to have things out of control (the other lovely V female totally gets that!). We continue to work on the life skill of managing that tendency.

That said, other than one blip that I'm going to blame on Declan, Quinn did a great job participating in her swim lessons this summer. She is gaining more confidence in herself and her ability to be independent. She's even agreed (and told the doctor that she is excited) to take gymnastics this fall. Granted, it was after she had confirmed that Fiona would be there too. But a win is a win in my book.

This girl is ready for Kindergarten - even if her mama is not ready for her to be ready for it. Our biggest hope and prayer is that it is a great year for her, helping to instill the confidence in her that she can do anything she puts her mind to. Because let us tell you, Quinn Scarlett can!

Finally, here are Quinn's answers to the annual birthday questions:

Favorite color: Orange
Favorite friend: Joey
Favorite show: Elena of Avalor
Favorite book: Biscuit books
Favorite food: Pancakes
Favorite thing to do: Play with babies
Be when she grows up: Chef

Mike's Donkey Race Adventure

About three weeks ago, I was on a conference call when I got an email from Mike ... asking me if it was okay for him to be in a donkey race at the county fair. Quite honestly, I don't know how you tell someone they can't be in a donkey race (but you do laugh about it with your coworkers) so I agreed. He was concerned because I was heading out of town the next day for work - but I assured him the kids and I would be just fine. Plus the kids got the biggest kick out of the thought of Daddy riding a donkey.

Mike's work (Anchor Bank) actually sponsored the races, so his boss was excited to pull a team together. And you know Mike, he's game for anything! [Team Name: Anchor's Assets] While we were disappointed that we didn't get to go watch him, it was probably for the best. He ended up being there almost all night - as he placed 2nd in his heat and made it to the championship race.

According to Mike, it's not easy to ride a donkey. They aren't big fans and spend much of the time trying (succeeding) to buck you off. Donkeys "buck" by lowering their head and evicting you off their front. You had to be on the donkey when you crossed the finish line, but Mike said he spend a fair amount of time during the race trying to pull his stubborn donkey around the track.

He was rather sore from the whole experience and suspects he may have had a bit of whiplash from one of his tumbles off the donkey. But he also had a good time. And the kids and I laughed and laughed when we saw the pictures.

And because Mike is game for anything, when I asked him just now if he would do it again, he, of course, said yes. Technically he said "probably," but in Mike speak, that's always a "yes."

Happy Family

For my birthday, Grandpa N surprised me with a music video. And it is just the very best thing ever! About a year (or more) ago when he and Grandma were down visiting, he played us a song that he had written about our family. We all loved it so much. As a birthday gift, he set some our our favorite photos to a recording of the song - "The Happy Family."

You'll want to watch it twice because the words are very important. And I guarantee you'll miss some of them the first time around because you will be laughing. This is the kids' favorite video. Which is saying something - because Singin' in the Rain is held in pretty high esteem around this joint!

Many thanks to Grandpa - both for the song and video (which we treasure) and the assist in getting it posted to YouTube so I could share it here.

August Lake Days

Almost all the kids are looking!

As the blog catches up to August, you'll notice two things. First, it's been incredibly busy around here. Second, apparently when it's August, we find water on Saturdays and spend the day in it! We all really like the second August observation.

We kicked off August with a trip to Sand Pointe beach on Prior Lake with the Pilchers. C and I had been talking about getting the gang to the beach for a good part of the summer, and we were finally able to make it happen. We met the five Ps late morning and spent some time on the playground. Mike and Brad climbed on the rocking fire truck and reminded Cheryl and I that we really do have four kids each. After a picnic lunch, into the lake we went!

They look like grown ups ...

The kids splashed around for a couple hours, chased the ducks (and made friends with them if you are Fiona), built a sandcastle city, ate some snacks, looked for feathers, and had the best time. Before we left the lake, we hit the playground one more time. The day wasn't super warm, but the sun was bright. And Mike's sunscreen application was highly suspect. He had quite the sunburn on his neck, back, and belly - so impressive that we had to go get more aloe!

Since visiting our house was part of Jack and Coop's summer bucket list, we kept the fun going. After a bit of quiet time for the littles, the Ps came over to eat dinner, play in the sandbox, and jump on the trampoline. We had SO much fun spending the day together. We even managed to convince Cheryl to do a whiskey shot. Now that I know she'll do shots, it's game on when we go back to the Dells!

We all laughed because I told Cheryl when they got to our house that only true friends agree to come over for dinner after you've already fully disclosed that you had no food. C laughed and said only true friends invite themselves over when they know you don't have food. We're a good friend team!

Work Life Unbalanced

No, the blog is not broken. And no, there is not lack of news around here (at my best count, I'm about eight posts behind ... sigh). We have been living ridiculously unbalanced here for the last three weeks and the blog has borne a brunt of "what has to give." Other things that gave ... judging by the piles in the laundry room and the bare shelves in the pantry - clean clothes and healthy food. What did not give? Celebrating our new five-year-old in style and throwing a super killer sales meeting for work. These two items (mostly the latter) have been all-consuming.

I was in Austin all last week to support the sales meeting (read: work my butt off) and was down for two days the week before to check out the hotel and take part in a department meeting. Besides the fact that the meeting went beautifully and informal feedback was that it was one of the best meetings on record (yay!), I also got to spend a ton of time with one of my favorite people, my co-worker Kim. And Kim and I got to sneak away last Wednesday night and have dinner with Jocelyn and Katie, two more favorites! Thursday night, after it was all said and done, the whole sales meeting crew went out dancing! Emerson rented out a bar in downtown Austin and got a cover band, The Spazmatics, who were well worth a trip to Austin on their own! SO amazing!

Super fun co-worker dinner

During all this sales meeting prep, we threw in the most random illness to go through the Vanneste household. It started with Mike. For several days in a row, he was getting a lot of bloody noses. We didn't think too much of it as he tends to get them, but we noticed they were worse than usual. Then one day, I picked Quinn up from Ms. A's and she was in a new outfit. Ms. A told me it was because she had a bloody nose. Same story the next day. A couple days later, Dec woke up crying in the middle of the night. After determining that he had not puked (as he told me he did), we headed into the bathroom where the light showed him completely covered in blood from a bloody nose. Maybe three days later, Fiona got a bloody nose during our bedtime book. And with that, the bloody cold was done. 

We also mixed in Mike's company being acquired and all the uncertainty that goes along with that. We are almost two weeks past the initial announcement (a complete surprise), so while we are no more certain of what the future holds for him, we are at least more in a state of calm around it. It was a bit stressful to find out and, of course, I was out of town the day it was announced. He'll be fine - whether he stays at Anchor or finds something new. It was just such a shock because he has been loving his job, his path, his co-workers. Sometimes even Mike will admit that change is hard.

The sales meeting is done, the birthday has been celebrated, the washer is currently in overdrive, and rumor has it that if I ever make a grocery list, we might fill up the pantry. We'll use the next couple weeks to move toward balance and an updated blog - just in time for school to start and send us all spinning again. Speaking of spinning ...

Mike Wasn't Worried But Tracey Had Told Us

The best part about camping quite a bit? You have some excellent camping adventure stories in your back pocket. Like the time Brad and I rollerbladed between a mama bear and her cubs. Or the time a raccoon got into the tent of the gay guys in a neighboring site. Or the time Mike had left his only shoes outside the tent all night during a rainstorm. Or the time with the damn train. Or - newly added this year - the time my sister's tent blew away.

As we were making our s'mores on Friday night, Mike's sister texted us to tell us that a big storm had just gone through GR and was heading straight toward us. Mr. Let's-Test-Fate Himself texted her back and said his famous words, "I'm not worried." As everyone else but me (I had absolutely no signal at the campground) checked the radar on their phones and saw three storm cells converging on top of us, they looked less confident than Mike. Auntie and Enchilada decided to throw everything but their bedding in the car in case they needed to bail to our camper in the middle of the night. This turned out to be a solid call.

We watched the storm roll toward us across the lake. It was really cool to see. The girls were still awake in the camper, so I decided to go in to be sure the storm didn't scare them when it hit. I had just tossed my chair in the camper hatch when I felt the air change. Everyone else around the fire began moving at that moment too. By the time I got to the camper door, a straight line wind blew through and ripped the door out of my hands, slamming it against the side of the camper. It was very Wizard of Oz. As I struggled to shut the door, I saw the wind blowing the fire out of our fire pit - toward the pop-out tent that the girls were in! I took a step toward the fire, but Mike waved me away. He was on it and wanted me to check on the kids. So back to the camper door I went.

Only this time as I was pulling it shut, I saw my sister desperately holding the side of her tent and screaming, "Mike .... Mike .... Help!" Since he was trying to make sure the girls didn't start on fire, I ran over to help her and Emily. The middle of the tent had collapsed, so I grabbed the pole to pull it up. At that moment, another huge gust of wind came through and blew the rain fly completely off the tent. In parallel, the clouds had opened up and it was pouring down rain. With that, we were done. Or so we thought - because the girls couldn't get their tent door unzipped. 

The rain had taken care of the fire blowing problem, so Mike was running over to help us. He took one look at the situation we had gotten ourselves into, pointed at me and said, "You. Camper." and pointed at the Ems and said "You. Get out of my way." and started working on the tent door. I hurried into the camper to find Dec and Fiona sleeping and Quinn with big tears rolling down her cheeks. I got her settled down and went to find dry clothes ... and a pair of Emilys on our folded down dinette. I also went to tell Q about our sleepover buddies as that greatly helped her fall asleep.

While Mike and his dad ventured out into the rain (don't feel bad for them; they live for that stuff!) to try to save the tent, Em and I sent Mike's sister a text about their new home for the night. Tracey's response: "Told you." Other than Yogs being annoyed about losing his bed and having to sleep on the floor, we had quite the lovely sleepover with the two Emilys and their rather damp blankets and pillows. The kids loved discovering them in the morning!

Saturday morning found us venturing up to the lodge to borrow a wet vac to remove the small ponds in the tent. We dragged the air mattresses out of the tent to dry off in the sun. And hung all.the.things on the clotheslines for the day! Thanks to a warm and sunny day, we were pretty much dried out by dinner!

The rest of Saturday found us replicating the fun of Friday with all day at the beach, jaunts out to the swim raft, ice cream cake, and some birthday cheer for me! We also spend the day keeping a better eye on Yogi since we found him at a neighboring site when we came back with the wet vac ... and were informed that it wasn't the first time he had gone visiting. They even asked Yogs' name (we usually don't have his collar on him) so they could call him back ... so at least they didn't mind our poor dog parenting skills. 

The big news on Saturday was that both Quinn and Dec swam out to the swim raft (heavily chaperoned) twice! The second time, they even jumped off the raft to Auntie or me. And both Fiona and Quinn were swimming between Auntie, Enchilada, and I with no life jackets. Legit swimming! We ended the night with a few wheeler rides and a lovely time around the fire (listening to the neighbors' music). 

Sunday morning was chilly! Thank goodness I had packed pants and sweatshirts for everyone because it was low 60s at best. We tried to pack up, but the cold was making it hard for the kids to find productive (read: not whiny) things to do. Thank goodness for Grandma Nash and her willingness to take all the short people into her motorhome and entertain them so that we could break camp! And I could snuggle under a blanket with Em and Enchilada!

We picked the perfect days of the long weekend to be at the campground and the right day to head for home. It was the best time, an awesome way to spend a birthday, and a fantastic new camping adventure story!

When Enchilada Joined the Annual Camping Trip

I'm apparently running about two weeks behind on blog posts this summer. So look for the first day of school information sometime around early October ... or maybe I'll pull it together by then. [Don't hold your breath. August is CRAZY here!]

Two weeks ago [sigh ...] during the weekend of my birthday, we headed to northern Wisconsin - Trego, to be exact - for our annual camping trip with Grandpa V and Grandma and Grandpa N. This year, my sister decided to join us - as well as her friend Emily (more on her later). Thanks to Gma and Gpa, we had awesome sites right up the hill from the beach, complete with enough trees to hold a few pre-installed clotheslines (this will be more important than we could have imagined). 

The week leading up to camping was really busy, with Mike going to a Twins game, swimming lessons, and something else (this would be the problem with blogging weeks after the actual event). Against all odds, we managed to get ourselves organized to leave by just after 9:00 Thursday morning. The kids and I were in the Durango and Mike pulled the camper in Grandpa V's new truck - that we picked up for him in the Cities. It was a pretty easy drive and we made it to the campground by early afternoon. Gma and Gpa were already there, so they helped with the short humans while Mike got us set up and the tent beds popped out. Then Mike took off to Duluth with the truck to pick up Gpa V and the kids and I got the camper organized and ready to for the weekend.

Once we were settled, I fulfilled my promise to the kids and we headed down to the beach. It was just us there and they happily splashed around for most of the afternoon. I didn't put my suit on that day and just waded out with them. It was pretty warm and there were quite a few moments where I rethought that decision. Mike and Gpa got back right around dinner time, so they worked on getting Grandpa's trailer set up and unloading the wheelers while the rest of us made dinner. We ate, took the kids for a wheeler ride, and then it was off to bed. It was pretty quiet pretty quickly in the camper. The adults sat around the fire for a bit and then called it a night. 

Friday morning we all anxiously awaited Auntie's arrival. She and her friend Emily arrived just before lunch. As Declan sized up Emily, he deemed her unworthy of using her actual name and called her "Emma." He knew that wasn't her name, but he wasn't going to say it correctly. I was teasing him and said, "Is her name Watermelon?" No. "Is her name Hamburger?" No. "Is her name Enchilada?" [big grin] Yes! And with that, Emily #1 continued to be Auntie and Emily #2 was renamed Enchilada. Because she's awesome, she was totally down with that. At one point, Fiona thought we should call her Emchilada, but that didn't stick. 

We ate an early lunch and spent all Friday afternoon in the lake. There were not a lot of people at the campground yet, so the beach was pretty quiet again. We swam with the kids who were fish all weekend and loved the sandy lake and wonderfully groomed sand beach. We took turns going in groups of tall people out to the swim raft in the deeper area of the swim area - and of course, going down the slide on the swim raft. The only problem with the swim raft slide was that it was clearly not built for adult-sized hips and no one felt terribly graceful going down it. But that most certainly didn't stop us! 

Then we took a break and had ice cream birthday cake that Mike's mom so very kindly brought for me (because ice cream cake is my favorite). The kids continued to play in the sand and we got the fire going for dinner. After dinner, we made s'mores, I rinsed the sandy children off in the lake, and off to bed they went. That's when the real excitement began! And we'll finish that story another day.

Such a FUN group!!