We Did a Thing ...

Friday night, I was cleaning up dinner, got interrupted to help Declan with something, and when I came back, I looked at the dishes in the sink and thought "did I wash them? or do I need to wash them?" So that's where we are around here for brain capacity. The adrenaline high I had been riding for a week and a half was officially tapped. I know that's true, because normally I can remember if I washed a pot 90 seconds ago or not. [I decided I had washed them. We live dangerously here.]

Why is my brain fried, you ask? Because we bought a house!!! Can you believe it? After two years of limbo (will we? won't we? will we ever find one? will we ever get an offer accepted in this insanely hot market?), there may actually be a plan that ends with the children not all sharing a bedroom. 

The market is red hot right now in Shakopee. Yet somehow, we found a house at the end of a cul-de-sac in the neighborhood we were hoping for. It's the main feeder neighborhood for the kids' current elementary school, so they don't need to change schools. Declan's best friend A (you may remember him from our skate night) lives in the next cul-de-sac over - as do a couple of Fiona's good friends. And Q's friend T lives about half a mile down the road. In fact, A's mom sent me a text picture of the "nightly street hockey game" and said they can't wait for a couple more players. We will miss our current neighborhood friends so much, but are excited for a 'hood full of kids!

The house we bought went on the market at noon on Tuesday. We saw it at 3:30 and had our offer in by 7:30 that night. Let's just say it was an aggressive offer. The sellers set an offer deadline for 9am Wednesday morning and they had over 10 offers. In less than 24 hours! We found out after the fact that we were not the highest offer, but had the best terms. The letter I wrote helped as well. 

We spent last week decluttering, cleaning, and staging our house for pictures on Friday. It was a lot of late nights and trips to the storage unit. Real truth: Mike does not like decluttering. He has two speeds: Pack a Room Entirely or Wander About Not Knowing What To Do. When it comes to house stuff, there are few moments when my skillset is more useful than Mike's. So I have to record it when it happens. This week is house repairs and paint touch ups ... so we're back in Mike's court. 

We are also continuing the declutter and cleaning progress, so don't worry, I'm not bored. Our house hits the market tomorrow as a "Coming Soon" and showings start Friday afternoon. We are heading out of town to not manage life around people parading through our house and have our fingers crossed that it will be sold by the end of the weekend (pretty pretty please). The constant rate of change is wearing on all of us, but especially the kids and we need to get back to a more normal lifestyle ... you know, where you are allowed to touch the walls and put things on the counter. 

We are taking advantage of the move to thin out our possessions. So I'll leave you with the following questions that were raised as I cleaned out our storage room:

- How many Barbie houses are too many? Is it five? Plus two campers and an ambulance? Because the Barbie village feels excessive. 

- Why do we have SEVEN Halloween trick-or-treat pumpkins? Seven. Are there children living here I don't know about?

- Why does Mike insist on keeping a 200 disc CD changer? That monstrosity is going to follow us forever, isn't it?

Spring Break: The Grandparents Tour (Chasing Waterfalls)

Tuesday morning, we were up and at 'em because we had big plans. First up, Gpa V showed up with donuts (as he does). Against all odds, I agreed that they could each eat a whole donut. Dec picked one as big as his face ... and ate every single bite of it! Fiona decided it was too much donut and saved half of hers for the next morning. After breakfast, Quinn beat Grandpa a few more times at Go Fish and we explored the woods right outside our villa. 

Then we hopped in the car for the next adventure. Step 1: drive across the big bridge to Wisconsin. As you remember, I hate bridges and the ones from Duluth to Superior are the worst. [When we were dating, Mike used to have to drive over from northern Wisconsin to pick me up in Duluth - or I would cross over in Hinckley where it was a much more manageable bridge.] We took the Bong bridge over and the kids thought it was so cool. Although the High Bridge on the way back was the clear favorite. And by clear favorite, I mean "from what I could tell with my eyes squeezed closed, practicing my deep breathing exercises while I waited for us to plummet to our untimely deaths."

Step 2: we were heading to Amnicon State Park, where Mike and I used to go often when we were dating. It has several beautiful waterfalls and fun trails to explore. But best of all, it is near Gma and Gpa N's house - so they agreed to meet us there. In normal times, this would be great. But you guys, we had not seen them in person or hugged them in eighteen months! Eighteen months. Gma was fully vaccinated and Gpa was just a couple days away from his official "two weeks past second vax" - so we hugged with masks. BUT WE HUGGED! It was the best!

We got to the park before Gma and Gpa, so did a little exploring while we waited. Which basically meant off-roading, ledge perching (Quinn!), portaging across multiple log bridges, accidentally falling in the water while testing a log bridge (Mike!), and declaring "this park was made for us!" (Declan). 

We paused some pretty extreme off-roading to meet Gma and Gpa at the picnic tables for lunch. Then they spent the next two hours staying safely on the path while the rest of us followed Mike's lead when he said ridiculous things like: "I think we can make it to that cave if we pick our way down to the river there, shimmy along that rock ledge, make a leap to that ledge, and then climb up to the cave." [almost direct quote] Gma loved it. It was like watching three little mini Mikes, a big one ... ... ... and me. 

When we were cleaning up our lunch, the park ranger came by the picnic area. The kids told him how much they loved the park and how much fun they were having. He loved their enthusiasm and gave them each a Smokey Bear gaiter. They were both terrifying and hilarious when pulled up over their faces. At one point, Declan lined up the mouth perfectly and it was moving while he talked. So creepy - and yet we could not stop laughing.

After Gma and Gpa headed home, we did a bit more off-road exploring. We also were able to watch the best teamwork on this hike. Log navigation is not easy for Fiona. She lacks some sensation in her feet, so relying solely on them for balance makes her quite nervous. Quinn would skip across the log (for real - she'd skip) and then she'd skip back to take Fiona's hand and would ever so slowly and carefully work the way across with her. She would never rush Fiona and F felt so much more confident holding Q's hand. Great sister moments for the two of them.

We also ended up with a sad Declan, who had wet feet from falling off a log. I was so proud that I had extra shoes for everyone. Except guess what I didn't have extras of ... socks. So Dec's wet shoes and socks went in the back and he got his crocs. Q decided to change into her crocs as well - just for fun. 

Mike decided to stop at Wisconsin Point before we took the bridge back to Duluth, so the kids could check out Lake Superior on the Wisconsin side. It was cold and windy on the lakeshore. And by windy, I mean some waves were unexpectedly large and crashed much further up the beach than expected. And by that, I mean a rogue wave totally knocked Dec's croc off and it went floating out into the lake. Little Dude went running out to save his shoe and had very cold wet feet as a result. Quinn and I also got hit by a wave and had cold, wet feet.

So two out of five Vannestes were crying as we left the lake (I was not) and it sounds ridiculous but was also so funny. Sometimes you just have to embrace the crazy. And now, even Q and D find the humor in it ... "remember when Lake Superior tried to steal my croc?" [Everyone's favorite part of Wisconsin Point (except me) was chasing the seagulls (gross) by running into the flock. In addition to bridges, I'm terrified of birds. Sometimes I think Mike plans things just to torture me.] 

Once we got safely back across the bridge to Duluth, we went down to Canal Park on the shore of Lake Superior (Minnesota side). The kids wanted to see the big Aerial Lift bridge, that goes up and down to let the ore boats in and out of the harbor. They talked Mike into driving across the lift bridge and I feel like I have had my quota of bridges for the decade. We also got out to take a bathroom pit stop, get a treat at Grandma's, and walk along the lakeshore. There were a lot of people out and about, so we didn't stay long. But it was a fun way to wrap up our exploration for the day.

Then we went back to the treehouse so I could make dinner and Gpa V could join us! Everyone used the big bathtub one more time (it's almost a month later and we all still talk about how great it was) and it was off to bed. Everyone got a much better night's sleep and we woke up ready to pack it up and head back home.

It wasn't a fancy Spring Break, but we had so much fun and got to see all the grandparents for the first time in forever (raise your hand if you are singing the song from Frozen). Getting away for a few days and being able to just have fun together was exactly what we needed. And we still had a few days left of break to get organized and settled and test out the new walkie talkies from the Easter Bunny. Fact: you can be over a mile (straight line) from our house and still talk to people in the house. Well played, Bunny. Well played.

Spring Break: The Grandparents Tour (The Treehouse)

Monday morning, we packed up our stuff and pointed the car toward Duluth. We were off to spend a couple nights in one of the Mountain Villas at Spirit Mountain. Because each villa is a "raised cabin" structure, we'd taken to calling it a treehouse - much like the dwelling in Swiss Family Robinson. Since the villa wouldn't be ready for check in until mid-afternoon, we decided to take the kids to Jay Cooke State Park to do some exploring first.

Fittingly, the kids watched part of Swiss Family Robinson on the drive while I logged into a work conference call from my phone. I think Mike enjoyed the relative quiet! We made a quick stop in Cloquet to check out a fun park that Mike remembered from back in the day. He was right - it was super cool. And extremely crowded. But we donned masks and let the kids run around. There was a zip line that Bugs could not wait to try. Meanwhile Q and D figured out how to climb the ropes to the tallest slide and were not disappointed by the slide ride down!

After the park, we grabbed Arby's lunch, ate the Walgreen's parking lot (I had to run in to grab a few toiletry items for the treehouse), and made the short drive to Jay Cooke. We were pretty worried when we pulled in, because there were a lot of cars! But once we got off the beaten path beyond the swinging bridge, there were hardly any people. 

I'm not sure I've admitted this to the blog world, but I am terrified of bridges. Like hate them so very much. So the swinging bridge across the rushing St. Louis River is not my favorite - to say the least. Mike told the kids to let me go first so that they could take their time on the it (and I could sprint walk with purpose ahead of them). Somehow Q ended up in front of me and rest assured, she inflicted just the right level of torture on her mother. But we successfully made it across without plummeting to our deaths, so ... yay. 

We spent the afternoon climbing rocks, perching on ledges even though Mom had just said to not get too close to the edge (QUINN!), picking our way through non-trails, skipping rocks, and having a blast. Mike helped the kids climb out to the edge of one of the bluffs and lie on their bellies to look over the rocks at the river below. We also experimented with throwing branches in the water at the top of the rapids and then sprinting along the river to watch them go down the waterfall and come out the bottom.

It was so much fun, but the kids were also really excited to leave - because that meant we could finally see the treehouse. They had been looking forward to it for months. And let me tell you, the treehouse did not disappoint. The favorite parts were the three beds (including a bunk) in the kid room and the enormous jetted tub in the master bathroom. The kids wanted baths every night we were there - and we were happy to oblige. 

Once we got settled, Mike ran to pick up some groceries while the kids and I settled in. Then Mike returned with both groceries and ... GRANDPA VANNESTE! We haven't seen or hugged him since Fall Break in October. The kids were as excited to see Grandpa as they were about the treehouse - and that's saying something. Gpa joined us for dinner and the Q schooled him in Go Fish, multiple times, while I cycled small Vs through the giant bath. 

It was a new place and there was a big rainstorm that night (with a bit of hail) so Mike, Fiona, and I didn't get the best sleep. But we got enough to be ready for another busy day on Tuesday.

Spring Break: The Grandparents Tour (Auntie's Birthday)

Not only did we get to celebrate Easter while in GR, we also had an early birthday celebration for Auntie. Quinny and Gma made cake and I cooked up ribs and we made sure that Auntie's birthday was far better than her isolated quarantine birthday of 2020. But before we stuffed ourselves silly at dinner, we had some Bunny business to attend to.

The kids were up fairly early and started hunting for their baskets and eggs. Finding baskets was a whole new ballgame at Gma and Gpa's. So many new spots to search! Fiona eventually found hers in Gma's sewing room, Q's was in the washing machine, and Dec's was on top of the kitchen cupboards. He thought it was so funny because he couldn't reach it AND it was where great grandma's urn used to sit. At home, the eggs and baskets are usually on separate levels of the house. But in GR, it was a free for all. The final egg was one of Declan's and everyone was looking for it. Turns out, it was on the floor right next to the couch. We laughed that our last egg was in such an "easy" spot.

As Q started to piece together the clues in their shared eggs for the big surprise, Fiona solved the puzzle and announced where it was located. Quinn was super annoyed, told F to "hang on," finished putting the words together, and then made the same location announcement. F rolled her eyes, but ran off to the oven of the toy kitchen in the porch with the other two. Where they found three walkie talkies! 

Without batteries. Silly bunny! Thankfully Gpa had enough batteries to test out a couple of them.

By the time Auntie arrived, everyone was excited to show off their Easter basket treasures. The girls are enamored with their new hair towels and Dec could not stop laughing about the wind up bunny that poops jelly beans. Once Auntie finished admiring things, the gang headed down to the playground to get out some energy and test out D's new frisbee [I was sent by Q to take a shower after my run so met them later]. Even though the water was still freezing cold, the kids couldn't help but to be right at the lakeshore - even dipping their toes and fingers into it. 

The rest of the afternoon was both busy and relaxing. We had a lunch picnic in the yard (such a beautiful day!), went to the skate park and watched some definite increases in skill and bravery across the gang - until a whole bunch of big kids showed up, and then went for a hike in the woods behind the high school. It was so pretty back there, but the day was quite hot and by the end, everyone was a little melted. 

[By the end of the walk, I'd tied off Q's t-shirt into a crop top and handed over my hat to help shade her from the pretty intense sun. She was not in the best mood about overheating.]

We ended the day with Auntie's birthday celebration. Quinny proudly gave her the present she had picked out and purchased with her own money. I shared with Auntie how Q was so methodical in her gift selection process that it took all my willpower to not lie down on the floor of Target in exasperation. Since I have actually sat on the floor of a store in exasperation because of Auntie (as did Mike. And the sales person), it truly seemed a fitting detail.

Last year, we spent Easter alone in the middle of an April snowstorm. This year, with our people and overheating in the woods. We certainly like one of those options better than the other - even though Easter sledding was pretty cool ...

Spring Break: The Grandparents Tour (Hunting Eggs)

The kids started Spring Break on Good Friday and I also conveniently had the day off. After a very home-bound spring break last year (hello quarantine), all Vannestes agreed that we wanted to be away. We weren't really picky about where away was. Just somewhere relatively safe and not here. 

My parents are fully vaccinated and my sister, Mike, and I have all had our first shot, so we decided to spend Easter in GR. Mike's dad, mom, and Bill have all had their second shots (but not all had cleared their two-weeks post #2) so we figured we'd spend a few days after Easter in the Duluth area to see them. 

We finished packing and were on the road by 10:45 Friday morning. The kids were so excited to see grandmas and grandpas, but were quite bummed they wouldn't be seeing their cousins. Otto, Milo, and new Baby Arlo were in exposure quarantine and because Hux and Beau had seen them before they knew about the exposure, we wanted to play it safe. Since Auntie Tracey and family had just gotten back from a trip to Hawaii, we wanted to be careful, so would also miss them. Summer and fully vaccinated family members cannot happen soon enough! 

[We delivered candy-filled plastic eggs to the little cousins and air-hugged and loved from afar. In hindsight, that may have made things harder for the mini Vs. They really love their cousins and it was so.dang.hard not to play. We had moments of not the best attitudes - but things shaped up as break went along.]

We made it to Rapids by mid-afternoon and spent the rest of our day playing baseball in the yard and eating pizza and ice cream for dinner. We love that Gma always remembers Ice Cream Friday!

Saturday morning, the kids helped me stuff the plastic eggs and the girls and I toured Auntie's temporary apartment (she moves into her new house at the end of April). Then after lunch, it was time for our annual egg hunt. Mike, Gpa, and I hid 96 eggs in Gma and Gpa's yard. Turns out, our backyard has a lot of stuff in it, which makes for a lot of hiding spots. We had to get pretty creative with our hiding places because Gpa keeps a pretty minimalist yard. 

The kids had a good time looking for the eggs and laughed at the few they couldn't reach. The egg in the bird feeder was my favorite. We somehow even managed to find all the eggs and it was pretty evenly spread out between the three of them. Quinn can get rather competitive, so it was good to see Fiona and Declan finding plenty of eggs as well.

After the hunt, we made our cousin deliveries and went out to the Government Dam on the Mississippi River to do some hiking. We got really hot in Gpa's yard during the egg hunt so didn't bring layers with us. This was a tactical error as it was quite chilly at the dam. Quinn got out of the car and immediately complained about being cold - so I gave her my quarter zip and Mike gave me his fleece coat. Ten steps later, Dec complained and ended up with Mike's fleece. Fiona did fine in what she was wearing - except she had crocs on and ended up with a blister.

We walked across the actual dam, which intrigued F and D and freaked Q out. They were all really interested in how the dam controls the flow of the river and loved watching the water rush through it. Then we checked out the railroad tracks, where the family Moral Compass freaked out about it being dangerous and refused to stand on the tracks. While D lectured the rest of us, Mike had the girls put their ears to the track and showed them how you can hear a train coming from quite a distance. Even the Moral Compass took a break from his lecture to put his ear on the track.

We let them go to the playground at the end of our hike. Fiona was really sad because her blister was bugging her, so she wouldn't go play. Declan has the same size feet as F so he (reluctantly - but without having a fit) put on her pink crocs and gave her his shoes so she could play too. He's a really good brother!

We ended our day by dying Easter eggs. We even brought our cool spinner from last year and got Auntie and Gma to try it out. All the eggs turned out beautifully and were ready for eating on Easter morning. 

Fiona's Jamboree

Fiona was surprised when I told her that I was writing a post about her jamboree experience as well. "But I didn't play." As Fiona and I can attest (and Auntie Tracey would back us up), being spectators is a lot of work too.* Thus, Fiona also gets credit (and a blog post) about her contributions as Super Fan to the jamboree weekend.

F was up bright and early Saturday morning so that we could get to the rink on time. Then there was a bit of a kerfuffle about what time we needed to be there and Coach Mike may have randomly yelled at everyone that we were "already ten minutes late." [we weren't] The girls and I got to the rink in time to watch Dec warm up and his game start. 

Anxious Quinn couldn't take it anymore, so we brought her to her locker room to get ready for her game. Fiona has decided that girl hockey players are crazy! Then off we ran to watch Q's announcements and the start of her game - before we hopped back to the other rink to catch the end of D's game. Fiona and I were basically hockey fan yo-yos. 

Fiona was thrilled when Q's game was over and we could leave. I had told her multiple times that she was required to come to one game for each of her siblings - but after that, she could choose to hang out at home. She's proven herself trustworthy enough for that privilege. Yet, after lunch, she chose to come back to the rink for Game 3 because she didn't want to miss Dec's name being announcement. She and Quinn were the sweetest little fans as he made his big entrance. Then my partners disappeared to the lobby to color while I watched the game.

We had promised the kids a trip to the concession stand between games 3 and 4 - so of course, it was closed. That, combined with forgetting some art supply that she needed, meant that one Tired Big Sister and one Tired Little Brother were not into Game 4. So I brought them home and they were much happier [remote] fans. Then as a special treat for the Super Fan, I made homemade mac and cheese for dinner.

Sunday morning, she was back at the rink because she wanted to watch her sister play goalie and see the trophy/medal ceremony. While Fiona was hoping Dec would hang out in the lobby with her, he actually preferred watching the game with me. Eventually she joined as well and was super helpful in taking videos of the goalie pile and medal ceremony so I could take pictures. Quinn was a more reliable partner-in-crime when she again chose to come back for Game 6 - although neither of them were anywhere to be found when I needed video assistants at the end of D's game!

To reward all hockey players, Super Fans, and coaches, we went to HyVee after the game and splurged on cupcakes from their bakery. Everyone got to pick (and eat) their own (mini) cupcake. Anyone who has watched me buy one cupcake and split it three ways knows that This is a Big Deal. Fiona may have even admitted that while it was a long couple days, jamboree weekend was also pretty fun.

*By 4pm Saturday, I already had over 10,000 steps on my Fitbit - and I had not worked out yet. That was simply from running around the rink!

Dec's Jamboree

Just so we are clear, this is the exact same jamboree as the one Quinn played in last weekend. In order to make things more complicated give everyone their own spotlight, I'm writing about each V separately. You are welcome. If I didn't, it may have been the longest blog post ever. 

So ... Declan "Red Lights" Vanneste is no longer allergic to the puck! Little Dude was in it to win it - as much as you can win it when you don't actually keep score. He played really hard the entire first game and scored a beautiful goal. It is noteworthy that he played hard the whole game because at six, he tends to lose interest in things around the third period (which is a significant improvement from skating in the opposite direction of the puck most of the time during his rookie season). 

Declan got his "skate through the tunnel" introduction before Game 2. The girls came back with me because they didn't want to miss his big entrance. The team dad who acted as the announcer did such a great job and gave each of the boys a nickname. Dec got the nickname "Red Lights." Mike had to explain to him that Red Lights means the goal light. Just like his sister "Stonewall," he finds this nickname acceptable. We had been encouraging him to do a fancy entrance, which ended up being a baseball slide into the line. Coach Mike laughed and called him "safe."

Dec played his buddy Andrew's team for Game 2. Again, he played hard and had a good time. He even scored another goal. Andrew, who is super competitive, asked his coach to play him on a line that didn't go against D's line. Declan, who is not at all super competitive, was bummed that he was never matched up with Andrew's line. Those two boys crack me up!

Dec was really excited on Sunday morning to come cheer Quinn on in her final game. He had big plans to hang out in the lobby with Fiona - but found Q's game to be really exciting and ended up sitting with me most of the time. I happily accepted his company. He was really into the game. It is so good for him to watch the next level of Mites, as that's what he'll play next year. D can't wait for full ice games and actual positions. 

D's Game 3 (otherwise known as Game 6 of the weekend) was right after lunch on Sunday. I could tell he was getting tired, but he put in good effort. He even had a nice breakaway goal (and then tried to replicate that successful move for the rest of the game). By the third period, I could tell he was losing steam, but he hung in there and played hard. The best part - he had fun the whole time.

Coach Mike got tricked into announcing the medals for three of the four teams (the fourth team had another game) - so D's name was pronounced correctly (sometimes you have to stack the deck). Dec told me that he is both glad for a break from hockey because he is SO ready for baseball and sad that it is over. He has skating clinic this summer and is looking forward to Intermediate Mites next year. Despite masks, weird schedules, and a long pause in the middle, it was a great third season for the dude.

How It Started (during Game 2) ...

How It Ended ...