Family Vacation, Days 4-5

This picture makes me smile :-)

These two are best friends.

Mike and I took the kids into Fergus Falls one afternoon for lunch at Perkins and then to Otter Park (OtterTail is the County name)

Family Vacation 2015 - Day 1, 2, 3

We went on our annual family vacation again this year at the end of July.  This is our 5th year going there already.  Just for a quick recap - it's Lutheran Island Camp on Battle Lake.  It is a kids camp but we aren't there to do any kids or family activities - we just rent the big retreat house that will fit all of us and use the beach and lake.  We all got there Friday night and then had the cabin until the following Friday.  Lisa had to leave on Monday, Martin on Tuesday, Mike and Jon left Wednesday night and the rest of us were there all week.

We haven't done a family pic for a couple of years and my Mom wanted one really badly before Julie left for Africa.

L-R:  Lisa, Julie, Justin, Chris, Martin, Laura, Jon, Mary, David, Dennis, Josh, Rachel, Bennett, Ashley, Kristen, Mike

Martin, Lisa, Julie kayaking

On our annual trip into town to go to Granny's Pantry for ice cream

Julie & Kristen

I LOVE this pic of my kids....it's so summery, cute, they look like they love each other, both smiley - I just love it. 

Martin & Lisa

Jon getting in the water to attempt wakeboarding for the first time.  He didn't quite get up but he did a great job of trying!

Mike, splashing the wave

Laura & Ashley

Ashley & Rachel

 

Front Landscaping

Mike decided that he didn't like the bushes in front of our house anymore.  Well actually, he says he's never liked them.  It's just that after 9 years he had enough of them I guess.  I personally didn't mind them because they were no hassle and I always put my Christmas lights on them.  One day earlier this summer he decided enough was enough and he borrowed my Moms bobcat to get them taken care of.  It was a whole summer project because of time restraints and just being too busy to get it done but, it's done and looks nice.  ...except these shrubs aren't big enough to put my Christmas lights on!

Before

After

The shrubs are Burning Bush and Dwarf Cranberry Bush

Day 4 - Going Home

On Monday, June 22nd we left the hotel around 10:00am and headed for home.  But, we made a stop at Wall Drug on the way.  Tons of shopping and I could have stayed longer but the rest of my troop was getting antsy.  We all did have fun here though.  Huge mistake though...I mentioned eating here before we leave but it was decided that we'd eat a fast-food in the car so that it went faster.  WRONG!  The nearest fast food was over 1.5 hours away, meaning we weren't eating lunch until almost 2:30pm.  (And to top it off, I forgot to get ketchup packets and all 3 were very upset with me...the oldest of the 3 being the most mad of all!). 

 

We drove all day long and took a little bit longer route on the way home to stop in Fairmont and say hi to my Grandma for a break.  I at first thought we'd be to her place around supper time but because of the way the day went, we didn't get to her place until after 8:00pm.  We visited with her alittle bit, then stopped to get some supper and drive the last couple hours home.  We got home around midnight.  The kids did great in the car the entire trip.  We entertained them with a couple of movies, coloring, snacks etc. and since they weren't sitting next to each other, they really didn't fight in the car which was awesome.  They barely slept though which I was surprised by.  In fact, Ashley was awake the entire way home and went to bed at midnight when we got home. 

We had an awesome time on this family vacation.  I hope that we'll be able to do more trips like this in the future.  It was fun, educational and we made lots of great memories.  And, we all survived!  

Day 3 - Afternoon

Recap: in the morning hours, we went to StoryBook Island and then to Bear Country.  We had a late lunch and then started our afternoon activities.  The first on our list was the Big Thunder Gold Mine.  We had a tour of inside the mine and then a demonstration of the mining equipment that was used back in the day.  The tour and demo was probably about 45 minutes long, which was about 30 minutes too long for Ashley.  The rest of us found it fun and interesting but she was bored pretty quickly.  We also paid for a pan to try panning for gold.  This part could have been really fun and enjoyable but because of a few bad attitudes towards the end, it just became chaotic instead.  We did find a few flakes of gold though which we brought home!   We also bought a pan and some gold rough to try our luck here at home too. 

 

After the gold mine, it was later in the afternoon already which meant it was cooler outside and time to go Mt. Rushmore - the main reason for the whole trip.  Amazing.  I knew it would be and it didn't disappoint.  We all enjoyed it and luckily everyone was in a good mood for this part of the day.   

I'm so so so glad we got this picture!  Family pictures are hard to come by.

We left Mt. Rushmore alittle after 6:00pm and within minutes, they were out.  We went back to the hotel and ordered in pizza since I knew that they were pretty beat, and making them sit in a restaurant probably wouldn't have been a good idea.  An excellent day!

Day 3 - Morning

On Sunday, June 21st (Father's Day) we had our busiest day of our vacation.  In the morning we first stopped at StoryBook Island which was free admission!  It was a great place for the kids to run around alittle bit and do something very kid.  It was basically a park with statues of story book and movie characters.  They had fun but weren't in to me stopping them every few minutes to take a picture at all.  So even though there were tons of great spots which would have created great pictures, they weren't too cooperative in them.  Oh well. 

 

 Our next stop for the day was Bear Country USA.  Bear Country was a 3 mile drive through a bear and wild animal sanctuary.  We had to stay in the car with the windows up the whole time.  It was pretty cool...lots of bears, wild cats, some reindeer, goats and antelope.  We would see bears just walking around, across the roads in front of the cars, sitting right next to the road etc.  Pretty cool literally being inches from a bear!  We all enjoyed this.  It was the most expensive stop of the trip though...admission was $42 for the car pass and then I stopped and spent equally as much at the gift shop getting some tshirts for the kids and a coffee cup for me.