"What I Did on My Summer Vacation"

Hi all!

Just checking in from a life that just seems to get in the way of the blog.

We just spent two glorious weeks in the Northwoods. You remember last summer, right? When we spent a month up there? We liked it so much that we decided to go back, but without the luxury of a sabbatical we had to “settle” for two weeks. I’m not complaining.

One week of vacation is delicious, but two weeks is sublime.

 The first week of vacation is usually spent unwinding anyway, so after you’ve unwound, you get to practice relaxing for a while. And it does take practice. If you’ve never taken a two-week vacation, you really should try it.

I came back feeling like a blob of jello.

So what did we do on our vacation?

We made s’mores. Over the lamest fires you’ve ever seen. You’d never know we have spent thousands of dollars sending our girls to summer camp to learn how to make a fire. I think we need to get our money back. Still, the s’mores were yummy.

We slept. A lot. Something about all that fresh air made us all tired. One day, after waking up around 8, I felt like I needed a nap . . . at 10. But there’s just something nice about not needing to be anywhere and nobody caring one way or another if you decide to take a nap two hours after you wake up.

We tanned. Oh yes we did. I will shout it from the rooftops that I spent as much time in the sun as I could. Because when you live in a place where you barely see the sun from February through April, you’re pretty excited to finally bask in it for a while.

We boated. B has his little canoe/kayak combo thingy, which is really fun. So much fun that one day we took off in his little boat, leaving the kids behind, and headed out exploring. Three hours later, after running into some pretty windy conditions on the lake which may have involved whitecaps, we finally made it back to our dock. I may or may not have kissed it.

 We watched the Olympics. Four years ago we were on a missions trip in Switzerland when the Olympics took place, so we really didn’t get to see them. In fact (embarrassing confession here), until a few weeks ago I honestly had never hears of Ussain Bolt. Truly! That’s how unOlympic-savvy I am. So this time around we were all excited to take in as much Olympic action as possible. Favorites so far? Gabby Douglas. Jordyn Wieber. Missy Franklin. I have a thing for teenage girls.

And after this morning’s Today Show interview with Lolo Jones, I think she may very well be making the list too.

We went on adventures. Caroline really wanted to show us a place she had been to in the Upper Peninsula, so we drove three hours to find it. Only when we got there she said it wasn’t where she had been. Thankfully, the forward-thinking mother of this family suggested that we bring B’s iPad along with us, and we were able to actually find the remote island that she wanted to see.

Little Presque Isle. Not just your average, plain old, run-of-the-mill Presque Isle.

 It was worth every tense moment of frustration.

We fished. Well, some of us fished. Some of us just watched from the dock while we baked basked in the sun.

On this trip, Julia learned how to bait a hook AND how to take the fish off the hook. I was so proud of my little fisherwoman!

In fact, she got so good at it that she caught this:

 Right after that, B thought he’d get in on the bass action, so he threw in a line and caught this:

 He may or may not have thrown it back.

We had a great vacation, and we loved every minute of just being together. We missed Kate, who was busy working at the camp across the lake, but we got to see her a couple of times.

Now real life rushes in. It’s time for me to head back to work and see if I can find my office again. It’s time for the girls to get ready for school.

And it’s time for Kate to come home!

How about you?? What have you been doing this summer? I'd love to hear from you, so leave a comment!