Renaissance Festival

I ended up with some free tickets to the MN Renaissance Festival this year, so we thought we would make the day extra fun and ask the Dahls to join us for a day of medieval mayhem. Evan was really grouchy for some reason today and was a bit hard to please. Climbing up on "Uncle" Justin was all we could do to pacify him at this point.Noah made an awesome wax-hand. Evan and I rode on an elephant! (Not pictured: elephant. It was moving too fast for Jeremy to catch. No, really, we only went around once so he only had one chance at a shot.) Noah rode a llama (watch out, they spit.)

Evan LOVED the pony ride! He loved it so much that I think we may have to get him a pony! (Um, just kidding. The last thing we need at our house is another animal.)And what would a good day be without getting good and dirty? The fair was blanketed in a cloud of really fine dust - dirty dust. Just like the dirt that Evan is puring on top of his choo-choos as we try to sit and catch a magic show. What happens to little boys who play in the dirt...?
They get good and dirty. "Time well spent," says Evan. The kid loves dirt, what can I say?

Fishing, Birthdays and more Fishing.

(Mom) "Evan...what have you been up to? You have that look on your face like you have been up to something...."

Yikes. Red Crayola Crayon. (sigh.)



On Thursday we headed to the park to celebrate Grandpa Rex's, Cousin Katarina's and Cousin Victoria's Birthdays. It was the perfect opportunity for Evan to practice with his new Mikey Mouse fishing pole. (Don't worry, it has a rubber fish at the end instead of a hook. You catch one every time!)

Evan catching some air time on the slide at the party.

"I caught a fish, Mom!"

Yesterday it was so beautiful out that after work we decided to walk the tracks to the famous Novek Fishing Spot.
"Peek-a-boo, Daddy!"

Evan trying out his pole.

"OOPS!" Fell in the mud!We didn't catch any fish, but I did find some interesting things in the creek...

Today we headed out on the river for a day of fun with some friends. The weather was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a better day!

Jeremy, Jonas and Noah.The beach we went to was perfect - it was waaaay shallow for a really long way out. The boys had a great time running around in the shallow water. Peyton trying out Evan's fishing pole.First catch of the day!Second catch of the day - Noah caught a soft-shell turtle! Don't worry - he was A-OK and we threw him back in (the turtle, not Noah.)After a long day out on the river Jonas was pretty worn out.

...and so was Evan! He fell asleep sitting up a few minutes after we walked in the door!

But the day wasn't over...yet! We still had one more birthday party to attend.

Happy FIRST Birthday, Jonny!

Annie and her beautiful birthday boy!

Emma and Evan, happy together as always (or most of the time, anyway.)And, of course, more cake. Gotta love that birthday cake. We ate a lot of it this week! Evan asked for it this morning for breakfast, actually. "Birthday cake Momma? Baby num-nums."

Lutsen

Becky, Liz and I headed to Lutsen this past weekend for some girl time. We stopped as Gooseberry Falls on the way up and got our first taste of nature for the weekend. It was beautiful. I'll warn you - I had waaaay too much fun with my camera - and decided to take a lot of "artsy" shots...bear with me. The roots on all of the trees were spectacular. They were almost as pretty as the falls!Liz "falling" off of the cliff. Too bad you can't see the 40 foot drop from the angle of the photo!The view from our resort. Becky got us a really great deal on a room at a resort by the water. Our room had a view of the parking lot, but we didn't mind - we hadn't planned on spending much time in the room anyway!Playing with the automatic timer on my camera...

Our first adventure was hiking at the Cascade River State Park where we trekked along a winding path to see the falls. It was the first peak of sunlight we had seen all day - most of my photos from the day turned out over-exposed - this was my only good shot. We spent the remainder of the night playing board games in the lobby and sitting in the hotel hot tub - what a rowdy bunch we are!
The next day we went kayaking. None of us had ever even touched a kayak before, let alone actually been in one. It was pretty cold and windy out, but other than that it was great! It was much easier than any of us had anticipated. We were supposed to go sea kayaking on Lake Superior, but the swells were 3-4 feet high and I guess the max for kayaking is 1-1.5 foot waves, so, we went out on Caribou Lake instead.
We all looked super hot in our wetsuits. I think I am going to get myself one to wear to work.

On Saturday night we headed to Grand Marais for a "night out on the town." Too bad they rolled up the sidewalks at 7pm. Oh, well, we got some beautiful pictures out by the lighthouse anyway!Like I said, I had too much fun playing with my camera settings...Liz being macho.

Here I am stepping over a crevasse - I felt pretty brave. Not really.Oooh! Faked you out, didn't I? Wow. That's all I can say. Wow.Liz sporting her new sparkly blue hat.Santa??? Santa lives in Lutson?

On Sunday we paid $8.50 to check out the "Alpine Slide." It was fun! I wasn't a big fan of the chairlift, but the sliding part was great!

On our way home we stopped at Temperance State Park to see some more waterfalls. It was actually sunny out on Sunday (coincidence?) It made for great hiking weather. Here I am climbing up the side - yes, there was a path, but this looked like way more fun.

Becky and Liz being squished by a rock. The answer is "yes." We do think we're funny.

Getting our feet wet. As expected, the water was cold!Me and Liz sporting matching outfits - no, not on purpose. We both just have a great sense of style...Liz apparently eating a tree limb. I guess we should have stopped for lunch.

I saw these con-trails on the way home and though they were cool. X marks the spot!

It was a great weekend! I really missed my boys while I was gone, but it sounds as if they had a lot of fun without me! They did a lot of fishing together and had a good boys bonding weekend. I am glad to be home, but I also can't wait until next year's trip! Thanks for a great time ladies!