Fishing and The Sullivan Family Reunion

Last Friday night Luke and I went out to dinner for my birthday. Rich and Eileen came to watch the kids and Luke and I went to Piccolo for dinner. It's a very small restaurant not too far from our house. It only seats 24, so reservations in advance are a must! They serve small plates and Luke and I chose the tasters menu, so we got to choose 5 small plates. They were all very delicious, but not very filling...for anyone who knows me well, knows I can sometimes have a socially unacceptable appetite (because I eat so much--that was always my joke when I was training for marathons)! Needless to say it was a very fun night and it was quite the experience. I ate pig's feet! EEK! :)

Speck wrapped capon with Burrata, artichokes and melon

Saturday morning we hung out at the house. Rich helped with a couple house projects and Bishop got REALLY excited to go fishing...so Luke spent his morning getting Bishop's line untangled and I took Bishop out to the yard to dig for some worms. Bishop wasn't successful in catching any fish, but I think he had fun!

On Saturday night we went for a walk/bike and a nice man let Bishop catch a fish with his rod! Bishop was pretty excited, but didn't want to touch the fish!

Saturday afternoon was the Sullivan Family Reunion in Minnetonka at Luke's cousins.....Megan and Ethan's. They had the perfect set-up in their backyard and it was a beautiful day. The kids LOVED the sandbox (we might have to get one)!! They had a pool set up, sandbox and swingset with a slide. It was nice to see so many cousins and their kids and to catch up as much as is possible while chasing our kids!!

Bishop and Nora

Diane, Rich, Jake, Nora, Eileen and Bishop eating lunch

Going down the slide

We were all pretty exhausted that night, so we laid low and stayed in! It was nice to be home after being gone so much lately!

Boat Cruise

Uncle Bob (Froehle) organized a boat cruise for the Froehle's that were in the Twin Cities area on Wednesday night. The cruise was on the Mississippi River and left from downtown Minneapolis. It was a beautiful night for a boat cruise and it was fun to spend some more time with the Froehle's! Bishop enjoyed reconnecting with Nate (thanks, Nate for allowing Bishop to tag-along with you wherever you went) and Nora enjoyed walking around and around and around the boat....saying HI to everyone she saw! Pizza was included in the price of the cruise, so we enjoyed dinner and it was Happy Hour, so we also enjoyed a couple drinks from the bar! ;)

Nora and her daddy on the boat!

We were some of the first on the boat, so we secured all of the outdoor seating!

Bishop and Nate!

Eileen, Rich, Larry and Kathleen

Me, Gretchen, Tracey and Melissa

Grandma and Nora

Nate and Bishop with their shades on! ;)

Nora insisted on having her turn too!

The boat

I've taken a few boat cruises on work trips over the years (Chicago, San Diego) so it was fun to take one in Minneapolis, where I recognize landmarks! Thanks again Uncle Bob for organizing!

Froehle Family Reunion 2013

We had the Froehle Family Reunion last weekend at Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria. The reunion is typically every 3 years, so it was so great to see family that we haven't seen in a few years!

We stayed Thursday-Sunday and the set-up was perfect! The weather was cool, so we spent a lot of time in the indoor waterpark, which was perfect. Luke golfed with some cousins and uncles on Friday morning while I had some help from Jake, Eileen, Rich and some cousins (Melissa, and "the big boys"), so thanks to everyone who helped Bishop go down the waterslides while I was taking care of Nora!

We all slept in the same room, which we always do on vacation. Nora's in her pack and play, Bishop sleeps on the floor and mom and dad sleep in the bed.....for as long as we can before it's overtaken by the kids! :)  For some reason I didn't sleep well in this room...it was REALLY dry and I think that bothered the kids too. The air was blowing down from the ceiling so I don't think the kids liked the cold air blowing down on at them. We closed the vent after the first night and that helped. Both Nora and Bishop were up the first night...Bishop had a bloody nose (it isn't uncommon for him to have them, but he doesn't like them and he gets scared). It bothered Nora so she wanted to make sure he was ok and then Bishop wanted to make sure Nora was ok--he helped her fall asleep by putting his arm around her (this is all in OUR bed, thankfully it was a king)! :) The next 2 nights were better, thankfully!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon, but we weren't able to get into our cabins until 4:30, so we spent time catching up outside the cabins (I'm sure the cleaning staff loved us)!! :)

The majority of the pictures in this post will be of frogs!!  Bishop quickly acquainted himself with a few of Luke's cousins kids--and it didn't take long for him to be "hanging with the big boys". He especially gravitated towards Ben (14 years old) and Nate (18 years old). They were SO good to him and were completely trustworthy. They took him to hunt for frogs and they ALWAYS accepted him to join them (playing in the waterpark, eating dinner together, etc). I hope he turns out to be as good as those boys--they were something else!

Here are 2 frogs from the first night. The biggest and the smallest frogs I saw all weekend!!

Note the small frog on top of the big frog!

Nate, Nora, Luke and Ben with the frogs

Bishop petting the frogs!

Campfire at our cabin!

On Friday morning Luke went golfing with some uncles and cousins, so I took the kids to the waterpark!

Bishop and Ben going down the water slide together!

Nora loved the water spouts!

Bishop in the lazy river with Jacob, Nate and Ben!

Happy Nora eating dinner!

Bishop eating dinner with the big boys (Bishop, Jacob, Nate, Thomas and Ben)

Melissa and Abigail by the bonfire!

Aunt Pat taking care of Bishop's mosquito bites!

On Saturday morning a couple cousins (Andi and Steph) organized a craft for the kids....painting rocks! Both Bishop and Nora really enjoyed this!

Nate and Bishop hunting for frogs!

Grandpa and Nora!

The Froehle Family Reunion would not be complete without the Croquet tournament! Brother Jake won this year! It's always an honor to beat Uncle Bob! ;)

Saturday evening Father Alberic and Deacon Bob hosted mass for the family. It was an informal get together to pray together, sing together and enjoy communion together (I even partook)! ;) It was a special time together as a family!

After mass and dinner was family pictures! I tried to get as many as I could on my camera! Here's what I ended up with!

Muggs's family!

Art's family!

Our family!

Rich's family!

Andi's family! She's engaged to Chad and they will be married sometime soon! So happy for her and her family!!

The siblings--Pat, Muggs, Kathleen, Bob, Rich, Art and Joe!

The cousins kids!

More frog hunting!

Bishop, Thomas, Nate, Ben and Jacob (with the frog on his head)!! BOYS BOYS BOYS!

Jacob!

Bishop and his turtle!

Nora and Grandma!

Bishop and Nate--saying goodbye!

It was such a fun weekend together and I wish it had lasted longer! As Aunt Pat often reminds me, I told her soon after Luke and I were engaged....."I'm so excited to be a Froehle!!"

Sunday night we hosted the local Froehle's at our house--we had leftovers and a very casual night!

Cousin Gretchen!