Retzer's Cabin on Long Lake

We spent the weekend at our friends cabin on Long Lake (near Park Rapids) this past weekend and had such a fun time! The kids had a blast together and played really well together. There was a lot of fishing, a few boat rides, an attempt to go tubing, great food and great time with friends!

He is such a doll-I just can't get enough of him!!

On Friday we all unpacked and got settled and then took the boat out for a spin to go fishing. We hit the jackpot and could hardly reel the fish in fast enough. Bishop was in heaven!! He would jump up and down and he didn't care how big the fish were--he was just so happy to catch them!! He caught a pretty nice bass, but we threw it back in....we did keep a good number of sunny's and we fried them up on Sunday during the Vikings game and they were tasty!

Fishing off the dock on Friday night!

Boat ride!

Hanging out on the boat cruise!

 The bass was one of the first fish that anyone caught--and then we just keep reeling them in after that!  Jack and Nora weren't quite as interested in fishing--they still had a great time and enjoyed being on the boat and holding the fishing poles for awhile, but they also had fun running around the boat and goofing off too!

Bishop's bass!

Captain Nora

 We spent time fishing off the dock too and Bishop caught quite a few off the dock as well. He even put his own worm on, and cast himself (he just needed help getting the fish off the hook.....and so did I) :).

 Nora absolutely adores Andrew! She loved making him smile and playing with him!

 We took the boat out again on Saturday morning and caught a few fish, but definitely not as many as Friday night. Bishop was brave enough to hold the fish and he was excited about that!

Holding his first fish! Just a little guy!

Just posing on the chairs! Ha!

 Saturday was such a beautiful day! It was warm and sunny and we decided to go tubing! Nina and Jack went first and so Bishop and I followed after them. The water was pretty cold and since we were going behind the pontoon we knew it wouldn't be too crazy of a ride, so we wore our clothes.

We got started nice and slow.....but never sped up and that resulted in our tube nose diving into the water. We both were completely underwater and I was on top of Bishop, which scared me the most. I was afraid he wouldn't be able to get back up to the surface of the water. And the water was COLD!!!! He did awesome and got right back to the tube and held on until Luke pulled us in. It was definitely scary for a few minutes, but we survived. I'm afraid it may have scared Bishop and he may never want to tube again!

All smiles before we took off!

We were getting water in the tube and I was getting nervous!

 We had a few "memory making moments" during the weekend. Tubing was definitely one of them.....another was the fishing pole that we dropped in the lake after being on the boat for about 10 minutes and the other was making dinner on Saturday night. Luke and Jesse took the fishing boat out on Saturday afternoon with Nora--and it took them longer than we expected. Nina and I were making dinner and I put the steaks on the grill. The steaks were on for about 2 minutes when they started on fire.....and we couldn't get the fire out! I turned off the burners and the gas, but it was so hot it was really hard to get the steaks off the grill. We moved the grill away from the porch as I was so afraid it was going to burn it down. We finally got the charred steaks off the grill and the fire FINALLY went out! Dinner was ruined, so we ate leftovers instead! Whew-never a dull moment!

Catching fish on Sunday morning

 The cabin was built in 2011 and is absolutely beautiful! We had 2 bedrooms upstairs for our family and Friday night Nora slept with Luke while Bishop slept with me.....until Nora fell out of bed....then Luke got the bed to himself! We switched it up on Sat night and Nora slept with me and I piled pillows up on the side of the bed...we all got a better nights sleep Sat night!

Relaxing on Sunday morning!

Nora sporting my glasses!

Sunday was another beautiful day! We took the boat out, did some more fishing and Nina took Jack and Nora on the tube, by the dock. Bishop had no interest in getting back in the tube.....and I don't blame him, I wasn't that eager to get back in either! We stayed to watch the Vikings game, which started at 3:25 and then headed home--the kids slept the whole way home and transferred to bed when we got home.

It was such a fun weekend-everyone had a great time and the weather was so nice, especially for the last weekend in Sept. Thanks Nina and Jesse for inviting us! 

Happy Birthday Luke!

On Monday after school we picked the kids up and headed to the park to play. Bishop and Luke played on the baseball diamond for awhile (as well as the basketball court), while Nora and I played at the park....and had a few snacks! Nora even got her turn to bat!

Bishop is really into sports right now. He told me the other day is favorite is football.....and baseball. I asked about soccer and basketball--of course he loves those too! :)  He really has fun and has a good eye for the ball! He prefers to be pitched to and not hit it off the tee. We all ran the bases together and enjoyed a nice fall day at the park!

Bishop is playing football at school right now and he gets excited to play catch. He likes throwing the ball up on the neighbor's garage and catching it as it rolls off.

He really got into his soccer game last week and scored 2 goals! When the other team gets possession of the ball he loves to run down and play goalie! It's fun to watch his energy and excitement while he plays--he's just so excited!! Nora even got into it and was practicing her airplane stop! I think we'll be signing her up when she turns 3 so she can keep up with her brother!

Nora got a hit!

I got to be the catcher!

More practice at home!

Nora's airplane stop!

Goalie!

 Friday was Luke's birthday! We celebrated by going out to Al Vento for dinner! The kids did well and we all enjoyed a night out!

Birthday hug for Daddy!

Happy birthday Daddy!

The best part--dessert!

Nora and Domino

 Swimming lessons started back up again for Bishop on Saturday morning. We all went swimming before lessons and then hung out at home for a bit before going on a family bike ride! It was such a beautiful day!  Luke set up the Chariot behind the tag a long, so they had a nice long bike train! We biked around Lake Harriet, Calhoun and Lake the of the Isles and stopped for Rootbeer floats on the way home!

Still peddling, but getting a little tired!

Our friends, Raul, Tricia and their son Jack came over for dinner on Saturday night. Raul made us a delicious dinner of authentic Philipino food...and some delicious shrimp! It was a super fun night and after getting warmed up to each other the kids had a great time together!

Nora and Jack

 Sunday we went to church, brunch, played at the park, watched the Vikings and then ended Luke's birthday weekend at the Hennum's for dinner. The kids ran around together and we were able to catch up and relax a bit! It was a beautiful weekend that was filled with family and friends!

 Happy birthday, Luke! We are so thankful to call you "ours"! Thanks for all your hard work and your fun and silly side! We love you so much!

Weekend Fun!

Luke got home on Friday night and we had a nice night in with him! He was exhausted from his week of meetings and functions.

Saturday morning we had Johnny's 5th birthday party to go to! Luke's dad is delivering firewood again this year so he took the kids to help at the first stop and I got some groceries and did a couple errands. Then we went to the party! It was at the Eden Prairie Community Center and the kids got to play in the gym, eat pizza and donuts and then play in the climbing castle! It was a great party!

After the birthday party we went home and walked over to the Fulton Festival-there was a petting zoo and 3 different bouncy houses/slides. There were also some carnival games, which were Bishop's favorite (they were free and there were prizes)! :)

Finally we had our Block party that night! It was such a beautiful day and it was perfect for our block party! The bouncy house never came, but the kids had fun running around and playing together....and the firetruck made a visit, which was fun to tour!

Bedtime was pretty easy with no naps and it was a little later night than usual.......but we had family pictures taken Sunday and church and I didn't want everyone to be a complete wreck, so I was glad they didn't put up a fight to go to bed!

Sunday brought church, brunch and then pictures with the Bishop family! We were all a little nervous for pictures, not knowing how the kids would do, but they did awesome and loved the camera! It was perfect! I can't wait to see all the pictures, Matt always does such a wonderful job!

After pictures we came back to our house to celebrate Luke's birthday and watch the Vikings game! It was another beautiful day and it was hard to see it come to an end!

Nora playing with the parachute!

The birthday boy!

Johnny and Bishop

Petting the sheep

Eating Mac and Cheese at the Block Party with Johnny and Carolyn!

Checking out the firetruck!

Jumping off the firetruck!

Hanging out by the fire!

Hanging out by the fire with Nora before bedtime!

Climbing the tree during pictures

We all survived pictures and were even smiling at the end!

A week with the kids

Luke was at his National Meeting all last week (Sunday-Friday) and so here's a little glimpse of our week!

Monday night we went to the Retzer's for dinner. Tuesday we had a night at home--the kids have really been into coloring, so we colored, painted, and played all night long. Everything the kids did was for daddy! It was pretty sweet!

Wednesday night we went to the Bormann's and the cousins played together and had so much fun! Bishop asked to go to their neighbor's and Colleen entertained the kids with a few running races and played basketball with them and climbed trees! Bishop found their nerf guns and had a blast playing with those!

Thursday was Bishop's first night of fall soccer! My parents came up to take Nora to the park while I helped Bishop at soccer. This league is Revolutionary Sports and it includes parent participation, so I played with Bishop and Nora got to play at the park with Nana!

The kids were absolutely wonderful while Luke was gone! They slept with me every night, and sometimes getting to sleep was a bit of a challenge (or a later night), but all in all they were great and I enjoyed my week with them.....but I was definitely happy to see Luke when he got home! :)

Coloring for Daddy!

"This mountain is for Daddy!"

Racing at the Bormann's!

Climbing a tree with Colleen

Bishop's first night of soccer

Airplane stop!

Bishop and Colin--good buddies!