Crumbs

When Isaiah was a baby we camped frequently. Matthew and I had a nice system and it all worked very smoothly. For some reason once we started AdCraft the camping trips stopped. I'm not sure why other than Matthew was very, very busy and vacations were tricky to plan.

As a result of the camping stand-still, Anna's never camped. She has never slept in our tent, until last night. We weren't really roughing it or camping for real just spending the night in the tent. No pressure, no real planning. We just grabbed some blankets and pillows and all five of us (yes, Matilda slept in the tent too) tried it out. It went very well. I think we will become a camping family again very soon. The kids had tons of fun and we all fit, rather comfortably too.

Anna was tired so she fell asleep quickly. Isaiah and I were chatting as Matthew was arranging some items. Isaiah had smuggled a bag of Pringles into the tent and asked if I wanted some chips. I looked at him very seriously and said that we can't eat in the tent. He asked why and I just said it was against the rules. Isaiah looked very concerned and asked if I was serious.

"Yep.", I said.

"You mean like, with the government? It's against the law with the government?"

I giggled and just explained how we can't really get crumbs in the tent and that it was sort of a family rule but if we're careful we'd be okay. Thankfully the government isn't regulating any eating of Pringles in tents.

Although, I do think they have a problem with the eating of S'mores in tents.

Bayfield and Madeline

Matthew and I will celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary on Thursday, October Ninth. Matthew has been insisting that this will be our Golden Anniversary. I keep saying although it feels like 50 years sometimes it doesn't really work like Golden Birthdays. Semantics, I suppose. At any rate, last weekend, we did something we've never done, ever. We had my mom and dad watch Isaiah and Anna for the entire weekend and we actually went out-of-town. Three and a half hours away! This was a major accomplishment for me. I did a lot of praying last week that God would grant me strength and trust. Believe me you, this was an anxiety attack waiting to happen. I did it though. My mom helped a lot, she followed my requests on everything to perfection. Thank you, mom!

As the title suggest, we went up to the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior. We spent the day Friday in Bayfield, WI and took in all that is Apple Fest. Apparently Apple Fest is one of the biggest festivals in the entire universe, or something like that. Due to the fact that it was Apple Fest there was no room at the inn for Matthew and I. We ended up staying on Madeline Island, one of the Apostle Islands. There is no bridge, one takes a ferry over to the island, it's about a 20-25 minute ferry ride. I believe the distance is 2 miles, or 2 1/2 miles.

Well, Friday we left our house at about 8:30 and drove up to Bayfield. We ate lunch at the Rittenhouse Inn, it's a bed & breakfast that is open to the public for breakfast and lunch. It was very yummy. I'm happy we made it in time. They have a small window of time in which they serve lunch. It was well worth the early departure time.


(outside the Rittenhouse Inn)

After we ate lunch we walked down to the Apple Fest shindig. There were tons of neat craft vendors, apples galore, music and people watching. I was still very full from lunch but Matthew couldn't resist an apple brat. Had to have one. I tasted some of the apple mustard he put on the brat and it was pretty darn good. We found some goodies for the kids and ended up getting some pottery for ourselves. We always admire the pottery while at craft fairs and never get any, not this time. We found a beautiful serving plate with a bowl for dip and a little dip spreader, knife type of thing. Later, my mom told me that pottery is the traditional 9th wedding anniversary gift. I think I knew that subconsciously but thought it pretty neat that we broke down and bought the pottery.

(near the marina in Bayfield, enjoying Apple Fest)



When we had finished wandering the streets of Bayfield it was time to hop on the ferry and travel over to Madeline Island. The ferry service has a bunch of ferries and the the boats leave, for the most part, every 1/2 hour. It's very convenient and easy to plan when you will come and go.

(this is the ferry that was going to Bayfield as we were traveling to the island)


We checked into our little rental house that we would be staying at and were delighted to find out we'd be on the other side of the island. Matthew and I both thought we'd be in town, La Pointe, but found out we needed to drive about 9 miles to the other side of island and would be staying right on Big Bay. Although it was cold at night, in the 30's, we kept the windows open a bit to hear the powerful waves crashing right outside our door. I'm used to the gentle little lapping sound of little lakes or rivers. Not on the shores of Superior, man oh man, were they loud. Lovely.

Saturday we stayed on Madeline and enjoyed hanging out at Big Bay town park. It is a beautiful park.



(this little foot bridge spans an inlet of water from Superior into the park)












(standing on the bridge looking inland)








(standing on the bridge looking out to Superior)










(hee hee, our initials in the sand)



(Matthew took this footage on the beach. My little kick at the end was me saying don't film me.)


Sunday we were up at 6am to catch the 7am ferry back to Bayfield. We had a super time but were in a major hurry to get home to our babies. God had a beautiful display for us on the boat ride over. The steam was rising up off the lake and it made for an amazing sunrise.

Happy Anniversary, Matthew! I love ya a ton.

Dust Eating

Photographic proof that there was some eating of dust done on the go-carts.


Going,














going,














gone!

Conover, WI

Last Saturday my sister, Sally, and I went on a little road trip. Matthew was going to be doing some farm work and house projects that would not go very smoothly with two kiddos "helping" so off we went up north.

My mom and dad are spending the week up north in Conover, WI and we went up to visit for a couple nights. We left Saturday morning and came home Monday. We had a great little mini-vacation and, although we wished Matthew was with us, had a fun time.

We spent lots of time fishing, playing checkers and going for bike and boat rides. On Sunday we went down to Eagle River and walked around town a bit and went go-carting. I don't have the photos of the the go-carting adventure as those photos are all on my mom's camera and my folks aren't home yet. You can just imagine everyone eating my dust.

Around the lake and down the road is a bar called Bauer's Dam. (it's right by the dam, clever huh?) Isaiah and I biked there on Sunday night and I got him a Kiddie Cocktail and he played a couple video games. As a souvenir he got a fishing cap. We had a great time.


I played my first full game of checkers and smoked Sally. Isaiah and Anna took turns on the paddle boat with me too.

Sunday night while on the pier Dad, Isaiah and I had a little visitor eyeing us. A muskrat swam past the pier while Isaiah was fishing and the little critter kept peeking up out of the water. He was pretty cute.

Isaiah spent nearly every waking moment fishing with either Gramps or Grammy. Anna too loves to fish. Anna seems to enjoy playing with the fish after they are out of the water, however. We "rescued" a few and threw them back in.

Weekend Fun

We just got back from a fun weekend at Opa and Oma's farm. We wanted to sneak in a visit to Matthew's parent's home before the school year begins. The kids have a super fun time being outside, in the country all day long.

We get to feed the sheep and the horses and the donkey and dogs and the cats. EIEIO! Oma makes huge meals three times a day. It's like a little mini-vacation. Isaiah and I even get to fight over who's going to drive the 4wheeler. He turns into quite the confident little man on the farm.

One trip we made was to "the pines". It's a valley of pine trees Opa planted when Matthew was younger and now it's a mini-forest that Opa mows 4wheeler paths through just for fun. Isaiah puts on his ginormous dirt bike helmet, sits in front of me on the 4wheeler and off we go. I even let him control the throttle sometimes.....I keep my hand near the brake so I'm ready to slow the little lead-foot down. Oma asked if we'd get the mail on our trip. Cool! We drove down the road a mile to collect their mail and stopped at the pines on the way back. Ya know yer a redneck if ya git yer mail on a 4wheeler. Suh-weet! Lots of fun I tell ya! Besides getting the mail Isaiah and I rode by Arrowhead Alley. Arrowhead Alley is a cornfield we named earlier this summer because of all the arrowheads we found in the field. Opa and Oma live right on a major Indian war site. The Blackhawk Wars were fought right on their land and if the ground is just right you can really hit the jackpot for arrowheads. The adventures a boy and his mama can have are numerous.

Matthew and Anna had some 4wheeler trips as well. They rode over a creek to visit Opa's horses. Anna loves Eeyore, the donkey. Clever name, huh? Apparently Anna's so relaxed on the 4wheeler that she sits criss-cross-applesauce in front of Matthew and reclines with her arm up behind her head and just enjoys the ride.

It was a nice weekend and we really enjoyed the visit. Fun summer memories before the start of a new school year.

By the Way

I forgot! While typing about the bear that trapped us into our cabin I forgot to mention the funny part. (See post entitled Week's Events, I'd do a link if I were blog savvy, sorry) While we were watching the bear out our upstairs window and then running back down to see him out our front door we noticed something on the bear's tush. We couldn't figure out what it was.

Keep in mind the bear was digging through our trash and taking out the food he wanted to eat. Our littlest Anna very much enjoys putting on band-aids, for fun. Her band aid of choice is SpiderMan.

After staring at the foreign object on the bear's tush I noticed it was red and blue. Hmmm? Could it be? Yes, in fact the bear had sat on a used SpiderMan band aid. I'd show a photo but the bear was big and the band aid small so it didn't show up on our photos.

Have you seen the movie Great Outdoors with John Candy? I think they mention a troublesome bear with a distinctive haircut due to a rifle blast, or something like that. Well, we have our own distinctive mark on our bear. You'd know our bear anywhere. Just look for the SpiderMan band aid.

Bear pt.2

We ventured to Troy Beach today and I brought along Anna's little-yellow-floaty-chair. This chair has two air chambers one for the chair part and one for the floaty tube part. I blew up the chamber for the chair then I tried to blow up the tube chamber. No success. It didn't stay inflated. This is a brand new purchase and was only used once. Upon further inspection I noticed two tears in this chamber. Guess who stepped on Anna's floaty-chair? Yup. Da Bear! Apparently when the bear was climbing all over our picnic table he stepped on the chair and his claws ripped 'er open. I vaguely remember watching him do this thinking, "You better not ruin our stuff." Well, he did ruin it. Grrr! Thanks a lot Mr. Bear.

Just Plain Weird

Warning: very long post but it is interestingly weird


Last Friday, while up north, Matthew and I felt like going out to eat for a fish fry. We had no idea where to go. We decided to hop in the truck and drive down the trail to check out a couple of the restaurant/lodges that we pass to get up the trail. My mom and dad didn't come along because they were staying at our lodge to eat supper. This adventure was solely for the four Rollis.

The first place we came to didn't appear to have anything so we continued on to Windigo Lodge on Poplar Lake. Looked like a nice place and the parking lot was empty despite it being Friday and the advertisement for a Fish Fry on their road sign. Good spot to bring two tired children. We shouldn't bother too many people with our somewhat crabby kiddos if we're the only ones in the place.

Well, we went in and had to walk up a very wide staircase as the restaurant and bar were upstairs overlooking the lake. Pretty view. Then it starts to get a bit unusual. It had to have been at least 90 degrees in there, no kidding. I couldn't believe there wasn't any A/C in the place. Also, it was almost chilly outside and none of the huge, beautiful windows were opened to let in the breeze. Hhhmmm? There were three tables that didn't appear to have been bussed in quite sometime, lunch maybe? Nobody greeted us or told us where to sit and there was a 14" TV in the dining room with a soap opera update show blaring. Normally, Matthew and I would have turned around and left by now but ... we were WAY up north and this was the only choice besides driving another 25min. back to the cabin with two hungry and tired children for PB&Js. We decided to tough it out and see.

We waited a good 5min. before we even knew for sure if anybody was even in the building. They were. A very kind yet frazzled girl appeared, apologized for the delay and took our beverage order. Matthew and I noticed that this girl was the hostess, waitress, bartender, cook and dishwasher. Yikes! Good thing we were her only customers. We got our beverages and looked at the menu. Just as we were about to order, a group of 12 non-locals showed up for a fish fry. Uh-Oh. Matthew and I felt bad for the girl and I said that I didn't think she was going to have any help. Matthew agreed and said maybe he could help her out. I sort of got tears in my eyes and we decided that after we ate I would go home with the kids and Matthew would stay and help out if he could and maybe my mom or dad could drive back down to pick him up. Good idea.

Robin, waitress/bartender/everything, was not having a very easy time with the big crew of 12. The tables in the restaurant only sat four at a time and so tables had to be moved together. The customers were trying to do it themselves while we were ordering. Robin went over to assist just as a glass candle nearly shattered on the glass table top that was being drug to the next table over. Robin did what she could but had to get to the kitchen to give the order to the cook, herself, and then pass out the menus to the new people. Not good!

I told Matthew that I think she needs the help now, not after we eat. It was agreed. So ... Matthew got up went to the kitchen asked Robin if he could help. I was expecting a NO but, I peeked in the kitchen and what did I see? My husband wearing a white apron with a big grin on his face. Yup folks, my Matthew used his previous short-order cook status to help out Robin at Windigo Lodge. Cool!

Robin managed to pass out the 4 available menus to the group of 12 and Matthew nosed through the kitchen to see what they had and where everything was located. Afterwards, I'm glad Matthew did our cooking as some of the stuff he saw back there wasn't so up to par. Our food literally got put on the back burner to get out the group of 12's appetizers. Isaiah received his pizza and Anna her pasta and I can't tell you how yummy Isaiah's pizza was. That boy raved and raved over the best pizza he ever, ever had. Wow, Papa makes the best food ever! Later I found out that the "homemade pizza" was made from refrigerated dough, Ragu spaghetti sauce and shredded mozzarella. I could make that at home. We'll just let Isaiah think Papa's pizzas come straight from Italy.

After we ate we knew it would be awhile so we sort of sat and waited and waited and waited. Well, that was fun now what? I decided to give Isaiah and Anna a crash course in table bussing. Yes folks, we bussed our own table and the other three which were left over from lunch. I cleaned the tables and Isaiah put out napkins, place mats and silverware. Anna watched from the highchair and bussed her tray.

When Matthew had sufficiently fed the 12 we were on our way. Robin was so thankful and gave us all articles of clothing from Windigo. That was really neat and if we ever go back up we'll probably always have a friend on Poplar Lake. Matthew said he might just do that again, for fun.

Week's Events

During our vacation we had a pretty quiet week. We got up north on Saturday and just took it easy.

Sunday consisted of mini-birch bark canoe making along with a little race down a creek. Isaiah's boat came in second place. Anna hopped on a kayak with Matthew and tooled around the beach area.

Monday the boys, Gramps, Matthew and Isaiah, went fishing with a local fisherman and caught tons of lake trout. Isaiah caught the first fish, biggest fish and most fish. Grammy, Anna and I went back to Grand Marais (50min drive) for some much needed Benadryl. Mosquitoes really think Isaiah and Gramps are tasty.

The rest of the week pretty much consisted of swimming, canoeing, kayaking, blueberry picking, raspberry picking, hiking (near death experience but, all survived), relaxing and laughing.

Friday was THE day of the vacation. It started out all very normal until about 4pm when we were trapped in the cabin by a boar bear who became a regular nuisance at the lodge all week. He raided our garbage can, which accidentally did not get emptied by housekeeping in the morning. He drug the garbage behind the cabin and preceded to eat Anna's scrambled eggs and the leftovers from taco night on Thursday. Very exciting. He refused to leave until Matthew actually opened the door and yelled and hit rocks with our hiking stick. There's a warrant out for the arrest of the bear which means he will be dispatched shortly as soon as all the appropriate paper work is filed. He's actually becoming a bit aggressive and that is dangerous for people. Bears usually high tail it away from people this bear seeks the "company" of people and their garbage cans. There actually is more exciting information regarding the rest of the Rolli family's Friday afternoon/evening but, I'll save that for next time.

We're Ba-ack

We had a great time on our vacation and nobody wanted to come home. I have a feeling God may have wanted us to stay up there too. It may have something to do with the right front tire that blew out on the suburban on the way home. Not cool! Matthew and my dad got the spare on the truck and after LOTS of conflicting possible-tire-repair-guy locations we ended up back down in Two Harbors at a bona fide service station. No kidding! We had a "nice" walk around Two Harbors while we waited for our new tire and then we were actually on our way home. Just a little dose of reality before getting back to city-life.

Tons of fun memories that I'll post about later and may even get some photos posted. But for now, I've caught up on all the blogs I usually read and now must make a grocery list as we have nothing but cold cereal and frozen lake trout in the house.

Vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow we leave on our vacation, Yippee! We've been planning this trip since last fall and it's finally here. We're going up to the BWCA on the Gunflint Trail NW of Grand Marais, MN. Matthew and I went there on our honeymoon and we went for a couple days with Isaiah when he was two. We really wanted to have a fun family vacation and make some memories with grandparents, too. My mom and dad are coming along too for our little adventure. The kids are so excited as am I.

Yesterday was "clean the house up day" (as clean as our house gets anyway), I've been attacking laundry ALL week so the only dirty laundry is what we're all wearing today and now ....... it's packing day! The four Rollis and the two grandparents are all going in the Rolli Family's Green Beast so we are under strict packing guidelines from my dearest husband. I do believe he has stricter rules than NorthWest Airlines but, who cares it's a VACATION! I just have to get a week's worth of clothing for four people into one suitcase, I have confidence I can accomplish that goal. We are running over to my mom and dad's tonight to pack their stuff into the truck.

Then, tomorrow we get to leave for the north woods hiking, fishing, s'mores, swimming, berry picking, pontoon riding, etc. The lodge has a gourmet restaurant with locally grown/seasonal food that's amazing so if we don't feel like burgers we don't have to cook 'em we can walk on over to the lodge and just eat their food and they'll even wash the dishes for you :). We've never, ever gone on a week long family fun vacation EVER. I can't wait to experience the family memories and take lots of pictures so the kiddos can have fun vacation memories with Gramps and Grammy.

I'm off to pack and try to foresee everything my little family could possibly need for a week away from home. If I get smart enough I can try to post a few photos when we get back.



ps we still haven't heard the test results for my sister's kitty but, I'll let you know how that all turns out too. thanks again for the suggestions.

Pray for Rain and Safety

www.startribune.com/10072/rich_media/1171231.html

When Matthew and I were married in 1999 we had zilch for moola, not that we're rollin' in it now, but I'm talking groceries being charged on credit cards. We also had this wedding to plan. I did not want to plan a wedding, it's not my thing. Matthew and my mom did most of the decision making. I just wanted real flowers, I wanted to get married at FCC and I wanted a honeymoon. That's it! I sooo did not care about the dress and the colors and the DJ and the party etc, etc. Too much stress! It all turned out wonderfully and the day was super, thanks to my mom and Matthew.

The honeymoon almost didn't happen though. We had this great big fancy trip planned for the BWCA on the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota. We wanted to spend our time together in the woods but be comfortable too. We decided on Gunflint Lodge. We ended up not being able to afford the whole honeymoon package. I was bummed but knew we'd go someday. Matthew surprised me though and figured a way we could go for a couple days at least. Yeah! It was so much fun and even though it was probably the shortest honeymoon in history Gunflint Lodge became very special to us. We were able to go again when Isaiah was two and we decided we were going to make the Lodge our yearly family spot as soon as we could.

This was our year! We have a whole week planned for July and my mom and dad are coming too. We wanted the kids to have some special memories of a summer vacation with Gramps and Grammy. They agreed to come along, it didn't take much convincing.

We heard last week about the start of the Ham Lake fire. The link above shows the damage that's been done so far. The winds changed yesterday, surprisingly, and really messed up the plan to stop the fire. Apparently only 5% of the fire is contained and under control. No lives have been lost which is THE most important thing. The entire Trail has been evacuated. It's about a 60mile road which has only one entry/exit point in Grand Marais. Essentially Gunflint Trail is a very long dead end road. Besides Gunflint Lodge, there are other lodges and businesses that make their living along the trail not to mention the homes and cabins that have been destroyed. Please pray for rain and the safety of all the firefighters. Some buildings and homes have outdoor sprinkler systems for this very purpose, those systems are working for the most part.

On This Day in History 2006 ...

Last year at this time my husband, our two kiddos and myself enjoyed an extremely gorgeous day at Stirling Castle in Stirling Scotland. Today, I'm making peanut butter toast, standing in the rain waiting for the bus and going to T-ball practice (again probably in the rain). I'm not saying which day is/was better I'm simply stating the differences in the days. I will try to enjoy my day this year as much as I enjoyed this date last year, however, I may be daydreaming a bit about castles, tulips and fish-n-chip shops.

Cheers!