I'm so behind on pictures this summer, I've still got ones from June that haven't made it into a post yet!  So, instead of writing about last week's vacation, I'm going to catch up on pictures again.

Mason caught a crawdad while on one of his many fishing excursions!

 (seriously, fishing is all this kid wants to do!  It's all he talks about.  It's all he watches on tv.  It's all he plays outside, or in the bath, or in the basement, or with the dog.)

Side note:  these pictures were taken the end of June.  I can't believe how little he looks just 8 weeks ago!

Meet Crawdy, Mason's pet crawdad.  

He lived a terrible life in Mason's care.

 He died (or got away--but probably died shortly after) a mere 27 hours after Mason captured him.

Thanks for the memories Crawdy.

I snapped this picture right after Crawdy slipped out of his hands.

This is not when Crawdy got away.

Crawdy got away the next day when Mason dropped him in the woods.

I asked Mason if Crawdy ever pinched him.  He said, "Yes.  It kinda hurts but I love him anyway."

Spoken like a true crayfish owner.

At the beginning of summer Mason was gifted my dad's old lawn mower.  Unfortunately that thing is still running and as loud as ever.  Erik got the garden tractor fixed up so Mason now hooks that up whenever he takes the Deere on a spin.

I looked out the window one evening as I was doing dishes and this was what I saw!

Of course I had to get in on the action too!

We took the boat out on the Mississippi one afternoon.  We didn't catch much but the boys had fun pulling into a sandbar to swim and taking turns driving.

 

Happy 10th Golden Birthday Kade William!

On Monday Kade hit the double digits!  A decade!  10 years old!  I can't believe it's been TEN YEARS since we were blessed with this little man.  He's not such a little man anymore though, he's 5'1", wears a size 8 in mens shoes and is fitting into some mens clothing.  I swear, with all of this downtime we've had for the last few months, I'm literally sitting on my porch watching him grow.

He's still as loud and as busy as ever!  But he's also very responsible, a great helper (when he wants to be😉) and mature beyond his years.  With all of his sports being canceled, it's been hard to keep him satisfied and entertained.  He's a kid that needs plans, events, and things to look forward to every day.  So when I make him a list, he accomplishes everything on it and asks for more.  A kid after my own heart!!

For his birthday we got him new golf clubs and he got lots of money from everyone to put towards a new PS5.  We had family over for cake on Sunday and Erik took him golfing on Monday where they did 18 holes.  Not surprisingly, he's a pretty darn good golfer!

Happy birthday Kado the Tornado!!  We love you!!

His new golf outfit that he's going to outgrow in about 3 weeks.

 

Vacation Part 2

Fun on the lake!  The resort had a lot of stuff for kids to do, they kept going from activity to activity while the adults floated (beverage in hand, of course) and "supervised".

It didn't take long for Mason to get the hang of the paddle board, pretty soon he was paddling all over!

The pedal boats were the true hit of the week though!

Mason and Delaney went all over in this.

I'm on the flamingo, Melisa is behind me on a raft, Delaney is on the unicorn.

We put Kade and Bodey to work taking us around.

Delaney and Erik

Bodey and Kade on the pontoon.

It was a windy day with on and off rain, so not the best day for a pontoon rental but that's what you get on vacation in Minnesota!

Mason and Logan

Sharon, my mom, Delaney and Melisa

We put those beach chairs to work all week!

Kade caught the biggest crappie of the week!

13"

Erik caught the biggest bass.

18"

No trip to Bemidji is complete without a visit to Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox!

The whole crew!!

Vacation Part 1

Sort of last minute we booked a couple cabins for Erik's 2nd furlough with my parents and some family friends up in Bemidji.  The weather was wonderful and everyone had a great time!  It was easy to social distance because we basically spent all day, every day on the lake either swimming or fishing.  

Of course we had to take the boys to the start of the Mississippi, since we were only about 40 minutes away.  I remember going as a kid and my parents telling me I could walk across it.  In my mind, I was picturing the Mississippi like I'd seen it in Wabasha or LaCrosse.  And I remember it being very anticlimactic when I actually saw the origin.  So, naturally, I did the same thing to my boys!!  Kade was pretty "meh" about it but leave it to Mason to keep things interesting!!

The boys while they're still dry

Look, Mason was even trying to keep his shorts dry!

I didn't go across because I'm pretty sure I've done it about 6 times in my life.  I didn't need to do it again, so I just watched my boys.  I wasn't able to get a picture but imagine my "surprise" (i.e. not surprised at all when it comes to this kid) when I look across, see Mason put his arms out and trust fall backwards into the water.  Yep, Mase was that kid.

And leave it to him to be the awkward kid swimming in people's photo ops.

We actually do know this couple, they were with us but trust me he's in a lot of strangers photos too.

I should note that Kade ended up drenched as well, but not by choice.  Just as we were leaving the poor kid tripped and got soaked.  Thankfully I brought extra clothes for both of them.

Of course, no trip is complete without a few before and afters.

This is me with Melisa in 1988 

(we've been friends since birth!)

32 years later.

Melisa and I with our dads on a motorcycle trip.

And 32 years later!