July 25th, 2010

Back in St Louis, we are in de-vacationing mode.  Laundry (8 loads to be exact), getting the car washed, mowing, unpacking, grocery shopping, and tending to the garden, which went in overdrive when we were out of town….or I just didn’t realize what happens to a garden when you neglect it for 8 days AND hire a neighborhood girl to water it. 

We have a crapload large amount of tomatoes to say the least. That big one on top has seen better days, but I figured I could salvage a part of it.  I decided to make a big batch of spaghetti sauce with meatballs.  So Lauren and I cleaned and pureed.  About halfway through I noticed we were getting to the top of the sauce pot and still had quite a bit of tomatoes leftover.  Good thing we have garden-less neighbors.  Lauren and I became the tomato fairies and gave out boxes and bags to our 5 favorite neighbors (well one isn’t really our favorite, but they are around alot…..really alot, and promises of tomatoes were made early on in the garden process).

I save ends of bread in a bag in the freezer and then whenever I need breadcrumbs, like for meatballs, I grind them with garlic, salt, pepper, whatever herbs sound good, and parmesan cheese.

I normally cook my meatballs in the sauce, but there was no room in the pot, so I roasted them.  I am officially a convert, roasted meatballs in the oven are way better than cooking in the sauce.  I’m not a fan of saying this, but I’ve been doing it wrong and stand corrected.

I love a vacation, but Dorothy is totally right, there’s no place like home.

July 23rd, 2010

Last day of vacation and it’s the day we had a guide take Michelle, Jon, Caleb, Trent, and myself to Basswood Lake.  Kirk and Sally were going to take all the girls into town for shopping and lunch.  Basswood Lake is a motorized portion of the Boundary Waters.  In order to get to it, we had to portage two fishing boats twice.  So you drive the hitched boats to the entry point, get them in the water, drive them to land, carry them across the land, drive the boats across another lake to more land, carry the boats across that land, and then just like that we’re in Basswood Lake.  It was alot of work and I have the bruises to prove it.  But honestly it was well worth it.

I caught my first walleye.  After years and years of fishing in Minnesota I finally got one!  In the background is Rob, our guide.  He was alot of fun and is reeeeally into fishing, so he’s got the perfect job.

The Brightwell’s boat.  Caleb had a fantastic time and it was from 7 am to 4:30 pm and he did great the whole day considering fishing means alot of waiting.

He also deemed himself the official net man.  Whenever Jon or Michelle caught a fish, he pulled them in. 

We fished until 1:30 and then Rob took us to an island for a shore lunch.  Meaning he cleans all the fish we caught and cooks some of them for us and then we take the rest home with us.  He earns his keep because, well, we caught some fish.

This is the fish Trent and I caught.

This is the fish that the whole group caught.  It was mostly walleyes, but both Michelle and Jon caught some good sized bass.

Rob cooking up shore lunch.

Our fish all battered up over potatoes with polish sausage.  Healthy, no.  Delicious, YES YES YES!

It was oh so good….

Even Caleb liked it and he pretty much just eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Rob cleans all the fish on the shore and throws the fish carcass near the water.  He says that once we get back into the boats the seagulls will all stampede the shore to get the fish bones.

Once we were all back in the boats, we waited to watch the birds come.  Only it was a bald eagle (right in front of the big rock).  He went right to the fish and put it in his claws and munched away.  It was like watching the nature channel live, so much fun.

Trent tried to get as close as he could to get a good picture, but then the eagle flew away with the fish in his feet.  Immediately after the eagle left, a vulture gladly took it’s place, along with another bald eagle.  We were fascinated (and happily full).  Now we get to have to do the whole carrying the boats back thing, it felt shorter this time around…but I did get more bruises.  I now have a collection of bruises on my thigh that reminds me of my fun Basswood Lake adventures.

That night for dinner was “please just eat as many leftovers as you can so we don’t have to pack them or throw anything away” night.  Trent and I were still full until around 9 pm.  It was such a fun day, probably my favorite of all the days in Minnesota. 

July 22nd, 2010

How did it get to be Thursday already?  It was raining and we were planning on going to town to shop, do laundry, and have lunch.  They have a fun toy store and we told the girls they could pick out a toy.  Lauren picked a big princess coloring book and Sydney picked a Ballerina with magnetic clothes.  We got back to the cabin in time for Sydney’s nap.  For dinner I made a chicken, rice, and broccoli casserole (with leftover Chicken from Wednesday’s dinner).  Then it was the big Pièce de résistance (I totally had to google that to make sure I spelled it right).  SMORE NIGHT!  With the rain, the wood was pretty wet, so we used the gas grill on the deck.  Honestly, we also just didn’t feel like building a fire, but that wet firewood excuse was handy.

Sydney is officially a lover of smores.  There was only one kitchen fork, so we told the kids if they wanted they could go find a stick to toast their marshmallows at the same time.  This is the stick Caleb thought would be suitable for his marshmallow needs.

Hmmmmm…….

All smiling faces when smores are involved.

July 21, 2010

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday and we haven’t been out on the boat yet, normally that’s one of the first things we do upon arrival.  So we took the girls out for fishing and boat riding.

And then there was some fishing…

Lauren got a great bite and set it.  When she was reeling it in, the fish jumped up (it was a biggin’) and then broke the line.  I think Trent was more bummed than Lauren because he remembers how proud she was when she caught a fish last year.

Said fish from last year, see that proud face?  But really Lauren was excited she got to see the fish before it broke the line and enjoyed telling the “how it got away” story.

We headed back to the dock and got to see an airplane land on water!

We went back to the cabin for lunch and headed to the Kawishiwi Falls (say that three times fast) for a hike and waterfall watching.

You can walk down to the rocks, but it’s a little hard to do it carrying Sydney, so I’m hoping next year we’ll be able to go down and play in the water.  It’s too pretty not to touch it.

We went back to the cabin for Sydney’s nap and Elizabeth, Caleb, Lauren, Michelle, and I went to the beach with the kids.

In the morning, Michelle and I put a chicken, onion, potatoes, herbs, and lemon in crock pot.  It was so nice knowing dinner was cooking away while we were enjoying the great big outdoors.

When it was ready, I pulled the chicken off the bone and plated it.  I also made garlic parmesan toast and roasted some carrots (we had a big bag I was trying to get through).

Another successful day and night!

July 20th, 2010

I didn’t wake up today thinking I was going to plunge (literally) into the earth with my family 2,341 feet, but I did!  It was pouring rain and we wanted a fun excursion.  Michelle told us about the Soudan Underground Mine that they were going to go check out and we decided to tag along.  It was an hour and a half tour complete with taking an elevator down into the mine almost half a mile, riding through the mine on a rail car, walking around, and experiences what complete and absolute dark is….it’s dark dark.  It was fun to see and hear all about it, but I worried about the girls and if it would be up their alley.  Sydney was captivated, especially when everything went completely dark.  In the middle of it Sydney said pretty loud “I can’t see nobodies” and the people on the tour with us laughed.  Lauren was more interested in getting back to the cabin to play on the beach. 

When we got back up to the earth’s surface, it was sunny outside, so beach it was for the kiddos!

John made a marinara pasta for dinner and Michelle made a salad.  It was quite tasty and good comfort food.  Nothing like a big bowl of pasta.

The kids playing around the cabin.  Fun fun fun was being had.

Trent started and finished “Are you there Vodka, It’s me Chelsea.” He liked it and now Sally is reading it, I can’t wait to hear if she likes it or not, I’m really curious!

It’s necessary to de-robe Sydney before pasta, she really gets into it and I mean she literally gets into it. 

July 19th, 2010

We had a family photo shoot in the morning around the lodge and then took the girls to town for shopping and lunch.  We went to our favorite place, the Chocolate Moose, and ate outside.

Sydney got Mac and Cheese that came with a watermelon.  She chewed on that thing like a rawhide down to the bone.

After lunch we all split a brownie….which was pretty amazing.

Every night it’s a different family’s turn to make dinner.  It was our turn and I wanted to keep it pretty simple and easy.  It is vacation after all.

We did bacon cheeseburgers, salad, and fries for dinner and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches for dessert.

While we were making dinner, Lauren and Caleb “played” Monopoly.  Really it’s just them making up a game to the cards, money, and pieces.  Pretty cute stuff.

Elizabeth and Sydney playing with Strawberry Shortcake figurines (figurines not pictured).

After dinner Michelle painted all the girls toes.  Sydney was beside herself excited.  You would have thought it was a spa pedicure at a high end spa instead of drugstore polish on a bunk bed in a cabin.  She keeps looking at her toes today and points out how fancy she is.