Summer is quickly coming to a close around here. We recently returned from our final trip of the summer – a 10-day Minnesota and Wisconsin voyage to spend some time with our families.
On the front end of our trip we stayed with my brother, who graciously accommodated us. We spent some time at my mom’s house, swimming in her pool and playing at the nearby beach and sharing in many, many laughs. It was a very fun, special time for us all!
The mid-section of our Midwest tour was spent in central Wisconsin on a small lake in a house we stayed in with Alex’s parents, his sister and her family. We celebrated our nephew’s 5th birthday, as well as Alex’s sister’s 40th!
Our Wisconsin highlights included the water trampoline and lily pad, canoeing to get ice cream, boat rides, beach time, cousin time, foosball and dinner at a local supper club.
The final bookend of the trip was spent up at my dad’s cabin in central Minnesota. I grew up spending my summers here, back when my paternal grandmother was still living, and the place is incredibly special and nostalgic to me. My dad and brother have been working tirelessly for years to restore the cabin and bring it up to modern times, while saving it from rising lake levels.
This summer they bought a new boat, something that had been missing for many years up there, and we took full advantage of it! Hannah became absolutely hooked on tubing and Ben was living his best life jumping off the end of the dock.
We made so many special memories during the trip and the kids had an absolutely fantastic time enjoying the idyllic Midwest lake culture.
Alex and I moved to Seattle way back in 2008, so we’ve been making the mostly annual pilgrimage back to our home regions for quite some time now. There’s never enough time to squeeze in everything or see everyone, which is always hard. We’re grateful we can stay in touch through email, texts, FaceTime and social media with our friends and family who we were unable to see during this trip.
