Our vacation to Minnesota was an amazing success. Despite nearly 60 hours of drive-time, the boys were champs. No fighting, no bickering. They read, they listened to audiobooks, they made movies, they drew pictures. They got to visit with three sets of grandparents, and three sets of aunts & uncles and one pair of goats.
I wish we would have had a bit more time at each stop. An overnight for each family visit would have been nice. Stuff to know for next time. I will also save more money for next time. The last few days on the road blew our budget out of the water with the desperate need for snacks and caffeine *and* eating in restaurants instead of picnicking at rest stops.

I didn’t take nearly enough pictures. I totally forgot to get my camera out in Ohio. I don’t know what I was thinking. But I can share a few pics with you, and you can click through to the flickr set to see the rest.

Every morning this was the sun-dappled view out the window of our cabin. The path you see leads down to the dock and the boats.

And the boys suited up (twice a day most sunny days) to go fishing. (That is *my* OCC hat – I used to love that show!)

Once they were out on the lake, I couldn’t even see them with binoculars. They were gone – I guess the lake goes on forever and then some.

While the boys fished, I stayed in the cabin and baked cookies and spent some quality time swatching for new designs, while my boyfriend Brendan Fraser read Inkspell to me by the crackling fire.

And every evening ended with cribbage and other card games, a home-cooked meal for the weary fisherman (by me), and a little bit more knitting. (Note the benadryl gel on the table – the mosquitoes were vicious!) And yes, we burned a fire nearly every day. We’re from Florida and it barely broke 60 while we were up there – I was freezing!

All in all, with family, friends and some much needed time away from the world it was easily the best vacation ever. And we can’t wait to do it again.