Alexa and I played a ton of cards at the cabin. The weather turned rainy by the end of our vacation and we were stuck inside quite a bit. She became a pro at playing Crazy 8's.
I gave Lillian tubbies in the sink. Do you know how many kids have bathed in that sink? I have, my brother's have and all my cousins. It's just what we do...and Lillian (like the rest of us) enjoyed it so much. Grandma would give us spoons and her measuring cups to play with in the sink. I did the same for Lillian. And the funny part was..they were the same measuring cups I used when I played in the sink, when I was Lilli's age. I took a TON of pics of her, but I'm just sharing this one with you all today.
Like I mentioned, we got quite a bit of rain when we were at the cabin. This one day in particular as soon as it looked nice enough to go on a boat ride or to go play outside, it would start raining. It was just one of those days. We were getting a little antsy tho from being cooped up inside that we decided to drive to Inspiration Peak and (hoped) it would stop raining long enough for us to climb to the top.
Here we are at the entrance. It only sprinkled and we thought that most of the trail was covered by trees anyways, so we started the climb.
Adam and the girls climbing up Inspiration Peak.
We made it to the top!! The rain stopped and out came the sun. Perfect timing.
Inspiration Peak is located in Otter Tail County, MN. There are a collection of glacial features, known as the Leaf Hills and Inspiration Peak is the highest among them. Rising 1,750 feet, about 400 feet above the surrounding countryside, it makes it the highest point in the county and one of the highest points in Minnesota. From the top, you can see 9 different lakes and parts of 3 counties.
The Lares' on top of Inspiration Peak.
Alexa and I heading back down the peak.
Alexa and Lillian found a cool rock to pose on at the bottom of the peak.
Battle Lake is just a few miles from the cabin and is a major tourist town in the summer. They have the cutest little shops, the candy store, a bait shop and the flea market.
The Lares' in Battle Lake. Christmas Card, eh??
The Lares' in Battle Lake. Christmas Card, eh??
When my brothers and I were kids and our parents would take us to the cabin for our week long vacations in the summertime, the first thing we'd get to do was visit Granny's Pantry (aka The Candy Store). We each got a bucket to pick out our own candy. My brother Geoff was the oldest and needed no help picking out or getting his candy and could always FILL his bucket before my parents could even blink twice. I would take my time and just take small amounts of everything and my other 2 brothers got assistance from my parents and would only get to fill the bottoms of their buckets. At $6.00 a lb my dad would usually have to take out a small loan before we made our yearly visit to Granny's (because Geoff's bucket got to be quite heavy). I wanted to continue the tradition with my kids (but, monitor their bucket filling).
The girls in front of Granny's Pantry. Battle Lake, MN
Adam, helping the girls pick out their favorite treats.
Alexa's bucket got close to looking like Geoff's before I put a stop to it.
$30.00 later, we left the candy store with our bags of pure suger.
We devoted one of our vacation days to visiting my Grandpa in the Vetran's Home in Fergus Falls. We picked up some KFC and took him out to the gazebo on site and had a wonderful picnic. We were able to see him once more as our car broke down and needed to get repaired, which led us to another trip to Fergus Falls. Totally sucky about our car, but nice to be able to surprise Grandpa with another visit.
Adam and Grandpa in the courtyard at the Vet's Home.
Alexa, Grandpa and Dawn
Great-Grandpa absolutley ADORES his two little girls. He loves to show them off to the nurses and all the other residents. He is so proud of them and makes it known that they belong to him. It's so cute. My girls love him just as much and love each and every chance we get to stop in and visit.
Alexa, Grandpa and Dawn
Great-Grandpa absolutley ADORES his two little girls. He loves to show them off to the nurses and all the other residents. He is so proud of them and makes it known that they belong to him. It's so cute. My girls love him just as much and love each and every chance we get to stop in and visit.
Alexa and Lillian with their Great-Grandpa.
This concludes the recap of our vacation. There is plenty more I'd like to share, but I won't bore you to death. I'll save them for rainy day posts..hehe.
