Road Trip, Stop 6

STOP SIX: Craguns Resort, Gull Lake, MN

My parents took advantage of us and our big trip-dee-doo and rented a lake cabin at our favorite resort.  We've been going there for a while... like almost every summer.  My brother, his fiance (!), and my parents met us there (we were about 10 minutes away at L & M's house, fondly referred to here as "Stop 5").

We did so much in this time that I'm just going to give you the whole photo rundown again.  It was amazing, filled with family, fun, laughter, love, HGTV (what can I say, I'm readdicted!), sun, and good food.  My kind of vacation!

Water was the main theme of the trip.  Shore,

pool,

ot boat!

And check out this cool dude!

M watched, amazed, as kiddos did handstands --- and she wanted to give them a whirl herself!

And she CAUGHT A FISH -- #2 on The List!  (with help from Grandpa!)

We ALL golfed...

Oh fer cute...

And even did some putt-putt -- #27! (of which M lasted about two holes... so much for me thinking she would LOVE that game!).

M took her cute new car for a spin!

We walked to get ice cream treats.

And the girls were even treated by my Dad to pedicures at the Spa!

Still stop 5...

 M had a love-hate relationship with puppy M at Auntie L and Uncle M's house... when I finally told her, in exasperation, that puppy M wasn't concerned about her at all and that puppy M didn't feel well anyways, well, that just tugged at her heartstrings.  She worked up to even petting puppy M (who really does just lay around all day, poor thing), but the sweetest thing is when she remembered puppy M in her prayers!

Oh, one more "adventure" at M and L's house is that M got to sleep in a BUNK BED!  How cool is that??  She got some really good sleep (yay!), but was pretty fascinated by the TOP bunk.  One night before bed, she prayed, "And pray that M doesn't have to sleep there (pointing to the bottom bunk because she REALLY wanted that top one!)."

AND did I mention the food??  This year *almost* every family planned a meal (or fifteen if you're LC or three if you're JJ).  : )

JJ's "new" salad that I request all the time now.  Yum.

Mmmm... cupcakes... but not just any cupcakes... corn on the cob cupcakes!  Not sure if they were worth the impending hurt feelings, BUT they were delicious!  ; ) 

Road Trip, Stop 5

STOP FIVE: Pillager, MN

At least this stop was for a little while... phew!  We needed to just be in the same place for a while!  Most of JJ's family met at his sister's house in Pillager.  It was awesome!  I love the J family, and all their craziness.  Which is why I want a big(ger) family and JJ is fine with two!  hehe 

Let's see.  Quick recap.  How about in photos?

Looks like C's plotting something with L's puppy (ONE of them!) -- meeting "cousin" L!

The kiddos multiplied!  Some of the J cousins...

Happy 4th of July!  This yard was perfect for running through the sprinkler, playing in the hot tub and many volleyball matches!

Just had to add this pic of cousin S with M.  Love it!  What a good guy!

C's first boat ride -- on Uncle M's pontoon!  So much fun!

Did I say SO much fun??  : )

Road Trip, Stop 4

STOP FOUR: Eden Prairie, MN

I think I've mentioned before that my mom has a rather large family (12 brothers and sisters), so it goes without saying that I have a ton of cousins.  We aren't as connected as I'd like to be with everyone spread out everywhere, but recently one of my cousins moved to Minneapolis - Eden Prairie to be exact and we were able to meet up with her and her family --- and it just so happened that one of her brothers and his family was visiting too!  While it was a drive in the opposite direction we were headed, it was worth it!  JJ even told me later that he was glad I had made that arrangement and that my family is so nice.  I am writing this here as proof should I need it later!  ha!

My cousin had set up a delicious meal -- volcano chicken I think it was called -- chicken (with some spices like curry) in a crock pot with rice and a million yummy sides to choose from like pineapple, coconut, peppers, etc!  That, along with fruit and milk, M was beside herself!

Oh, and did I mention my cousin has a pool??  Check off #32 - Go swimming with M (which we have done at LEAST twice a week this summer!).  We had a blast!

M, my cousin S and her guy Z!

Fun pool toys!

My cousin K entertained with his diving/splashing skills!

Check out Z flying in K's splash zone!

Road Trip, Stop 3

STOP THREE: Elk River, MN

So, from W. Des Moines, we traveled to Elk River.  Our goal was to travel during nap time -- M is usually an awesome napper in the car.  After not sleeping so well in IA, we thought she would just totally clonk out.  No dice.  *This began M's not-so-awesome sleeping habits.

BUT, we did get to MN in one piece and even made it through stinky traffic to get to Elk River.  JJ actually had to figure out the root of this evil traffic.  Basically, Minneapolis has more people within a smaller area, while KC is the opposite.  Now you know.

We had a fabulous time visiting with the Fs - my bff TA, her hubby M and her hilarious baby girl (well not SO much of a baby anymore!) B.  B was nothing but smiles and sunshine, waving at everyone and being an awesome eater (and sharer of toys)!  M was deathly afraid of their dog, N, who made zero noise and could've cared less about M.  *This began M's not-so-awesome fear of dogs.  (not in general, but on this vacation)

Thursday morning we were able to meet up with a friend of mine, E, who goes way, WAY back to my RA days!!  It was just amazing to meet up with her and finally meet her sweet little girl, L.  We (TAF, B, my girl M and I) met L and E at the MN Children's Museum.  We had an awesome time - and the kiddos LOVED it!

Back in Elk River, we enjoyed some pool time... and TAF totally indulged me in the game department!  We played a new game (Spot It), a card game I just started getting the hang of at the end, and TA even bought jeopardy for wii that was fun for hours!  : )

The kiddos preparing food at the restaurant in the Children's Museum

Mommies and daughters -- Es, L and M

Love this pic of TAF and B!

POOL TIME!

NUMBER FOUR: ROAD TRIP

This maybe should start with a "What was I THINKING??!?" moment, but no, let me dive right in.  We went on the mother of all road trips this summer.  We didn't just do it willy-nilly either.  We were on a mission alright.  The plan was made in part to cut down driving time -- no more than four hours at a time, but mostly to see everyone we have ever met living in either MN or ND.  Not really, but close.  Honestly, if I'd've known how thrown off M in particular would be, I would've made some serious adjustments.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

STOP ONE: Des Moines, IA --- when Gar-gar took us to downtown we knew we had made a mistake.
STOP TWO: West Des Moines, IA

Yay!  We got to visit our very dear friends C and M A and their ADORABLE, sweet and funny girlies, N and L.  It was so much fun getting to hang out with them - they have a sweet little house with an awesome yard complete with a tree swing that M fell in love with.  The girlies played in the water, swung to their hearts' content and we went to the coolest toy store.  We have a new fav children's CD: check her out, she's AWESOME! Too bad C had to work the majority of our visit, but we enjoyed the time we had!  Oh, and I also accomplished something on my list here -- #39: Try a New Food.  I am NOT a fish/seafood person at all, but I would like to at least try to eat more fish because I know how healthy it is and how much what a parent eats affects kiddos.  SO.  With that said, C grilled up some salmon... and... I ate it!  and... I... liked it!  It just basically tasted like grill food to me, so that was great!  And M ate the pants off that fish, too!  : )

Sprinklers on a nice day!

This swing was a hot commodity!

Sweetie pie N-n pushing M!

Checking things off left and right

Back to The List.  I currently have TWELVE I can check off, and will go through a few of these rather quickly so I can tell you about one very big one to check off: The ROAD TRIP.  : )

#14: Prep for VBS: I love our Church and I love to help out -- especially since I know how awesome the programs will  be for M and C when they get old enough to participate.  So, that is how I ended up helping with VBS.  My job?  To assist the leader of preschool VBS and to get all the supplies.  It really wasn't that much work, just organizing it all WITH my very special helpers got a little busy!  Here're my bags after my shopping trip to Walmart that ended up being a slight nightmare with tax exempt blabbety-blah...

Our planned Church carnival got delayed because of a big storm so attendance was way down, but the kiddos who were there had a great time!

#16: Teach Summer School.  I decided to go with my American Girls theme (from this post) and sadly only one week filled up --- World War II with Molly.  I got everything all planned, organized, made, etc. and was super excited!  I showed up to work Monday morning to find that my sign to hold up so kiddos could find me wasn't there.  I talked to the head lady... who informed me... that I was a week off!  My class was the next week --- the week we planned to leave for our vacation!  BUMMER.  Another gal ended up teaching it, but I'm still totally counting it checked off the list because I did all the planning!!  Epic fail on that one.

#15: I love corn on the cob.  We ate some.  Delicious.

#13: Outlet mall.  We found THE BEST outlet mall around and can't wait to go back.  I fell in love with Ann Taylor Loft and ended up buying two pairs of pants and two tanks --- all of which I can totally wear to work.  We ended up going here the day before my birthday and I TOTALLY counted it in with my festivities!

#23: I checked out the audio book: Women and Money by Suze Orman and realized that I can't really listen to audio books when I'm driving - plus M and C aren't too entertained by Suze while just driving around town.  I finished about half the book -- it was interesting -- I definitely agree with some things and disagree with others!  : )

#33: I did it - I spent less than $100 at Target!  : )  We go there so often, it really shouldn't shock me that I could do it.  It just seems like whenever we go there the bill is right around $100.  Something that totally helped in this endeavor?  When my parents came to visit for M's 2nd birthday, they packed their van full of diapers for baby C ---- and we have not had to buy a single pack so far.  Pretty amazing!  He HAS grown faster than M -- she was in size 1, and size 1-2 much longer than baby C -- so we have had to exchange some packs, but that has been no problem!  : )

Lazy Guide #8: A little assembly-line never hurt anyone

I have this weird thing about not making two cards exactly the same.  I just can't do it.  BUT, I will often make only slight variations.  Maybe a different color, or a different location of the flower, or a different saying or glitter instead of a brad.  Do you see what I mean?  I (obviously) made all of these cards in the same session (during one of M's marathon naps!), and I like the way they look as a collection - similar but with subtle differences.  Don't reinvent the wheel!  If you find something that works - keep doing it! 

Lazy Guide #7: GOOD things come in threes

Maybe this is just a Feng shui thing (or maybe not... I don't know a thing about it... I should probably check out my own link!), but when I add details, I almost always add them in threes.  I will often have three things going across my card or three dots together (like on this card).  Another tip I learned somewhere is to always start in the middle and add one thing to each side.  If you start on the edge, you are more likely to end up not being evenly spaced (if you're going for that sort of thing).  I still always just eyeball it!

Lazy Guide #6: Kick it up with Dimension

Do you see how the center of the card pops out a bit?  It's become 3D with the help of one more cheap-o trick.  Stamps from Stamping Up come unassembled.  When you put them together, you have some rubber from around the stamp left over.  Viola!  This is easily turned into backing for the 3D look - you never have to buy glue dots or other such items.  Just peel the backing from the rubber, affix that to the item you want made 3D and then glue the other side of the rubber to the card.  Done and done! 

Lazy Guide #5: Color Edging

I love this super simple tip.  To get that kind of old, crinkled, shabby chic look in the background of this card, I just open up my ink pad, and spread it on the paper.  You can just do it on the edges, or just about anywhere on the card.  I also like to edge tags or my "sentiment" with color.  Too bad I didn't have a patriotic card to throw at you today.  Sorry about that friends!  Happy birthday USA!

Lazy Guide #4: Ribbon is my friend

Oh my goodness, my cricut cut doesn't even look straight.  I mean, what?  I was totally going for that homemade look!  Anyways!  I use ribbon on pretty much every card.  Sometimes it's across the middle.  Sometimes it's circled around the front and tied in front.  And sometimes it's in a pretty bow.  Ok, I pretty much owe all my craft items to my Mom and Dad (cricut), SIL LJ (creative memories punches) or bff TAF.  TAF gave me a punch (used above) that is just a straight little slit.  I didn't use it here, but it makes the most simple and neat looking bows!  I love using it especially for a little wider ribbon because I think it looks so cool.  Maybe I'll try to add another card using that technique later!

Lazy Guide #3: Glitter covers a multitude of sins

I actually heard that quoted once on the "She's Crafty!" TV show... : )

Anyways, on to the card:

Oooh, some more fun stuff from Thailand.  Another thing I love, Love, LOVE to use that my bestie TAF gave me is glitter glue.  I generally use it in dots on the side, as seen here, but it can be used in many different ways, of course.  In the middle of a flower, to outline a box, to edge a saying (I think the technical stamping term is "sentiment") : ), etc.  Glitter rocks.  Do it.

Lazy Guide #2: Add a Brad!

I think brads are like the best thing known to a card.  They are so stinkin' simple to apply (I used to use my little hole punch, but I lost that, so now I just poke a hole with my scissors!) but I think they just add a simple, very simple, finishing touch.  Oh, and note the super cool handmade paper and beautiful flower -- those came from my bff, TAF, when she lived in Thailand!  I have been hoarding a stash of awesome stuff and decided that I'd rather use them than end up on TLC...  It's kind of funny that I didn't use a single stamp on this card.  I probably could've used a background stamp first and then layered on the paper and flower, but again, I'm all about the simple and easy!