national chunglund vacation

Basically, the minute I walked work following our summer vacation, I was buried in work. I've been campaigning for a while now to work on different projects and when it rains it pours. My head is just now starting to peek above the water, and so I'm finally taking the time to blog about another amazing family vacation, which according to some might be less "vacation" and more "trip," but according to me was phenomenal. 

We left Sacramento at 7 a.m., and arrived at Lake Vermilion early evening. Everyone was happy to see Uncle David and take the first boat ride of the season. 

J2 busting out of his "boat jacket."

We celebrated the 4th of July small town style. It was the first year that Little Miss J was not in the parade and instead got to watch from the sidelines and gather a bagful of candy, which she promptly forgot about, allowing me to leave it in Minnesota. J2 felt like the parade was a little too loud and covered his ears while the Shriners and motorcycles went by. Later on, he fell asleep and slept through the post-parade activities. Little Miss J, however, was a pretty dedicated digger at the sawdust scramble. She appears to be highly motivated by the almighty quarter.

Swimming, sauna-ing (it's a noun, it's a verb, it's a sow-na!), feeding fish, catching tadpoles, Coors light, and countless games of cribbage, and playing in the fort. We spent 7 beautiful days on Lake Vermilion. 

There was an afternoon in Duluth with a bonus sighting of the Corbetts and Galbraiths at one of our favorite Duluth Restaurants, Duluth Grill. Followed by some playtime down at Canal Park.

Lunch and visit to the North American Bear Center in Ely with Papa Roger.

playing tic-tac-toe with Papa

We headed 1.5 miles underground to check out the Soudan Underground Mine.

We caught up with friends and even managed to get the Moses family out to the lake for a little R&R. In spite of the fact that Jenn and I probably wished we had a little bit more time to relax and catch up, we both enjoyed watching our kids having fun. 

Then it was time to say good-bye to Papa Roger and Grandma Amy.

Our last night in Minnesota we spent with Papa Ralph and Dianne. 

Then we headed back to Minneapolis where we managed to sneak in another couple hours with David and a few rides at the MOA before leaving on a jet plane back to California.

Vacation, trip, call it what you like. I enjoyed a full and busy week with family and friends. Until next year, Minnesota! 

Or maybe February, if we can get this girls trip scheduled, Erica, La, Kate & Jen!