Week Wrap-Up (Summer, week 7): The Gunflint Lodge and Happy Birthday Auntie Cat Edition!!!

Hi all!  I'm back!

Holy moly this mega-post is going to be a mash up of A PICTURE UPDATE, A WEEKEND WRAP-UP and A BIRTHDAY POST!

First up, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE CAT!!!!

We hope you have a fantastic day!  As you can see, we already celebrated her birthday.  Where, you ask??

GUNFLINT LODGE.  Up in the north woods.  And it was amazing.

We weren't able to get into Camp du Nord this year, as we have in years past (some flashback posts can be found here if you are interested: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 part 1, and 2015 part 2.)

However, this year we were lucky enough to be part of a du Nord experiment at Gunflint Lodge. Former du Nord staff ran 2 weeks of du Nord-style programming for previous du Nord families...and the program director of this experiment just happened to be related to us: Uncle Dan! He and Hanna were both up there working for 2 weeks, and the rest of us all got to come up for the 2nd week.

So, all this to say, on Sunday the 24th we headed out of town with Boom, Auntie Cat, G-ma, and Pa and met Uncle Dan and Hanna up north for a week in the north woods.

The weather was perfect, there were so many fun things to do, and we all had a blast.  It was a 6 hour drive up there, and Callie went up with G-ma, Pa and Auntie Cat, while Boom came with Chris, Maya and me.  Chris had a very strict time table and wanted to get up there ASAP.  The other crew did a leisurely ride and made stops along the way.

Top: The girls are excited!  On the way to drop Callie off with her carpool.
Bottom left: Maya's entertainment in the car; Bottom right: Callie's entertainment along the way

Both girls were great travelers, and we were so happy to be on vacation.  I don't even know how to start!  So I'll start a little bit generally, and then delve into more specifics of what we did.

Here are some shots of Callie from the week:

And Maya:

We stayed in an awesome cabin, complete with a hot tub!

We took turns making family meals most nights.
And, as you can see, at one point, Chris used me to do squats in the living room.

There were SO many things to do...and I'll share all the great pictures we got (in no particular order).

We did a few different hikes that led us up to different cliffs and lakes.

High Cliffs Hike

Lonely Lake Hike

Mid Cliffs Hike

There were also a lot of opportunities to get out on the water in a variety of water crafts.

Cat and I attempted paddle boarding and were mildly successful.

Chris, the girls and I went out on a canoe.

My mom, Mary, Bob, and I went out on kayaks.

All of us went out on a pontoon.  The ride also included a bathroom stop on shore where Auntie Cat and
Hanna taught both girls to pee in the woods!

As you can imagine, the sunrises and sunsets were incredible up at the lake.

Each morning the girls went to age group for two hours.  I did some sneaking up on them and tried to get some pictures of them doing various activities. Hanna was Callie's counselor, and Callie was SO EXCITED ABOUT IT.  Maya's counselors, Lindsey and Ellie, were so sweet and gentle.  Maya loved age group as well.

In true du Nord style, there was an opening and closing campfire that included songs and skits.

Gunflint also has other activities that require you to sign waivers.  Some of us did both. :)

First, ZIP LINING! Dan, Hanna, my mom, Mary, Chris and I went as a group and had an awesome time.  There were 8 different zips through the forest.

Then, HORSE BACK RIDING! Cat, Mary, my mom and I went on an hour long trail ride.  And the day before, Callie and G-ma came across Emily and her horse, Sarah, on a hike, so Callie got to sit on the horse too.

The ducks were very friendly and adorable and loved eating corn.  And they were also very photogenic during sunrise and sunset.

As you can probably tell, the scenery of the north woods is pretty breathtaking.  We were so far north, that the land across the lake was Canada!

The beach was quaint and the water off the dock was deep enough to do some fun jumping and diving into.

Are you still with me?  I have more.  I told you this was going to be a MEGA POST.

On Wednesday, the adult women went past Grand Marais to have a late lunch at a different lodge and then we spent time down at the lake front.

Callie and Chris did a couple of fishing outings and caught a bunch of fish.  She really enjoyed it, though did not want to actually touch any of the fish.  I don't blame her!

There was a little park near the lodge that the girls liked to play at.

The cool thing about Gunflint Lodge is that it allows dogs, so Kona and Shambles had a fun vacation too!

And remember what I said about that scenery?  I couldn't stop taking panorama pictures.

Every morning Hanna and I did the Polar Plunge with the other du Nord folks at 7:45am.  It was always a big chilly, but always felt great!  Maya usually came with to be our cheerleader.

On Friday evening we celebrated Auntie Cat's birthday!

That was our last night, so we spent some time down at the dock watching the last sunset.  We had brought back a bag of good skipping rocks from the lake near Grand Marais, so Chris had fun skipping them (and aiming at ducks!) with the sunset as his backdrop.

With all of the stuff we did, the best part was still being able to have so much quality family time.

And we had lots of great time with just the four of us as well.

We are so grateful for these summer trips together.

Did you make all the way to the end?  Thank you! Way to go! And thanks to all the people (and dogs) in this photo above for making it a fantastic vacation.