Happy Sunday everybody! Boy do I have a big post for you today...we had a big week!
First up, if you missed my anniversary post from yesterday, you can see it by clicking here. I'm pretty proud of our wedding photo recreation. ;)
Ok. Let's do this! One week ago we left for Camp duNord!! This year we brought our good friends Jeremy, Jennifer, Cam (8), Gus (6), and Mae (4) with us. Chris works with Jeremy and they have been good friends for a number of years. Our families were introduced to each other a few years ago, and we all just mesh very well. Their kids are littler than ours, but they all have so much fun playing together!
Anyway, J, J, C, G & M had never been to camp before, and we were all SO EXCITED to share the Magical duNord Bubble with them.
We got the road trip started and our first stop was up in Hinckley at Tobie's for doughnuts. We stopped again for lunch and to get some energy out at a park before hitting up Zup's for groceries in Ely.
We made it to camp about 3:30pm, showed them around and settled into the cabin...including the new sign we brought with to remind us all NO CRABBY ATTITUDES (at camp). We made pizza for dinner and played games before bed.
I was excited to start my Monday morning with yoga and a beautiful 3.5 mile run up in the north woods.
Then it was time for the first POLAR BEAR PLUNGE and opening celebration.
One of the most awesome things about Camp duNord is AGE GROUPS. There is programming for kids with counselors every day from 9:30am-12pm. The kids have a blast with other kids their ages, and adults get 2.5 hours of kid-free time each morning. While Jeremy and Jennifer did a little exploring on their own on Monday morning, Chris and I reacquainted ourselves with the lovely surroundings (and I got my first lavender latte).
After age groups and lunch, we did some more exploring and enjoying all the things camp has to offer: the lake, boating, the beach, etc.!
We opted to get camp-provided meals each night, so we enjoyed our first full day's dinner together and then went fishing!
On Tuesday morning after my deck yoga, I went for a walk and captured some more beautiful scenes.
During Tuesday's age group, Jeremy, Jennifer, Chris and I went for a hike up to Old Baldy!
We spent some time relaxing on the rocks and then picked a bunch of fresh blueberries on our way back down.
We got back in time to sneak in ice cream cones before picking up the kids.
Chris and Jeremy used the fresh blueberries for pancakes and made a delicious breakfast for lunch!
Callie had MUD DAY at age group and came home SO dirty. She loved it! We went back to the beach for a little bit and then clouds and rain rolled in. So we started the puzzle I brought and played games in the cabin. Then I got a fantastic massage in a little cabin while it rained. It was lovely.
Thankfully the rain stopped after dinner and we were able to go do our family sauna!!! DuNord's sauna was built in 1933. It feels so amazing to heat up in the little room and then run down the ramp into the lake. The kids loved it (as did the adults...we each got to sauna again during men's and women's saunas later in the week).
On Wednesday morning I completed the 3rd day of my August yoga calendar on the deck and went for another walk. I have been waiting to do my daily yoga on the deck at camp for MONTHS. Every single morning it was so lovely, no matter if it was a bit misty, sunny, or chilly. I loved it all.
After my walk I stopped to get another lavender latte and enjoyed a bit of hammock time.
As you can see above, there were definitely some clouds rolling in on Wednesday morning. But after sending the kids to age group, we were undeterred and decided to canoe/kayak. Except as we were paddling, the rain became very obvious, so we paddled to Pine Point (a different location to return the canoe and kayak) and walked back to camp in the rain.
It cleared up again so we wandered around camp for a bit and the boys wowed Mae with their juggling skills.
Then we decided to all go out on various forms of boats. We brought my paddle boards up, so I blew up one of them to use. The kayakers paddled to Blueberry Island and had fun exploring. I worked on my paddle board headstand.
Once again...rain rolled in! So the walk back to our cabin was a bit wet and cold.
We enjoyed snacks and more cabin time, and also went to the beach again when it wasn't raining. The clouds were amazing!
After dinner Chris took the kids to do more fishing! Fishing up at camp is definitely one of his happy places.
After putting the kids to bed (early...they were so tired!), Jennifer and I enjoyed face masks and we played another round of Qwirkle (we played a LOT of Qwirkle!).
Thursday was the most gorgeous day. My morning views were lovely, once again.
All week a few of us did the polar plunge at 7:45am, and Jennifer snapped a picture of the group waiting to dive into the water. Later, Jeremy snapped a cozy picture of me and Chris enjoying the morning.
My favorite adult time was Thursday morning when the four of us went paddle boarding. We had a blast exploring the lake and looking at all the cute cabins along the shore. Jeremy and I both worked on headstands (and did a fair amount of falling in and swimming too).
`Once again it was ice cream time...before lunch!
Because it was SO BEAUTIFUL out, we went to the beach after lunch. Chris taught Jennifer how to skip rocks and we all had so much fun playing in the water and on the beach.
At 3:30 it was time for the family triathlon! We called ourselves Team Uno Attack! (the game we played the first night). Jennifer was our swimmer, Cam and I were the runners, and Jeremy, Callie, Gus and Mae were the paddlers. Maya was the designated photographer, and Chris missed it all because he got a massage. Ha!
We had some time before dinner, so Jennifer and I took the four big kids to paddle out to Blueberry Island again. Callie had fun posing on one of the rocks.
Thursday night was the camp auction. There were funny skits and items to bid on. More information on what we won in a little bit!
I did more yoga and a walk on Friday morning before our last polar plunge!
While Chris and Jeremy dropped the kids off at age group, Jennifer and I walked to the trading post to get iced lattes. Then we headed out for another hike...this time to the troll bridge!
After our hike we stopped by the camp garden.
And still had a bit of time to lay out and fish at Siam Point. We relished every second of adult time!
After lunch, we headed to the trading post for the last ice cream cones of the week...where all the kids were allowed to get DOUBLE SCOOPS. Then it was back to the cabin for a foot sliver extraction.
There is always a counselor hunt on Friday afternoon, where the counselors all hide all over camp and the campers run around like crazy to find them and take them to "jail." The kids all had a blast...until more rain clouds moved in!
We were able to stay on the beach just long enough for Callie to get completely buried in sand, but then the rain, thunder and lightening came so she wasn't allowed to rinse off in the lake...let's just say the shower was a disaster after that.
While it stormed, we finished the puzzle!
And enjoyed hanging around the cabin together playing games.
Once the rain stopped, we headed to the trading post to get some souvenirs, and found out we won CHIPPY in the silent auction! Chippy is a little chipmunk LDP (counselor in training) that came with his very own biffy and tons of accessories. We learned that it has gone to multiple families over the years and comes back every few years to be in the silent auction again. So there's pressure to make sure all the adorable hand made accessories don't get strewn all over our house! We will be able to donate it back some day for a new family to enjoy.
Friday night ended with Closing Celebration, where all the age groups put on funny skits to share about their week.
After the kids were in bed, Jennifer, Jeremy, Chris and I popped a nice bottle of champagne that Jeremy brought to celebrate our anniversary (one night early).
We had so much fun reminiscing about our week together at camp. To thank them for coming with us, Chris and I got them matching shirts with a picture of the sauna so they had their own souvenirs.
On Saturday morning we woke up, packed up, and cleaned the cabin before going to a few of our favorite spots for the last time.
As I hope you can tell, we had a great week. Here are a few more pics from throughout the week that didn't make the cut.
And because we walk everywhere at camp, we all got SO MANY STEPS every day!
We left yesterday around 10:30am and stopped for lunch in Cloquet for one final meal together.
We are grateful to have had another wonderful week as a family, and grateful to have been able to share it with our dear friends.
We love Camp duNord!
