Saturday, July 19, 2025

Summer Week 6: Camp du Nord!

Hey all! Happy Saturday! We had a BIG week…up north at Camp du Nord!!! 

On Sunday morning Chris worked his magic and got our car packed TO THE BRIM. I had 5+ hours to work on my cross stitch to donate to the auction that takes place at DuNord. 


We met up with most of our trip mates at Tobies: Uncle Dan, Auntie Hanna, Mitchell, Isla & Jeremy, Jennifer, Cam, Gus and Mae! After Tobies donutes we went to pick up our final trip mate, Callie’s friend Maia.



We got to camp exactly at 3pm, got all unpacked, and headed to the beach! 


Later, we had frozen pizza for dinner and played games in the cabin.


On Monday I woke up for a 2 mile walk and then the first morning of the 7:45am Polar Bear swim. 


After a leisurely morning and breakfast, we sent the kids off to the first morning of age group!!!



The adults did our first big outing- hiking to Old Baldy (eating fresh picked blueberries and raspberries along the way) and then swimming in Slim Lake. 






After getting the kids back and then lunch, we headed out for some paddling to du Nord point.  We also did some swimming and a little rock climbing.


Back at camp we had ice cream and I got some quiet time to finish my cross stitch.



We headed to dinner for our first meal at the dining hall! They always serve amazing bread and desserts- including this blueberry pie! Then later, the kids did some playing on the field that was right outside our cabin.  It was so awesome that they could all just go out there and we could watch from our deck! 


Tuesday was a bit cooler and overcast. While the kids were at age groups, the adults took it easy. I did a lot of reading in various places. 


The afternoon consisted of more ice cream, field time, reading, puzzling and inkle-weaving. 


After dinner we did more fun stuff at the cabin (we finished the puzzle!) and then the adult ladies had our sauna night from 11:15pm-midnight. It was glorious! 


Wednesday was another chilly overcast day, with on and off rain. Chris and I met up with the Koch family and other family friends for lunch at a pizza oven built by a boy scout at a nearby camp site.  YUM!


That afternoon was the family sauna! The little kids were not fans of the hot room, but they liked to run down the ramp into the lake.


On Thursday the adults did a paddle outing during age group. First we canoed, and then paddle boarded. On the way back we saw Cam and Maya making s’mores with their age group. 



The upside down picture of my legs above is a still I grabbed from a video of me trying to do a head stand on the paddle board...it was a bit too wobbly of a board from what I'm used to, and the video turned out mostly terrible so you can just see that I got my legs up for 0.25 seconds.  Ha!

Then it was lunch and more playtime. We also saw the auction display of what we donated! We had won “Chippy” a few years ago at the auction, and we brought it back this year so it could find a new home (along with my cross stitch).



Then it was FINALLY time for some fishing! I can't believe it took Chris until Thursday to get out on the rocks with the kids to fish.



Later, a few of us had some beach time, some more cabin time and dinner time.  We had a great time each night going to the dining hall.  We always had a counselor or two sitting at our tables and the kids had fun sitting on their own and doing their own clean-up!


That evening after the auction, a few of us (and all the staff!) ended up in the lake! Our auction number also was drawn and won us all a free scoop of ice cream. 


Hanna and I went over to the Koch camp site later for some blueberry cobbler and then we got the cabin ready for Callie’s friend Maia’s birthday the next day! 


On Friday morning we celebrated Maia’s birthday before age group. During age group all the adults napped and had quiet time in the cabin…it was a bit rainy again and we were all SO TIRED.


There was a camp game for game for the kids to play, then lunch and cake and some art projects while it rained. 


Then there was another big camp activity- the counselor hunt! So many of those poor counselors covered themselves in mud and hid in the woods...no thanks!!! But the kids had a blast running around and taking their counselors to "jail."


Jennifer and I headed up to the camp store to scope out the ice cream and get a warm chai. Once again, a few of us ended up in the lake! 


Friday night was closing celebration, which consisted of all the age groups doing some sort of skit! Since we had so many kids of various ages with us, there were a lot of skits with a kid or two we knew in them. 


Then it was time to take some group pictures. The lake was so beautiful that evening! 





This morning we packed up, cleaned up our cabin and stopped by the camp sign on the way home. 


We had such an amazing week!!! I’m so grateful for the special time in the north woods with good friends and family. Click here for some videos of our adventures! 

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday! Only a few pics from the weekend. 

Maya and I went to see her friend Lita in a community theater production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” 


And the pretty 6am sky this morning.



I’ll be back on Saturday for the Summer Week 6 photo dump! It’s gonna be a good one! 

Friday, July 11, 2025

Summer Week 5

Happy Friday! Somehow we are already half way through the summer! We had another busy week with not too many pictures to show for it, but both girls had friends over, we met Pa and Max for dinner, worked around the house and yard, etc.

As for the pics from the week, here you go! 

On Monday Maya and I headed to the beach in the late afternoon for some paddleboarding. 


The next few days included time with Olive, out to lunch with a friend, and a picnic with some of the Johnsons!



And then later in the week I had brunch with friends and more Olive time. 


Have a good weekend! 


Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday! 

A couple weeks ago at a Lynx game, Maya and I got to wait in line after the game to take a photo with her favorite player, Courtney Williams. We finally got the photo emailed to us! 


On to the weekend…Saturday was spent doing chores and resting after the big day on Friday. Chris and I went to the Lynx game together that night- the first time we have been able to do that this season! On Sunday Maya went on a big bike ride with Auntie Cat, Chris and Cal went to a Lynx game, and Luna continued to puke out grass she ate on the 4th. 

Oh yeah, and I saw another turtle on my morning walk! 


Have a good week! 


Saturday, July 5, 2025

Summer Week 4

Somehow a month of summer has already flown by! We had a very busy week. 

On Monday morning I headed to the beach to finally get out paddle-boarding. It was lovely. Meanwhile, Maya had slept over at Boom’s house Sunday night and got to spend the day with Boom, Lucy and Mila!


On Tuesday we met the newest member of the Gosselin family…puppy Olive! Dan, Hanna, Mitchell and Isla adopted her and Dan brought her over to meet us and Luna. They did great! 








On Tuesday night we all went to the Lynx game, and Callie got to meet one of our faves, Natasha Hideman. 


On Wednesday I went to meet my friend Adrea’s new baby, Noah! He is darling and just slept in my arms for a couple hours. We also had Olive during the day, so I got some puppy snuggles in the afternoon. 




On Thursday night Maya and I went to a Lynx game and got to go see the post-game press conference afterwards. It was awesome to get a little sneak peek behind the scenes! 


Then we headed to Bloomington Summerfete, where Callie had spent the evening with friends and Chris worked as a reserve officer, and got a primo spot for fireworks (thanks to Chris and the reserves) before picking Callie up. 


Friday was the fourth! We had a family BBQ at our house. Chris made an awesome BBQ pork on our new grill/smoker and the cousins all had a blast on the splash pad. The doggies had fun too! 





The other event of the week is our air conditioning went out on Thursday. Thankfully Chris found someone to come out Friday morning before our party, but it was a good 84 degrees in our house for about 30 hours. We were all super hot…and Luna was always panting. As the house was cooling down, the girls fanned Luna like the princess she is. 


Click here for some videos from the past week, and have a great weekend!