A Grand Adventure

We loaded up Sam and Anna and the camper for our most ambitious trip yet- the farthest away to northern Minnesota, about an hour south of the Canadian border.  We were completing our trifecta of visiting all 3 sets of grandparents on their turf (spread out throughout the state of Minnesota) during my summer break.  While it went much better than I expected it to go, I am actually kind of relieved that the end of it also means our big trips are all done for this summer.  I have plenty to get done in the next few weeks, but traveling thankfully isn't on the list anymore!

We left Thursday morning and drove about 5 hours north to the town where we went to college, met and fell in love- Duluth, Minnesota.  I haven't been there since before I was pregnant with Sam and Anna, over 3 years ago.  Sam and Anna did great on the ride, except we were all hot (no air in the camper while driving).  Since Sam and Anna aren't car nappers, we attempted to arrive at about nap time so they could get a rest.  We tried for a while, but both fought it and ended up not napping at all.  We went down to the canal to try to catch a ship going under the lift bridge before meeting old friends for dinner.  Although we didn't see a big ship, Sam and Anna did get to see several sailboats and other boats go under the bridge when it was up.  There were several seagulls they had fun chasing, although Sam is still calling them "eagles."  The friends we met just underwent their first IVF cycle (after 4 years of TTC) and had the embryo transfer 4 days earlier. I'm glad that we could see them again and be some in-person support as other people who have walked in the same shoes.

We stayed overnight at a campground and thankfully had air conditioning to drown out the fireworks we didn't know were going to happen a few miles away that night!  I didn't sleep great, Sam was awake for awhile in the middle of the night, but Anna slept well. 

We headed up the North Shore of Lake Superior for our 2 hour drive Friday morning.  The North Shore is so beautiful... I knew I missed seeing it, but I didn't realize how much I missed living next to the largest lake in the world until I saw it again.  Sam and Anna really liked driving through the tunnels on our way.  We arrived in Grand Marais in time for lunch, and this time Sam and Anna were able to take a short nap after a rocky start of fighting sleep... and Sam climbing into Anna's pack and play!  Friday evening we went to town for the beginning of their big yearly festival and enjoyed a delicious shrimp boil dinner.  Sam and Anna hunted for rocks along the harbor shore before we headed back for the evening.  Friday evening was the worst of our trip... a big storm blew through and with the wind and lightning (so much louder in a camper) Sam and Anna woke up pretty frightened.  Sam was awake from about 3 am until 5:30 am... thankfully they made up a little of that sleep by sleeping in until 9 am.

Saturday we went to town after breakfast and spent some some walking around the street fair- listening to music, loving the amazing view of the lake, as well as eating goodies like mini donuts, fish burgers, and smoked trout chowder.  We also took Sam and Anna out on the break wall to the light house.  I won't deny that I was a little uncomfortable about the safety of my little ones with the waves breaking, but it was important to my husband to take them out there so I kept a death grip on them most of the time, and there were no mishaps.  I know my husband really enjoyed bringing his children to the picturesque town he grew up in.  Sam and Anna barely took a nap and fought it for a long time... again Sam kept climbing into Anna's pack and play and it was touch and go for almost 2 hours before they finally fell asleep for a little bit.

Saturday evening we went fishing with Grandpa Dan on his favorite lake.  It was neat knowing that 30 years ago my husband was a toddler fishing on the same lake.  It was so serene because around the entire large lake was forest and there were zero cabins to be found.  I was really hoping that we might spot a moose, but I knew it was a long shot and so deer were the only wild animals we saw.  Anna had amazing patience even though no fish were caught- she held that fishing pole like a pro too.  Sam liked when the boat was fast on our way back the best. 

After bedtime, Grandpa  Dan babysat so we could go to see the fireworks over the lake.  Although not the biggest firework display I've seen, I can't describe how cool it was to see the fireworks light up the glistening water to the sound of waves breaking over the rock covered shore.  Amazingly beautiful.  Saturday night was the best sleep yet... Sam only woke up once for a few minutes and they still slept in the next morning until after 9 am. 

Poor Sam started to have ear drainage while we were there, a tell-tale sign of a ear infection with tubes and I hated that I could do nothing to help him until we were home.  But overall it didn't seem to be bothering him that much, so I'm grateful for that.

We left after breakfast Sunday morning and planned to drive the entire way home (7 1/2 hours of actual driving) in one day.  Our original plan was to stop for a nap at some point, since we have the only two children in the world who will not sleep in car seats, but we nixed that after our three days of fighting naps.  We didn't want to waste the time trying and risk not having a nap regardless.  So instead we built in lost of breaks to stretch legs when needed.   We stopped at a waterfall first (Sam and Anna's first waterfall).

We stopped for more time to run with the seagulls and look at ships in Duluth, stopped for lunch and dinner.  After leaving Sam and Anna's grandparents' house at 11 am, we finally arrived home at after 9 pm.  Seriously 10 hours of being on the road with two toddlers that didn't nap all day?  There should be an Olympic event for that.  My own bed never felt so good that evening!  As a nice side effect, Sam and Anna slept in the next morning until 9:45 am. (They have been waking up around 8-9 am most days this summer).  Sam was so excited when he realized we were almost home, he exclaimed, "My water towers!" when we took our exit off the highway into our neighborhood, and clapped and cheered.  He shared my sentiments exactly. But really, it could have been so much worse.  Considering it was 10 hours of being in carseats off and on, Sam and Anna did really well, and actually watched less videos than they did on our last big road trip.

(I didn't really take that many photos of what we did during our trip this time- I spent more time enjoying what we were doing instead.)