Fourth trip to Minnesota goes off without a hitch!

The last time we were back in Minnesota we had a few adventures that included a trip to the emergency room among other things. The most recent visit was without incident. I guess that kind of depends on how you define "incident" however. I feel that this word is generally used under negative circumstances hence delivering an ultimately negative connotation.

We had an incident on the plane ride to Mpls as we were stuck on the plane almost 2 hours prior to departure. We spent some quality time meandering up and down the skinny aisles of the aircraft. On the return flight, while we left on time ,there was a bit of an incident on Dave's jeans after Lucy's diaper failed to absorb the way we had hoped.

I heard there was an incident with Dave's friend's vehicle while they were exploring up in the north woods... something about a transmission...

There was an incident with the pinata at niece Luna's 1st birthday party- when it just could not be broken.

However, the word "incident" itself merely means an occurrence of some sort.. an event. So while we had a few challenging incidents we had lots of fun ones as well.

Dave, Paul, and I still got to explore St. Paul (and its beers) a bit the night we arrived; we spent a long afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Treiber; Dave got his boy's weekend at the Twin Pines; I stayed on Grand Ave with my parents (and close to my favorite coffee and bagels!); my sis and I spent an evening mixed with relaxing and cleaning her backyard, and then relaxing again; I made some fun cakes, and we got to go to Luna' s first Birthday party!

So I hope there are many more incidents to come- but let's appreciate the good incidents of today and live in the present- always; as one today is worth two tomorrows (Ben Franklin).

You mean my Daddy used to play with these toys??
They must be REALLY old.

Lucy- does this quilt match my pinafore?; Stella- i don' t know, but it matches daddy- and its awesome!
Thanks for making it (and out outfits) Grandma Karin!!

You have some food right.. there! (Lucy)

"Ooo! Is that daal, dahl, or maybe dal that I smell??" Stella

Grandpa!! Don't make me laugh so hard, I'm eating here!! :)

Uncle Paul and his nieces playing a trio

The 2-story fire on Lake Superior (boys weekend)

Luna-licious!

Becky and Luna; Becky and Nico

Happy Birthday Luna!

Summer's past.. more pictures found~

I found these pictures from July of this past summer. Some are from camping and some are from good ol' Artscape in Baltimore! Artscape 2010 was the weekend before the girls were born and we were out in full force walking around in 100 degree weather (hoping to get things moving); I guess it worked!

dad and lucy- post sunblock application

Is that a bear?? No its just dad...:) Lucy foreground

"That's really quite shocking mom!"--Lucy

Stella

Bear? No, racoon this time. Wait, thats Dad again! (Stella foreground)

Artscape

Stella and Lucy enojying Artscape 2011

The whole crew in the car-part lounge

Art Car exhibit: Berlin Wall

Vacation on the River- the timeline

Finally, after 2 weeks I found some time to post "the story".

Little did I know, when I posted the first blurb about the river rising , that it was going to continue to rise and we really did end up having to get out of there! I guess I should be careful what I joke about next time:) My mom and I were actually "joking" all week about how the river looked high- haha, turns out the joke was on us.

The A-Frame Cabin where we stayed

We arrived to the cabin on the Delaware River on Monday August 22 for a wedding on Saturday the 27th. By the end of the week we started hearing reports of how hurricane Irene was leaving some pretty large footprints in her wake. We heard it was going to hit Baltimore pretty bad. Our friends who were planning on coming to the cabin for the weekend were not sure they were going to make it.

Our friend's wedding guest list decreased by 25 (out of 70) because of the storm as well). We were glad we were not anywhere near Baltimore. Baltimore never really got hit- funny how things work out.

Saturday August 27- 6ishPM- the rain started

Sunday - still raining

• 2PM- Dave and I went grocery shopping in the town (not much was open)
• 3PM- we returned to the cabin- power goes out
• 3-7PM- enjoy the daylight- power is still out- still raining; start looking for candles and flashlights; Dave and Dad go to the neighbors to see about an update (we have no working phones) and get some more candles. Dave brings our car to higher ground- just in case
• 7:30PM start a fire in the fireplace to make sure we have some additional light as it gets dark
• 8PM- start dinner- in the dark; we are still joking about the river looking high
• Feed girls by the light of the fireplace- can't see how much is ending up on the floor
• 10PM- girls in bed; we eat dinner (it takes a while to cook in the dark!)
• 10:30- we decide we should start packing things together- just in case.
• 11:30PM- the neighbors are evacuating- we need to leave; Dad and Dave bring a load up to our car 
• 12:00AM- the next load is mom, me, and the babies (my dad is driving)- as we pull onto the driveway we go through over a foot of water. I roll the window down and yell for Dave- we have to leave the rest of our stuff and he hops on the back of the Jeep.
• 1:00AM- we are on higher ground 1/4 mile from the house. There are 16 other people there from the cabins next to us. We all try to get some sleep in the cars parked in a small meadow where we think we are safe.
• 3:30AM- I see lights coming in from the main road. A car pulls in and I get out to see what's going on. It's the man that lives at the top of the road. He said he received an automated emergency call from the police dept saying that there are evacuation orders- the Reservoir may burst. We still think we are on high enough ground. As I am chatting with him and the owner of the cabins next door, we hear a siren and lights flashing. Moments later a fire truck comes down the little road where we are all posted. We have to evacuate. He says this spot will likely be under water in an hour; in addition, the bridges may be covered (our only exit) any time.
• 4:00AM- we evacuate. Dave and I are leading the pack to Walton (since we knew where it was)- we approach the bridge with trepidation- its dry. It's 30 minutes to Walton.
• 4:30AM- we arrive at the Red Cross Shelter (aka Walton High School); I go in and check it out and ultimately decide its better to let the girls continue to sleep in the car.
• 7:30AM- after a few more hours of upright sleeping in the Equinox, the whole Treiber clan is awake. My parents had been in the shelter the entire morning- wide awake.
• 8:30AM- we decide to trek back to the cabin... we can't get there- it's an island in the middle of 4 feet (or more?) of water.
• 9:00AM- I call the owner of the cabin to let him know the details- he is glad we are safe.
• 9:30AM-12:00PM- we start driving hoping to find a hotel as soon as possible to we can all get some real sleep. We don't find one until 2.5 hours- we end up staying in Scranton, PA.
• Next day- we arrive back in Baltimore safe and sound

Looking down the driveway to the cabin the next day 

Getting out of there! River is almost parallel to highway

In the words of my mother- it was "an adventure of a lifetime!" and hopefully one we don't go through again:)

We will be heading back up there in October to get the remaining of our belongings (as the $300 cost to ship them back is a little hefty)- so at least we will have a one more chance to enjoy! 

Peaches- the magical fruit!

After a healthy portion of peaches, Stella revs up for her debut! Dave caught her first, and I ran up to get the camera for hopefully another show- we got it!