The Big Minnesota Trip

Dave and I at the Stillwater wedding

So it has become a bi-annual thing, our trek to to the Big Minny. Sometimes we fly, and sometimes we drive. This time we drove. We were gone for a little over 3 weeks and we packed it in (not only in the car, but the activities as well)!

We left on a Thursday afternoon and decided to push it all the way to Columbus, OH the first day. Which meant we arrived at our hotel around midnight. We stayed at the Hawthorne Suites in East Columbus due to the full kitchen and (more importantly) that my credit card points paid for it. Despite the hour of our arrival, we walked into our room and noticed there was a wood-burning fireplace so of course we had to have a fire. The hotel was a little on the old side and my attempt to bring our complimentary hot breakfast to our room was squashed. Apparently there are a lot of folks who live in the hotel who leave dirty plates in their rooms so that's why I couldn't bring our food back (despite the fact that all the rooms had full kitchens, so if people were going to dirty dishes, they could still easily do it!). I had filled up a large plate and the staff person made me throw it all away, what a waste.
That was our first experience  in East Columbus. I am not sure why we thought it was a good idea to stay in that part of town again, but we did on the way back. The hotel reeked and when we were unloading our car we actually had a man hide behind our family so some guy that was chasing him couldn't 'get' him. Never again to East Columbus.

We made it to MN relatively unscathed and the first thing on the itinerary was to hit the road again to go to the cabin!! Five hours is nothing after 3 days of driving! Becky and the kids, and my mom all went up for the week and then Dave, Bob, and Paul came the following weekend. We all had a blast, ate well, and had perfect weather 70s and 80s the entire time. We picked raspberries, played a ton outside, ate fresh fish, and even dipped in the lake a couple times (definitely not too many times a year one can do that)!

Chilling by the lake with Grandpa

Cascade Falls

Cousins Stella, Luna, Nico, Lucy: after a long afternoon of running up and down the driveway, quite the workout!

We stayed with Becky and Noe for the remainder of our visit. We hit the Como pool, Dave and I actually got a couple nights out due to a friends wedding in Stillwater, and we were able to celebrate Luna's birthday, pinatas and all!

The Frausto birthday tradition; I wonder how many years will she still be smiling after her parents smoosh her face in her bday cake??

 My parents still got it!

Finally, we were able to make it to the state fair, on the very last day, but we still made it! The kids "worked" on the farm, we ate cheese curds and sweet corn covered corndogs; we had fried sunnies with lingonberry sauce and scotch eggs; we had pulled turkey sandwiches and huge dill pickles. And we bought the big bucket of Sweet Marthas chocolate chip cookies, yum.

 Working with the girls on the farm, Luna eating a scotch egg, and the only thing left to do for Stella was chillax for a couple hours in the wagon!

Belated Birthday (Post)

Of course I cannot believe my little girls are already THREE. But we all know and have been told
my many many other parents about how quickly time flies with children. But... I also know that I never really understood it until it happened to me. I still don't understand how time works. When I was a kid time seemed to drag on and on. It seemed to take forever for my birthday to arrive and the same for Christmas. It seemed like the school day would never end, the weekend would never come, I would never become a teenager, and it took centuries to get my drivers license.

My theory was that with so much change, time seemed to spread out because there were so many turning points, so many milestones. But even as a kid, summers still flew by, as did vacations, and holidays... I guess it made sense: summers, vacations, and holidays were glorious, magical times that just made everything extra special and we didn't want them to end.

But how can one life event feel like it happened so long ago but at the same time feel like it was only yesterday?  It seems so long ago that Lucy and Stella were teeny babies, but not that long ago that they were born. My only conclusion is that, as adults, (especially with kids), we are experiencing these things simultaneously. We are experiencing so much change within our children- so many turning points, so many milestones- that can potentially make time seem longer... but there are also so many precious moments that you want to hang on to, whether its an actual vacation or holiday or just a lazy afternoon (the kind that you may not have appreciated when you were young).

Birthday lunch, poolside
next to their private cabana

As we age, as we grow, we learn to appreciate the simple things, the relatively insignificant things... we learn to appreciate these things as the truly glorious, magical times that make life extra special. These things happen every day, all day. It's those lazy afternoons; its those victories whether its potty training or empathy; its a funny joke, its a funny face; its seeing someone else smile; it's feeling wonder; it's fresh air; it's picking tomatoes; it's real vanilla ice cream with a cherry on top...And we don't want these things to end, because we know now that these are the things that are our life. Our beautiful life.

So it makes sense that maybe life can seem like its flying by at times; but while we may never want our personal precious moments to end... if we can have the ability to find magic in our every day- make our own daily turning points, our own daily milestones. Then maybe that, will provide us with enough change every day to make our lives feel a little longer, and if that doesn't work, at least our lives will be that much better as we take note of our surroundings and dig in to enjoy that ice cream.

Stella eating a dirt pie on her Birthday!!

And on another note, we had a bug-themed party for them this year as they are pretty fascinated by these little creatures (I am trying my best to not freak out when there is a creepy crawly). We had plastic bugs everywhere along with bug catcher nets, make-your-own bug boxes, and grandma came with homemade bug skirts (before she even knew about the bug theme), pretty cool!

Alone Time

This struck me when I ran across it randomly..after having a couple minis..i definitely appreciate the time i get alone. And riding on two wheels in a beautiful place..time to think..and time to appreciate this beautiful journey


Maybe Alone on My Bike
By William Stafford

I listen, and the mountain lakes
hear snowflakes come on those winter wings
only the owls are awake to see,
their radar gaze and furred ears
alert. In that stillness a meaning shakes;
And I have thought (maybe alone
on my bike, quaintly on a cold
evening pedaling home), Think!–
the splendor of our life, its current unknown
as those mountains, the scene no one sees.
O citizens of our great amnesty:
we might have died. We live. Marvels
coast by, great veers and swoops of air
so bright the lamps waver in tears,
and I hear in the chain a chuckle I like to hear.