Mid-March Vacay!

This blog post is over a month overdue. I wanted to share about a vacation we took with my parents to Lake of the Ozarks, MO, about a half hour south of us.

We checked my parents into the resort on Saturday night March 16, went out to eat, then our little family of 5 came home to prepare for church the next day. Everyone was out celebrating St. Patty's day that night.

We went back on Sunday afternoon and got settled in. There was a kitchenette there, so we brought most of our own food and were able to eat in.

Tired teddy bear.

Judah and Grandma Linda playing a game she invented with the cribbage board. They also liked to play the board game Sorry!

 Monday, we went to the Bridal Cave and to Ha Ha Tonka State Park.

We visited the Bridal Cave. It left a huge impression on Judah, and somewhat of an impression on Andrew. Whenever they see a billboard advertising the cave, they ALWAYS let me know with great enthusiasm!

Grandpa Allan inside the cave.

I thought this wall was just super cool.

We went out to eat at the Dairy Queen next. The many faces of Judah.

Hepped up on a DQ blizzard.

No cavities yet...

The many faces of Andrew.

Also hepped up on a DQ blizzard.

This was before his tooth turned brown from hitting it really hard...

My better half.

The extremely cool Ha Ha Tonka State Park, where the ruins of a turn-of-the-20th-century castle lay! We are walking up the path to it. The castle burned down in the '40s.

Grandpa Allan and Enoch with the ruins behind. It was chilly but sunny, so the nicest day of our vacation.

Family shot. The sun was so warm, the boys wanted to take off their coats, but the breeze was cool... so we were constantly putting on and taking off jackets.

Enoch stomping around... look at that view!

Grandpa Allan and Grandma Linda

Andrew refusing to turn around.

Me (with everyone's hats stuck in my coat pockets) with the ruins in the background.

The water tower. The water was up top and a family actually lived underneath it to take care of it.

We couldn't go in. :-(

The boys enjoying the trails.

Tuesday, we went swimming in the morning (the water was SOOO COLD! Yes it was an indoor pool!). Then to a winery and to a historical site that explained the making of the Bagnell Dam... so interesting! I must've stopped taking pictures because I don't have anymore! Good job, Mom. Jeff had to return home that evening to get ready for church the next evening (it was Lenten season), but before he left we realized that across the inlet from our resort, we could see the police poking around. There had been a death on one of the boats! And the police had been poking around for evidence. Weird...

Wednesday, we took the boys swimming, although none of the adults wanted to go because of yesterday's near-pneumonia experience... but the boys didn't care. We played and got things packed up to head back home for the evening church service. After church, Mom and Dad headed back to stay one more night at the resort. (Another funny thing, the lady at the front desk, Mom discovered, was related to someone from my hometown of Colo, Iowa and would be going there in May for a graduation party! Small world!) On Thursday, they wanted to visited Tan- Tar- A Resort where they honeymooned 33 years ago.

I enjoyed the vacation, and look forward to going back to the old castle again... but when the weather is a bit nicer. :-)

Where did June go?!?!

That's a good question. Let me fill y'all in.

June started on a Friday, and I got some exercise videos I ordered. I'll be telling you about that in a different post.

June 4-8 was VBS at our church! The kids learned about the colors of the church year and what they mean. I missed the first few days, because I was home with Andrew who was sick with some virus. We had a short service on Friday where the kids sang the song they learned. Judah sang great for that, but Andrew, not so much. On Sunday, they sang the same song, and Andrew ended up dragging Judah up to the front of the church and sang the whole song looking oh-so cute, but Judah just stood there looking extremely sad. Stage fright? Who knows...

VBS projects in a line

We had a few days to get our house in order before our guests, the Gullixsons, came on the 12th from southern California on their way to synod convention in southern MN. We got to show them our "farm" and went to a state park where we hiked and picnicked. They left to head north on the 14th, while we quickly got things around to leave a day later to also head north. We stopped at my parents' in central Iowa on the 15th for overnight, then up to Mankato to stay with family for the annual ELS convention.

Outside the Runge Nature Center with Abel (3), Judah (4) and Andrew (2)

A hollow tree on our hike

You're a little lopsided...

The Gullixsons and Merseths

During that synod week time, in one 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, we slept 11 children and 8 adults. (For those of you who know me, that included me and Jeff and our 3 boys, Jeremy and Angie and their 4 kids, John and Steph and their 4 kids who live there, and my parents-in-law John and Lorena! James and Danielle and their two kids live elsewhere in Mankato, so they didn't need sleeping quarters.) This was the first time we've all been together for about two years, since Jer and Ang moved out to Oregon. So it was a great time of family togetherness! All of us even got to go up to "the farm" in northern MN and spend time with Great Grandma Merseth.

Fun in Mankato. Playing outside in the city is much different than playing outside in the country. Adult supervision required! Once I discovered that Andrew had wandered outside by himself... thankfully he was just playing behind the house.

Cousins and waterguns. Enoch's in the wagon. A hot day!

Up north family photo

Grandma and Grandpa Merseth with their 13 grandchildren

Enoch riding high

A little Polaris Ranger fun.

Andrew: Hey guys, wait for me!

Judah slept in a bunk bed one night... he fell off during the night. No more bunk bed without sides!

This was just too cute... Andrew put on his cousin Amber's shoes.

On the 26th we started our trek back home, but without Judah. He got to go to Ohio with three of his cousins to visit Grandma and pa Merseth. We will be going to pick him up at a half-way point in a few days. On the evening of the 26th we made an overnight stop at my parents' again before continuing on to our house the next day. We arrived in the afternoon of the 27th to a dry, brown landscape and hot hot temps.

One of our pit stops...

The next several days were spent watering the garden. We came back to an overgrown jungle... well, almost. It was really weedy. You'd think with no rain while we were gone, the weeds would've died out, but not so.

We also were pretty exhausted after all our driving. Just a lot of car time... the boys did okay, but there were some times when they were crying to be let out. Andrew would beg to get out and walk. It's taken me a while to get things back in order (well, sort of in order...). But it feels so good to be home! And it really does feel like home! Home is where the mess is, right? ;-)

Our trip to the East Coast and what I ate

We traveled to Virginia on Monday, May 3 and flew back on Monday, May 10. One week, two children, two parents, and a rental car. And did I mention lots and LOTS of traveling? Oh, and we still managed to eat well, too. Here's the run down, with photos:

Monday--We left at about 8am to drive to the airport. By the time we finally got checked in and at our gate it was about 11:30am. Whew! Flew at 12:30pm to Cleveland, OH for layover, arrived in Norfolk, VA about 5pm. Flight went pretty well, Andrew was a little fussy, and both boys didn't sleep much. I packed a lunch to take on our flight. Some meat and cheese sandwiches, fermented carrot sticks, and some baked oatmeal leftover from our breakfast that morning. No soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup pretzels for us on the plane, no sir!! Aaron and Djem (they were the ones getting married and the reason for our travels to Virginia!) met us in the airport to bring us a carseat for Judah. We checked Andrew's carseat as luggage. Found out we had a schnazzy car (Chevy HHR) to drive for the week! Jeff and Aaron went grocery shopping for our supper... some carrots, potatoes, and ground beef. Jeff cooked, and it was heavenly. Oh, and I forgot to mention... I brought some sourdough starter and coconut oil along! These would prove to be very useful to us.

Here we are in the airport before flying out.

It was 45 degrees when we left Minnesota. It was 90 degrees when we arrived in Virginia!

Here I am with Aaron in front of his townhome. My husband took the picture. He wanted to get the car in the picture...

Tuesday--Drove to Arlington in time for lunch with high school friend Sara. Great fun! Left about 2:30pm. Traffic is crazy out here! We arrived about 4-ish in Parkville, MD at my cousin Amy's house. Cousin Will took to playing with Judah immediately. The boys were so happy to get out of the car. Had supper, wonderful conversation, and stayed overnight. At both places, I passed on my food sensitivities, and had fabulous food!

Here we are with Sara and Daniel!

Here's Will and Judah "goin' fishing"!

Will, Madelyn, Andrew, and Judah

Amy and me in front of their beautiful home.

Wednesday--Had breakfast (eggs and sourdough bread I brought on the plane) and then drove to western Virginia to see Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm. He wasn't there, but we talked to his wife and walked around the farm for about an hour. Then drove into Staunton, VA about 15 miles away to find a place to stay. The drive this day was beautiful and it was so fun to see all the historic buildings from colonial days. We were looking for a little ice cream shop called Split Banana, that we were told used all natural ingredients. All natural my rear end! They did use natural ingredients, but also used some additives as well, so never mind that ice cream! My husband found some fruit sorbet, and that's what we had for supper. We finally collapsed at a hotel and went to bed early at 8:30 so our boys would sleep. They didn't nap well in the car today.

Judah petting baby chicks at Polyface Farms.

Andrew gets his feet tickled by the kitty. He's sooo happy to not be in his carseat!

Thursday--woke up better rested, but early. Our breakfast that morning left something to be desired, but at least it was better than nothing. The continental breakfast at the hotel consisted of boxed cereal, donuts, bagels, and english muffins. We didn't eat those. We did eat some fruit, and some oatmeal... granted, the oatmeal was quick-cooking and didn't soak overnight, but it was either that mixed with some cream cheese or just fruit. Although I had to eat some coconut oil to last me till my next meal. I know that without some decent fat, I'm starving long before my next meal! We got on the road by 7:30 to drive over to Virginia Beach to the beach house!! On the way to the beach house, we stopped at a small organic store and picked up a few items to get us through the week: brown rice, apples, bananas, onions, honey, and oatmeal, those were the main things. We got into the house about 1:00 and got situated in our room and tried to nap the boys with limited success. Our lunch was some potatoes and carrots and beef leftover from when we ate with Aaron on Monday night. We ate supper at Djem's parents' house. I was a little more selective... the meat had been marinated in A1 Steak sauce. That's a surefire way to get my itching. My husband, sweet man that he is, got me a piece and cut off all the outer layer. And I ate some cooked carrots, asparagus, and white rice. I had a little bit of a reaction, but not much.

Judah sitting on the steps of the beach house. That place was huge! It had seven bedrooms, a swimming pool and hot tub, and lots of space!

John, Johnny, Judah and Jeff in the hot tub.

Friday--I made sourdough pancakes this morning. Turned out great! I also attempted to make a loaf of sourdough bread. I say attempted, because it started cooking prematurely since I had left it in the oven, and the oven got turned on. Whoops. Oh well. Naps didn't go too well. But I don't know what I expected when any semblance of a schedule flew out the window on this trip. Did a little swimming. Drove to church for rehearsal, practiced with organist, as I was to sing the Lord's Prayer for the wedding. Back to beach house for groom's dinner. This really is a great big place for having a ton of people over! Oh, we went to the farmer's market after the rehearsal. It's a bunch of permanent structures for farmer's market every day of the week for most of the day. We got a few things, like some eggs and hotdogs from Polyface Farms (yummy!) and some hamburgers from somewhere else, and some fresh strawberries. They were red red red and had actual flavor! We also got some pricey tomatoes, but they were good. Also got some non-homogenized milk, but it is pasteurized... illegal here to sell unpasteurized milk.

The boys playing

Our family in the hot tub... it wasn't THAT hot, and was a lot more comfy than the ice cold swimming pool.

Judah hamming it up in the hot tub. He loved "schwimming" as he called it. :-)

Saturday--We woke up to another gloriously sunny day. I think we had soaked oatmeal for breakfast. I used the sourdough starter as the soaking medium. I also tried making another loaf of sourdough. Soaked in some rays, but I didn't want to burn, so I was only out there for about 20 minutes! Thankfully the boys got some good naps, as it was a late night ahead of us. We were at church by 3:45 to practice with organist, wedding at 4:30. Social hour 6-7pm, supper finally at 7:30. The most awesome thing of the whole trip was that I could eat the supper at the reception!!!!! The chefs at the Marriott in Chesapeake, VA kicked some major butt. The social hour had aged cheese, like seriously good cheese. And for supper, they used real butter, no MSG or soybean oil or margarine. I ate the real mashed potatoes which had gobs of butter, some beef that was still pink and tender, and some sauteed veggies. And had NO reactions. It was so good, I was in ecstasy! YUM! We went back to the beach house pretty much as soon as supper was over. The music was so loud, I couldn't get Andrew to fall asleep, even though he was exhausted. The crazy thing is, it takes like an hour to drive a distance of about 20 miles. Did I mention I wasn't a fan of the traffic?

Waiting for supper to start.

There's Andrew with his little tongue sticking out. That's one of his traits.

A good picture of Jeff and me.

A decent picture of our family!

A picture of our family with the wedding couple. Judah is deadpan, Andrew is smiling. You can't win 'em all.

Sunday--Mother's Day. There was a brunch at the hotel hosted by the bride's parents. I wasn't expecting to be able to eat much... it was a buffet, after all. But I was beyond pleasantly surprised. They did made-to-order omelets cooked in olive oil! And cinnamon pancakes smothered with REAL maple syrup and butter! Granted, they weren't made with soaked flour, but I didn't care! This was close enough, and totally worth a few anti-nutrients. And fresh fruit. I wish I had taken a picture of it. But I was too busy gobbling it down. Oh man, it was sooooo good. I'm still salivating as I write this a week later! I baked my 2nd loaf of sourdough, it turned out okay, just really dense, but it sure smelled good. We also went to the beach, which was about a block away from the beach house. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, and Judah loved playing in the sand. The day was nice and relaxing, we played some games, had some naps, a very good day!

Johnny and Judah playing with their father's phones while we waited to have brunch.

Family picture on Mother's Day. Nice smile, Judah. "Cheeeese!"

Me and my boys. I don't think one of us is actually looking at the camera.

Our family on the beach by the ocean!

Judah playing with one beach toy I found at the house. He loved the sandy beach!

Monday--Got things packed up to go. We didn't fly out until about 5:30, so we had a leisurely morning of visiting and playing and swimming. For the flight home, we were nourished with some boiled eggs, cheese, apples, and carrot sticks. It got late for the boys. On the final flight, Andrew did not want to be comforted, so he screamed for a bit before he finally konked out. Judah did too, and so did I. It was 9:30pm when we got to the MSP airport, and then we still had another 2+ hours of travel time ahead of us. It was a miracle we got home in one piece. Both Jeff and I were exhausted, and for the last leg on the trip, I had completely passed out. Poor Jeff! But we made it and we were soooo glad to see our own beds!

Me and my two boys on the airplane on the way home.

Andrew laying on the floor at the Cleveland airport. He was happily rolling around.

Judah was looking out the window at the Cleveland airport, watching all the activity. One of the workers was playing peek-a-boo with him.

All in all, an awesome trip. We had safe travels, saw great sights, had great visits, and ate extremely well... oh, and Jeff and I both managed to LOSE weight, too! I'm serious, it was all that butter and coconut oil we ate. We did eat ice cream on a few occasions, but I think the key thing was that we didn't snack. If we did, it was a chunk of coconut oil.

And now it's back to real life. But THAT'S for another post.