Gone Fishing!

Since it was free fishing weekend, we decided to venture out and have a picnic, and see if we could catch any fish. Macyn was pretty excited to go!

We first found a spot to fish, and then set up our camping grill along with our fold up table. We bought the table last year for camping, and I am surprised how much we use it. Its so easy to transport! We grilled some brats and had a nice picnic with some chips and nutty bars for dessert.

After lunch we decided to give fishing a try. We didn't even get a nibble, but we did see the fish swim up to our bait and stare at it. They weren't going to bite. We ended up not fishing too long since we had to head home and let Macyn take her nap. She was just happy to use her Cinderella fishing pole!

Fourth of July Weekend

I have been really bad at keeping you two (well, maybe 3) people who read this, up to date. Its partly because I'm super busy, tired, and sometimes have so much to say I don't know where to start.

July 1  

I celebrated my big old 26th birthday. We went out to eat at Famous Daves and then hit up a baseball game. We had 2nd row tickets behind home plate and they were only $11.50 each. It was a pretty cheap, fun thing to do! The also have fireworks every Friday night, so we got to see them after the game. Thankfully, I remembered  Macyn's ear plugs which means it was a tear-free firework session!

Mommy & Macyn with the card she gave me

My birthday cake DH had made for me - complete with 26 balloons!

A LOT of frosting!

Besides my card and cake, I also got new golf clubs from DH about a month or so ago. I have already used them 3 times!

July 2

DH had to work this Saturday, so I visited my parents who were camping nearby. I also met up with my sister and my nephew, and my future BIL. The kids had some fun splashing in the water - and it felt good too!

 

 

Kids in the pool

 

 

 

Sunbathing!

 

 

July 3 & 4

These last two days of the long weekend consisting of sitting at the campground, bringing a toddler back to her house at 11:45 PM because she was so bad, fishing, and chilling around at home. We also got in another round of golf on Monday as well. Then we lit off our illegal parachute man, smoke bombs, and snaps. Macyn liked to throw the snaps and if they didn't go off, she would step on them! We rounded out our celebration with some legal stuff too - snakes, party poppers, and sparklers. 

That was my weekend in a nutshell!

Camping Day 3

Day three of camping was a day of packing up and last minute smore's. Macyn woke up bright and early around 8:00 and decided to eat Sour Jacks for breakfast. This is her "sour pucker" face. I tried to convince her she wouldn't like them, but being the strong headed 19 month old she is, she wouldn't take no for an answer. She ended up eating the whole bag. She showed me!

We were originally planning on staying until Monday, but once we checked the weather of thunderstorms and night and 40 mph wind the next day, we thought it would be best to head home early. There was no way I was going to attempt to take down a tent in that weather AND watch a toddler at the same time. Leaving early ended up being nice because we were able to visit some sights at the town around the campground.

The dam at the headwaters of the Des Moines river

The rairload museum

Macyn and Dad on the original train turn table. We even took it for a spin!

As you can see, we hit up a railroad museum. The guided tour takes about 1 hr 30 minutes so they were nice enough to give us just the train tour (and not other buildings) and were finished in about 45 minutes. Instead of paying regular admission, they just told us to make a donation instead. That is small town stuff right there, folks! We really enjoyed the museum and even got to go inside the train. We also visited the train station and saw a replica train village of how the yards used to work. We also learned about Hobos and the secret codes they used. Really interesting! After that, we decided to head back to NW Iowa.

BUT instead of going home, we headed to my parents house and went hot tubbing, fishing, and stayed the night. We figured if we were planning to be gone that night anyways, we would just "camp" and my parent's house. The next morning we went fishing as well, then headed home to unpack and wind down.

All in all, we had a great first experience camping. We plan on trying out different campgrounds around the area. Should be a pretty fun summer!

Camping Day 2

Day 2 of camping consisted of enjoying the nice 68 degree weather and spending time with my family who came to visit.  Since my parents, sister, and nephew came up, we had a babysitter to watch Macyn while we got in a round of mini golf. I kicked butt - I beat my dad by 4 strokes and Josh by 7. Neither one was too happy with a girl beating them :). The nice thing about this campground is there is plenty to do. Next to the mini golf is shuffleboard and a basketball hoop. Inside the barn is a pool table, air hockey table, arcade games, board games, and a computer with internet access. Upstairs in the loft they have movies showing on Saturday nights. There is also many roads to ride bike and a bike trail a mile or so away. You can also rent canoes or paddle boats. They also have a general store that is open until 10:00 PM each night. The best part is, the prices are normal prices - not much price gouging here!

Besides mini golfing, we spent most the day relaxing, walking along the lake, going to the beach, and testing the freezing cold water. Call me crazy, but the lake seemed just as cold as the 34 degree water we went whitewater rafting in. Macyn loves her cousin Caden. She likes to give him hugs and kisses. I think we should teach her to give closed mouth kisses. Good thing these kids are young so they don't remember kissing their cousins with an open mouth! After supper our family left. We then rode bike down to the docks to take in the lake views and sunsets. They were absolutely beautiful!

Lake Shetek is also know for their pelicans. In fact, Shetek means "pelican." We saw plenty of them and were fun to watch. I couldn't really get a great picture though, but you get the idea.

After watching the sunset, we went back to our tent where we watched the lake out the windows until we all fell asleep. Macyn ended up sleeping for 12 hours this night. I think she liked the lake!

Camping Day 1

We decided we are going on cheap vacations this year - camping...in a tent. We headed up to Lake Shetek in Minnesota. It rained most the way up there, but we were fortunate enough that it had stopped for a little while when we pitched the tent. It was about a 20 mph wind putting it up which was a challenge. After re-staking the tent a few times and taking care of it collapsing, we had a nice humble abode.

 After we got the tent put up and the car strategically placed to block the wind, we attempted to grill. Fail. Too windy. So I dethawed the brats with our space heater (which ran the entire night, it was in the low 40's - cold!)

Once they were thawed, we put them on the George Foreman. We come prepared, people! The car looked like it too since it was completely level from the middle seat to the back. Here is an inside view of our tent. I am glad we bought a huge tent. We were able to have our king size air bed on one side with plenty of space for a table and chairs, TV, cooler, and all of our stuff we packed.

We packed our clothes in tupperware totes, in the case our tent would leak. It rained ALL night the first night we were there. Our tent didn't leak, but it did have a wet spot (by me, of course) where the wind blew the tarp out and some rainwater collected under the tent. It was a pretty small area, so I can't complain. Macyn slept pretty well the first night. She woke up at 3:00, 5:00, and 7:00. Not too shabby. ;)

Camping is in Tents

We decided to go tenting this afternoon......

In our front yard! It was such a nice day so we decided to practice pitching our tent before we go camping Memorial Day weekend. It went up pretty well, but not without a few hitches. We didn't stake it down at first and the wind took it. Once we did that it went up pretty smoothly. We looked like some rednecks who tent in their front yard (and with Christmas lights still up and dead garland) and had to hear kids riding bikes past saying, "Mommy, we should get one of those!"

Once we got it put all together, we played around inside and watched Macyn run from end to end, giggling, multiple times. My parents were also over today and they joined our fun as well.

 

 After playing in the tent it was time to take it down. We were amazed how quickly we got it back into the 2.5'x1'x1'bag on the first try. We received conformation on our Memorial Day weekend camping today, so vacation, here we come!

Think Spring!

I think I have spring fever. For 2 reasons. First, I bought Macyn some new shoes for summer:
 

I couldn't resist the Trek Shoes from Old Navy. I thought these would be perfect for summer. They are a mesh shoe with a solid sole - essentially sandal tennis shoes. The back velcro's to keep them on. The best part is, she can't figure out how to get them off! I also got her 2 pairs of flip flops, one size 5 and one size 6 - in hopes of them fitting all summer. The second reason I have spring fever is because we bought this:
 

This is what you would call a tent that is too big to set up anywhere in our house so we resorted to the garage. It is a 3 room tent which is 20' x 11'! We bought this with our vacation money in hopes this will be our solution to our "cheap vacations" this year. We can't wait to use the tent, even if it is at our local campground 4 miles away. The Vacation Lodge (yes, that is the name of the tent) was really easy to put up. Now folding it back into the bag, not so much. It is large enough to fit 3 queen sized air mattresses. We figured we would use some of the space to bring our bikes along with our bike trailer we bought last year. So, if anyone knows of any good camp grounds around the area, let us know!