The Pond @ Elm Creek

After months of unseasonable mildness, Mother Nature finally gave us a sweltering hot weekend day... and we used that as an excuse to check out MG's famous sandy, chlorinated lake/pool at Elm Creek Park.  Quite the gem... we'll definitely be back!

The Chips!

This weekend we hosted a slumber party with some of our favorite people, the Chipelewskis (dear friends from our Indy days way back in the 00s!).  It was so fun catching up with J & J (now in Marquette, MI), and seeing their wonderful, growing twins, Kaleb & Kendall (now 7 y/o!).  

The Return to Kavanaugh's

[ca. 1985]

[2014]

Some of my favorite and most vivid childhood memories came from the annual (extended) Backer family summer vacation at Kavanaugh's Resort in Brainerd, MN.  Paul Bunyon's welcome, mosquito-infested mini-golf, go-kart collisions, waking up to singing loons, crappie holes, trolling for northerns, shuffleboard, kayaking, tennis battles, the Timberwolves first ever draft (Pooh Richardson was their #1 pick), and just tearing around the resort with my brother and cousins (and that "caboose" uncle, Jay).  

For a variety reasons, that tradition ended in 1986... and this summer, a generation later (28 years, to be exact), we made the return.  The resort has changed pretty dramatically, but many of the standbys and "flow" remained.  

And, reliving those fond memories vicariously through Evie and Sawyer and their second/once-removed cousins was worth the price of admission, and then some.

The master and the apprentice

Big G is in heaven when at the lake, and his favorite activity is tirelessly dock-jumping and chasing down his Chuck-It floatie.  

Oh, and I shouldn't poke fun at Griffin's "cousin" Carter... but, a graceful water dog he is not.  :-)

4th of July

As we've been doing for the past few years, we jammed ourselves and a few days of summer gear into the Element and rendezvoused at Nana's for a long 4th of July weekend of fun with Joe & Tisha (& Lucy) and La & Opie.

Aside for a short but ugly Thunderstorm during the fireworks display, the weather was a beautiful 79 and sunny throughout the weekend... perfect for our "rinse and repeat" eat, boat, eat, boat/tube, swim, eat, unwind with a night cap daily routine.