The Lake
Posted By Jill on August 8, 2011
– Sunday, July 31 –
We packed up our van and Rav for our trip to the cabin that Roxi rented for the week. We left around 9:45 for our hour-and-a-half ride to just outside of Melrose on Little Birch Lake. Jeremy’s cousin Robin and her daughter Paige rode with me and the kids, and Jeremy went ahead with the boat to meet the owner and get all the instructions. When we arrived, we had a little tour – wow, more of a vacation home than a cabin! 
This place is AMAZING! We got the kids their lunch, and then I went with Jeremy to get the boat on the water so we could park it in the shore station for the week. Since he had to take the boat, I had to drive the trailer back by myself – I’ve never driven it before! I did fine, though; it wasn’t so hard without the boat. Jeremy and I have talked a lot about the fact that I really should know how to drive it so we can launch the boat at the lakes in the cities more efficiently. Well, first lesson complete!
Then it was time to clean up the kids and get their beds ready for nap (and hope they adjusted and slept). Mac helped unpack his bear and blanket and find his nuks, and he crawled right in, thank goodness. Vivian laid right down too, and they both took a good nap – a HUGE relief for the first day of a week’s vacation! Then we unpacked some more stuff and had our own lunch, and waited for Roxi to arrive. One of Jeremy’s uncle’s arrived who was also staying the week, and another uncle who lives in the area stopped by too for a short visit. Roxi arrived, the kids woke up, and the rest of the evening was a whirlwind of settling in, with one short late afternoon boat ride for Jeremy, Robin, Paige, Mac and me.
I cleaned up dinner and then was able to work on one of the two projects I brought with me – to sort pictures for Mac’s 1st year photo album and write in both his and Vivian’s to note dates and events. I got the pictures sorted and into Mac’s album that night. It sure felt good to accomplish a project that’s been sitting around for three years!
– Monday, August 1 –
Rain. Thunderstorms. Bummer first full day at the cabin. It’s not so bad after you’ve had a full day outside and maybe should stay out of the sun for a day, but what a bummer for the first day! But we made it work. The kids were pretty happy playing inside and watching movies. There’s so much space in the basement (it was just finished) that we could really let Mac and Paige go play down there without much supervision, and they played pretty nicely too!
Robin, Mark and Paige went to visit Great-Grandma Flossie in Sauk Centre and brought back a picture-sorting project of their own from her house that they worked on in the afternoon and evening. At nap-time, Jeremy and I took the grocery list and went “into town” to get that stuff, after a little tour of Jeremy’s old haunts – his grandparents on his dad’s side had a cabin on Big Birch Lake, and his mom’s parents lived, and he went to school for a year or two, in Melrose. By the time we returned, the kids were up and it was another whirlwind until bedtime.
After the kids went to bed, I finished getting Mac’s album written, and then Robin, Jeremy, Roxi and I played my favorite game – Phase 10. It went down to the very last hand, we were all on Phase 10, which hardly ever happens, and I ended up winning!! It was a late night but so fun!
– Tuesday, August 2 –
It was still raining through the morning, so we had a quiet morning inside. Later in the morning, Robin, Mark and Paige went golfing. It started clearing up around 10, so by 11, Jeremy and I took Mac out for a little boat ride before lunch. He really seemed to like it, and Jeremy even let him take the wheel for a bit. And I also got some practice behind the wheel on this nice big lake. Roxi stayed with Vivian while she had a little morning “attitude-adjustment” nap. Then it was lunch time and naps for the kids with Roxi while Jeremy and I got some rest and relaxation out on the lake on our big floating island. We were out there for a couple hours, and when we returned, the kids were still sleeping!
I think it might have been five years since I’ve felt so relaxed for this extended period of time, more than just a few hours or even a weekend. It’s been terrific for all of us!
Great-Grandma came back with Robin and stayed for a visit through dinner, and they brought more pictures to sort through. Jeremy’s cousin Jody and her son came by too to have dinner and play.
After the kids’ bedtime, it was game time again for the grown-ups, this time we had a round of Rummikub, but we were quickly aware of how late we had stayed up the night before and cut it shorter than we had planned, but I won again!
– Wednesday, August 3 –
Is it Wednesday already?! It’s a beautiful sunny day at the lake… let’s get outside! We got the kids ready and loaded up with sunscreen and headed down to the water. We got them into our big floating island, but Vivian was not happy, so I brought her in. She continued to whine, though, so I put her in bed for another attitude adjustment. I had planned to go out on the patio for some quiet blogging time, but as I got situated, up came Jeremy with the other kids… but after some play time outside, it was time for lunch, and Jeremy graciously took care of all of it while I continued to sit outside in the sun and catch up on my narrative of our week and some other events I still hadn’t blogged. He even brought me a sandwich and chips so I could stay in the sun and eat! I did that until I got too warm and then moved to the nice cool house while Vivian finished her lunch. Jeremy and Roxi went into town on some errands while (I thought) the kids would nap. Vivian finally went to sleep at 3:15 for almost an hour before Mac woke her up, and Mac never did nap. We gave them an early dinner and bedtime, then almost had a quiet dinner without too many interruptions. Rick, Mathew and Wendy arrived in the evening after the kids were in bed. We had a campfire and s’mores, and moved inside when the bugs got bad (even with long sleeves, long pants and bug spray!). We had a rousing game of Phase 10 where I started out ahead and ended up in dead last. 
I still love that game!
The kids really had been doing well, but it started going downhill today. We had some issues with Mac this morning trying to get used to playing with other kids and having lots of people giving him directions and choices. It can be difficult being in a big group. Ironically, today was probably the best weather day but the worst kid behavior day we’ve had. The relaxation is gone for me, for now, until we get back on track. They did sleep well at night, thank goodness!
– Thursday, August 4 –
We again had some struggles with Mac at breakfast time, but he recovered quickly this time. Roxi stayed with Vivian while we took Mac, Mathew and Wendy out on the boat. We moved to a different lake, Big Birch, where Jeremy’s grandparents (Elferings) had a cabin. Jeremy and Mathew spent a lot of time on that lake when they were little, and Jeremy has wanted to go back and show me around for a long time. It was great to see the two of them reminisce! Mac did really well too, and also learned a little something about the ease of tinkling as a boy when there’s no potty… yep, right off the side of the boat! After more than two hours, we headed back to the cabin for lunch and naptime, which this time went very well, thank goodness. Vivian had actually fallen asleep during her lunch and continued to sleep when I put Mac down. They both got a better than 3-hour nap! I got a few minutes in there too after eating my lunch while Jeremy took the boat out again for the next arrivals – Ryan & his family.
He took them tubing, and they even tried a bit of skiing. After that, it was back to a whirlwind of dinner preparations, eating, and visiting. Mac warmed up fairly quickly to Ryan, another 3-year-old in the family, and they played a bit before Mac’s bedtime. The kids went down pretty well, and the adults enjoyed a short (due to bugs) campfire, some s’mores, and another short game of Phase 10 before an earlier bedtime to prepare for an early waking to golf.
– Friday, August 5 –
Today was our big golfing day. Mac even got to come along and ride in the cart, and he did mostly ok. We just had one meltdown on one hole when I wouldn’t let him take all of my yellow golf balls. Jeremy and I had a decent game playing 2-man scramble, but you could certainly tell neither of us had played for 2 years. It was a beautiful day, and we had fun out on the course with Mac, Roxi and Jody. Another foursome was ahead of us playing 18 holes. We left after our 9 and headed back to the cabin for lunch and naps. Mat and Wendy graciously watched Vivian while we golfed, and she apparently did quite well. She was sleeping when we returned. 
After lunch, Sue and Bob arrived with Callie and Great-Grandma, and Mac went down for his nap (Jeremy joined him). I tried to join them too, but Vivian woke up, so I got up with her until Roxi took over. Jeremy and Mac got up soon after I laid down, and then I think I slept for a bit. Kim and Chris arrived with the twins, and then it was time for dinner after a quick shower for me. After dinner, we had another campfire until the bugs got bad again. Then after the kids’ bedtime we all convened on the porch for some good visiting time. By this time almost all the cousins had arrived, so there were many stories and lots of laughs!
– Saturday, August 6 –
Bring on the party! Today was the big Bruggeman reunion. We ended up with a huge crowd and a rainy morning. We had a big breakfast then an even bigger lunch, with lots of catching up happening in every corner. 
Great-Grandma had brought some heavy whipping cream to make butter with the little kids (and the big kids had a turn too) – it was yummy!! Mac played with some of the little cousins in between spurts of rain. Surprisingly, the kids both had good naps, which made for a very good day. The rain let up after lunch and the butter-making, so Jeremy got the boat running to pull lots of brave little tubers. I stayed in the house with Vivian, since she woke soon after Mac went to bed. After an hour-and-a-half or so, Roxi took over for me so that I could help Jeremy on the boat while he pulled Reagan on the tube one last time. By then Mac was coming down to the water and wanted to swim, so I got out with him. Jeremy took one more crew for a ride before putting away the boat for the night. Mac and I started out in our big island float, but he really wanted to swim in the lake. I agreed, and swam out to the swimming platform about four times with him, up and down the ladder, back and forth, and when Jeremy was done docking the boat, he joined us for a couple of jumps (I wouldn’t let Mac jump for me because I didn’t have a life-jacket on and couldn’t touch the bottom out there). Then it was time to head in for the mass exodus of relatives heading out. That process took about an hour between packing up, taking pictures with Great-Grandma, and lots of goodbyes. 
Jeremy and I finally settled in to have some dinner with Mac and started to get our stuff packed up too. In the process, it rained a bit, and we saw a beautiful rainbow over the lake! We had another fire and then another big 2-table game of Phase 10, up late trying to squeeze out every ounce of our vacation before our departure day.
There are lots more pictures on Flickr of our fabulous week – there was no way I could fit them all here!
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