Catching you all up...

What a "vacation"....it was definitely not dull. Now to catch you up on the past 2 weeks. Parades, the ER, a funeral, a UHaul, a teenager and a half birthday...all explained below. :)

Wednesday...

Max, Jack and I headed to the cabin last Wednesday morning. Scott was bringing the older boys on Friday after their golf tournament. We made it there by dinner time. Max was a real trooper in the car and Jack a real help. Only 2 stops to eat for Max. We were greeted at the cabin by Grandma and our niece Ariana, she is living there for the month of July and working at the local book store once again.

Ariana and Max

Thursday...

My cousin Debbie, passed away early Thursday morning. We pray she is in heaven and at peace now. We pray for her Mom, Marilyn, and daughters, Tara and Brianna as well. Untreated alcoholism is a tough disease.

Jack lost a tooth on Thursday, tooth #7. Which was exciting.

with one more tooth out...7 missing

snuggling with Bahma

Friday...

Friday, we had a fun time in the lake. My big brother Mike came up with his kiddos, Charlie and Alice, while Cara stayed home to be with her Mom. So it was a full day with the kids all playing. My dear friend Julie Winn stopped over with her 2 boys for awhile as well, she had not met Max. Julie was our Maid of Honor in our wedding, we have been friends since we were 3. Loved seeing her. Scott and the big boys arrived late that night. Mom and Dad headed to Mpls that morning for a wedding. Lots of commuting for them this summer with Dad's treatments.

Alice and Max playing in the morning

Julie and Max

Saturday...

Saturday, we unloaded the UHaul that was holding one of our brown leather sofas. We had 2 in our family room, decided with a moving baby soon we didn't need 2, so we brought one to the cabin for the lower level great room, and mom and dad gave the old couch to my cousin Eric. So we did the sofa shuffle on Saturday morning...then enjoyed an afternoon at the lake. Jack, Tommy and Charlie all tried their hand at waterskiing. Mike got up for a few spins around the bay...I made the effort to ski, think it's been about 6 years since I have skied, no luck this time. This body is not quite back in waterskiing shape I guess. Oh well it was fun to try. The boys were great cheerleaders for me. The Nisswa parade was Saturday night so we headed to that. Nothing like the local parades...

the sofa shuffle

Max tries out the baby pool...SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH

Jack hitching a ride with our neighbor on their jetski

Jack tries waterskiing

Mike tried to splash the viewers as he ends his skiing

Max's first parade

The Nisswa parade

Sunday, was the 4th of July, we were decked out in our red white and blue and off to the Pequot Lakes parade that morning, yep 2 parades. We love the small town parades and the boys love collecting the candy, they don't like eating it but sure like catching it. :) IN the afternoon my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dean came over with Eric and his kiddos and my cousins Annette for the annual Twig/Bergie 4th of July dinner and fireworks show. Lots of pics from that night...

happy baby Max loving his 2nd parade

Paul Bunyan's chair in Pequot Lakes

After the parade

Charlie

Drew

Jack eating smores

My cousin Eric's son, Carsten

Eric's daughter Else

My cousin Annette

Eric's son Soren

Tommy

Max figuring out how to take his woobie out

Alice

Poppy is the fireworks master

Max's first fireworks show

Monday...

2:46 am that night I heard the garage door open and my Dad's car leave... we sleep in the "shack" which is like a hotel suite above the garage, 3 beds for boys and then a room for us...ac and bathroom too. It's wonderful. I woke up Scott and asked him what time it was, thinking he missed their golf tee time. When he told me 2:46 I panicked...called Dad's cell phone..no answer. He had left it at the cabin. Called my brothers' cell since he was in the cabin. He answered. He said that Mom's left arm was hurting so Dad was taking her to the ER. IF ANY OF YOU know my DAD then you know the panic he would be in with my Mom not feeling well. He does NOT do well with her sick with a cold let alone this. SO I grabbed Max, nursing baby has to be with his Mama and headed to the ER following them 20 minutes behind. By the time we got to the ER they had ruled out a heart attack but wanted to run more tests. We left the ER feeling confident it wasn't her heart, but she was still in pain. We were beat...it was 7:50 am. Monday we laid low at the cabin Max and I went back to bed...Mike left to head home with his kiddos before we were back awake. We enjoyed a quiet day.

Tuesday...

We all headed back to Minneapolis on Tuesday morning for my cousin Deb's funeral. It was held at my Aunt Marilyn's church, Dad spoke and did a beautiful job and our long time family friend, Pastor Rod, performed the funeral. We saw a lot of cousins and relatives there. It was nice to have them meet Max and to have some time with them despite the circumstances. We headed back to the cabin in the afternoon.

Wednesday..

We now are the parents of a teenager. Tommy turned 13 on Wednesday. Happy BIRTHDAY sweet Tommy! According to him it was the best day of his EVER. He woke up to his breakfast of choice, eggs, bacon and the secret family recipe of "little rolls" homemade by Poppy. We opened his gifts, he was super excited for those. He then went to play 9 holes of golf with Drew, Grandpa and Grandma rode along, didn't play due to her arm still hurting badly. Then his choice of burgers on the grill for lunch...an afternoon of playing at the cabin and tubing...dinner out at Rafferty's Pizza downtown Nisswa, DQ ice cream cake for dessert then off to a round of mini golf alone with Dad at Pirate's Cove. Doesn't get much better than that if you are a teenager. So proud of Tommy...and his sweet, gentle spirit. Love you buddy.

Poppy trying on Tommy's birthday gift that he's been dreaming of...Oakley's

after golfing

tubing fun

Happy 13th Birthday Tommy!

Thursday...

Thursday was another day at the cabin. Although we did start this day off in a not so vacation way...the boys were all given jobs and chores and we cleaned the cabin for my Mom. Boys cleaned bathrooms, dusted, vacuumed,scrubbed the floors on their hands and knees...they did a wonderful job and I know Grandma really appreciated the treat of a free housecleaning job done by the Shisler Clean Team. Thanks guys! We did have fun and played the rest of the day. Max took his first swim in the lake, loved it. We even got Daddy to go tubing, that was a first. Tommy and Jack are the speed demons and I almost flipped them off the tube with my speed boat driving. They had a terrific time. Drew had fun tubing as well. Jack said the most priceless thing to my Dad...Dad was sitting on the dock watching Max's inagural swim in the lake and Jack looked up at him and said the following...

"Poppy, is this what you were thinking when you bought this place so many years ago? Were you thinking that someday you'd be sitting on the dock watching your grandsons swimming in the lake?" hmmm can you imagine the tears that filled his eyes as he replied to Jack "yes, Jack. It's what I was thinking"."

First time in the lake

Checking out the slide

trying the tube with mama

our very favorite centerpiece at meals

more tubing for Max

Friday...

Scott and Tommy left early in the morning for a baseball tourney back home. Mike and Cara came back to drop off Charlie and Alice for the weekend...they were off to Madeline Island to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Mom headed to urgent care to try to get help with her still VERY painful arm/shoulder stuff. She came home with not such great news, they think she may have a disc in her neck that has gone bad. We are hoping it's a pinched nerve not a disc. She had an MRI Monday, we don't have those results yet. Needless to say she came back with lots of very strong meds...the boys and I were planning on heading back but opted to stay the weekend to care for Charlie and Alice. Between Mom's neck/shoulder and arm and Dad's exhaustion and side effects from his radiation, it only made sense for me to stay and help. Mike and Cara needed the getaway.

Saturday...

We headed over to the Bergie cabin, where my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dean are...and spent lunchtime with them and part of the day. It was fun to visit them and it was good for Mom and Dad to have some quiet without 5 kiddos running around. Uncle Dean provided some fun boat and jetski rides for the boys. Saturday night we tried out the new DQ Grill and Chill in town and enjoyed a night off of dishes and cooking

note no photos from Friday or Saturday

I lacked in photo taking this day...caring for my youngest 3 plus my brothers 2 made it so photos just didn't happen. :)

Sunday...

Max is 6 months old today...happy half birthday to our sweet baby Max! It was a rainy morning so the kids stayed inside most of the time, with a few hours of playing with bikes and the fun toys. Jack taught Alice how to dunk her cookies in milk, you can thank us later Mike and Cara. :) Mom still not feeling great. We stayed for lunch and then we headed home to Iowa...via dropping Charlie and Alice off in Eden Prairie. Felt more like a school bus really...5 kids in the back of the suburban, thankful for the DVD player. After dropping them off we ended up in a 1 hour detour...so it ended up taking us forvever to get home. Pulled in the driveway around 10:30 that night..just beat. But happy to be home, came home to a clean house, fresh flowers for me, the laundry caught up and a smiling husband ready to unload the car for me and let me go to bed.

Poppy reading "Good Night Lake" to Max and Alice in the morning

Jack teaching Alice how to dunk cookies (sharing the milk)

She's got it down :)

Whew...it was not a "vacation"...too busy to call it that. But it was a blessed time with lots of family time. Loved the moments and the memories.

Please keep my Mom in your prayers until we can get to the bottom of this pain she is having.