Augle Family: Minnesota 2013 ... The Good, The Bad, and The Truck Part 1

Minnesota was an interesting trip this year. Definitely not my favorite year but even though I had many complaints, there were still good parts too. To begin with, I drove with the girls and Grandma Gen up to our hotel about 8 hours into the trip. The girls were amazing on the ride up there. We did stop for lunch and even a treat and coffee at McDonalds. When we got to the hotel, the girls went swimming while we waited for other members of the family to get there. When they did, we had a picnic outside and watched the ducks in the water. Grandma Gen took Julianne to her hotel room after dinner and the girls swam a little more. We then bathed and went to bed while I waited for Paul and his dad to get there. They arrived around midnight and Paul drove us the rest of the way to the cabin. Again, the girls were awesome. So far, so good.

Our traditional first stop on the way to the cabin. We made it!

The whole trip had ups and downs. We all slept in one room. The girls had sleeping bags and Grace slept on the floor in her sleeping bag the entire time. It was amazing. She even sleeps in the sleeping bag now at home some times. Julianne was a wonderful baby and Charlotte and I slept very close every night. We pushed two twin beds together and had Charlotte in the middle. Not a Honeymoon but honestly everyone was so good that I didn't even care. During the week, we visited the visitor's center, went shopping, played by the beach, took the canoes and paddle boats out and fished. Grace even got to see the state flower of Minnesota which is the Lady Slipper (and apparently is very rare and only blooms once every 14 years or something like that). Here are the "good" moments in pictures.

If you look in the background, you can see the Minnesota State Flowers.

Grace playing with the minnows.

Hawks Win... and yes I am wearing my Jersey!

At the gift shop.

Grace and I playing at the gift shop. Grace took this picture.

Dressing up Julianne!

Heading down to the ice cream social with Gram, MaryJane and Pete. Clearly Charlotte felt she need a ride.

A deer right by our cabin. Very cool!

Great Gram and Grace watching TV.

Ready for playing at the beach! Julianne slept in the stroller right by my chair. Mommy got to get a little sun... at least for one day.

Minnesota Pictures Cont. Basically from all of these pictures, you can tell that the girls loved the vacation.

Pretty much both of their positions all week in the cabin. I think Gram loved having Julianne to rock next to her.

Julianne being a complete angel and sleeping in the rock n play next to Great Gram!

The reason why we keep going year after year... enough said.

Grace got to reel this fish in all by herself. It was so fun to watch, especially because she was getting really upset that she wasn't catching any fish earlier in the week. Put it on the board!

I finally got to go out in the boat with Paul on one of our last days in Minnesota. This is the weather I got to fish in... rain. I didn't catch any fish. Oh well! Next year.

I don't know how to rotate this picture but this was Julianne cheering on the Blackhawks. We got to watch them win the Stanley Cup while in Minnesota! Go Hawks!

I have no idea whose fish this was but Charlotte looks awesome holding it. She is definitely an Augle!

Charlotte reeled in this fish all by herself. She absolutely LOVED fishing and hanging out on the dock. In my opinion she liked the minnows a bit TOO much and was rubbing them on her cheek. EWWWW! Baths every night

Charlotte and her fishing gear. She had her tackle box with her make up and her fishing stuff plus a little minnow net to play with the bait.

Pigtails!

Oops... where did my fishy go???

"No, I will not jump in the water, dad"

"Oh, yes, you will... let's go"

"The water is too cold so I am going to hang on your neck."

"Whew. We made it back to the ladder!"

This was our sleeping set up. What you see is where we all slept. Julianne was being the bed and the wall in a rock n play. A pack and play would not have fit. Only benefit. We had a bathroom in our room.

Visitor's center. Grace got to apply to be a Junior Ranger. She had to do a packet and bring it back in later, hence the other pictures of just Grace and I.