Minnesota Magic Continued - Brainerd Edition

We said goodbye to the Hoekman crew and continued on with our Minnesota vacation. :)

We stopped for lunch in Brainerd, I don't remember what this restaurant was called but I had the best walleye sandwich! 

Our little family had not dined out in ages so we had to dust off our coloring books and crayons and remind the children about proper etiquette! Hah! Do you all remember Roman's dinosaur / prehistoric creature obsession a few years ago? Well this little coloring page of a glyptodon was a blast from the past from those days!! Love coloring a rainbow Glyptodon with my middle son. :)

We finished lunch and it was still too early to check into our hotel so we opted for some mini golf.

The bigs love a good golf game!

The older kiddos played golf with their Dad while I chased this little dude around the course!

Everyone loved the pirate ships and the rope bridges. 

I like this picture because Dan Storm looks like such a Dad here! Bhahaha!

After a hot afternoon on the golf course this dude was ready for a nap and some pool time! 

We arrived at our hotel and Leo kept yelling about a 'Cookie Dump Truck'. I looked out the window and saw this scene! :)

Our hotel had a pretty awesome pool / waterslide park. The kids were thrilled!

After pool time we retired to our room for showers/bath time and pizza in bed. :)

We had a little move night complete with popcorn + Junior Mints purchased from the hotel's front desk.

We visited the pool one more time the next day. Can't beat the waterslide first thing in the morning! 

Ugh - the air quality in Brainerd was so poor the next day. It was just thick with smoke and smelled like campfire due to forest fires in Minnesota and Canada. I was watching the weather and the local news person said that the quality was such that being outside all day was the equivalent of smoking 3 cigarettes. Insert wide eyed emoji here. We played outside for a bit and then did some grocery shopping before heading to our next leg of the Minnesota vacation. :)

My 2 L's enjoyed their walk in the park. I am not sure why Roman was crabby but everyone has their moments on family vacation, right? Next up - our Storm family weekend in Mille Lacs. :)

Minnesota Magic - Itasca + Bemidji

After the Smeby family reunion, we continued with our Minnesota vacation - stopping by some very familiar places from my childhood. :) We hopped on this well worn trail and made our way ...

...to the Mississippi Headwaters!

The children were so happy to wade across this spot. 

How special to be at Itasca with your grandparents and a pack of cousins!

Roman and Peter were happy to cool off on this hot July afternoon. 

And look at how cute Mom and Dad are dipping their toes in the water.

Of course the LAA Club had to pose for a photo.

Roman always has his eyes on Leo - he is very protective of his little brother. 

Here he is guiding Leo through the water.

Here is our little family standing next to the Mighty Mississippi sign. 

You can't visit the Headwaters without getting some ice cream! :)

We stayed at a cute little rental just outside of Park Rapids, Minnesota.

The cousin shenanigans are always on full display during mealtimes! Haha!

The cabin we stayed in had a nice fishing dock and lots of kayaks. :)

Elijah + Leo love to read books at bedtime.

And they spend lots of time stalling as well! Hahaha!

We fed all of the kiddos breakfast on Monday morning and loaded everyone up for ...

A day in beautiful Bemidji! 

Years ago, in the late '30's and early '40's, my Grandma Smeby went to college in this town. :)

We played on the playground and then zipped over to see the famous Paul Bunyan + Babe the Blue Ox Statues. 

I remember visiting this very same Paul Bunyan with my grandparents 30+ years ago! 

And you can't forget about his faithful Blue Ox Babe. :)

Here is the entire crew {minus Paul Hoekman} with Paul Bunyan.

After we peeled all of the children off of Paul and Babe's legs, we popped into the visitors center.

The kiddos put their hot little faces in Paul and Babe cutouts.

And we checked out the 'artifacts' including Paul's toenails (??) So gross. Roman, however, thought that they were pretty awesome!  

We inquired about area lakes for swimming but the weather had been so hot recently that the person at the information center advised us not to hit the beach because there was so much swimmers itch. We opted for another outing that afternoon but before we continued on our Bemidji adventures we zipped across the street to eat lunch. I had not eaten at a pizza buffet since the pre-COVID days but all of the kids were certainly on board for a salad bar + pasta bar + pizza complete with an ice cream machine at the end. We even had our own private party room. :)

I snapped this photo to send to Daniel ... you can tell that you are in Northern Minnesota when there is pickled herring on the salad bar!! Hahaha! 

We had a nice post-lunch walk through Bemidji - Roman loved this guitar.

Everyone wanted a picture with these angel wings.

The girls thought that these were the coolest photos.

The boys liked posing with the wings too!

Including Uncle Austin! Hah!

Our destination for the afternoon was the Headwaters Science Center!

The children were so happy to see the exhibits and pet the animals. 

Roman and Peter couldn't wait to handle the snakes!

Neither could Austin! LOL!

My children just delight in snakes for some reason.

This young man in the animal area was a college student at Bemidji State University. He was so patient with all of Roman's questions and very knowledgeable. 

These boys were just head over heels for these snakes!! 

We eventually got these guys out of the snake pit and into other areas of the museum. :)

I told Katie that she reminded me of Brittany Spears. :)

After our day in Bemidji we headed back to the ranch and stopped by Itasca for a quick swim on the way home. 

Love to feel that summer breeze in our hair and sand in our toes!

We spent the evenings fishing off the dock.

The girlies went kayaking. Leo pretended to go boating. :)

There is no better way to spend a July evening than fishing off a dock!

Grandpa and Grandma helped monitor this crazy crew of grandkids.

We spent more time hiking at Itasca on Tuesday. :)

Here's another picture with Grandpa too! Leo was the navigator on this day, reading the map for everyone! ;)

I had to shake my head because all of these 'state record' trails that we walked down were no longer applicable and they all said 'Formerly' ... 

Here is that white pine beauty that used to hold the record.

Same story for the red pine ... I think that a wind storm knocked a big chunk of this red pine down and it is no longer the tallest in the state. 

Here it is in all of its glory! 

We walked down a trail to an observation tower.

A few of us made it to the top! :)

Grandma, Katie and her crew headed back to South Dakota so the rest of us ... 

Spent the evening fishing,

We worked on sidewalk chalk art,

And we had an epic corn hole tournament!

What a fun little getaway with the Hoekman crew!