Pure Joy: Experiencing Northern Minnesota--Anika's First Vacation

After a summer of hard work, this week our family finally got some much needed rest and vacation time. Stacey, my best friend and teammate from Yale, drove up from Oklahoma City with his lovely bride, Ronna, and their daughter, Lydia. We all piled into the Baumans' mini-van and headed to a cozy resort called Kavanaugh's, in the Brainerd lakes area. It was great fun, and we all got a first-hand glimpse into what life might be like with two kids. It was pretty much all crazy all the time.

As you can see, Lydia is 6 months more advanced than Anika, and had lots to teach her. Anika was mesmerized by her constant toddling around. Hopefully, she picks up Lydia's walking skills but chooses not to model her almost-nudist fashion sense (based on my time rooming with Stacey on the road, I'm pretty sure she gets this from her Dad).

Clearly none of us understand how to pack economically with small children. All this for a three-day trip! We would've needed a trailer had we gone longer. At least the car ride was short. The babes did great in the back seat, and the adults only had to suffer through about 30 minutes of Itsy Bitsy Spider and other assorted songs from Baby Einstein.

Each morning, Anika and I got up early, gave Mom time to sleep in, and sat out by the lake together. I was not entertainment enough by myself (hence the rings), but the time was priceless--a great time and place to rest and read my Bible.

Our activities at the lake were somewhat limited by nap times, baby-feeding, baby-changing, and everything else that goes with bringing little ones on vacation. But in our short windows of awake-time, we made sure that Anika and Lydia got in some solid, northwoods recreation.

This is Anika getting ready for her big paddle-boat ride. We put her in the smallest life-vest they had, which probably would have popped up off of her head in a matter of seconds. Alicia assured me that we had no need to worry because the water was so clear that we'd be able to see her at the bottom if anything were to happen. This was supposed to be comforting. As you can see by Anika's conquering-the-world pose, Anika was a fearless trooper and gung-ho to take to the water.

This is Anika doing her best two-legged Captain Ahab impression. All she could talk about was finding the great white whale. Alicia was relegated to Anika's first mate, Starbuck. I suppose that made me Ishmael.

In addition to paddle-boat cruising, we made sure to hit the pool. Hardly natural northern-Minnesota recreation, but the heated pool water was hard to beat. This is Anika modeling her least-dorky sun hat and getting ready for some swimming.

Anika's frog pose. I've been trying to teach her "ribbit," but I think she's holding out to make "ma-ma" her first word.

Stace and Lydia goofing around.

Anika continues to put on her serious face whenever we're in the water. I don't think she trusts it quite yet. She must get her risk-aversion from grand-pappy Freeman.

Next it was time for Anika's first motorized boat ride. Despite my best efforts to exceed five miles per hour, the paddle boat wasn't fast enough for Anika's taste. The pontoon boat was much more to Anika's liking.