Weekend Sans Kids, Sans Gadgets

Jon and I got a much needed break in between the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season and the 24/7 life of parenting. We made arrangements for the kids (and Eko) to split time with Grandma and Grandpa, my sister Margaret, and my mom. A HUGE thank you for your willingness to watch the kids (and Eko) and keep them safe while we got a little rest.

We had arrangements for Saturday and Sunday night at the Gunflint Lodge, but we opted to extend our mini vacation and maybe be able to enjoy more of our Saturday by leaving Friday evening. So we packed up and headed North; one of our favorite directions! First stop, drop the kids (and Eko) off at Grandma's house just in time for dinner. Then it was off to Tofte where we spent our first night. Getting a majority of the way up north was an excellent decision! We were just a short drive into Grand Marais where we walked around a little and enjoyed an early and delicious lunch at Sven and Ole's Pizza.

From there we headed the rest of the way and up the Gunflint Trail to our destination. We arrived shortly before 1. They let us check in and we made ourselves at home. I'm glad we got there when we did because there was a craft we could do over in one of the buildings - wreath making. It was an interesting and fairly simple process, yet so much fun. We helped trip the boughs and the instructor used the wire machine to bind the trimmings to the wire base. We took it easy that evening, relaxing by the fire, reading books.

What's cool about being that far north, at least in this area, is that cell phones don't work and the internet is sparse. They did have wifi in the main Lodge that I used a couple of times, but that was it. And I only logged on to their network because I said I would check email just in case they needed something regarding the kids. No emails, no worries. (Again, I reiterate how thankful I am for all of you!)

We had loaded in our cross country skis and our snow shoes, just in case they had more snow than we did in the cities. And again, we were glad we did! Saturday we had breakfast then went snow shoeing out from our cabin and found some nice overlooks. Than after lunch, we took a recommendation from the front desk and went walking along the Kekekabic and Centennial Trail. Oh yes, it was interactive! The hike took 2.5, almost 3 hours. A little longer than anticipated, but we were still back to our cabin in time for watching the deer come out to eat.

Now, at the Gunflint Lodge, it is the responsibility of the guests to keep the birds and deer fed. I was a little overwhelmed, I'll be honest, as to what that meant. But once we arrived and saw the huge bins in the front entry of the main Lodge, I quickly got on board. I was a little giddy at the fact that the deer come right up to your cabin windows if you put the corn out. AND I was ecstatic that, when I was out laying out the corn on Sunday evening, a deer came out of now where and started eating from my piles while I was still only a couple yards away. I didn't want to make a move for the door and startle the deer away. I saw Jon, capturing this on camera, motioning to put the corn in my hand to see if it would eat out of my hand. AND IT DID!!!! CRAZY!!

So, as you might be able to tell, I was a little bit excited about this! I made sure to go back to the Lodge and get more corn and bird seed so the area would be plenty stocked for breakfast. Our Sunday wrapped up calmly in the cabin by the fire. Monday we took in our last sounds of silence, packed up, and headed back down the Gunflint. We made it home safe and sound with the kids, awaiting the arrival of Betsy and Justin, coming into town for Christmas.

A fabulous, much needed, weekend away. Ahh, good memories! Oh and stay tuned for "The Winter Fall"...

Nightly Bible Reading

It has been great to see Brianna's excitement to hearing bible stories, and her trying to understand that Jesus came as a baby, but now lives in our hearts. We have a couple different bibles we use almost daily and a children's devotion we use every night. She sits and listens to the devotion and almost always asks to read the next one. Whether or not she is just stalling the rest of the bedtime routine, it's still cute and hard to tell her she'll have to wait till tomorrow. 

Over the Christmas season, she soaked in every story about the birth of Jesus. When I would ask her what the angels said, she responded, "Glory to God in the highest, Peace and Goodwill to all men!" and "Do not be afraid." So cute, right? Now she looks through each bible trying to find the that has the picture of Mary holding baby Jesus. She's also remembered where she's seen nativities around town then ask where baby Jesus went. Yes, so cute!

Church has been awesome too. She loves going into her "school" - that is Sunday school. They read stories, sometime act them out, create fabulous works of art, and get to play with all the fun toys. It is amazing how fast she has grown up. She has such a gentle spirit and a desire to help others. We are so blessed!

A Special Visitor

His name... Rumble Tumble (or RT for short). Contrary to his name, he was a little more cautious his first year as he eased into our family. He arrived from the North Pole the morning of December 6th, perched on our dining room light. A pretty good vantage point, now that our remodel is done! He brought a note and books almost every day during his stay - even made a trip to Gammie's house for an impromptu sleepover. Some books were more exciting than others, but each book got a fair shot at family reading time.

We had a special celebratory breakfast for his arrival - Swedish pancakes with fresh strawberries and raisins  Yum!

Brianna wasn't fully aware of his role in our family at the beginning, but near Christmas, she started to pick up on his mysterious nature! One day, if Brianna had been extra helpful, RT said he would make cookies for her. Special gluten-free ones that he knew she could have. Boy, was she excited that next morning! I had everything I could do to not feed her cookies for breakfast. Silly Rumble Tumble for bringing them in the morning...

Unfortunately, that afternoon RT sent the cookies back to the North Pole because someone was having a hard time. "Santa got 'em," was her response after nap. Now don't fret, RT tucked some away for her, because she redeemed herself after a little shut eye. But this reaction is very sweet.

Christmas Eve, RT was sitting atop our Christmas tree, the perfect location to be surrounded by the laughter and in the center of the day's happenings. It was fun to have him with us but knew it was time for him to back with the other elves at the North Pole. We said goodbye to our new friend that night.

Every once in a while I hear Brianna talking about Rumble Tumble. She grew very fond of him and had fun searching for him and the books he brought each morning. It's was fun to see Brianna and Carl's excitement and wonderment for the Christmas season and their anticipation of Jesus' birthday!

Precursor

I was feeling crafty after thanksgiving. And I had a wall downstairs where the kids play that was begging to be changed up. SO... I took square cork-boards, cut out letters these letters, spray painted and then hung them up. Pretty fun and colorful, don't you think?

I also had an idea to spray paint clothes pins and put a string up in our living room to hang our christmas cards that we received this year. I loved how it turned out, plus it had a dual purpose come Brianna's Birthday (more to come). It ended up being very festive and decorative.

Oh, and the letters also ended up having a dual purpose and traveled with us to our family photo shoot (more of that to come too).

I love when crafts are even craftier than first imagined!

Personal Time

Carl loves his bath times. Being the youngest and in close age to his sister, there are few nights that he gets bath time alone. This was one of those rare opportunities! 

Our regularly scheduled bath time is after dinner, about 2 to 3 times a week. Carl, however, thinks bath time (unless he's in Hawaii that is) thinks it should be every night. There are many nights that after I wash his face and hands from dinner, he toddles into the bathroom asking for a bath. He gets a lot of, "No, not tonight." So you can imagine his excitement when he gets a, "Carl, it's bath time!"

He is always full of smiles - bath time or not! His energy and excitement for life and adventures draws out smiles in everyone he meets.

Stranger Comment story: My mom and I were at Caribou a couple weeks ago with the kids just warming up for a few minutes. There were two open chairs by the fireplace, that was not on. Brianna and Carl sat quietly for a few minutes, then Carl discovered that he could climb up the ledge and stand by the fireplace, again it was not on. A man finishing his work and packing up asked how old the two were and made a comment that Carl didn't have any fear. I believe he said he had 2 girls close in age then a son a few years later. He was saying that they thought having the 2 girls might help keep the son semi calm, but that's not how it worked out! I would have to agree. One point, Carl got himself back on the ledge and walked right to the edge just giggling. The man said, "Whoa!"(based on Carl's calm appearance in relation to where he was walking). I simply replied, "Yup, no fear is right."

I'm sure my heart will jump a few times at the sight of what he decides he can conquer, but I love watching him work through solving how he can accomplish it. And then comes the smiles!  In case you missed it... he is a rough and tumble BOY!!

The Rocking Chair Makes a Great Bed!

I posted mid November about Carl rocking himself to sleep in the rocking chair. He is very fond of his rocking chair! We have since taken the rocker out of his room to allow him to fall asleep in his bed, which is only 7 short feet away! He's so good at bed and nap time that I wasn't sure I needed to take it away, but the positions I would find him just looked like would leave his little body soar.

No rocking chair and still a peaceful nights sleep. Ahh... I'm thankful for a smooth transition!

November 16

November 29

December 7

The Cute Factor?

I know this is a while ago but it's worth sharing!

Last September, on a lovely Sunday morning, we got ready and went to church. We dropped Carl and Brianna off in the nursery and headed into the sanctuary. After the first opening songs, usually comes the announcements. This Sunday there was a super cute participant!

One of the Kids directors pulled Brianna out to exploit her cuteness and try to recruit new volunteers for the kids ministry. She apologized later saying she just couldn't resist using her as a prop with how cute she looked in her tutu. Brianna just held on and looked shy as she receive many awes from the crowd. Jon managed to grab his phone and take a quick photo.

Tutu or no tutu, she is pretty cute - if I haven't already mentioned it!

Batting 500

Some may say it's just average, but to us 500 blog posts is a great accomplishment! Some months may have lacked in posts, others were abundant, but all of them were written to give you a glimpse into our Bonko life. Official documentation began, May 19, 2008. What was your favorite post?

We hope you enjoy our adventures! Here's to 500 more!

499... Friends Helping Friends

A few months ago, I offered to one of my friends that I could take her two girls for a playdate sometime. We settled on a day and we got to play all morning. We had a blast - everyone played so well together!

Sophia is 9 months older than Brianna and Greta is 11 days younger than Carl. Having friends relatively close in age is so much fun. You could just see their excitement as they understand each other and were creative together. We played upstairs and down, here and there, with this and that, and even squeezed in a snack.

We built another fort. Definitely for the princesses in the room! Look at the plush fort floor, complete with a view, padded entrance and driveway!

But this princess fort had a monster lurky around every cushion! Translation: Carl kept climbing up and pulling off the fort cover, then I would come fixing behind him fixing it. Not sure if I was the monster or Carl, but we had fun and made lots of noise!

Can't wait for our next chance to get together for some fun!

498... Fort Construction

Cousin Danya had the perfect setup in her bedroom to build a fort between her bed and parallel dresser. After getting home, Brianna started getting herself up in the morning and coming into our room to wake us up. As nice as this is, if she woke up early, I wanted to try to have her read books quietly to give us time to wake up without her pulling us out of bed. What better way to do that then to have her cozy up in her own little fort. Easily accessible to books and toys.

It was perfect. It was tucked away in the corner of the family room, it could stay up without being in the way of playing elsewhere, and daddy and I could even fit comfortably to join in on the fun. Plus, it was expandable!

It stayed up for a good week and maybe a little longer. It wasn't until they discovered they could climb up on the couch and fall over the edge that the fort came tumbling down... for good!

*No one was hurt in the making (or destruction) of this fort.*

Home is...

Where husband/daddy is! Brianna and Carl couldn't get enough of their daddy. They read a lot of books together and generally just cuddled and laughed together. I think Eko was glad to have us home too. That meant he wasn't home alone all day while Jon was at work. Eko just makes himself comfortable all the time, but once we got home it seemed he was able to be more relaxed.

Hawaii - Our Flight(s) Home

I think the short nap helped Carl out. We made it through security quickly and quietly! AND they were given TSA Junior Officer stickers - watch out world! After we found our gate, all Carl wanted to do was walk (what I really mean here is run) around. He wanted nothing to do with sitting still. And in all actuality  it wasn't a bad thing since he was going to have to sit still on the plane. Notice the blurry picture of him... 

We were all a bit tired but waited patiently for the plane. While we waited there was a family also waiting, a mom, two boys and a girl. They were having fun watching Brianna and Carl move about in their pjs. Not sure where their Dad was coming in from, but they welcomed him with such smiles, laughter and tears. It was very sweet! They wished us a safe flight.

We got ourselves situated and I tried reiterating to the kids that it was time to sleep. Again, they did SO well on the plane. Kids are amazing. Besides one meltdown from Brianna about 1.5 hours from landing, they slept or were quite the whole way. I got up at meltdown point with Brianna, laid Carl on the seat (thankfully, he stayed sleeping), and walked with her in the aisle. A stewardess came by and offered B some water, much appreciated. She calmed down quickly and we sat in an empty seat to watch a little in flight movie. We didn't get very far because it was almost time to land. P.S. I didn't really sleep. I tried, but no such luck for mommy. There is the proof, "Infant in Arms". Carl felt so much more than an infant, thus the constant shifting to get comfortable, which also meant no sleep.

We arrived ahead of schedule - 6:50 am San Francisco time (3:50 am our internal Hawaii time and 8:50 in MN). It felt early! I unpacked a few snacks for the kids and my dad and mom got some coffee and me some tea.

Now this is where it got interesting! Our last flight home our tickets were two in front, two in back. All the other flights were three across and one behind/front - which was great because then my mom and I could sit three across with the two kids. I wasn't sure how I would make it the last, pivotal  flight by myself in two seats with two cranky kids, with a possible stranger next to us. Thankfully, we were able to switch and get the third seat and all was well. I had to make sure I was up at the podium when he "became available" because I didn't want to take a chance on that extra seat! They did great the last flight and we were ALL excited to be back in MN awaiting Daddy to pick us up. I wish, I wish, I wish I could have gotten Brianna's expression on video when Jon got out of the car. No one every told me to be ready with my video camera! She said (in a very expressive, very enthusiastic, very loving little 2.5 year old girl voice), "DADDY, Daddy, Daddy!" Aw, priceless. 

We dropped off my parents and headed home for an uneventful afternoon. I unpacked and did laundry. Our next door neighbors were having a farewell party for our other neighbors who finally sold their house. We decided to go and everyone was amazed we came, maybe more so that I wasn't sleeping! We ended up inviting them over to see the remodel project too. They didn't stay long, but were thankful to see the updated version of our house. 

All in all, it was an amazing adventure. I know I've said it before, but we were blessed to have been able to go and visit my sister in Hawaii. It hit me pretty hard that Sunday, but thanks to the Lord for keeping a close eye on her being so far away. We love you Laura, John, Danya, and Katriel! Can't wait to see you again!

Hawaii - October 26

How to post about Friday, our last day together... It was fun-filled and so bittersweet.

Look at all those freckles! I didn't realize while we were there, but I can see it now.
Oh how the sun brings them out!

It started by Danya heading off to school and my mom, Laura, Brianna, Carl and I off to a mom's group halloween party at a local park. It was fun to see more of Laura's Island life. It would definitely be on my list to live if it weren't for the extreme no trade-wind heat (I'm one of those prefer to be cold than hot people), and the "I'm always watching" ants that just don't go away. I mean, I wouldn't rule anything out though. I could probably get over the heat, but ants top my list of do not engage species. It might sound silly, but ever since my mom and I, with a class field trip, went to see the "Ants" show on the Omnitheater, they just creep me out and give me nightmares. Then there was the time my friends baby sister was covered in red ants and we had to spray her down with the hose... Ok, moving on!

It was fun to go to the park and hang out. It was fun too because all the moms were oohing and aahing over baby Kat. It was a little funny though, because we completely blanked and packed B in the car without any shoes on! Oh well, she didn't seem to mind.

The whole week, Danya was on an early release schedule so that was nice because we got to spend a little more time with her in the afternoons. We took a few 'girl cousin' photos and worked on a small art project for my mom. When Brianna and Lucius were still babies, she spent time with my sister while I worked part time. Margaret painted Oliver, Lucius, and Brianna's feet and put them down on paper. So my mom wanted to recreate fun grandkid art with the girls and then hoped to do one with the boys. So we painted feet and put it on paper! Brianna was a very good subject. Notice her hand in concentration...

We hung our last loads of laundry to dry on the line, got our last snuggle moments in with Baby Kat, finished packing up our suitcases, played our last in the backyard, gave our last baths and simply tried to enjoy the day.

Carl went to bed at his normal time, because I thought he might need that extra sleep to give him a boost till we boarded the plane. Plus that allowed me to go next door to Laura's neighbor, Mac's house, who said to stop by and relax for a few minutes in her message chairs before we left. It felt good.


Our flight boarded at 10:15 pm, which means we left Laura's at about 8:30. I stayed strong saying goodbye to John, Kat and Danya. I rode with Laura and my kids to the airport and mom and dad rode with Mac in her car. The hardest part that evening was seeing Danya realize we were leaving and start crying, clinging to John with a small wave. It was fun to be able to share that time with her, in her house and with her toys. They have come to MN a few times, but to have Brianna and Danya share memories in Hawaii, was special.  With everything out of the car, packed and ready to go, we said goodbye to Laura and went in to wait for our plane. Goodnight and aloha Hawaii!