The Boehm Family: Minnesota Summer

The kids and I have been in Minnesota since Thursday. We flew on the same flight with my sister Jen and her kids who were returning home from their summer in Sitka. We were quite the site walking through the airport - 2 adults, 6 kids and a dog. All 6 kids did awesome on the flight. My cousin Anna met us at the airport when we arrived in Minneapolis. We had a 4 hour drive ahead of us to make it to the cabin. This was the leg of the trip I was most worried about. And Natalie lived up to every expectation I had - she cried the entire way! We must have stopped 6 times, and then changed our travel plans. We ended up at Jen's place at 12:30am instead of making the entire trek to the cabin which would have taken us another hour. Anna was such a trooper to deal with the 4 of us! Ryan and Kendall did awesome considering the number of times we had to stop. Once we arrived at Jen's Natalie was happy as could be kicking on the floor. The rest of us were pretty happy we had arrived, too!

We hung out with Jen and her kids for the morning, then ventured to the cabin. None of us were particularly happy to get in the car again, but the 45 minute trip wents smoothly - no stops!

The kids were so happy to get to the cabin, and even happier when the next round of cousins arrived. Jillian and Gabe stopped out to visit for a bit, then Gina, Gunnar, Emma and Evelyn. The Gunderson crew has been here since Friday, and we've been having a great time. Jen and her kids came out on Saturday so the cabin was full with 9 kids and 3 crazy moms! We were blessed with beautiful weather, and the kids were so content to be outside.

On Sunday, we were invited to our long time friend's cabin. The Colligans were so gracious to invite all of us to their amazing place for the entire day. I'm not sure they knew what they were getting into - 11 kids, 5 adults and a dog. Rose and Al have 3 daughters and 7 grandkids so it was quite a houseful. Again, we had beautiful weather so enjoyed being outside the entire day. The kids had a great day swimming in the water, jumping on the water trampoline and fishing. Ryan got the "Biggest Fish" award for the day. He had so much fun jumping off the dock, and spent almost the entire time we were there in the water.

We made it back to the cabin a little later than we were hoping, thanks to Ms. Natalie, but we made it none the less! I'm happy we don't have to travel a long distance with her again for a while.

The last two days have been pretty low key - just hanging out at the cabin living up the lake life. I ventured out in the kayak with Ryan, Kendall, Emma and Evie. They all sat so nice, and just enjoyed being on the water. I enjoyed it as much as they did!

It's been great so far, and am excited we are only at the half-way point of our trip! The only downfall is that Grandma Sue and Grandpa Ken aren't here to enjoy the fun with us. They are still in Sitka until mid-September.