SIX

Mason is 6.  I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I no longer have a baby, no longer have a toddler, no longer a preschool but my baby is a school age kiddo!  He is one of the wittiest 6 year olds I have ever met, always has a quick come back or answer and many times just leaves me shaking my head (because I am so proud of how smart he is).  Mason is very social, loves school and playing video games with his big brother, he enjoys play dates with his friends, loves to help me bake or cook dinner,  prefers to be outside exploring and most of all loves to learn!  He amazes me daily with everything he has learned in the last year, the most impressive is his reading skills.  He will pick up a book he has never read before and he breezes through it like its no big deal at all.  I look forward to watching Mason continue to grow however sometimes I wish I could keep him young forever.  I love you forever and a day Mason and you will always be my baby!

 

Polar Cubs Camp 2017

This past weekend I attended Polar Cubs Camp with Colton for our last time!  He will earn the highest Cub Scout Rank next month and will crossover to the Boy Scout Troop so we knew we had to attend Polar Cubs camp one last time together.  The weather was amazing, a nice warm 38 degrees which for January is not normal.  However warm temps also meant melting snow and puddles everywhere.  After 6 hours at camp the boys were completely soaked but that doesn't mean it was a blast.  We worked on our Winter Survival Skills, got to throw Tomahawks, learned about habits of winter animals, enjoyed hot chocolate around Council Fire, had another delicious camp lunch (actually this was one of the best I have had) and we ended our day with sledding and tubing. It was such a fun day with my scout, I am so lucky to get to attend this awesome events with Colton.  I know these are memories that I will never forget and hopefully he treasures them as much as I do :)  

This last picture was taken by Colton, my little budding photographer. I wanted to document the coolest Cub Scout Parents at camp (and of course another scout who felt the need to photobomb our photo)!

Lake of the Woods

Well we survived our first weekend out on the ice!  Clint and I bought an Ice House (RV Edition) and it was completed last week and ready for pick up.  We didn't plan to waste any time getting it out on the ice as Winter only lasts so long so we immediately made plans for our first weekend trip.  We looked online at reviews for a couple different lakes and talked to some people at the Sportsman Show and ultimately decided to head to Lake of the Woods for the weekend.   Clint has always wanted to fish on Lake of the Woods and we heard the walleye were biting good so it sounded like a great place to break in our new Ice House.  We packed up the trailer with blankets, pillows, clothes, fishing gear and of course plenty of food and snacks and we hit the road early Saturday Morning.  It is a 6 hour drive and of course we needed to make a couple stops for bathroom breaks, snacks, gas and to just stretch our legs.  By 2:30 we had arrived at Zippel Bay Resort and paid for our 3 day pass to use their ice roads (best investment ever, I couldn't imagine trying to pull that big trailer out onto a lake we didn't know at all without having plowed roads).  We found a place to set up "camp" and by 4pm we had our lines in the water and within 15 minutes had our first walleye, yup it was going to be a good weekend.  The next 48 hours were spent fishing, playing video games (the boys all had their Nintendo DS's with them), laughing, resting, napping, playing outside in the snow (going exploring as the boys called it) and just having fun.  We did leave the comfort of our ice house to go to the World Famous Igloo Bar which is out on the ice (mind you were are about 1.5 miles from the entrance onto the lake).  We enjoyed a beer and pizza and then headed back to our house to continue fishing.  Overall we caught 21 walleye which isnt too bad at all.  We did clean the fish and enjoy fresh fish for dinner Sunday night (and again one night this week as we brought some home too)!  The boys did great sleeping out on the ice.  The only time they even showed any concern was Sunday night as we were just getting settled down for bed and all of a sudden the entire trailer shook.  There must have been a heave or crack in the ice somewhere on the lake which caused all the water underneath to ripple and by the time it got to us it was strong enough to shift the ice and cause the house to shake.  It was a creepy feeling and the boys weren't too sure that they wanted to experience that again (and I agree, that was my least favorite part of the trip).  Other than that we had a great time and we look forward to more fishing trips this year!  

 

 

 

New Years 2017 To-Do's!

So I decided I wanted to make a list of "to-do" things for 2017!   This last year was a great one.  The divorce was finalized (not exactly something to celebrate but it was nice to have the paperwork all done), I closed on the house on my own, I paid off my van 6 months ahead of schedule, I traveled to Vegas, Clint moved in with us and so much more including lots of long weekend trips to fun places in MN like the North Shore, Cub Scout Camp and Voyager National Forest (twice cause we loved it so much).  So if 2017 is exactly like 2016 I wouldn't complain but I still felt like I should put together a list of things I hope to accomplish in 2017!

*  Get in Shape.  Isn't this always on my list?  I did let my health slide in the last year and gained 20 pounds so I plan to get rid of it as soon as possible :)  

*  Travel!  I want to travel.  I love to travel and explore new places and revisit favorite places.  We do have a week long trip to Dauphin Island planned but that is the only thing on the books for now, hoping to add a lot more!

*  Pay down debt.  I don't have a lot of debt besides one little credit care and the house so that is where I will focus my extra money (not like there is much of it).  I did have to take a new 30 year loan when I bought the house so the faster I can pay it down, the better!

*  Get back into Photography.  I got lazy this last year and just used my phone to take pictures which got the job done but when I went to print new pictures of the walls I didn't have as many "high quality" pictures to pick from that I would have preferred. 

*  Organize the house.  I swear this is a never ending project!  Just when I think I have it all done it seems to get all cluttered all over again. And with Clint moving in just before Christmas we just kind of "put" his stuff where ever it fit so now I need to go through and get everything organized again.

* Landscaping.  I made great progress on the yard last year.  I got all the landscaping in the front yard done and it looked fabulous.  Now this year I want to focus on the backyard, I want that backyard oasis!

* Run a 10K.  This was on my list for 2016 but it never happened.  Remember when I said I let myself slide, well that included my running routine but I am gonna get back to it in 2017 and I will run a 10K and run it under 65 minutes (I know that isn't a record pace by any means but I am not a fast runner and I have come to the conclusion that I never will be)!

* Disconnect.  I feel like I am always checking my phone.  I feel a constant need to see if anyone posted a new picture to Instagram or if someone updated their Facebook status.  I feel very out of the loop if I don't check it for a day or two.  So my goal is get away from social media and live more in the real world.  I am gonna start with stepping back from Facebook.  I can't delete it completely as I use it to communicate with cub scout parents, baseball parents, plan play dates for Mason and plan family events or coordinate girls weekend.   But I am going to stop posting so much on Facebook.  Not everyone in the world needs to know my life.  I will still post pictures on Instagram, cause well I love taking photos and I need to put them somewhere.   My goal is get back to blogging a lot more.  That way the 4-5 people who have any interest in my life can follow along and everyone else can just get caught up when they see me in person (what a concept, people catch up on life when they get together instead of staying connected through the virtual world)!

Here's to a fabulous 2017 full of fun, laughter, adventures and good health!  I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me and the boys.  Bring it on 2017!