Barlow Family Vacation 2011

In my slightly biased opinion, Northern Minnesota is one of the most beautiful and relaxing places on earth. In the Land of 10,000 lakes, peacefulness is all around...On the water, in the starry sky and in the wooded forests that are so abundant. And that is exactly where we got to spend a few wonderful days last week with our Barlow Family.

We started the weekend with a couple of days at Jon's parents' house in Hudson, Wisconsin. We met Tony, Ingrid, Elias and Espen there and spent a couple of days hanging out, catching up, eating good food, exercising a little, going to church and playing with a motorcycle.

My ever-s0-talented sister-in-law, Ingrid, spoke at a quilter's guild on Saturday morning so she had her huge trunk full of many of her quilts and other projects. Did I mention that she is extremely talented?!? She let Kylie model these adorable leg warmers that she knitted.

While Ingrid was speaking, Jon and I also got to enjoy some of our favorite activities...Running and sleeping. I took a leisurely run around Hudson while Jon slept in! That same afternoon, Jon, Tony (Jon's brother) and Doug (Jon's dad) spent a couple of hours trying to get the old motorcycle running. Apparently it was a task that required attaching the motorcycle to the back of the tractor while also pushing it from behind at the same time. For your entertainment, I snuck a few pics! :)

On Sunday, after yoga, we headed up to Cragun's Resort in Brainerd. While there we ate at some delicious restaurants including Zorbaz Pizza (Every letter "s" in the place was replaced with a letter "z"--It drove Jon nutz!), Poncho and Lefty's Mexican Restaurant, Grizzly's Grill N' Saloon, and Jake's City Grille. All of them were super scrumptious and are highly recommended!

Tony and Ingrid

Me and Jon

We also spent time golfing, fishing, pontooning, swimming and shopping. Tony, Ingrid, Jon and I golfed at Cragun's Legacy Courses...It was amusing to say the least. We all played moderately poorly, with the exception of a few good shots. Jon actually drove onto the green on a par 4 from about 280 yards....That was the shot of the day. He then 3 putted for a par! :) Clearly he needs a little work on his short game. My best hole of the day was a bogie on a par 4. Otherwise, we were well over par on most of the holes...But it was fun and that's what counts, right?! (I'm only saying that because I didn't win!)

Jon's first catch of the day! It was a monster! :)

Kylie met all the safety standards, but she hated her life jacket!

Our nephew, Elias, knew all the hot spots for finding fish. :)

My handsome husband letting another monster go...

In my opinion, Grandpa Barlow let Kylie get a little too close to those nasty fish...

He finally caught a nice large mouth bass!

That same afternoon, we spent about 4 hours on a pontoon. We mostly fished AND the fish were biting! I think Jon and Tony lost count, but Doug caught 40. According to Tony, however, it doesn't really count when you catch perch, bluegills and sunnies, especially when they are smaller than 3 inches! No matter what, it was a blast! Jon did manage to catch the only bass of the day!

The following day, the ladies spent some time shopping while the boys babysat. We went to one of Ingrid's favorite quilt shops, Country Fabrics and Quilting, and it was amazing! I bought some really cute fabrics that I am really excited to make into quilts! We also stopped at a fun consignment shop and a store called Christmas Point, which had some great furniture, purses, clothes and home decor...I could have spent lots of hours and dollars there.

This is the walleye that became our supper!

Later that evening, the boys did some night fishing and Jon caught a nice walleye! It was actually big enough to keep and eat! I fried it up on Thursday when we got back from our trip...It was tasty!

Other than missing Greg (Jon's younger brother who is in grad school in Virginia), the trip was fantastic! I hope we can make it back there someday!