Thursday, July 11, 2013

Clamshell Vacation 2013

The last week of June we headed up north near Brainerd, MN with my family for a fun fishing, cabin-life vacation.  We have been traveling to Clamshell Beach Resort every other year since 2005.

Luckily, summer finally arrived and we had perfect weather while we were there.  Perfect for swimming and it was not hot and humid so you could enjoy outdoor activities.  The lake was still a bit chilly because of the later summer, but that definitely didn't stop us from enjoying it!  

The last time were went to Clamshell was the summer of 2011 and the twins at that point were 4 months old.  The trip this year with two toddlers seemed a lot easier for us as we were able to enjoy more of the water, fishing, and outdoor activities rather than being stuck inside our cabins for a lot of time.  Traveling and vacationing in a cabin for a week with toddlers is a lot of work for sure.  Anytime you get kiddos out of their schedule it can be challenging, but all of those moments just add to our crazy vacation memories that I'll treasure for ever.

We had a blast and enjoyed all of our time on vacation.  I broke down all of the fun things into a list, in no particular order, to organize our vacation memories.

1. Watching Matthew catch his first ever fish off of the dock.  A pretty big one in fact for being right off of the dock.  The evening of dock fishing happened to be our 7th wedding anniversary.  I wouldn't have asked for a better night celebrating than watching my husband teach and help our son how to fish.  Matthew's excitement when he first saw his fish on his line was great!f  His big smile was priceless!  We couldn't believe how brave he was and had no problems touching the fish.  He thought it was funny to feel his slippery skin and see the fish flop around.



Love Matthew's reaction in the picture on the left!

Holding his "big catch"


That evening Uncle Brian, cousin Allie, Aunt Melissa, and cousin Evan also went fishing off of the dock with us.  Allie did a little fishing with her dad, but I think she like hanging out on the sock with her cousin Kate more!

Allie thought it was so funny that her dad was kissing that fish!

Kevin caught a northern off of the dock just by throwing Matthew's line out and reeling it back in a few times.

Cousin buddies!

2. Swimming!  The resort not only has the beach/lake but they have 2 heated pools, too!  We would swim in the pool in the morning, and then head to the beach when the kids needed to take naps.  Our cabin was close to the beach area which worked perfect to go and check on the sleeping little ones.  But most days, a lot of the adults took naps with the kids, too!  Us adults had a blast swimming at the lake!  The resort has a trampoline and water pillow floating out on the lake.  We had sooo much fun launching each other off of the water pillow.  Some of us got some major air time!  It was always the prettiest or most coordinated looking process of getting out onto the water pillow, but that only made it more fun for us.  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!  Even my dad got out there and joined in on the fun!  Big kids at heart!


The life!  Kate was just happy floating around the pool.  She wasn't so sure about swimming.



Matthew is a little fish!  He could have swam all.day.long!  I got the twins each a Puddle Jumper, a flotation devise, to wear in the water.  It worked perfect for Matthew.  He loved relaxing and floating in the water.  Just chillin'!  Plus, it made us feel better that our little 'dare devil boy' was safer in the water.






Clamshell is celebrating their 75th Birthday.  They have a birthday sand cake contest going on.  Kaleb was our cake!





3. Fishing with my family.  Each trip I look forward to morning fishing with my dad and sister.  Definitely a favorite memory this year and in years past.  My sister and I might be high maintenance fisher-women, me more so than Kelly, but I know my dad loves fishing with us.  And there is something calming about being out on the water in the morning listening to the loons and out in the calm, wide open waters.


I don't normally touch the fish.  I'm a scardy cat.  But I wanted a picture with my biggest catch of the trip.





4. The twins' first boat ride and first time fishing from Grandpa's boat.  


Matthew looked so serious walking from the cabin, fishing pole in one hand and tackle box in the other, down to the boat.  He was all business and ready to fish!


Grandpa's fisher-twins



Matthew loved driving Grandpa's boat!  Kate even got to drive, too!









Both kids each caught a fish fishing from the boat.  Matthew's favorite part about fishing: pushing the button to release his line and then immediately cranking the line back in while still trying to push the release button.  Doesn't work well.  
Kate fished from Grandpa's lap and helped him in reel in a pretty good sized fish!




The big catch!

5. One of the days in the week we designate to head into Brainerd and go out to eat and then to Pirate's Cove Goofy Golf and Go-Carts.  The older cousins all golfed together and the twins "golfed" with Kevin, my parents, and myself.  Kate and Matt had a blast trying to hit any ball that got in their way into the hole.  So, our game had to move fast, otherwise our ball was quickly snagged by a little one!  
Matthew even scored 2 holes-in-one in a row - for real!!!  It was on a hole that went downhill.  The little man is a pretty lucky, or maybe skilled, golfer! ;)







The adults did the go-carts and we were all destroyed by my dad.  Guess being a Nascar fan pays off. :)
Matthew was also able to drive the kiddie go-carts.  He was in heaven "trying to drive" the car around the track.  He thought we has pretty cool!


6. Just hanging out with my family! Fun to see all of the cousins play together.  Kate and Matt loved the several swing sets throughout the resort.







Kevin's big catch of vacation!


Got to measure how long it is



Good Job, Daddy!

Family pictures!



Grandma and Grandpa Dufel with all 6 grand-kids



The Bruener's


The Dufel's


The Willms'


The Whole Gang



Another fun filled vacation in the books! 

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