Brainerd Vacation 2014 - The Lazy Loon

This post has been a long time in the making, friends. And I only sort of apologize, because here's the thing: I took a ridiculous number of pictures. and really, it's just exhausting trying to pick which ones to use not just once (on the blog) but twice (for digi-scrapping). And as a busy working Mom with two little guys at home, I just don't have the time to do both (and seriously - my house needs attention!). So I just made the executive decision to wait to post until I finished my digi-scrapping and then I could just post the pages instead of having to get creative with all those stinkin' pictures.

We had a great week just outside Brainerd on South Long Lake. It was great to have some time to unwind, relax and spend some much-needed time together as a family in the midst of a busy season of life.

We have made the switch almost entirely to doing home rentals off vrbo.com because quite frankly, the thought of cramming all of us into a hotel room makes my eyes twitch: We tried it once, and none of us slept. We have had nothing but incredible experiences with vrbo home rentals, and The Lazy Loon was no exception!

Here is a little recap of our time there :)

Part 1

Thursday: Traveling, St. Cloud, Kendrick standing
Friday: Fishing, Relaxing, Jet Skiing

Part 2

Saturday: Rainy Morning, Relaxing, Dad, Pam and Jess arrive, Fishing, Grilling, Tubing
Sunday: Rainy Morning, Paul Bunyanland attempt, Lounging, Rafferty's
Monday: Packing up, lunch with Don and Carol, relaxing

Part 3

Tuesday: Nisswa, Ernie's on Gull
Wednesday: Lounging and relaxing
Thursday: Packing up and heading Home

Alexandria, MN

We finally decided on our summer vacation this year, and I'm excited!

We're planning to be gone a week just a few hours north of here to beautiful Alexandria, Minnesota! And let me just say that with our last vacation having been over a YEAR ago, I'm excited to get started planning!

We've decided to rent a cabin on Lake Andrew for a week, which gives us lakefront property (including a dock for our jet ski!), a nice yard, and a nice cabin (with bedrooms for the kids and a master for us) to spread out in for the week. We're still in the process of getting that reserved, but we're excited and REALLY hoping that it's still available like it says on vrbo.com :)

This will be the first time for us in Alexandria, and I've heard it's just beautiful! (Judging by the picture below, I'd have to say, I agree!)

Photo courtesy city-data.com

I'm looking forward to a lot of rest and relaxation, enjoying a beautiful view of Lake Andrew, exploring with our boys and taking lots of nice, long walks together :) I mostly am looking forward to having NO agenda while we're there. Oh, and the following nearby treats that we seldom get to enjoy while living in Windom: Papa John's, Caribou and Target lol