Last weekend we packed our bags, cooler, and kids into the suburban and headed to Bemidji.
We rented a cabin for the weekend with some of our closest friends from Iowa.
They are like family to us and have 2 boys of their own.
We met them right before Jonah was born when we hosted a young married couples bible study in our extremely tiny first apartment. We became close over the next 4 1/2 years and have stayed close after we moved back to North Dakota.
They live in St. Paul and are soon moving back to Iowa.
Richard and I have been looking forward to this for quite some time.
Especially since Olivia's RSV prevented us from seeing them over New Years.
Here we are on the way there...
We didn't make it out the door until 6:30pm so it was already dark and unfortunately this momma forgot to charge the batteries on all electronic devices so we traveled "the old fashioned way" passing the time making up stories, playing the 'I am going to Grandma's (only we substituted the cabin cause it confused Isaac) and I am bringing____' game, & singing songs.
Everyone fell asleep shortly before we arrived in Bemidji, which worked to our advantage. They had been sleeping just long enough where we were able to transfer them to the cabin and they kept sleeping.
Then Olivia woke up and she joined the adults for a mini reunion before heading to bed.
Katy and Olivia.
The next couple days were filled with relaxing, playing, and just enjoying each other's company.
It was so much fun and the boys played so well together.
The boys playing legos together
Olivia relaxing
There were some tough games of go fish and crazy eights...
more legos
we fortunately had plenty of food
These 2 are only 5 months apart and were a riot. They were a great match for each other!
We read some stories...
Went swimming
Olivia tried the pool out for the first time and was indifferent. She didn't seem to mind it, but wasn't thrilled either. The boys all enjoyed the water though!
Katy and I were able to sneak away one afternoon with Olivia and enjoyed some time together.
We were on a mission to find bottled water (since we weren't huge fans of the delicious Bemidji water from the cabin) and a sled for the boys.
We stumbled upon a liquidation sale at a Pamida store that was closing in a few weeks.
It was comical, but we managed to leave with almost everything we had come in looking for.
The big boys went for an adventure across the lake in the sled and rope we scored at the big sale.
They may have been gone a little longer than the momma's would have liked, but they returned in one piece just a little colder than when they left.
The oldest boys playing together...
Olivia enjoying all the entertainment from 5 boys 7 to 1 years old.
The adults enjoying a meal while the kids had already eaten and were sleeping or relaxing.
Sunday we ate together at the Green Mill before heading our separate ways.
It went surprisingly well considering we had a handful of hungry and worn out kiddos.
Here is our crew...
Starting with Jonah we have a 20 month gap between them all except the last 3....
There is only a 5 month gap between Isaac and Finn and then only 14 months until Olivia was born.
We feel so blessed to have friends who are like family.
The weekend was surreal reminding us of our precious time together in Iowa and reminding us of the importance of friendship and spending that time together.
We laughed together, encouraged each other, dreamed together, and caught up on life.
We love you guys!
The older boys talked about how Isaiah and Finn were there cousins. They both knew they weren't their "real" cousins, but we talked about how sometimes you can have friends who are your family.
Then the next day Jonah came home with this from school...
It says: On Thursday I went to Bemidji to see my cousins. I went swimming 3 times. One cousins name was Finn he was the littlest and the other cousins name was Isaiah.
It brought tears to my eyes. I often wonder how great it would be to live just blocks away again, but know that the distance between us won't stop our friendship.
I am looking forward to watching our kids grow up together and the wonderful memories we will continue making together as families.
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