A Quick Trip to the Lake

Last week, my family and my sister-in-law's family spent a few nights up by Brainard near the tiny town of Fifty Lakes. We rented an AirBNB on a small lake. Here's the listing if you're curious.

Here are a few social media posts from those few days:

Wes with his MASSIVE BASS!!


Cousins!

Here are 10 pics I posted at the end of the 2nd day, along with the caption: "A super fun day at the lake. And it was National S’mores Day - I hope you celebrated."

She took this selfie without seeing my photobomb her on the dock. :)




The kids LOVED the kayaks and paddleboards!
L to R, that's Evie, Henry, Steph, Wes, Sarah, and Charlie.


Charlie was a crab for a moment, but I never
pass up the chance to take a photo of my wife in a bikini.




The view from our deck.




National S'mores Day!

On day 3, we went to Cuyuna State Recreation Area. We were there 2 years ago, but we didn't have our bikes and didn't ride their sweet mountain bike trails. Well, we brought all 4 bikes this time, and Henry and I had some great rides! (Charlie went with Mama, but he was in a "mood" and didn't last long.) Here are 3 pics and a video from my time on the trails with Henry:

20 seconds of Henry riding. Direct link: youtu.be/q8Zq9j7A5Rk

It's hard to tell, but that 2nd video clip starts quite high next to a big drop off (just after a 180 degree turn). Henry cruised down that and then up a hill past me. And the final clip is coming down from the skills loops.

That night, the fishing really kicked up a notch. We figured we caught about 100-150 sunnies over the few days we were there, and we found bigger fish that last night. Here's what I posted on Instagram: "Two things. First, on our last night at the cabin, we started catching bigger fish. I helped Evie haul in this rock bass (1 of maybe 4), and Jon caught some monster bullheads. Second, my wife got me some sweet pink flamingo trunks which were debuted that night.

And Charlie was super proud to have taken his first fish off the hook!

Here's a funny story I posted once we got home: "Henry asked if he could try a flip off the dock. Yeah, sure buddy. I figured he’d have a dozen false starts where he’d be scared to jump, and then some sort of awkward belly flop. But on his FIRST TRY, he did this. Color me impressed!!"

And a final post from 2 days after we got home: Someone is coming down from vacation. Hard.

That was a fun trip!