This year would be a small crowd for Memorial Weekend. My siblings all had other plans I guess.  I was a bit bummed even if I do love quiet weekends at the cottage. Since we couldn't leave until the kids were out of school, I had us pick up sandwiches to eat on the way. Mine wasn't too bad.  Trader Joe's is always a bit weird. Everything has to be unique. Like why did the kids ham and cheese sandwiches have a log of butter? When we arrived I gave my mom her remaining gifts from Japan as a Mother's day gift. Grandpa's pancakes are the best. Theo has been excited to see how far along the upstairs was done.  It's getting there. Cool and gloomy, just like you imagine Memorial Day Weekend to be, I guess. Rummage saleing this year was a whole family affair. I found a cute luggage rack and Meadow got a painting of plates with tea cups.  Oh, and she was really excited to find a dictionary in the free pile.  She's very serious about her new dictionary. I'm pretty...

  Today was the day for our first rummage sale. Earlier in the week I messaged our tenant to let her know we were doing this. She responded letting us know she also signed up.  It was fun hanging out with Izzy while we waited for some customers. Theo tried to lure in customers like he worked at Little Ceasars. The kids made chocolate chip cookies and homemade lemonade. I think the kids were making more money than us.  We actually sold quite a bit. The kids made money on all the clothes and toys they sold. Everyone made a decent chuck of change.

Meadow had an event at her school on Thursday night so we took Meadow out of school and left Friday morning. We took our old route to the cottage through Taylors Falls. We always drive by this place that sells bread.  Balsam Lake Oven Breads. We decided to finally try it out. Unfortunately the breadshop wasn't open but they also had this garden store full of hostas.   When we say full, we mean dozens of varieties. We had to get some for our work-in-progress gardens. There was even a swingset for the kids to play on while we shopped.    We made another stop to do a potty break/driver swap/playground time in Bruce.  Sometimes  we stop here and don't let the kids play. They were much happier that we let them have a good time.   This also gave Scott and I time to start booking our hotels for a trip we're taking in August. 

Folks, COVID is over, and the Mayday Parade is back! But first we had our good friends Davin, Dora and the kids over for dinner. After seeing them a week earlier, at Doralyce's birthday party, we invited them over.    We wanted to catch up and also thank them for the invite to the birthday party.  I made shrimp and grits for our friends. 

  Well, our garden didn't really grow like I thought it would. Everything seemed to grow really late despite planting early enough. I guess we'll try again next year.  We hardly got any rain and I'm wondering how much the old owners had added compost. We'll definitely be adding a bunch next year. Today was the East Isles-Lowry Hill Neighborhood Yard Sale. We had never gone before so thought it was worth checking out. I mostly wanted to look at all the homes in the neighborhood.  I was going to say the same thing. I mostly wondered aloud why people need such large homes. The kids were finding some good scores. Theo got a Star Wars wallet to hold all his chore money. Meadow got a Pinky Pie My Little Pony. The woman who sold us the wallet said it was good luck. It was her son's first wallet and now he has his own business. We picked up a free ghost decoration, Meadow got a strawberry dress, roller skates for her Build a Bear. a Lion King book and we got a wooden checke...

The last time we were in Duluth, Blake mentioned he was having a graduation party the same weekend as the Park Point Rummage Sale weekend. So a trip back to Duluth it was. After 10+ days of 90+ temps we were happy to escape the hot city.    Blake showed us the current state of his multi-lot abode first thing in the morning. Blake's yard was full of wildflowers. Now that Covid restrictions are lifting Blake's BnB now serves pancakes again.    I mean, we were only up here like twice. After breakfast we headed to the sales.    The Park Point Rummage Sale that is.

We were back on the road as soon as we were home from our epic trip to the BWCA. You didn't think we'd miss Labor Day Weekend at the cottage? We were 10 minutes into our drive when Scott realized he'd forgotten his camera. He never forgets! He messaged Blake and Daniel asking if they could bring one.

Friday  Scott had to work in Stillwater the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Instead of having him drive all the way back to pick me up from work and then go back toward Wisconsin, I took the day off and tagged along. 

Blake gets free passes to all the Duluth attractions during the month of June. He works for the DECC .  I took advantage of this a few years ago before Meadow was born. For whatever reason we had been too busy the last few years so this year I said we have to go.  When we left Minneapolis there was a heat advisory and the temperature would get up to the mid 90's. When we arrived in Duluth it was 55...

Memorial Weekend means cottage weekend. Since we have a new found love of casino buffets we of course stopped for lunch in Turtle Lake. Where else could we eat for $9.00 for all three of us? McDonald's? Suffice it to say that is not option.

Ah summer breakfasts are the best. I love being able to go out to the garden to get fixings. Okay maybe if we had chickens it would be better. Although we probably should with the amount of eggs we go through in a week. Meadow would just chug milk if it were up to her. Avacado toast, greens speckled eggs and fresh fruit. Not bad. We had to go grocery shopping for Brooke before Meadow and I went on a road trip to Milwaukee. We started things off at the Minneapolis Farmers Market. The crowds and the produce are finally in full bloom. The popcorn farmer is a new addition to the market. I have been searching for a picnic table on Craigslist for a few weeks now. All the free and cheap ones always go fast. I saw an ad for one at a rummage sale, so we thought we would check it out. It also happened to be the Longfellow Neighborhood Garage Sale Weekend.  Meadow is always interested in the bikes. We did score a couple of toys for her. ...