I had PTO to use up so we made a trip to the cottage for Mother's day weekend. It isn't too often we drive up on a Friday so fish fry was a must.  I would've stayed home and painted, but you guessed it, it was still raining. On the way we took a slight detour up to Lehman's Supper Club up in Rice Lake.  We've never ventured up here from our typical route, but it's kind of the start of Up North, which means lots of restaurants for the tourists. The kiddos got spaghetti. Of course we got the fish fry. I'd rank Lehman's as a mid to low tier supper club. Ambiance is meh. Fish was forgettable. Good salad. After reading reviews later I guess the main attraction is the entree's that include a relish tray and popovers.  But they do have a great bar. My dad has been busy working on Chelsea's bedroom upstairs. She upgraded to a queen bed and we needed to get the box spring up stairs.  It would not fit. Close, but we were really searching for a solutio...

And just like that we were gone again. This time to spend a few days at Three Bears Resort. I always see this place as we drive on 94 towards Milwaukee.  I had to photograph the place and asked for a room with two beds of course. Our room wasn't quite ready, so we played in the arcade. Lucky kiddos got to play while I worked. While Scott was busy working the kids and I spent the day at the indoor waterpark.  We explored the grounds too.  Someone had too much fun last night. 

Thank goodness Meadow had her last day of school and Scott had some work up north. We got out of the boring house and tagged along with him. On Tuesday night I had worked in New York Mills for my annual Lund boat shoot. I stayed at Menahga's Spirit Lake Motel and Resort as a change of pace. When I returned I finally confirmed that I'd be shooting on Friday in Park Rapids just up the road from Menahga. After debating whether to camp we decided to just stay at the Sprit Lake Motel since we'd be arriving late at night. In the morning Theo was ready to take pictures with one of our old cameras. We had first breakfast at the local bakery. Chocker's Bakery . Comes highly recommended from, well, all of us. Meadow approves. We all approve. Scott had to work so us kids explored Park Rapids. Who knew Park Rapids was the Wild West? In all seriousness, I came up to photograph the Jeweler of the North . They'd recently moved from their old location up on the North Shore. After h...

We needed to go grocery shopping, but luckily we had some pancake mix leftover from our camping days. We used our Nordic Ware pancake pans that feature funny shapes. You might be able to spot an emoji or three.

Meadow is always constructing something with leftover boxes.

Meadow and I are working on a cat purse that she designed. I tell her what to do and she's been doing all the sewing herself. She's going to be a fashion designer. Her new favorite show is Project Runway. Little buddy loves playing with cars. Meadow likes Wii Fit. We put back together the learning tower since Theo loves climbing up things. He thinks it's the greatest being able to see everything. He helped me make some chickpea flatbread. I almost finished my book except I ran short of a few pages. This time I actually finished it. That's after she ordered a few more pages. Photo books are expensive, whether digitally made or by hand.  Roll, roll, roll the dough until... you have some flatbread. Since we were going to meet up with some friends during dinner, I made dinner for lunch. Falafel. These two. We met up with Shannyn, Brent, Allyson, Tom and their kids at Utepil's taproom. This ...

Today is one my favorite summer traditions. Berry picking.  Ah, berry picking. It's kind of a big deal around here. In the mornings when Meadow sleeps in I will bring Theo to her to get her to wake up. Today backfired because he fell back asleep. Isn't this every parent's dream? Morning without kids. Yes, please. Not when we have places to be. Eventually we got on the road and headed to our usual berry picking spot. The Berry Patch.  The blueberries bushes were pretty full; normally we don't go until the end of the month.  Soon Theo will be able to help too. For now it's a three person job. I always get a little crabby picking berries. This is not a job I'd volunteer for.  It makes you appreciate the hard work that goes into the berries you buy at the store. Meadow mostly picks and eats anyway. After we got our bucketfull we headed to Marine On St. Croix for our picnic lunch. Theo ate some mommy milk ...