Lutsen vacation

It's a beautiful morning here in Lutsen--currently 50 degrees. I was just checking the weather for Rochester and Des Moines and it is supposed to be swelteringly hot there. It's going to be gorgeous here--a high of 73. Yesterday's trip here was fairly uneventful save for a few outbursts from Natalie who is very much 3 years old. We had to stop once for some discipline and considered Emily's offer to ship her back (well, not really but I was highly tempted at one point).


We arrived in Duluth a little before 1pm and stopped at Grandma's (Ellie's request) for lunch. Then we stopped by a t-shirt store and picked up a few cheap t-shirts for the 2 older girls and then ran by Amazing Grace for a loaf of bread (only $3.85 for a large loaf of cheddar garlic bread--what a deal!). Darin and Dan saw a ship come through under the lift bridge but Ellie and Kara were taking too long in the bathroom so they missed it. Dan said it must have been empty as it was traveling quite fast.


Then we were off to Lutsen. Mandatory nap time in the van and all was well. Natalie and Kara even fell asleep. We arrived at our cabin in Lutsen around 4:30 and the kids immediately went exploring. Today we plan to just hang out and walk down to the lake.

Here is the view off the back deck.



Here is Natalie standing on the back deck proudly wearing her new tennis shoes which are incredibly cute.
Here is a VERY friendly critter who came out while we were grilling burgers last night. He is definitely not afraid of humans.
Darin and I snuggling on the deck this morning and Ellie eating breakfast on the screened-in porch (although there is not screen under the floorboards so not completely bug-proof).