Not quite up nort’…

We often try to go to northern WI during the summer, as my family and I did while growing up.  However, the 6-hr trip didn’t seem quite worth it this year, so I convinced (okay, not a hard sell) Grandma that they should meet us in Lake Geneva!  (Thanks to Poppy for originally scouting out this resort last summer!)  Then, Becky, Rob and Trevor joined too!

This wasn’t quite vacation as my Dad would imagine (e.g. loud pools, tons of people, no real woods, no peace and quiet), but luckily, Grandma and Grandpa are highly flexible (and helpful!) when it comes to their 3 grandkids.

My godson, Trevor, is about 20 months old – roughly the same age Natalie was when we were up nort’ last year.  “Natalie and Trevor” wrote a book titled “Adventures in the Great Up Nort'” which we read a lot, so it was easy to remember exactly what Natalie was doing at that age.  And so fun to see Trevor too.

I did it!!!

Trevor is so brave / has no fear.  His method of swimming involves running into the water until his head goes under – and trusting that someone isn’t far behind.  He isn’t talking a lot – I mostly heard him say “eat,” “Mama,” “Grandpa,” and “stucks” (trucks).  He knows what he likes – those 4 words pretty much sum up some of his favorite things!  He understands a ton though.  He saw my sweatshirt on a chair and kindly picked it up (with a big “umph” b/c it was so heavy) to give to me.  I also asked him for a hug before he left and he kindly obliged.  Natalie and Trevor had so much fun playing together…

Trevor, you put the water in the moat, just like this…. 

Natalie “invented” a game of running up and down the hill.  Who doesn’t love an early Monday morning run in your PJs?

Yay - great run!

Grandpa is known for disappearing… to go check out a quieter area, to investigate, etc.  He is also a baby lover.  So, he frequently seemed to disappear with Elliott – I have never spent so much time not by Elliott, other than when at work!  He showed Elliott leaves moving in the wind, water lapping up on the shore, etc.  The two were best buddies this weekend… both men of few words. 🙂

Grandpa, I know this doesn’t seem like the great outdoors to you… but let me tell you, its definitely more peaceful than Chicago!

If Grandpa is Elliott’s best buddy, Grandma is Natalie’s best buddy.  There are few people that Natalie would prefer to play with over me… and my mom is often one of them.  She was sad on Sunday that she had to wait until after nap to see G&G.  Then, on Sunday night, she was up for more than 2 hours because she couldn’t take the anticipation of waking Grandma up the next morning. (I will say – vacation with the family is great, but sharing a hotel room is not conducive to all family members getting a lot of sleep.)

This morning, I overheard Phoebe ask Natalie about her trip.  Natalie’s response was something along the line of: “My head got wet.  Grandma.  A little bit scared.  My mom made me feel better.”  The full story is that Natalie was on a raft and she slipping off a little bit… and her head got a little bit wet.  Although she wasn’t even completely submerged (gosh, why would you do that when swimming?), her “accident” in the water was the most memorable part.  (Sorry Grandma – I know you won’t like reading that!)

We had a great trip.  We definitely needed the time away from work, and it was so fun to hang out with the family… and have 2 extra sets of hands to help out.  We are really so blessed.

4 peas in a pod