Family Vacay in Bemidgi
Press play to see some of our fun for the week
Every year for 30 years, my family has traveled north to Bemidji, Minnesota for a week long stay at Finn ‘n’ Feather Resort. You know it is a great place for families when every year we see the SAME families in the cabins next to us. “Brad and Angelina” (really beautiful couple with lots of kids, “runner family” (they literally run laps three times a day) and others have become our “vacation friends” and we all agree it’s a great place to be. I love that I can bring my kiddos now and share this tradition with them and I hope they treasure it someday as much as I do.
Over the years we have adopted a little daily routine that consists of:
Family Breakfast (meal crews and meals are assigned and planned for the week ahead of time by Poppy and Nana)
Next we are off to a family activity such as kickball, sand castle competitions, softball, etc.
After burning some calories and proving we are all getting old, we head to the pool for round one. Hot tub time and lots of “launching” and jumping in all around. Poppy has alloted one ice cream treat a day so most of us make our way to the lodge after the pool for this treat.
We break in the afternoon for what we call “social”. This means fun drinks for the adults and some snack food for everyone - sometimes we do yard games or just hang.
In the afternoon we play in the lake, take naps if we are babies or tired adults, then meet back up for round two of pool time.
Whoever is the designated dinner crew members leave the pool early and get us ready for our nightly check in with my Dad of your highlights and frustrations for the day and eat the delicious meal they prepared for us.
We then break again and play until dark on the beach or gather at the firepit for smores.
One day of the week my sister and I go shopping at Yellow Umbrella (CUTEST boutique ever!) for a morning away and the boys head to one of the local casinos while my parents entertain the grandkids.
We do this for 6 days and this year our little family of five did great. Everyone is out of diapers and nap schedules so they felt more freedom and so did Andy and I. Caleb was off meeting new friends at the resort and that was a little hard for me. He is eight and his cousin Cole who is nine and him are really close buds. They would go fish off the dock for hours or play in the game room and weren’t always around for “free” time so it was my first experience of him growing up on vacation. I made sure to cuddle the other two closer at night and give lots of kisses as I know they will follow suit soon as well.
Not too long ago, this week was stressful and almost too much when the kids were babies. It’s a 9 hour drive for our little family from Des Moines, but the kids did amazing this year and I felt like it was a true vacation. As I get older, I am so grateful my parents do this for us and continue to keep this tradition alive.