Winter Weekend in Brainerd

Last weekend we went up north to visit my college friend Janna and her husband Erik. Janna and Erik finally moved back from Montana last year after finishing their residency and fellowships in Billings. They both signed contracts with the Crosby Hospital and Clinic and then bought this beautiful home on the lake in Baxter. Trevor took this picture of the sun coming up over the lake.

 The Vilens do not have any kids yet so while the Knights were up at 7 am having breakfast the Vilens were up stairs sleeping. Not exactly sure how they slept through all the noise my kids made?

 Then after a few failed attempts to get out on their lake to fish we loaded everyone up (including their dog Chuck) and drove over to North Long Lake to do a some ice fishing. The kids were amazing! There was not a lot of room in Erik's ice house and they just hung out, had snacks and fished for 2 hours.

                                       

 Olivia started outside of the ice house and Trevor made her right at home with her snack,chair and blanket. She lasted about an hour before she decided to join us in the warm ice house.

                                                 

 After a couple hours Janna and I took the kids back to the house to start dinner. Of course we did not catch anything but as soon as we left the fish started biting. The big boys came home with 7 walleye and Erik made us a great fish fry on Sunday for lunch before we left.

 On Sunday morning Ben was starting to get a little stir crazy and so Erik and Trevor took him outside and they walked all over the lake. Then they came back, picked up Olivia and went for a walk down their long drive way.

                                      

      After a while Janna and I took Jameson out to find the rest of the crew. He sure does love to shovel! 

                                                
                                                

 Then it was inside for some hot coco and lunch before heading home. Before we left Ben asked Erik if we could come back EVERY year! Thanks Janna and Erik for a wonderful weekend!

Hague House Dinner

Every year the Roommates get together for dinner. This is the 2nd year we landed ourselves Jess and Al's condo for a little swimming and taco pot luck. It has worked so well to have access to the pool and party room so none of us have to prepare our home.

Sarah L-S,Rachel,Maddy,Jess B, Sarah K,Jess P

 Over the years we have added a few to our get together. We now have 12 boys, 2 girls, one more boy on the way and one unknown on the way (hopefully another girl to even things out)

It was a great night with my girls. Some I see more often that others but we always pick right up where we left off last year. 

Rink Rats

Even with all the cold weather we have made great use of the rink this year. Ben can't get enough time out there. One morning we had the Murrays over to enjoy a couple hours outside. Cullen was excited to get back on his skates after a long fall recovering from a broken leg. Ben was just excited to have his buddy over.

 The girls enjoyed their time outside too. Most of their time was spent playing in the snow and having some snacks.

 Group snack before going inside for lunch

 

 Ben also just finished a 4 week "Rink Rats" clinic through the park and rec department. He got to play outside for 1 hour each week. I went last week in the freezing cold to get some pictures of him out there. It has been really fun to watch him improve as the winter progresses.