Harmon and Simon and Aimee were absolute saints during all of this. We kind of expected the boys to be a little cranky, as our second flight would have gotten us into Brainerd at 11:30 p.m. anyway, but they were very well-behaved, considering the circumstances. Even as we sat on the tarmac in Detroit for almost two hours, the boys — albeit distracted by iPads and DVD players — kept their cool.
We were re-booked for the first flight the next day, and arrived in plenty of time to feed the boys and catch up on the Casey Anthony trial — our obsession for the better part of three years, including the final week. The flight from Minneapolis to Brainerd was approximately 20 minutes and my Dad picked us up at the airport. We arrived back at the cabin about 1 p.m. and the boys immediately wanted to get in the water. We knew Harmon would do fine, as he is taking swimming lessons, but we weren’t so sure about Simon on his inaugural trip Up North. Harmon did fine, save for his fear of weeds, but Simon — true to his nature — was the real daredevil. He quickly wanted to venture out into deeper water, and by the end of the week he was jumping off the dock with a life preserver on. In fact, both boys were little fish most of the week and couldn’t wait to get in the water.
We kept very busy during the five days, eating at Bar Harbor, Zorbaz, Ernie’s on Gull, etc., and taking lots of boat rides. The boys loved taking turns “driving” the pontoon with Grandpa, although Simon was very upset when Grandpa put his hands on the wheel, as he wants to do everything “by his own self.
On July 5, while the boys went to the park with Grandma and Aunt Angela, Aimee and I cleaned off the paddleboat and headed down to the north end of the lake to catch two turtles for the boys for the Nisswa Turtle Races. The races have been a summer tradition for my 40 years, including the time we served as turtle “brokers” for about 10 summers, netting (no pun intended), like $1,000 (I know, CSB!). I was a little rusty in seeing and catching turtles, but Aimee spotted a few and we eventually netted two mid-size painters. Harmon and Simon named them, appropriately, “Mario” and “Luigi,” after their favorite video game, Super Mario Kart.
On July 6, we drove the boys into Nisswa and I waited in line for about 30 minutes to get two numbers for the turtles. We secured two spots in the 500-range and settled in to watch the races. When our numbers were called, I took Simon and Aimee took Harmon to the center of the track. I was watching Luigi when I noticed that Harmon’s Mario was booking for the finish line. Lo and behold, Mario crossed the finish line and Harmon had officially settled into his Daddy’s footsteps in Turtle Race lore. Harmon was so proud! Mario let up in the semifinals, so his racing days were over after just two heats (on our final day at the cabin, we let the turtles go off the front of the pontoon and let them swim back to their homes). The boys were tired, so my Dad took them back to the cabin while Aimee and I looked around town a little. When we came back home, of course, Harmon had been swimming.
We left mid-day on July 8, exhausted, but well-tanned and glad the boys had so much fun. They got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Angela, and my Uncle Bill finally got to meet Simon. I also got to spend some time with Tommy Fournier. We used to be inseparable during our summers growing up, and it was great to catch up. Harmon had fun swimming with his two little girls.
After a quick flight to Minneapolis, the boys both feel asleep on the second leg back to Detroit. We grabbed our luggage, took a shuttle to our car and were back home by 7 p.m. It was our first trip without Isabel in our lives, and it was a little sad to come home and not see her cage in the living room. We took the weekend to recuperate and get ready to go back to work. All in all, it was a great trip and a fun time for the boys.
Last year, we added a second, mini-vacation to our plans by going to Traverse City in mid-August. Hoping to make it a family tradition, we will go again this year and hopefully many years to come. We want to get away and enjoy some time with the boys before Harmon starts Kindergarten after Labor Day (sniff, sniff).
