Boating on the Cass Lake Chain

Saturday we rented a pontoon for the second time this year and went out on the Cass Lake chain of lakes with our friends Lindsey and Eric Potter, Jason Slominski, and Matt, Maci, and myself.  We rented from Joe's Lodge this time and they were nothing but friendly.  We would gladly rent from them again. 

We started off on Lake Andrusia and headed towards Cass Lake to pay a visit to Star Island.  The cool thing about Star Island is that there is another lake within the island.  It's called Lake Windigo.  "Lake Windigo, sitting inside Star Island, is the only spring fed lake within a river fed lake in the northern hemisphere. Lake Windigo’s unique location earned it a notation with “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” in 1958. The lake covers 199 acres with a maximum depth of 25 feet."  That's a little blurb I found on http://www.casslake.com/attractions.html.  I thought it was kind of interesting.



Lindsey, Maci, and Eric as we're pulling up to Star Island.  You can see Lake Windigo in the background.

We were only out for about 4 hours and it was a little breezy in the morning, but we tried to get out before the extreme heat was supposed to hit.  We swam, snacked, and relaxed and Maci slept most of the time.  I think the rocking of the boat helped with that. :)  This is definitely something we need to do again.  It was a fun way to spend a summer day on the lake.

Matt and Jason

Matt and I

Big yawn!

Testing out her life jacket before we head out.

 

Couponing

I'm not sure if you've ever seen the show Extreme Couponing, but I am totally intrigued by it.  I don't know how these women walk into the store, put hundreds of dollars worth of items in their cart, and walk out paying nothing or even getting money back!  How does that work?  Someone teach me please!  I am a from time to time coupon shopper and I usually only use the ones Target gives you upon getting your receipt.  I started searching the web last night after watching an episode of Extreme Couponing; and I kept thinking this can't be that hard.  I've come to the conclusion that these women spend hours coupon clipping, comparing prices, and looking at ads.  How does anyone have time for this? 

In my search, I did stumble upon a few websites that don't require you to sign your life away and still provide some pretty good coupon links.  The first is http://www.funminnesota.com/coupons.htm.  It has printable coupons for all sorts of fn things to do and see in Minnesota.  Great find!

The other website I really like is http://creativecouponing.com/.  This woman blogs about all sorts of deals, coupons, free things/codes at various stores and restaurants.  She also lays out what sale items cost with various coupons (with links to the coupons) and the final total of the items.  Basically she does all the hard work and gives you links to what you need to print.  I was impressed.

Also, on Shutterfly right now, if you post your project to your blog and email shutterfly, they will send you a $10 off coupon for your next project, so that is exactly what I did.  I know all of you are looking forward to getting my latest project in the mail. :)

I'm not saying I'm going to become the next "extreme couponer", but I may start using them just a little bit more.  Nerdy as it sounds, it may be a bucket list item of mine to walk into a store and walk out with cartloads of free items...we'll have to see!

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The Garden

Matt keeps asking me if I've blogged about the garden yet, I figured I should since he's offering up a blog post. :)  Anyways, we thought we'd try our hand at a garden this summer since we've been talking about it since we moved into this house.  Matt bought the supplies and built a slightly raised bed in the corner of our backyard, which is about the only place that gets full sun.  We decided to plant a variety of vegetables I read were "easy to grow", which included spinach, carrots, onions, peppers, cucumbers, and beans. 



Not happy to be weeding!

 The planting began the week before Maci was born...we needed something to distract us from the waiting.  Maci arrived and Matt continued watering the garden, but neither of us had much time or ambition to weed the garden.  This is how it looked a week ago. :(


Walter enjoying a taste of our carrots.



This is our first garden, so I was finding it very difficult to tell the difference between weeds and plants.   Many things were looking the same with no indication of any vegetables.  I finished weeding and harvested all the spinach and we were pretty happy with the results of our first fresh salad for a few days!



Weeding Complete! (Lots of helicopters still.)




Fresh spinach salad.
















Book Sling

I love how the book sling turned out!  Not only is it a cute way to store books, it adds a little something to Maci's room.  I got the idea from my friend Rachel, who found it on Pinterest (which I am currently addicted to) where the Tutorial is found.  I need to give credit where credit is due. 

Thanks to Matt for hanging them!

I also need to say that I got this project done in my goal of less than a week, it definitely didn't take that long from start to finish.  Once I got the sewing machine running well, it took less than an hour to sew.  Waiting for the dowels to dry from the spray paint was the most time consuming thing.  Anyways, I think it turned out great.  I may even make another one!

Maci Turns 1 Month!

I can't believe a month has gone by since Maci was born!  I can already tell how much bigger she's gotten.  She weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces when she was born and we took her into the doctor for her one month check-up this week and she weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces! 

I was going to take her 1 month old pictures on Sunday, July 3rd, when she turned one month, but I procrastinated and was busy with Maci last week, so I put off ordering these cute little stickers for her onesie that say what month she's at.  Anyways, I ordered them Friday with 2-3 day shipping and due to an error by the company/USPS (this always seems to happen when I order things off the internet) they didn't arrive until today, which by my count is 5 day shipping.  I did email the company on my disappointment and was refunded the shipping amount...I was not longer disappointed. :)  I got them off pickysticky.  They come with stickers 0-12 months and you just attach them to any onesie...how easy is that?



Months 2-12 (month 1 was on her)

 I've posted pictures below from our "photo shoot" this afternoon.  Let's just say she was not very enthused with this picture taking business when we started.
 

Not happy at all!



Happy baby!  She loves when you make a kissing noise.

A little video of Walter checking out Maci.

Maci's Name Project

So, I love crafting and doing projects, but I will admit that I am not always the most efficient crafter.  I sometimes, okay, almost always start a project at the kitchen table or on the living room floor that should take a day, maybe two at the most, and it winds up taking me a month!  A few days after I start my project, Matt (my husband), usually asks when the project is going to be finished.  I respond with a generic answer of, "soon".  

Today is the day I vow to finish projects in a timely fashion.  I'm not saying I will finish them in one day; I do have a one month old which will make time consuming projects difficult, but I will get them done within a timely manner.  I think a week is a fair amount of time for a working, mother of one, who has a husband and three dogs to finish her projects.  Anyways, this whole project timelyness thing started from the project I started a month ago.

I was wanting to put Maci's name above her crib, so I started collecting the materials a week after she was born.  I waited until then because we had not decided on her name until she was born.  After buying all the materials, I got started at the coffee table in the living room.  I began using Mod Podge to adhere patterned paper to each letter.  After getting half way done with the M, I decided it was time to take a break, and there it sat for a week, in a neat stacked up pile of course.  We began getting more visitors to see Maci and the project pile was moved to the kitchen table.  We then had visitors for dinner and the project pile moved to the buffet table.  Matt reminds me that this project has been going on for one month and I remind him that we have a one month old who takes up all of my free time!  How could I possibly spend the day Mod Podging when I could be watching her smile or play with her cute little feet?  He got home from work today and said he would occupy her while I worked on it.  He told Maci at the rate I was going it wasn't going to be finished until she was 18 and she probably wouldn't like it by then.  I was determined to finish!



Status when I started the project today.

 

I worked on this project until dinner.  I took a short break to eat and continued working.  This seemed to be taking forever.

Two and a half down, one and a half to go!

I finally finished this evening after several hours of work, but it's done!  I am pretty happy with how the letters turned out.  I think I need some work on my hanging skills, but we'll save that for another day.



So cute above her crib!



I think it really did turn out cute and I got it up before she turned 18.  Let's just hope she appreciates it one day!

4th of July Fun!

The 4th of July is one of my favorite times of the year.  Not only are we celebrating the wonderfulness of our country, but I always end of spending time with wonderful people!  We spent the first part of the weekend with Matt's immediate family at his parents' lake home in Hackensack.  The festivities then headed to Bemidji where we had our annual BBQ with Matt's extended side of the family at his grandma's house on the lake.  Our friends Rachel and Mitch arrived on Sunday to finish out the holiday weekend with us.  We spent a day and a half on their wakeboarding boat laughing, learning to wake surf, soaking in the sun, and enjoying each others company.  We always end up having fun when those two are around!  

Rach getting ready to try wake surfing!

We also had a visit from my long time friend, Morgan, on the 4th.  Although her time in Minnesota was short, she made the drive to Bemidji to see us and our one month old baby, Maci.  We were so glad she was able to come spend the evening with us and take in the fireworks show! 

I can't believe the 4th is over!  This means my summer is half over, my daughter is a month old already, and she's officially celebrated her first major holiday with us.  Time is flying, but I guess it would when you're having as much fun as we do! 





Sleeping on the boat with their mouths wide open.  Like father like daughter! :)