When I was a young girl, my parents purchased a time share week at Breezy Point resort in Northern Minnesota. Or, “Up North” as we Minnesotans call it. A non-descript location that everyone understands the meaning of. Cabins, lake, trees, loons, deer, fishing, golf, etc. Almost every fall, in the third week of September to be exact, my family would pack up whichever vehicle we were currently putting through the paces at that life stage: Omni, Datsun, Cutlass Ciera, Voyager mini van…and we’d venture north for our week of gazing at colors, golf, swimming, hot tubing, going to cute little towns for shopping, boating (mostly with disastrous results), trips to Itasca, etc. I have tons of memories at this place and despite only spending one week a year there, it feels very comforting to me. My parents have been trading their week quite a bit in the last decade so our Breezy trips have been far and few between.
We went back the year Loran and I started dating. I was so excited to show him “my Breezy” on his first trip back to Minnesota after his move. Granted, my parents wouldn’t even let us share the pull-out couch. I had to sleep on the living room floor, he got the couch bed and my sister and her BFF got an entire bedroom. Our second trip to Breezy was five years ago. We went up for a long weekend, there was no Ella and Chelsey was off at her first year of college. This year, we made our triumphant return. Loran and I shared our bedroom with our children! CHILDREN. Last time, no child. Singular. This time children, as in more than one! That was weird. A room I used to share with my baby sister in a pack and play and later in bed with me, was now inhabited by my own child in a pack and play, another on the floor and my husband in bed with me. It’s somewhat magical to share a place of your childhood with your own children.
We left Tuesday afternoon after Ella’s school day and arrived in the evening. My parents and grandparents were there and when you add two little Gutt girls to the mix, things get louder and more exciting immediately. We got everyone settled, unpacked, fed and burned some energy, bedtime went smoothly, despite being a new place, and we all slept well. Wednesday was a grey, rainy day. Loran had to run to town to pick up his toiletries because someone who shall remain nameless Lillian moved/hid his toiletry bag while we were packing the car. We had a nice day of playing, Loran and I took a walk, but by dinner, we could tell Ella was feeling a little off. She lacked the sparkle in her eye and she just wasn’t herself. Lily was thankfully, plenty herself with sparkle to spare. Eventually, as all good Ella stories go, there was vomit. I was holding her when it happened, but most of it went over my shoulder and onto the coffee table for maximum splatter. The room cleared, people were gagging and my mom the nurse and grandpa with a stomach of steel stepped up. I cleaned up and comforted Ella, who wasn’t entirely sure of what had just happened. Once again, she told me her mouth dripped. We got everyone situated, changed, cleaned and content. Ella seemed happier and started eating crackers and juice. But, she then lost that loving feeling and heaved all over again. Luckily, that would be the last of the night and she had a great sleep overnight.
The next morning, she was still a little sluggish, but had a little more pep in her step. Enough that she found it funny to mimic throwing up in a bowl for practice. Her dripping bowl, as she called it. We figured she should get out of the house so we signed her up for arts and crafts hour at the rec center. Ella was the only participant and we she chose a birdhouse to paint. The birdhouse painting must have had some healing qualities because we dragged her nearly lifeless body in there and we left with a jumping, giggling, vivacious girl. It was fun to watch Ella paint. Little tongue sticking out and with additional strokes, under her breath, she’d exclaim, “Oh! That’s beautiful!” I only wish we could bottle/pause the love of self-creation and not become bitter towards our creativity and cut our ability down. I want Ella to always see the beauty in her work…sappy aside. We took the long way back to our unit and enjoyed some time at the park before lunch and nap time. After nap, we took a drive to the nearby town of Nisswa – the greatest, cutest little town with some crazy kitschy stores and turtle races in the summer! Best part, hands-down, is the coin operated horse in front of the Totem Pole. Ten cents a ride for nearly a minute of fun! Wouldn’t you know, we used all of our dimes for tolls in Chicago. We found one and Ella got to ride. She wasn’t so sure of this, but warmed up, we walked around town a bit and stopped at the horse for some sitting fun because we were out of coins when a woman gave us two dimes. In turn, we gave her a quarter but I still feel some guilt for earlier pointing out to Loran the fine, fine mullet her preschooler was sporting. Karma… After dinner, we all went swimming and there was quite a bit of splashing and fun, the girls loved it and grandma got thoroughly splashed!
When Loran and I were dating, we took a photo on a certain rock and we’ve retaken it every time we’ve gone back. This attempt was less than successful…but still cute!
Riding “Bullseye”
Lillian was very stealthily trying to crawl onto this paddleboat, so coy…
Friday we’d originally planned to go to Itasca, but later decided the six total hours in the car probably wasn’t worth the excitement of seeing Minnesota’s tallest white pine or crossing the Mississippi on stepping stones – at least for the girls. We’ll go when they can appreciate being able to long jump the river. Instead, we went to the Northland Arboretum. Located behind a mall, movie theater and partially on a landfill…it was actually quite peaceful and beautiful. We enjoyed the trails, met a very friendly volunteer and put up with a very crabby Ella. We made a couple of stops along the way and our day later included giving Ella a nice product made by Fleet, twice. Without any luck. Sigh. My parents left for home a night early and we were left, just the four of us with an evening of fun. After dinner, we took a nice long walk. The girls picked and blew every dandelion head they could find. There should be a nice crop of yellow flowers come spring after all of the “wish wand” blowing that was done, we spent more time at the park, walked back after blowing more wish wands and peeked at some sunfish from the dock. It was then time for pajamas and a family viewing of Toy Story 3 with popcorn.
This is funny because Lily decided to walk backwards, so Loran copied her. She shuffled backwards for yards and yards…Ella had no time for such silliness.
Saturday we were up, packed and out by 9:45. We stopped in St. Cloud for lunch and then walked through campus a bit where I was able to replace my college sweatshirt that I’d spilled melted butter on and we were then on our way home. Once home, Ella found this quite comforting and was back to being regular minutes after arriving home. Ahhh, the joys of parenthood. Family vacations are nothing like what you picture they’ll be like before you have your own family. Suddenly, you come to realize why your mom was so psychotic leading up to family vacations and the term “vacation” should really be thrown completely out the window. Can’t say I find it incredibly relaxing to have two episodes of vomit, two child enemas and everything that goes along with that. And, despite the lack of Lily stories, she was there. She did run into the table edge with her forehead, she did enjoy the park and swimming, but she was just her normal, spunky self. And for that, we’re thankful! 
When I was young, I spent a lot of time at the Marina. The guy who worked in the shack here used to let me help him scoop bait and fuel boats, I took my job very seriously at the Marina!
Second attempt at the rock photo!
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