Ice Fishing on a Work Weekend.

So, Seth is retired and the kids have been asking about North Dakota and ice fishing and I had to work this weekend. So off to the Great White North my favorite people went without me, while I had to work on a Reserve exercise all weekend. I hated missing the time with them, and I know solo travel is a handful

 but it ended up being the best decision. Ford was over the moon to see his Grandpa and his dog

and Finley had the time of her life making snow forts and baking with Grandma.

I spent much of the weekend with this terrible view  (truly painful on a Saturday)

 

while the kids got to experience a real ice house

(this guy made it a whole day, thanks in no small part to snacks)

and attend another fun Amble wedding 

 

(where they were a big hit,

 

obviously.)

I worked and cleaned the house from top to bottom, and threw a girlfriends birthday party.

And missed these beasts like mad. Even if they apparently smell like fish.

Literally all these photos are borrowed from Seth & Jayne (I'm grateful), and they just sent me this one: the Scheel's in Fargo has a ferris wheel. And it's amazing.

I can't wait to have my people home tomorrow, but I'm so glad they had fun in the Peace Garden State <-- worst nickname.)

Valentine's Snuggles, and maybe not just because it was cold.

It was a wild week, and one comprised of a lovely Galentine's Day (for me and the kids and our extended fam, the Ryans) and a continuation of the epic trout fishing journey (for Seth.) He departed for the Shenandoah Valley with the camper in tow on Wednesday, and on Friday we finally caught up with our biggest Valentine. 

It was 15 degrees in the mountains.

Now that's love.

Our long weekend included lots of campfire snuggles, which was the just what the doctor ordered for us all.

We also did our fair share of acting like actual terrorists in caverns (here, in the world famous Luray ones),

 

touristing it up at the acompanying roadside attractions (here, the toy museum, car and carriage museum, and Pink Cadillac Diner, respectively),

and celebrating Dad's birthday early with a German dinner at a hilariously cramped and miniature-sized German restaurant. Although Finley got to play the accordion and the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte was on point, so it was an overall win.

Sunday found Seth back in the river

while the kids and I hiked

to the absolutely stunning Natural Bridge.

 

Naturally, their favorite part was the gift shop

(and the really cool Visitors' Center.)

We were also reminded that the Shenandoah Valley does breweries right (here, playing tic tac toe at the epic Great Valley Farm Brewery)

We met Dad on the river, after a long day of outfit changes that left these two hooligans in snow pants (all they had left, Mom Fail)

and Finley showing off her best "I don't know how this happened" pose after winding up hip deep in mud.

Everyone recovered for s'mores later. We were reminded that Ford likes his marshmallows just the way Mamma Gran did: on fire.

Possibly related, everything we own is now completely covered in marshmallow goo.

On our last day of the four-day, the kids and I tackled the Massanutten Water Park. Which is pretty much my worst nightmare, but at least if you arrive early you have a few minutes of pee-free water. Presumably.

Turns out, I could've saved a serious chunk of change and just put the kids in a warm bath, since they are total chickens who flatly refused to go down the big water slides and mostly camped out on the stairs of the hot tub.

(Although Ford eventually wound up the courage to do this tiny slide, took it v. seriously, and then repeated his performance at least 50 times in true Ford fashion.)

We worked up enough of an appetite for brisket sandwiches at Hank's (because "nothing says love like a bucketful of meat!")

and, after a long day of driving and unloading the camper and contemplating vast quantities of laundry, found ourselves back at home; with Davy Crockett delightedly sporting his new coonskin cap.

He reminds me so much of my baby brother, and I crack up every time I think of Ben and his makeshift coonskin cap decades ago.

All in all, although I still think of President's Day Weekend as a ski weekend, we did OK for warm (ish) weather and no snow. And got in lots of snuggles with our hilarious Valentines. 

We call that a win.

Trailer park dinosaurs and trout fishing.

Seth's first week of terminal leave was idyllic, and featured lots of backyard hangout time and evening card games and lots of never-taken-for-granted downtime to enjoy our kids. 

It also included torrential downpours and tornado warnings, during which I was summoned to DC to work and made an insane 24 hour trip in terrible weather.

Still, it was nice not to have worry about last-minute kid arrangements and whether they would forgive me for being gone. (Instead, I came home to nutella smeared on literally every fabric surface in the house and tired, happy kids who had become feral in a single day and had also been introduced to the Davy Crockett movie of my childhood. They did not miss me one bit.)

We made an early Saturday morning haul out to the Appalachian mountains in Tennessee, because I can't say no and had promised my old boss and sergeant major I would finally make one of their reunions at a fishing camp on the Watauga River. It turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. F+F are finally big enough to play cabin board games,

not throw one another in the fire,

and get a huge kick out of lofted bunkbeds.

They were also delighted about a fleeting mountain snowstorm and the opportunity to fish with Dad,

basically their favorite thing ever.

Thanks to the snowfall, the water was running (so the trout weren't)

 

but that didn't stop us from playing tourist,

discovering (terrifyingly) that icicles are the perfect weapon,

and spending an unexpectedly warm Sunday casting on Wilbur Lake anyway.

Because we never let a tacky roadside adventure go unexplored, we also discovered this- no kidding- completely wild trailer park dinosaur attraction 

(a seriously bizarre hit and if you're ever in the far northeast corner of Tennessee you shouldn't miss it.)

Our roadtrip got us in late as usual on Sunday, so this Monday we're recovering- by which we mean doing literally mountains of laundry- and (apparently) supervising kitchen makeovers. Poor Ford.

Although he scored the photo of the week, after falling prey to Appalachian imperatives and toting around his popgun and this random cabin Bible all weekend. Which was both apropos and hilarious.