Massners in Minnesota

Well... August pretty much just blew up in front of our faces. 

I don't know where to begin, so I am just going to share pictures of our family vacation for now.

We spent the last week of July in Minnesota with my family in a house on Wynne Lake, which is about an hour and a half north of Duluth. 

But first! The four of us stopped for the night in Minneapolis and got to spend the afternoon and evening catching up with Alice. It was so nice to spend some time with her and very encouraging to hear about her new walk of life as a Christian. 

The boys took a liking to Alice! 

We met up at our hotel, walked to the sculpture garden, and then enjoyed some Vietnamese cuisine for dinner on our way back. 

The Big Rooster

Cherry on a Spoon

LOVE

While we're on the subject of love...we accidentally ordered the "Romance Package" at Holiday Inn Express...thus, the rose petals, candles, and box of chocolates awaiting our arrival. And a crib. Seriously, how much more romantic could it get?

After church, we headed up to the house where we met up with the rest of the crew. Everyone was able to make it - even Billy & Vienna chose us over a trip to Cancun with her family! ;) Ok, so they had to forfeit a trip to Cancun because they didn't have space for Billy once they got married. But I like to think they would have chosen Wynne Lake with the Massners any day over a luxurious resort in the tropics! :) 

Micah was happy for a quick break from his car seat halfway there! He is always full of smiles! 

My parents rented a pontoon for the week, so after retrieving it on Monday, all of us went to Lake Vermilion and spent the afternoon boating, tubing, fishing, and swimming.

Levi may have been a little premature for the tubing experience...

...but driving the boat was probably his favorite part of the day! 

We cooked breakfast and supper at our house every day except Wednesday. Lunches were mostly packed ahead and eaten on the go.

On Tuesday, a few of us went to the pool to swim. Levi loved the water, especially the hot tub!

Micah enjoyed the pool, too! 

Wednesday was our big day, and the day of the matching family vacation shirts. We drove about an hour to get to Gooseberry Falls and spent the afternoon hiking and enjoying the beautiful falls and view of Lake Superior!

Apparently my brothers were lamenting that they weren't allowed to even get close to a waterfall until they were at least 12 years old...hmm...apparently I should be questioning the way I am parenting my 18-month old. 

Our shirts said, "Got Nothin' to Wynne About"

We drove another hour to Duluth, where we boarded a train that took us on a 2 1/2 hour ride along the North Shore of Lake Superior. They served us pizza for dinner. It was very beautiful and relaxing!

Playing with the trains at the station museum before the ride. 

Thursday we went boating on Lake Wynne, where we were staying. It is a pretty small lake, but great for tubing because we about had the whole lake to ourselves!

Enjoying the evening around the fire.

Friday several of us spent the morning/afternoon on the beach. Then...packing and laundry! Matt and I got to go on a bike ride in the evening while the boys stayed back with the crew.

Most of the week, my brothers went out fishing in the mornings and evenings. Their efforts weren't super fruitful, but we did have a few fish to fry up by the end of the week!

Biggest catch of the day! 

Johnny caught a minnow! It was probably one of the smaller fish he caught. Pretty impressive that he caught a fish that was smaller than his hook...

Levi spent the week sleeping in the bunk room with his uncles! Here he had fallen asleep reading his Bible storybook...  

Saturday morning we got all packed up and had just locked the doors of the house when the cleaning lady pulled in at 10:00 sharp! Whew, that was a close one. But hey, at least someone was there to get a full family photo!

We arrived home around bedtime. Back to reality! It was such a blessing to spend a whole week confined to a house with the family. :) And to enjoy some downtime, relaxing, and more of God's beautiful creation! Northern Minnesota is such a beautiful area. 

And I might add that the boys loved the endless attention.

Two days later, August arrived in full force. I will leave you on that cliff hanger for now.

Ok, don't feel like I am leaving you hanging too much. I don't even know what happened in August except that it was a whirlwind.

For now, God's blessings to you in September...fall is such a beautiful time of year!

Billy and Vienna's Wedding

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Bill(y) Massner! What a beautiful wedding weekend!

B & V

WE DID IT!!!!! (Made it to the wedding all in one piece with all of our clothes and most of us with smiles despite the chaotic week and baby with a fever and...whew, it was a feat. :) Weddings were slightly more relaxing before children. But not nearly as cute, of course.)

Big brother's love...

The Massner Family...we're a-growing!

The Originals

Me and my (big) boys...Can you believe we are all standing up straight here? I'm not exactly short by any means...

Bill n' Bros.

Bill n' Sis.

Massner Niblings

Grandpa & Grandma

Grandma and her babies.

Mom & Dad

The Lanz Family...Billy is joining a great crew! 

The Wedding Party

Ross A., Jordan W., Jared S., Billy, Justin, Jonathan

Bay L., Kaylyn S., Rory W., Vienna, Kaylee L., Erika S.

Micah

Levi

It is nice to have another girl in the Massner family and V will be the perfect wife for Billy! :) Best wishes and God's blessings to the two of you as you embark on this journey together!

Here goes...

'Tis been a month (or two). 

It all started when Justin graduated from high school in May! He plans to join Jonathan at Iowa State in the fall and pursue an engineering degree. 

Uncle Justin's open house

Congrats, grad! 

Mediapolis High School Class of 2017

Then all the summertime fun started happening...

Playing with cousins and friends! 

Levi had fun with the Steiners on the four-wheeler one morning! 

He has improved immensely on his coloring skills! Crayons hardly get eaten anymore. 

And then one evening he managed to climb up on the piano by himself and start playing my violin...

Micah's new favorite place to be! This kid's a-hoppin'!

Speaking of fun...some animal has had a lot of fun with all of my potted flowers this summer. Every one of my pots has been torn up at least once. When I woke up to this scene one morning, I decided to give up on these flowers.

We were so thankful when we learned that my brother Travis made the decision to turn his life over to the Lord shortly after school was out. How the angels in Heaven must rejoice when a soul joins God's kingdom!

Matt turned 29 at the beginning of June. "Almost 30" was basically the theme of the day. Apparently age 29 is rather anti-climatic.

June 11th was Billy and Vienna's wedding. I am hoping to share photos later!

The wedding day was also Micah's four month birthday, so he got to wear his bow tie and suspenders for the sticker photo. 

Four months old: 15.5 lbs, 26 inches long. Laid back and content for the most part. He has pretty much given up on sleeping through the night, but we sure love his contagious grin!

The wedding weekend was a blessing. The couple was quite happy and all went well.

Except Micah had a fever of 102-104 up until Sunday. The stress and fatigue of that situation may be reflected in the wedding photos.

Two days later, he broke out in a rash.

That afternoon, Levi got a fever. I believe both Levi and Micah ended up with a mild case of hand-foot-and-mouth disease.

Then a couple days later I was under the weather, too.

A week of recovery.

Now we are all relatively happy and healthy, but both boys have snotty noses. I guess I will take it.

In conclusion, it has been an exhausting month.

To continue:

The father-son campout was Father's Day weekend at the fellowship center. Matt stayed overnight with Levi this year!

And, of course, Father's day requires a tribute to the father of my children! What a great dad...you boys are so blessed!

This year, Father's Day was a special day for the Lanz family as most of the aunts, uncles, and cousins got to spend time together in the nursing home at Grandpa's bedside. He went Home to be with Jesus only a few days later. We are thankful he could be released from his pain and join our loved ones in Heaven, though it is always difficult for the rest of us to say goodbye.

The next week, Camille, Shelby, and Suzanna spent two days and a night at our place to play with the boys. They were able to be here for my birthday, so it was kind of an exciting day around here! They made cupcakes and even brought me a balloon!

...and Matt made me a beautiful bouquet of flowers! 

My 23rd birthday party 

Last weekend, we found ourselves caught up in our annual July fourth gathering with the Steffen-Massner clan. Perhaps the most exciting part of the whole weekend was when BOTH of my boys sat and ENJOYED the fireworks!! I was preparing to have a screaming baby and crying toddler for the duration of the show, but Levi was thrilled with the "booms" and "lights" and Micah was stunned to silence.

The Micahs (Mycas) meet again!

The boys got plenty of attention! 

My brothers spent the weekend trapping Japanese Beetles. This particular brother did not want to take his chances of coming into contact with a beetle. 

I think this annual Sperry fireworks selfie is becoming a tradition. 

Matt had Monday and Tuesday off work, so he and Zach started working on some landscaping out back. Matt is planning to build five retaining walls. They finished one and did some prep work for the second. It was a very hot two days to be outside!

And then there is life in the house.

Now it is already July and I have finally caught my breath again! June was kind of crazy, but July is looking promising. :)

Have a great rest of the summer!