First full day casted.

Svea broke her leg at a park yesterday, so life has taken us to an unexpected way of living for the next four . . . to six . . . weeks.
Viggo spent last night in the girls' room so he could alert us in case Svea needed anything. So he slept on the floor. He woke us up early this morning to let us know Svea needed help. Sure, we could pull out the baby monitor, but, he was sincerely eager to help out his little sis. How could we say no to that?

Today Svea desperately wanted to go outside. She sat on her plasma car but honestly, not such an exciting ride when you only have one leg to work with. So we played a game.

In other news, Viggo caught a frog while we were outside. He put it in his little port-a-bug.

This catch happened after he caught a garter snake this morning, which he caught and released. So now I'll be paranoid every time I go to the backyard until I can finally seek and destroy it. But our little naturalist certainly wasn't going to let anybody kill the snake today.

Hoppy the frog was given bigger living quarters after I said it was okay to bring him inside.
Elin loves the frog and sits quietly by his house and watches him intently. Sitting quietly is key to my sanity. Elin is going through a screaming phase. Bring on the frogs.

I decided Svea needed some pampering tonight, so I painted her toenails after she had a very careful bath. Of course the color matches her cast. That was totally on purpose.

While her tootsies were drying, she sat on the floor with her leg elevated and looked through a toy magazine that came today.

She told me she wanted the trampoline and all the ride-on toys.

Unexpectedly, Svea has become very sentimental toward all of us. I put her up on two kitchen chairs today (to prop up her legs - she takes up one whole side of the table now) and while she was watching me make her breakfast, she said, "Mommy, I love you. You're the best mommy in the whole world."

I thought that was pretty nice.

Then I heard her say to Elin a few minutes later, "Elin, I love you. You will always be my best friend. Even when we have different mommies." Yeah, not quite sure what that last part meant (?!), but it was nice anyway. Elin is her best friend - aww!

After looking through one magazine, Svea requested another, and some popcorn from an errand she went on this morning with Nate. She still thinks her cast is coming off in two days, but hopefully we'll be able to keep her distracted. She is one tough gal.

Driveway fun . . . and a mummy

Today Viggo went down the block to play with a friend.

So the gals and I had to make our own fun.

The driveway needed a makeover.

A start, a finish, and a twisty-turny path. Yay!

I watched Svea go around and around and around.

Svea insisted I take a picture of her when she finished the "race".

We got this plastic horn out of a freebie bin at a garage sale this morning. The lady managing the sale seemed to be delighted when it walked off her property. I quickly learned why she was so eager to get rid of it.

Elin tooted the horn while Svea walked around on all fours through the course.

Then Svea tooted the horn for Elin.

And then I removed the horn so the poor neighbors could have a break from the racket.

Then Svea and Elin zipped around the path on their plasma cars.

And last night Svea fell asleep in our bed. When it was about time to move her out of our room, we found this:

Totally asleep. A little mummy of our very own.

Lake Vermilion. 5.

Viggo and I kayaked around the island one morning when the water was quiet.

I finally caught a glimpse of the lean-to. I've heard that manly men hang out here on rainy days.

We spotted some turtles out sunning.

Dozens of crayfish.

Viggo was on the constant hunt for fishing lures. The prize he found, though, was a big orange bucket.

Seeing something like this long-uprooted tree makes me wonder how long it's been there.

I'm guessing this tree was blown over by a storm a long time ago, but that didn't stop it. It is still growing - just sideways.

Viggo was really wowed by this mess of dirt and tree roots. It almost looked like an Ent.

We looked behind it and found a doe looking at us. See her pretty reddish-brown coat there. She kept peeking around some roots until we paddled too close and she ran off.

I didn't realize a blue heron was in this picture until after it was taken. We rounded a bend, Viggo was pursuing a mallard, and a surprise heron flew out of the brush.

For blue herons I thought this one had an especially big wingspan, but I am not a wildlife expert, and could be making that up. Maybe it was just because it was so close.

We were out for so long putzing around the island that Viggo asked if Dad would wonder where we were. I told him Dad would only come out if he was worried about us. Two minutes later guess who hunted us down. Nate said he wasn't worried, the girls just needed something to do. Finding us was a convenient thing to do.

I am enjoying vacation more and more now that the kids are getting bigger, and two of them can swim. Not that I didn't enjoy going up to any cabins before, I always have, but on this vacation I definitely felt more at ease. The big kids can swim. Such a difference. We also packed less stuff for five people on this trip than we (okay, not we, just me - Nate had nothing to do with the insane overpacking) packed the first time we brought Viggo up to the lake 7 years ago. I am getting better at not packing everything in our entire closet. We still filled up a good portion of the pontoon with stuff, but whatever. We're getting there.

Viggo had morning coffee with Grandpa on the porch, and over three and a half weeks I think that he consumed half a dozen boxes of Jacobsen's Snack Toast.

Elin loved the boat rides.

We were blessed with such a great time at the lake :)

Lake Vermilion. 4.

Viggo lived for days with working out in the woods with Grandpa.

Not sure if you can see it, but that's Viggo's leg on the left-hand side of the four-wheeler. He sat in front of Grandpa for the ride.

The girls enjoy a sunny spot on the porch.

Nate, Elin, Svea and I paddled out to see the floatplane take off.

It gives tours of the lake and takes off several times a day within sight of the cabin, providing a huge thrill for the kiddos.

While waiting for it to come back in for a landing, Nate and Elin combed the edges of islands looking for any lost fishing lures. They didn't find any . . . this time.

I love lichen.

Svea helps Nate work on a project.

Everybody loves a good eggbeater drill.

Elin called her swimsuit her "swimsoup".

Viggo decided to kneeboard, so here are Nate and Jim getting him all set.

I was completely impressed by his ability to get up on his knees almost immediately, and hang on!

Viggo was thrilled. He had so much fun.

We went swimming. Lake Vermilion is a neighbor to Canada and the BWCA, so it's not exactly tropical.

Water was cold. Elin would only get her feet wet.

Viggo almost froze on his second attempt, but he still did a great job. Way to go, V-man!