Part of our visit to Mark and Marie’s was to include a family dog sledding adventure in the Minnesota Boundary Waters Nature Reserve. With Jeanine and Kyle unable to make the trip due to his illness, we invited Rory and Mario to join us in their place. We made the four-and-a-half-hour journey from Minneapolis to Ely, MN, and arrived at our first lodge before sunset.
Had I bought my bathing suit with me, I would have surely sampled the surfing.
This evening Maya and Nico join Rory and Mario at a massive indoor water park to celebrate the birthday of a friend of the family.
Preparing the Sunday dinner requires a team effort. Why my brother insists on being naked while cooking remains a mystery to me but I am not one to argue with the outstanding results.
It should be noted, that Nico is no less thrilled to play with Sophia or Rose although the bulk of his time is spent with Rory and Mario.
Maya seeks every opportunity to cradle Rose or to play with Sophia. She is positively enthralled with her two new girl cousins.
Marie has to attend church this morning so the pleasure of feeding baby Rose is mine. Armed with a bottle of freshly squeezed breast milk, I enjoyed watching her snarf down all but the last few drops before the shear effort of doing so rendered her unconscious.
Mark about to subject his daughter to that barbarous thing he calls a face.
Marie with Rosie in tow manages her job, the household, and her five children (I include Mark in this count) without skipping a beat.
Cousin Mario has grown into a very handsome young man. He is only one day older than Nicolai, but his height suggests a much greater difference.
Three shifts of flapjack flippers were required to produce the 25 pancakes needed to feed the troops.
Rosie is wide awake and looking for food. You are well advised to keep all valued digits far from this child when she is ready to eat.
Here she tests her big blue eyes on Uncle Carl. I have no immunity to her spells.
My brother, Mark, helps daughter Sophia clean up to begin the day. Even though she has a cold, Sophia is the sweetest little girl you can imagine.