Happy Memorial Day everyone! I know this is late but we got home late so here we go! I was gone all weekend at my in-laws cabin in Northern Minnesota. We were lucky because the weather was waaaay better up there than down here. Oofta! Sorry my Minnesotan accent is thicker when I leave the cities. I have to say that I have grown more accustomed to their type of cabin-ing the longer I have gone. My family never had a cabin growing up and all the people I knew with cabins were on lakes. They spent the summers sun bathing, swimming and boating while I spent it in my backyard with a sprinkler trying like hell to pretend it was "as good as being at the lake!" Spoiler alert: it was not.

My in-laws are more the huntin', fishin', roughin' it type. They are on the water sure, but it is purely to catch a walleye or 'eye' as I heard my brother-in-law refer to it this weekend. I have tried fishing and it is just not my thing. So instead I bring a book (I try to read but I lose interest quickly) and try to catch some rays. I might add I was might successful at that on Sunday and am red as a lobster today and could not be happier about it. My porcelain Midwestern skin responds poorly to the beating UV rays but I know it brings me closer to that Brazilian glow I crave. Or what it more typically winds up looking like "do you need some aloe dear?" Le sigh.

Derek and I drove up on Friday night and got the cabin late, which was fine with me cause I was so tired from work. We visited for a bit and headed to bed. On Saturday we did not get out to the lake until later than I had hoped so we spent the day hanging around the cabin. Despite it being 70 ish degrees I was really cold, hence the sweatshirt in the picture below. The plus side was I got to hang out with my nephews and sister-in-law a bit more. The nephews were adorably playing soccer and trying futily to get myself and their mother to participate. They did rope in Grandma and Derek and he does not play around. Derek plays to win. That night we went out on a closer lake to fish. Derek caught a big croppy and the nephews caught a few small fish but no real keepers. So we headed back in a had a cool fire. My mother-in-law found these cool things you put in the fire to make it change colors. Apparently my nephews were talking about it all week at home. To their credit, it was pretty neat.






Hat: Target ; Sunglasses: Target







Sunday we spent all day on the lake. We rode up to this chain of lakes that borders Canada. I don't want to give too many details as my in-laws are very protective of their fishing spots ;). It really is cool though, it is a long chain and on one side you look and see American flags and on the other side you look and see Canadian flags, it's pretty trippy. At the end their is a resort called Kettle Falls. I had been there once before and was pumped to go back. It is a 100 year old hotel right on the border of Canada. Literally, on the other side of the dam is Canada. It is area where Voyagers and loggers came through. This old hotel has a wrap around porch, bar ,restaurant and some cool grounds. The bar is probably my favorite part because the floor is slanted to a pretty significant degree. The pool table and other tables are adjusted to stay level despite the floor. You cannot get there by road, only by boat so all their items are shipped in. It's really quaint and I think it would probably be fun to stay there at least once. We walked out to the dam, took a family picture (dam family, BAZINGA!) and head back to the boats. Unfortunately we did not catch anything that day so we headed home. We stayed up a bit with the fire but the ladies went to bed leaving the men unattended. Always bad, but they woke up alive so success :) 



Thank you Lena Dunham for the lake reading







Monday we headed out a bit later because the boys were working on a project. I finished my book, thank goodness it took me months because I don't like to read, and packed up the car. On the way home we stopped at Gordy's Hi-Hat a Cloquet favorite only open in the summers. They make everything fresh and is another local favoirte it was even visited my Guy Fieri. It was my first time there and definitely worth it! Now I am finally home finishing this blog while I watch Game of Thrones. Solid weekend overall. How was your weekend? Leave me a comment below!