Cousin Surprise on the 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day! For the last several years, we have been able to celebrate the 4th of July while on vacation at Birch Villa. It's different than at home, but no less fun! After saying good-bye to our friends (Tomm, Andrea, the rest of the M-family), we spent a lazy morning around the cabin, slowly getting ready to go fishing. Tom took Leah uptown to get a 7-day fishing license, and she joined our regular crew (Seth, Maddie, Tom & I) in the boat this morning. We went over to Pike Bay hoping to bring home some more perch and rock bass and we weren’t disappointed, ending up with 22 fish total, 10 perch and 12 rockies (several of which were really nice-sized).

Moving through the channel between the big lake and Pike Bay is often an adventure in itself, and today was no exception. When we pulled in we noticed a mother duck with her three babies. Seth informed us it was actually a merganser. She fluttered around getting her babies to move out of the boat’s path, but then continued to paddle frantically ahead of our boat, zig-zagging back and forth in front of us for about five minutes. The poor thing looked panicked and tired, but she just wouldn’t stop. Finally she took off flying low over the water. We think she was trying to lead us away from her babies…it was interesting, and quite entertaining. (We hope she eventually made it back to those babies!)

Back at the resort, there was a big surprise coming for the girls. Tom and I (and the older kids) have been keeping a secret for the past six weeks or so. My sister Beth and her kids have been planning to come to Minnesota this year and Leah & Chloe (who love spending time with their cousins) had no idea. Around mid-afternoon they arrived to hugs and screams, and even a few tears of joy! What a fun surprise!

In the evening, our family of seven joined Beth and her kids (Nicole, William, Elise and Zach), as well as my Mom and Dad (who had also arrived this afternoon) at Ruttger’s Birchmont Lodge for a casual dinner on the outside patio, overlooking Lake Bemidji. As we did last year, Tom & I changed into biking clothes after dinner to take our bike ride around Lake Bemidji. We had to cut the ride a little shorter than last year (only 15 miles instead of 18), as the haze and a later start made darkness a bit of a problem toward the end. We also made a note to selves to avoid doing this ride on the 4th of July again, as the trail was crowded with people waiting for fireworks to start over the lake. Beth, who had borrowed our car to get groceries in Bemidji, managed to find us so we could load up our bikes and head home to catch a few of our own fireworks over Cass Lake. Although we missed most of them, the kids and Grandma & Grandpa had enjoyed the show. After a long, but super fun 4th of July, it’s time to call it a day!