Ackerman Vacation

At the beginning of this month Dad, the girls, Brad, and Myself all ventured up to North Long Lake in Merriville, Minnesota. We stayed at a camping and lodging resort, the Train Bell Resort. 

Dad had reserved a nice cabin for the five of us just off of the lakes shore. We had two bedrooms with double size beds, a bathroom, living room/dining room/ and kitchen area, as well as a loft with two twin size mattresses on the floor. The girls took the loft and Dad took one room while Brad and I took the other room.There was a nice fire pit, a deck, along with wooden chairs and a swing that we could sit on right off of the waters edge. 

We did a lot of fishing throughout the few days we were here. They had a long dock that went off of the beach they had on the resort. They stored all of their rental boats, as well as the boats of people who had rented cabins, on this dock. We caught a majority of our rock bass off of this dock. We also rented the resorts Pontoon boat two of the days. We were able to explore the lake, watch the loons on their nest, and fish off the shores in deeper water. 

Sara most definatly caught the biggest bass out of the group of us. 

We also were able to use the kayaks that the resort had. Cassie, Sara, and I all had a fun time exploring the lake shore and floating around the docks looking at the fish, crawdads, and all of the snails and clams down on the sand. 

Train Bell Resort had a lot of activities for families and kids throughout the week. When we arrived it was "Halloween" week. Sunday started up the next week which was "Western" week. Here are a few activities that we DID participate in. Cassie and Sara thought they were too old for them... but I sure didn't! :)

Charley is the Mascot of the Resort. On Saturday we participated in the "Charley the Chicken Toss" We had to throw rubber chicken in tubs to get points, whoever had the most points got a prize. I was in first place with 90 points until a 90+ year old horse shoe player came and beat me with 130... =/

We also participated in the Minnow Races. This was fun. One little girl chose her minnow, and when they started the race he turned belly side up. And didn't move. She about started crying! But then she went on to win the whole thing with her 2nd choice of minnow. She wore that gold medal around the rest of their trip there! Below is Sara and I holding our minnows in the cups! :) Mines name was Fin and hers was Tiny.

We also went to Billy Bone's Raceway and Golf Course. The 5 of us raced each other in go-karts. Cassie and Brad kicked everyone's butt thanks to a guy who didn't know how to drive. At ALL. :) We also played a round of mini golf. 18 holes. There were some pretty tricky ones! We had 5 holes in one between all of us. I think I am safe to say that we all had a blast here!

We also visited Nisswa. This is a tourist town about 15 miles from where our cabin was. We walked down the boardwalk and did a lot of gift shop shopping as well as window shopping. We stopped at the Chocolate Ox which was a candy store, We visited The Fun Sisters store, The Totem pole, and many other attractions. We also stopped at Nisswa's Smiley Ox, based off of the Paul Bunion story. These were located all around the area we stayed at because the Paul Bunion Trail went right through where we stayed.

On our way home Sunday we stopped at the Brainerd International Raceway. The CRA Superbike Racing Finals was going on when we showed up. These bikes were awesome. They sped around corners and the guys knees ground against the pavement. It was crazy fun.

A bike speeding down the straightway nearing the finish line.

This is a guy going around a corner... They were at like a 10 degree angle when they went so fast. It was scary, but awesome at the same time.

All in All the vacation was a great one. We all had a lot of fun and it was good family bonding. It was nice to hang out and chill and not be on a time crunch for once. Brad and I are always on the go when we are home an feel like we never get to spend time with anyone because there are just too many to catch up with.

For now, Roz <3