Just not the same

For the first time in 6 years I missed the yearly Peterson family vacation at Becker's Resort on Lake Winnibigoshish. I need to save as much of my vacation time as possible for after the baby comes and I had a feeling I wouldn't be to comfortable up there in the heat, my bad back and the bugs. Rob did go from Saturday to Wednesday and had a great time. Ron, Roger and Rob still participated in the annual Rock Bass Tournament with Rob being the winner*. Win or lose one of my favorite parts is seeing the sunsets on the Mississippi river. Since I was pretty sure Rob wouldn't use our camera if I sent it with him, Rob's uncle Roger was nice enough to send me the below pictures.

(*This was verified by Roger)

The same weekend Rob went to Becker's I brought Aries and Akayia up to my parents cabin for Aries' annual trip. He decided that he wanted Akayia to come up this year and it was a big year for him. Last year he had tried to learn how to ski but didn't make it up. Saturday before Rob left for Becker's he helped Aries try and ski. This year Aries got up on the first time! Rob was such a good sport and ended up having to swim halfway across the lake in the nasty weeds once Aries got up but according to him it was worth it. Mom, Dad and I were in the boat and of course Mom and I started crying. :) He made it almost around the whole lake before he fell down. The best part is he wanted to get right back up. I asked if he wanted to go back to shore to have Rob help him and he wanted to do it by himself. He had a little trouble getting the skis back on but he got right up again! Surprisingly he wasn't to sore on Saturday after, or so he told me. Though on Sunday I asked him if he wanted to try skiing again and said no he didn't want his back to hurt again. Here are some pictures of Aries first time on water skis and Rob helping.

Akayia handled all the new things like a champ! I couldn't believe how brave she was! She got over her fear of dogs (which is good since there was 4 up there), loved going fast on the 4 wheeler, and even went swimming in the middle of the lake! Pretty amazing for a 5 year old who has never been up north before. She also loved to go fishing and was super good in the boat. I wouldn't let her cast the kids rod with the real hook very often because we had 5 people and 4 dogs in the boat. Most of the time she was ok with casting the other kids rod with the fake fish on it, I did let her cast out the real hook a couple of times and she did good, I think I was more nervous than she was. I used the kids rod with the real hook and when ever I caught a fish I let her reel it in. She "helped" me take off almost all the fish that we caught and even liked playing with the worms. I think she touched every sunfish I caught.