whWe have just returned from our favorite week of the year, that being our week on Sybil Lake near Vergas. We started doing a week at a cabin in 2001 when our youngest son, David, was 1. He is now 19. We have hop-skipped around the lake to 6 different cabins renting from 5 different parties. Thankfully the last two have been pet friendly because that's about when Charlie joined the family. It is a week where we can slow down, ditch the technology and enjoy each other's company while fishing, swimming, running, reading, playing board games and of course, eating fun foods. David managed to borrow two stand-up paddleboards from a friend the past two years which we have enjoyed a ton. It's relaxing and a good balance workout to be out paddling plus its super quiet. I also like to be able to "creep" a little on the other lake places and see the beautiful homes, boats and even enjoyed watching a bald eagle flying overhead. Charlie seems to think he is the captain of these little boats and sits right up front where he's got an excellent view while wearing his life jacket. The life jacket isn't so much to keep him from sinking as it is to provide a handle to pluck him back out of the water if he falls in. Happy to report that Charlie fell in twice during the week and I didn't fall off even once. I finished these two novels on vacation. They were both mysteries. The Driscoll author is English (from England) and there are words and phrases that are different than we say here, so kind of fun to try to figure it out. Linda Castillo writes about a main character who is formerly Amish and the current chief of police in the area where she grew up so she has an understanding of Amish culture but yet they don't always like to deal with her because she used to be Amish. I've read/listened to a number of these books and enjoy them. As far as the fun foods on vacation, my kids always want monster cookies and Chex Mix. Because we have several gluten free folks, I have to make our Chex Mix to avoid Wheat Chex, pretzels and the bagel chips. I substitute extra Rice and Corn Chex, Cheerios and GF pretzels in our mix. I made a double batch which ran out about two days before we came home. Perfect. Monster cookies can be GF without modifications other than to use uncontaminated peanut butter and GF oats. When the kids were smaller and we all ate gluten, we enjoyed more of our meals at a local cafe called the Loon's Nest, but eating out is a little tougher now, so we ate there four times instead of once a day on our peak years. I try not to make the meals too complex; after all, it is my vacation, too, and who wants to spend the whole time cooking. I make some GF lasagnas ahead of time that we eat there and then mostly stuff on the grill. I did homemade GF pizza for the first time (at the lake) on day and we had GF pancakes with cheesy eggs another day which was another first, but easy. The roads around the lake are very hilly compared to home and most of them are gravel. My pace was greatly slowed by these two factors, but I took the attitude to just go longer if I couldn't go faster. I ran 33.5 miles on five runs. Solid! I was also "reading" while I ran through my Aftershokz and finished a Needlepoint Mystery by midweek. I am currently listening to Columbine which is a reporter's accounting that combines interviews from families, law enforcement, the media and others closely involved in the school shooting from April of 1999. It is a sad tale but interesting, too. This photo doesn't show much of the hill into our driveway, but it is a pretty scene and truly was a big hill. And there was this creepy fellow who got a new shirt since last year. Every day is a beautiful day for a run at Sybil Lake! I'm starting to notice that I take a lot of selfies with Charlie. My daughter misses and loves her dog, so a lot of them go to her before they make the blog. Charlie tries not to miss anything fun on vacation, including any photo ops! Last time, Stephanie reported on her Gluten Free Anniversary. I have been GF for about 9 years and I totally agree with her sentiments especially with social functions and eating out. I've got a couple of advantages besides more experience. Two of my kids are also GF, so when I make family meals, they are heavier on the GF end with some gluten-containing options sometimes available to the others. With more people, it also helps the variety of food because it's hard to keep eating the same stuff again and again. The extra GF people also make it easier when we go out because the wait staff is more keenly aware of the need to be careful at our table although eating out is often tough. I live in an area that is more metropolitan and have many more options for buying foods although I still sometimes order stuff through Amazon Pantry such as noodles...way cheaper and so convenient. Today David and I found the most amazing deal. Mixin' It Up Bakery in Sauk Rapids had Mini Donut Day. They fired up their GF donut machine for 2 hours to get fresh, hot mini donuts. David works in a donut trailer for concessions events that is not GF, so he was really excited to be able to eat donuts similar to what he makes for others. They were $5 per bag, similar to carnival pricing, and incredible! (The link above it to their website, but it seems like there is more info on their Facebook page.) I've got two kids getting married next summer so we are already exploring the GF options for catered meals and wedding cake. No worries, Stephanie, you will get a delicious, filling meal AND dessert at these social outings. I hope everyone is able to enjoy some sort of vacation or stay-cation this summer and that it includes both some running and some fun foods. Happy running! Missee
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AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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