friday doldrums

No Go....

Well ladies, I have decided that I am not going to be able to make it to the F-ing Festival. I just can't make it work - I can't travel that far with three toddlers! I'm sorry and I hope you thoroughly enjoy your time!

thinking caps on...it's a race!

So, I am getting my message ready for Baccalaureate next Wednesday, and they want me to come up with a hymn that goes with my message. I am basing my message on 1 Tim...Do not neglect the gift that is within you...so, I am telling them what gifts they have as a class and then telling them to use them in the future for good purposes. Let me know if you think of a great hymn that would go with that.
Ready........GO!
P.S. No word on the new job yet.
Love you, bye!

mandy...

I am posting on "little-miss preggers" behalf. Mandy will HOPEFULLY be camping Friday night and for sure Saturday night. Julia will probably not be on this little adventure so Mandy will actually be able to complete entire sentences and is very excited about that :)

So, if Scanders and Mandy can camp Friday night...I'm game. If not, I'll stay in the City Friday night and we can all meet up Saturday morning.

There is a small chance I may have to leave Saturday night-I'll check in with the powers that be (a.k.a my Pastor).

Saturday camping for me

Hello...
I will camp Saturday. P.S. I have an interview in Lake Crystal today (that is the town I live in)...how nice!

I would be able to camp Friday and Saturday, but won't camp Friday alone (yes, I'm scared of the dark). Its just a very long drive and a lot of work for one night camping.

I have an email from Amy saying she would try to make it.

That's the report from here...

Making a plan....

Ok, so I'm trying to get a plan here. That weekend is coming together for me! I'm off early Friday, so that stress is gone. Kevin didn't flinch when I told him I would be away for part of our anniversary, so that stress is gone. I have the entire following week off....so, if my kids don't sleep in tents, that stress is gone too! he he.... My biggest stress is getting the kids on Saturday....yikes! It looks like an hour and a half trip from St. Cloud to Stillwater, does that sound right? So, Elk River to St. Cloud, then to Stillwater - those of you from down there, what kind of a trip am I looking at here? Tell me to buck up and make my hubby give me money for gas! :) Anyway - who IS all going to camp for sure? Has anyone heard anything from Becca or Amy? Sarah A camping? Elizabeth, Mandy, Breanna? Can't wait to meet Addyson!!! Is anyone camping Friday night too, or just Saturday night? Keep me posted!

Procrastination

A quick weigh-in as I'm procrastinating on my papers: I can get my hands on two tents. One is my own (10x10) and the other is my mom's (a 2-rm cabin tent). I haven't asked her if I can use it, but I'm sure she'll say yes!

Amanda - Come!!! But, at the same time, don't give into the peer pressure if can't do it. You know your limits.

You can do it!

That's what Micaela says when we're biking up hill "You can do it! You can REALLY do it!" You can do it, Amanda! Elk River to Still Water is less than an hour...so not exactly across the state :) If I can help in anyway, I think Micaela will just be driving from EGF to Stillwater on Friday, so we can put extra kids in the car, caravan...whatever!

I have a tent (on order) that sleeps 4 people, if its nice I'm fine putting the kiddos in a tent and sleeping outside too. I might do some checking b/c wouldn't it be fun to rent a HUGE tent...I'll see how much that is! Might make putting kids to bed easier (or way harder).

This is coming up so soon...3 weeks! Micaela and I are going to St. Louis in 2 weeks for a friend's wedding, so I'll try to make sure we've got all the details taken care of prior to leaving.

YOU CAN DO IT EVERYONE!

Howdy

Amanda, you have to come! It is already going to be a sparse crowd I have a feeling. I do have a tent that my lovely bridesmaids purchased for me and Chris. I have not used it yet, but would be happy to bust it out for the festival. The only problem is, I don't know what times I will get there because I am going to the Guthrie that day.

As for how far ER is from SC, it is about a half an hour...not too bad. But, we are camping in Stillwater, right?

Well, on other notes...congrats on the new thing growing in your tummy, Mandy. I hope someone (Becca, Amy, Mandy) can produce a boy, that would be good. As for me, I am more in the Sarah and Sarah camp...not quite ready yet. But, I have been married for one whole year now!

A couple weeks ago, my brother graduated from Concordia and I got to see Elizabeth and Micaela....it was so fun! But, I still can't believe it has been 5 years. My first 8th graders are graduating in a matter of days. I am feeling old.

Keep the conversation going! See you all soon...that is actually really soon!

Struggling....

I'm struggling with scheduling the weekend of the festival....I have to work on Friday and I'm leaving early for this DAMN concert I have to chaperone my husband for. How far is Elk River from St. Cloud? Here's my hang up - I need to pick up my kids on Saturday morning before the festival, but really don't want to be driving all around the state that day. I also realized it's our anniversary that weekend...so, please talk me into coming anyway - I'm struggling with what to do. I want to do it all, just can't figure out how! What's the story with tents? Does anybody have tents or are we renting or what? We have a screen tent, but I wouldn't sleep in it!!! It keeps the mosquitos off your supper though.....oh, heck, I do want to come! I'm just a little nervous about camping in a tent with three kiddos. So - we'll keep in touch of course!

Green with Envy

Hello ladies! I must say that I am EXTREMELY green with envy at reading all of these posts regarding the F-ing Festival. How fun. And how absolutely depressing that I won't be able to be there. You all suck. (HAHA Just kidding! :)) Mandy - Congrats on the new little one on the way! Scanders - I'm still with ya in the "No Kids" stage, so have no fear! :) Seth and I do have some fun news, though -- WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is in Marshall and we close on the 30th of May. We are SO EXCITED. It is in the older part of town where there are big tall trees and nice neighborhoods and I have found out since we bought it that I already know some of our neighbors! We are, at long last, moving on to that next stage in our life -- being in debt for the next 30 years! :) HAHA - Seriously, we are super pumped. It will be great for us to be back in Marshall and we're looking forward to having our OWN HOME, our OWN LAWN, our OWN STUFF!! Anyway..I don't have much else to contribute, but I wanted to update all of you on the exciting news in our lives. I miss all of you and would love for you to come check out the house whenever you can - there will be TWO guest bedrooms (since there aren't any of our own kids around!) and there's even a second bathroom, although one of them will probably be designated the BOY bathroom for Seth. :) Anywho - I will stop blabbing..love you all and MISS YOU..Sarah

Yay!

I will book the sites tomorrow-for Friday and Saturday night? Who can be there when? I think Micaela can do Friday and Saturday...

I will then send an email out to all the address I have (the evil power of facebook makes it easy to contact the women we haven't heard too much from).

I will do some talking to some people at church, I think a couple large tents would be really fun, I found a small tent hard to put little ones to sleep...but yes, we can work on who will bring what later.

I'm excited...the 3rd annual festival is drawing near!!!!!

let it be...

Ok, the Backstrom's have a plan! Yahoo! We are heading down to Elk River Friday night for the concert and staying at a friends house in Elk River. Saturday morning, Kevin is going to ride back up north with another friend who lives north of us, and I'll stay in the Elk River area (after retrieving the kids from sis-in-law in St. Cloud) and camp with all ya-all! We would prefer not to haul the camper that far, considering Kevin would not be able to help with the tear down, so the problem is that we do not own a tent. But, those are details we can work out later. So, Elizabeth, I think you should book it. Would you agree it would be nice to have input from all those who have not inputted their inputs yet? But, I'm up for this latest plan! I'm sorry it didn't work out to be here - maybe some other time! We're always up for a hoe-down here! Or just some grilled pork chops! I'll keep checking here for updates!

input

I, too, looked a little bit at Lake Maria State Park...I'm not sure if they have sites which accomodate Rvs or not so we'd want to check that if Amanda were bringing her trailor. Oh and Amanda, nice try by trying to put me in charge via a blog entry. Unfortunately it's not going to happen this time because I've got five papers and a test left to do before the semester ends in a week and a half. :)

Mandy - CONGRATULATIONS!!! While I'm a little weirded out that so many of my friends have children, I do think it's wonderful. I told my mom and she was just as excited as I was!

An idea

Okay, I did some searching for places near Elk River-that seems like a nice central location, no one has to drive over 5 hours. Lake Maria State Park looks lovely and they have sites available for our weekend in June. Shall I book the sites? Here is some info about the Park...(in case you go searching and notice that they do have camper cabins for rent-I checked and they are booked for our weekend)

Address
11411 Clementa Ave NW
Monticello, MN 55362

Phone
(763) 878-2325 Business 1
(763) 878-2620 Fax

State Park offer backpack camping, cabins, group camp sites, hiking trails, horseback trails, picnicing, fishing, interpretive programs and displays.
Type of Accommodation
Camping, State Parks

Directions to Accommodation from Nearest Town/Intersection
From Monticello, CR 39 west to CR 111 to Park entrance. Follow State Park signs.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rates
Daily Camping Rates: $12

Additional Rate Info
Group camp $50/night or $3/camper - whichever is greater. Camper cabins $35.

Dates Year Round
Availability Reservations: www.stayatmnparks.com or 1-866-857-2757.

South it is!

Guess what - my dear husband, even after telling him of my plans for that weekend, has made more plans for me! We're going to Elk River on Friday for a David Allen Coe concert. (don't ask - I don't even know what he sings - but Kevin's in love!) So, perhaps a destination down there would work out better anyway! Our concert is on Friday night, and I don't think Kevin was too thrilled about rushing back up north Saturday morning - so, let's put Scanders in charge! he he.... We'll just make something work! Congratulations Mandy - I think you mentioned getting sick of sex anyway - and that's not good! :) We're very happy for you - a boy would be good! Wish we could hear from Breanna, Becca and Amy - HINT HINT. What is everyone's plan? We'll keep in touch! Love ya all!

Location, location, location

Hello friends!

1. CONGRATS to Mandy and David! I'm really hoping for a boy, we need some balance. Maybe I'll bring Isaiah to the festival just to spice up life :)

2. I think we should consider camping a littler farther south. I camped at Norway beach last summer and that was a nice spot. Maybe Scanders would have some good south ideas. Even if its without a camper, we're tough and can do it! Maybe we can even have a rain site just in case.

Thoughts?

Hang in there ladies-we'll get this figured out!

Elizabeth

December 8, 2008

Guess what? :) That little baby up there is 6 weeks, 3 days old, and as of today is 9 weeks old with a heartbeat of 170 beats per minute. Isn't that amazing? Oh yeah, and its in MY BELLY!!!

So sorry I haven't gotten back to you about this whole frolicking festival thing. Needless to say, I've been a bit exhausted at night, and that along with the nauseousness that worsens sometimes at night, I haven't been really up for sitting at the computer. TV and a couch is way less taxing. :) Here's my input... If I'm being totally honest, I'm not sure that I'll be able to make it all the way up to the northland for the festival. I love you all so dearly, but we have about three longish trips in the next month before we head out to that 1300 mile Maine drive, and with the price of gas, I'm not sure that we can hack it. I will do my best if camping up there works the best, and it sounds like we have a lot of great options to make it fun and comfortable up there... but I can't promise anything. I would be more likely to make an outing in the Cities, which cuts my drive in half, but I know adds immensely to the travels of some of the rest of you.
So, that is my input. Please take it with the knowledge that I want you all to do what is best for the WHOLE group, and I will work with what the decision is. OK? :)

I am buying time from "Daddy" right now who is giving Julia a bath after a really long day at work, so I'm going to head up and relieve him. I'll check back here as much as possible and I'll try to get back on any questions in a more timely manner. The nauseousness is easing a little bit, so that is helpful. I actually cleaned for the first time in about 5 weeks yesterday. Those of you who lived with me know that that is a crazy long time for me not to clean. And I didn't care one bit. :)

Anyway, I love you all!! My blessings on you making the festival decisions. You are wise and incredible. :)

Mandola and little one cooking inside. :) Maybe a boy for our estrogen-heavy group ?

5 years ago

Some of us graduated five years ago today. I never imagined I would be where I am today. If the past five years have gone this quickly, what does that say about the upcoming five years and beyond?

Camping Update

I called the state park yesterday, and the site that has electric hookup, there are 4 spots left, none of which are next to each other. I talked to the park ranger dude, and he said we can all hang out at one site during the day, but as far as sleeping, we have to split up and sleep with only 1 camper or 2 tents at each site. Not a huge deal. Otherwise, there's another site without electricity that is closer to the swimming beach that is wide open. We have a camper, and I think it'll be useful with or without electricity....

Another option - there's a little resort outside of Pelican called Leisure Lane that I'm going to check out! It's on Prairie Lake - a very kid friendly beach. I'm checking into things - MANDY, LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK?!?!?! I'll keep you posted!

Amen!

Let it be so...I think as soon as Mandy (the one who has to travel the farthest) give us her blessing on the location, you should book it Amanda. Either your house, or the camping site-I'm up for either (as we learned last year, we need no grand location to have a really good time).

Mandy-if you want us to go farther south-don't be afraid to say so.

And I hereby swear not to talk about children the whole time :)

Love you all!


Elizabeth

LET'S GO CAMPING!!!!!!

I want to go camping!!!!

I think Maplewood or Amanda's would be good and I think we should plan on the second week in June!!!

More thoughts....

After I posted the last little bit, I got to thinking - having it hear would be a lot easier, with all the little ones anyway - but I thought of some more amenities available here - we have the grill, screened in porch, hot showers, we could take the kids for a nature walk :) - just some thoughts. Camping does sound like fun too - I need YOUR FEEDBACK!

Are we camping or what?!?!?

So - word has it that the 2nd week in June is the weekend for the festival! How many are up for a little camping? I would be more than happy to line something up - and if it's near us, Kevin will help set up the camper and all that good stuff! I'm picturing all the ladies and lots of tots in Maplewood State Park. It's near Pelican, and it has TONS of walking trails, a nice swimming beach, playground equipment, etc. It would be a good spot for our group of people. I'm going to call today and see if anything is available for that weekend. I won't book it yet, but we should soon if it's something we want to do! The only negatives are that each vehicle would need a state park pass, and I'm not sure how much that costs, but it adds to the expense for the weekend of course. OR - we could set up the tents in my backyard! HA HA!! Just kidding! Or if camping is NOT what everyone wants to do, that is totally fine too - but Elizabeth is right, we need to get rolling! I would be happy to offer my home to guests too! We have a big yard, lots of room to run, giant swing set that Kevin built from High Line poles, we have a slip-n-slide, a little swimming pool, chickens for chasing and all sorts of fun stuff for the kids. So - what's the plan? Please give us feedback - or, Elizabeth and I will start making harassing phone calls! :) Talk to you all soon!