Lake Nancy

Our house and beach area

For a little over two weeks in July, we stayed with my parents at a cabin on Lake Nancy in the teeny town of Minong, Wisconsin. It really felt like the middle of nowhere and was incredibly relaxing - just us, nature and animal sounds. There was an occasional jet ski and motorboat whizzing around, but the lake traffic was surprisingly light. The house that we rented ended up being perfect for us - an open living space with kitchen and an adjacent sun room that turned out to be a great play area, enough sleeping space for us all to spread out and best of all a large, private beach with a dock. By the end of our stay, we were all really feeling quite at home having settled into a nice daily routine and looking forward to seeing our lake 'friends' - loons, bald eagles, humming birds and other critters big and small. Noah and Kai had endless hours of fun splashing in the water which was quite warm (despite a summer on the cool side) thanks to the lake being fairly shallow. Noah adored running back and forth on the dock and looked like he was ready to jump in several times, but never quite dared. He did not wear much clothing during our stay, but was agreeable about donning his life jacket whenever he ventured into the water or onto the dock. Two kayaks were also made available to us and my mom and I enjoyed outings around the lake. Noah also came along on several occasions, sitting in front looking for things in the water and searching for houses hiding in the woods along the shore. Kai's absolutely favorite spot was sitting right at the edge of the water - he could happily sit there for hours, splashing around with toys and digging in the sand and tasting a little of this and that. Phil came up for a week of our time there - unfortunately 5 of those days coincided with record cold temperatures and overcast skies with occasional rain! Both before and after those 5 days, our weather was wonderful - poor Phil! On those gray days we did have the opportunity to do some outings around the area - the slightly larger towns of Spooner and Hayward and the city of Duluth, Minnesota which sits at one end of Lake Superior. We've got lots of pictures to post from our Wisconsin vacation, thanks in large part to my mom's camera!

The boys LOVED the beach:




Noah spent hours playing on and running up and down the dock:


So much fun that he often 'escaped' the house to venture out on his own - fortunately a loud screen door quickly alerted us to his antics:


The boys loved all of the attention from Mormor and Morfar:


It was so nice for me to get away from everyday stuff and just relax:



With a west-facing location, we had some specatcular sunsets:



Noah tried his hand at fishing but quickly traded in the constantly tangling pole for more natural methods. Fortunately, we did not have to depend on him for our food supply:


Much of Phil's week with us looked like this:


But there were a couple of days where we were able to have some fun in the sun as well:


Lake Nancy had an abundance of wildlife:


We managed a few outings:

Animal Park in Hayward

National Freshwater Fish Hall of Fame
(we quickly discovered that this was for true fishing fanatics - some of the displays were a bit lost on us)

Windy, chilly day in Duluth, MN

Farmer's Market and Train Depot in Spooner

Visiting with my friend Anna and her family
(happens to have a cabin just 20 minutes from where we were!)

Local Ice Cream Shop in Minong

And of course, thanks to Mormor's fantastic cooking, we ate well the entire time:


Lots of fresh air and activity was exhauting:


What great memories we have to cherish during those cold winter months ahead! Noah still talks about our fun times and when he sees a body of water around here, he says, "I think I see Lake Nancy!"