We are plotting and planning

we've had an AMAZING break so far. christmas was fabulous in storm lake. always so fun to spend time with the burbacks. every single time i am beyond thankful that i not only LOVE my in-laws, but i LIKE them. we laugh hard. we have a blast.
i barely got my camera out at all. i'll download pics a little later. i was just happy to enjoy our time together.
then my brother and his family arrive later this week. we will celebrate christmas and new years together over the weekend. SO looking forward to that as well!
paul had monday off from work. we did NOTHING. had a fire going. drank a bottle of wine and dreamed about 2012. we have been planning a vacation as soon as school gets out. and we got that all finalized yesterday! we are heading to the upper peninsula in michigan to kayak/bike/hike for a week!! and we are pumped!! we will be renting this house for the week...

it has been so fun to plan! i LOVE planning trips. seriously. i think i missed my calling as a travel agent. in the midst of all this planning, we realized we would have to bring along our kayaks and our bikes. we had purchased the kids an inflatable kayak for christmas, but still have 2 kayaks that we need to transport outside of the car. we found a kayak rack for the top of our car. we were kind of giggling about how we would look driving down the interstate with kayaks on top our car. and then we remembered we needed to purchase a bike rack for the back of the car. we hit up amazon and started looking. we found one for a very reasonable price and then died laughing when we looked at the photo....

for real. it's going to be hilarious. 2 kayaks on top and 5 bikes on back. a family of 5 PLUS a golden doodle inside. oh my word. one day i will miss this. i know i will. but for today, it was just hysterical. feeling so so blessed. truly. my cup is overflowing. and i cannot wait to take pictures of our own gear gracing the outside of our van this summer. it will be a blast.
(oh...and did i mention while we are in michigan, the dirks family will be just down the road from us? can you imagine THEIR car with a family of 7?? so fun! can't WAIT for this trip!)