Annual family vacation-- Birch Lake, MN

Each year during the last week in July my entire family (on my mom's side) vacations together near Ely on Birch Lake. We take over all of Matilla's Birch Lake Resort and have tons of fun fishing, boating, relaxing and drinking-- all within good taste, of course!!

This year we didn't have the greatest weather, in fact, I think I may have lost my tan on vacation. It was rainy and cloudy off and on all week. We did get two days of sun and warmer weather, but not like in the past when it's been 85 degrees and sunny all week. Fishing wasn't good either. It's just a bad time of the year to catch fish on Birch Lake, and we always say that we want to try a different time of year, but never do. Mike and I brought the canoe this year and portaged to three other lakes to try the fishing there. We tried Harris, Perch and Whisper Lakes and did better on them. Mike caught his first musky, though it was small. It's definitely a challenge to fish from a canoe. I was always very careful not to move suddenly or too much because I didn't want to get wet!

We have theme days each year while we're on vacation. This year our themes were Mardi Gras and Halloween. The twist with Halloween was "Secret Monster," much like "Secret Santa," where we picked a name and dressed that person. So, I had no idea what I was going to be wearing. The only rule was that it had to be PG-13 because of my little cousins! It turned out well; Mike was a cheerleader and I was a pregnant woman (the only time you'll see that, by the way!). Mardi Gras was all about the decorations and food, which was delicious.
I never want to come home after vacation, and this year Mike had softball tournaments about 15 miles away, so we stayed Saturday night at the resort again. That was weird. It was quiet because no one else had come in, so we walked around the resort and took a sauna and packed a little and went to bed. We got up on Sunday and loaded the boat and left for home. :(