He's a good project-maker.

Walter is doling out compliments left and right lately. He likes to tell Jer he likes his shirt, me that this is a good dinner and today when Owen came up to us with a plan to make a rainbow with a flashlight and a glass of water, he told me that Owen is a good project-maker.

We had a lovely family vacation in Lutsen. We left Thursday evening and came back yesterday. We won the cabin at the gala on a whim...I decided the item should go for more than it was going for and we got it! It ended up being an absolute steal and a really enjoyable, memorable vacation.

To begin, the cabin was steps from Lake Superior - the view was stunning. We spent a lot of time throwing rocks in the lake, exploring the shoreline and woods, playing games and enjoying warm fires in the cozy cabin.

On Friday, Owen had a day of ski lessons that ended up being private as no other kids signed up that day! He absolutely loved it and will tell you now that skiing is easy. He is proud to tell you that he tackled the blue squares no problem and is wanting to do the black diamonds...too bad his mom is too nervous to let him try yet. He and Jer spent Monday on the mountain together and he says Owen is quite comfortable cruising down the runs. He is sure an athletic and able boy.

Saturday, we spent the morning hiking through Cascade River State Park, carefully walking around the ice patches. After, we went back to the cabin to wait for Lindsay & Lydia to come. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the cabin and the beautiful lake and sunshine. Late that night, Kindi joined us, too, for a nice warm fire and a bowl of chili. On Sunday, we let Jer and Griffin relax at the cabin and everyone else went for a dogsled ride through Superior National Forest. All our visitors left us Sunday afternoon and we enjoyed the rest of the evening with dinner, games and warm fires in the fireplace.

On Monday, Jer and Owen headed back to the ski hill while Walter and I enjoyed some more coastal exploration. Unfortunately, on our way to meet them at the mountain and go for a gondola ride the fun came to an end...

I was about 3 minutes from the ski chalet and called Jer to tell him I wasn't feeling well and ask him to meet us outside. I got an overwhelming nauseous feeling and felt like I was going to get sick, but thought I could easily make it to Jer first. Well, shortly after making that call, I blacked-out and hit a couple of cars. Thankfully I was going slowly, thankfully, there weren't any people in the parked cars, thankfully Walter was totally fine, thankfully I was pretty much fine. I made my way to Jer quite disoriented and was taken to the ski patrol area. I was later taken by ambulance to the hospital and ended up spending the night there as they could not get my blood pressure to stabilize. It was a long night in the hospital being away from Jer and the boys, but they gave me tons of fluids and ran a bunch of tests and aren't sure why I blacked out (and continued to do so in the hospital) or why my blood pressure was so low, but I am home now and happy to be here. Jer and the boys picked me up Tuesday morning and we went back and relaxed at the cabin for a few hours before packing up and slowly heading home. I am not supposed to drive until I have a follow-up appointment, which will happen on Friday. Until then, Jer is working from home, bringing Owen to and from school and taking me on a date to the grocery store in the morning. It stinks that it happened, but it could have been much worse. We'll see what happens Friday...