Coppola Family Vacation 2009

As a kid, my family took a big vacation every single summer. We would always drive rather than fly (except for our 1998 trip to Disney World) and would spend about one-third of our trip in the car. My parents always planned fun activities for us to do - visiting the biggest tourist attractions, playing a few rounds of mini-golf, swimming in the hotel pool, and hitting up nearby amusement parks or zoos. I would look forward to our week-long getaway for months and would even start packing my small purple suitcase full of Barbies, one of those small red weaving looms, kid magazines, markers, and my MagnaDoodle a week before we left. These trips to Disney World, Yellowstone, the Badlands, Estes Park, Pigeon Forge, Cinncinati, Branson and Mackinak Island (just to name a few) are some of my fondest childhood memories. Thinking back on my childhood vacations, I can't wait for Carter to have these same experiences.

Cary's childhood vacation experiences were slightly different than mine. Since his family had a place in Ely, Minnesota, most of their summer getwaways would be spent there. Their place on Burntside Lake is more than just a cabin on a lake, it is a place so rich in meaning for Cary and his family. As a kid he loved playing Capture the Flag on the island, going on fishing trips with his extended family, jumping off the boathouse with his brothers and cousins, hiking to the back of the island, skiing and tubing for hours at a time, building saunas for his older cousins, brothers and uncles, and having dinner on "the rock." Some summers Cary would spend weeks at a time on the island with his mom and brothers or his aunt Bobbye and Uncle Mike. Although Cary's family went on Spring Break to various locations most years (skiing in Winter Park or lounging on a beach in Florida or California), Ely is Cary's favorite place to visit.

So enter the Coppola Family Vacation 2009. Somehow Cary and I wanted to combine our two ideas of vacation and make a fun getaway for Carter. Even though we both know he's too young to remember our trip, we were bound and determined to make this a fun week.

We originally planned to leave on Wednesday morning, but Carter, Bobbi and I decided to make a detour and leave a day earlier. The three of us left Tuesday morning and headed to Decorah to visit Aunt Kelly, Uncle Tony and cousins Davis and Bennett. Since they had just moved there, we were so excited to see their new house, explore Decorah and just spend time with all of them. We had a great time sitting around their house and chatting while the boys napped, snuggling with Baby Bennett, playing at the park, touring the town, eating pizza at Mabe's, having ice cream at the Whippy Dip,and watching the boys have a water fight with a spray bottle on the back deck. Tony and Kelly's house is beautiful and is just perfect for them. Although we were all sad to leave them on Wednesday morning, we were more determined to come back more often. Our next scheduled visit is in October, although Cary and I would love to get there sooner!






From Decorah, Bobbi drove Carter and I to Mason City while Cary drove from Des Moines to meet us there. After telling Bobbi goodbye, our family of three headed toward our next destination: the Minnesota Zoo! I have to say that the zoo was great! It was so spread out and all of the animals' habitats were so natural looking. I think Carter's favorite animals were the zebras, goats, moose, giraffe and fish. We had a great time at the zoo and left just in time for Carter to have his afternoon nap.







Our evening was spent at Ikea and the Mall of America. As we waited for our reservation at the Rainforest Cafe, we walked around the Nickelodeon Amusement Park in the center of the mall. Carter loved watching the roller coaters but especially loved seeing "the real" Ming-Ming and Linny from Wonder Pets. His eyes got so wide and he kept asking "where's Tuck?" It was so cute! After dinner, we did a little shopping at H&M and then went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. Part 1 of our vacation (the touristy stuff) was complete!

Thursday morning we hit the road and made our way to Ely. After about a 3 hour drive, we stopped at the neighboring town of Tower so I could get groceries. While I shopped, Carter and Cary played at the train station and park. Carter LOVED running through the train and especially loved the creek running by the park. We were on the island by 1:30 and were ready to begin Part 2 of our vacation (the naturey, Ely stuff).

This time on the island were Cary's Aunt Bobbye, Uncle Mike, Aunt Paula, Uncle Larry, Juan, Shelly, and Scott and Terri's famiy - complete with all four kids, Jason's friend and Brian's girlfriend. The group of people was so fun and we had such a great time. And to our pleasant surprise, the weather was great! This year Carter loved playing on the beach in the sand and even got in the water a little. We took several boat rides, played on the boat house, looked at Uncle Larry's seaplane, rode on the jet ski, played Catch Phrase, went to the Bear Museum, ate lunch at Sir G's, and just walked around the island. Cary got in the sauna two nights and I had time to finish the last of the Twilight books. And before we knew it, our three days in Ely were over.






Yesterday we drove home and made a stop in Cabela's so Carter could see the animals and we could all eat lunch. We were home by 5:00 and, although we had a great family vacation, we were all happy to be home in our own beds. Only one more week until school starts and Cary now has to get settled into their new office. Back to the real world...