Swimming, birthdays and waterfalls, OH MY! continued...

There is always that kid...the one that befriends every animal, finds all the crazy cool stuff, and just happens to NEVER be looking for any of it. That kid would be Kayla. This trip she was playing and came across a four leaf clover. This caused quiet a stir, since Andrea was bitten quite suddenly by the green eyed monster of jealousy. After far too many comments about tearing off the fourth leaf of Kayla's great find and sighing grumpily, we put that type of talk to rest and also ended much of the excited talking about the clover since this was just too much for poor Andrea to take and she was unable to find happiness for her sister. Never the less, she searched for the afternoon for her own treasure but to no avail. If only it was in my power to have placed a patch of four leaf clovers for my children to find! Ah, sometimes life is tough!

Kayla and I pressed the clover and it is now in a frame waiting to be put in her room.

Speaking of treasures! :) my lil' baby K had to follow her sisters in putting a flower behind her ear and boy oh boy was she proud of it.

Ok on to more of the adventures. For my birthday treat Matthew let me pick out what I wanted to do. I decided that I wanted to go exploring and see things never before seen by our eyes. Our first stop was to the au Sable visitor center where we were told what to check out. This trip was going to be alot of walking so we decided to not try and get it all in that day and still have great sights to see in the future! We then drove out to the log slide. It is no longer in existance but the site has been preserved to some degree. The slide is gone but the sharp drop off remains with a look out for people to see where the logs would go into the lake and make their trip down stream to Grand Marais. This sign was next to a fence that showed the remains of an old cabin. We walked back to it, and inside the corner that was left standing were bed springs, cook stove, and other remains of a home. The girls and I had a great time talking about what it was like to live then and how little their houses were and all the great stuff that goes along with pioneer living.

 Here are the kids in front of the sled for the logs and off to the side you can't see is a large wagon for them as well.

 My family looking out over the drop off and overlook. It was absolutely breath taking!

 See...and this is a foggy day. Can you imagine it in all it's glory with the sun shining brightly!

 And here is the drop off. It doesn't look like much but there were many many warning signs about not going down if you were not physically fit. Despite its mere 500 ft walk, many people took more than an hour to make it back to the top. Soooo, we didn't go down even though the kids kept pestering and Z and Kayla kept inching their way closer and closer to the drop off. :) silly kids! Next time I will run down it with them

 Obviously many others did!

Our next stop was for lunch at Hurricane river. The river flows into Lake Superior and is quite beautiful also.

 The red squirl and a chipmunk (not pictured) were our lunch guests, if you wish to call them that. They were so brazen that the chipmunk literally went under the table and brushed up against Alexis' foot! Some people don't understand the concept of NOT feeding the animals. So they were pretty obnoxious, and the flies were biters so that was pretty miserable too. :) pretty place...just don't stop to eat there! Stop to play.

 Kendra feels so big. hehehe

 She should really take better care of her sandals!

that smile! Cuts straight to my heart every time <3>

Our next stop was to some waterfalls that we had not yet seen. We knew they were a hike but didn't expect the littlest member of our family had decide that independance was more important to her than moving faster than a snail.She ended up spending a lot of time being carried...too bad too since the path was stroller capable! 

 Someday we will return to see Chapel Rock and Chapel beach

 while I carried Kendra for a little while Matthew carried her almost the entire time. His poor arms! We walked for hours!

 And when one is carried others think that it is necessary too! Don't worry I made him get down so that he didn't wear out his sister.

Chapel falls!

Andrea

Kayla

When we explore we can not simply resign ourselves to the paths, so obviously we jumped right into the river! We didn't however walk all the way down to the beach. Perhaps another adventure?

 This waterfall had a wide and scaped path. Completely different from the one we were about to embark on!

Though a shorter distance this was no walk through the park!

A large beaver made lake

evidence!

Boy conquers path!

Do you see the trail?

Mosquito falls. The path was difficult but sometimes at the end of the most grueling walks you gain the greatest rewards. This was the first of the tiers. This was about seven feet high and nice and flat...so yes we explored it! I am sitting on a ledge holding the camera as far out as I can safely go so that I can capture this moment forever.

Then we walked up the falls to the next tier and explored that too :)

Family photos are a favorite. Maybe I need to get a tripod...then we can all be in the picture!

Anyways, after soaking our feet and milling about for a few moments we moved up to the third and final (as far as we know!) tier. We didn't climb up that one because there were alot of trees laying in the path. It sure was a beauty though!

We had a great time exploring and enjoying God's creation. He sure is amazing! And to think we haven't even seen the glories to come...