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...



swimming, birthdays, waterfalls OH MY!

It was pretty warm this time up at the cabin and so we spent a lot of time on the beach. I was actually forced by the amount of "glissening" (ladies don't sweat) to jump in the lake several times. The water was a refreshing 80*...ok maybe not refreshing BUT when you first stand up and the air hits you it almost felt cool.

LOL! I am not sure why Matthew  looks so upset in this picture but this was what happened almost nightly after dinner. Meijer had an excellent sale and we brought up two big watermelons that were sooooo sweet that we enjoyed every bite. See?!

Z

Lexi

KK

'Drea

Sweet baby K

Oh yeah! I forgot that some of us worked while we were on vacation...not me...or the kids but someone ;) Matthew finished the garage this trip with the exception of the door. However, someone (me!) forgot to take a picture of it as requested by my grandfather. I am not a very good grandkid! I do promise though to take a picture of it this time.

the best I can do for a front view of the garage

And so that you can see the relative lay out of our lot here is a view from across the road (yup I am trespassing by standing in the neighbors lawn)

 There is always a great time of cooking out and s'more eating so I took a few pictures of the fun. I know what you are thinking...and YES it is scary that Z is holding a sharp ended metal stick near a ring of hot coals. But sometimes a mom has to let a boy grow up a little and cook his own food :)

Pretty girls!

While most of us prefer to eat our s'mores the traditional way Kendra prefers to enjoy each part seperately but together. Please take note of her orange nails. I actually painted them.

:) I also painted her toe nails. I am sure you wanted to see this so I took a picture.

His first S'more with NO help (except putting the marshmallow on the stick, and off the stick into the crackers) a big step towards manhood.

 Life was all smiles...until, bum bum bum...the bee!!!!

Alexis and the girls went to the shed to get some thing to play with. They opened the door and upset a new hive of bees. One got Alexis twice in the arm and it swelled up really bad. Pictures do not do it justice at all but kind of give an idea of size difference. Anways, after a few days of taking benedryl and not having it do anything for her Matthew figured that it was infected and asked the neighbor's daughter in law who happens to be a Physicians Assistant. She said it was indeed infected and needed to be looked at. So we took her to Newberry and spent the bulk of the afternoon over that way. We didn't make it dull though we stopped at the gas companies open house and had pizza and pop and put in for the drawing for free stuff. Yes we are customers so it was perfectly ok :) We also went to the schools playground and let the kids run around like wild people for a while. After or before, I can't remember which, Zachary had a few injuries himself, and so did Matthew, and then Kayla. It was a very accident prone trip.

One of our favorite activities is to head to Sable falls and dunes. We have been there many times now and really enjoy it. There was some new steps in place this year and Kendra decided that she is no longer in need of help as we walk that she must walk on her own. I will add video of this painfully LONG trip to the dunes later. It was awfully cute to see her explore.

cute family! Zachary did this pose at every railing.

Look at that face! What a cutie!

Me and my little family

 Zachary at the bottom of the dunes. Boy was that kid red faced when he came back up!

    After the dunes we were all hot so we headed to the pier and Matthew decided to walk the wall...           

                                             so everyone decided to walk the wall.

Million dollar smile :)

cautious fun?

Then as we thought it was all fun and games the DOG showed up. See that dog in the picture with the man near the grass. He got closer and just as I put the camera away Z started barking at the dog, didn't watch where he was walking and fell off the left side of the wall. NOW that doesn't look that high in the picture but it was a good four foot drop onto concrete. He had a pretty scraped up knee and a sore hip. He only let it stop him for a moment though and hopped back up and walked the wall cautiously with me right next to him on the sand holding his hand.

To be continued...

How!

Ok so this is a bit shocking for some of you I know, because I am so prim and proper and always look classic and never goofy or wild. Well, recently I have been getting new clothes from my sister (previously owned I suppose should be the term, not used that just sounds so unpolitically correct) and this dress was in the bag. I love this dress because it is absolutely the softest and coolest dress I have ever worn. IT has this amazing design that looks fairly native american sooooo I went with it :) I mean I can not beat the Chinese night at the Ruse's but this is the best I got.

Yes I boldy and happily went to church like this at Watson. Matthew enjoyed my look so much that he crowned me with a sea gull feather and called me his squaw hahahahahaha!

Yes the pics were taken at the cabin. We drove straight up after gathering with our forever family.