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Sunday – Aug 12^th

This morning was a relaxing one. The kids played around the site and at the playground and I got to read for a while. We fed some of the chipmunks and they even ate right out of Hailee’s hands. Shalen made friends with a boy in the lot next to us and they hung out together.

We took a trip to the lower falls after lunch and took a bunch of pictures. After seeing the falls, we hiked around for a bit. We then took a guided nature hike called “what good is wood?” We learned a lot about the local trees and the history of the logging that took place in the UP. The kids had a lot of fun and Corbin was very upset when the hike was over.

Making pizza pies over the fire was the highlight of the evening. I’ve kind of become the default “guy” who makes them, and Sheila dealt with all the “other” stuff including getting the S’more stuff ready.

We had a young couple pull in at dusk across the road from us. They had their cute little daughter with them. I could tell they were having issues getting set up and it was getting dark, so I offered to help. They were borrowing the tent and had never set it up before. It wasn’t a nice easy “pop-up” tent either. After reading and re-reading the instructions and locating some missing pieces that were hidden under the tent, we got it assembled and they were able to finish the details like staking it down the next morning.

We had heard from some others in the park that there was going to be a meteor shower tonight, so we sat and watched for it. Between 11:30 and midnight, they started shooting across the sky. It was a beautifully clear night and we got to see quite a few. Sheila and the girls laid on a blanket and continued watching after the boys conked out.

It was another fun day and of course, you can click here for the pictures.

Wow… We took so many pictures that my poor computer is having fits trying to process them all for the web. I’ll try to talk a little about each day and show the pictures we took that day. For now, let’s get things started…

Friday – August 10^th

Leaving town to start on a trip never seems to be easy for our family. We set a time to leave and there always reasons why we can’t make it happen. This time around it was mostly because of the fact that we bought a few more things to help make camping life a little nicer and the kids all got bigger (as well as their clothes) and for some odd reason the van didn’t grow with us. So between the minivan and the car top carrier, we struggled to get it all in there for the trip. In the end we had to leave two cases of bottled water that we had hoped to take with, but overall I think we did pretty well.

A nine hour road trip to go camping in the same state you live in is a bit much for small kids to comprehend, so even when we told Corbin that it would take 9 hours, I don’t think it really sunk in that he was going to have to sit for that long. “How many more hours?” is a tough question to have to answer every 15 minutes or so.

We made it. We set up camp. We started a fire. We made S’mores. We slept very well that first night.

Saturday – Aug 11^th

This morning started the daily routine of watching who was leaving and determining which lots to scavenge firewood from once they left. We did pretty well today. It probably gave us a day and half worth of wood. We then spent some time walking around as a family scouting out the rest of the lots here at Tahquamenon. We’ve kind of come to an unofficial conclusion that we’re going to be coming back here annually for the foreseeable future. We know which lot we want for next year!

After lunch, we decided that we had forgotten enough supplies that a trip to bigger store than the local town could supply was wise. We also had talked about taking the kids to the Soo Locks this year, so we jumped in the van and headed for Sault Ste Marie. Though at first we weren’t sure if we’d get to see a boat go through the locks, the boats finally started flowing. The kids really liked watching a huge (Edmund Fitzgerald-like) boat named “Algoisle” go through. It’s really amazing looking at the two great lakes so close to each other, yet having such a difference in water-level. One of the employees said that it’s roughly six and a half meters difference.

After hitting some local shops, we were all hungry and decided to have supper there in Sault Ste Marie at a place called Frank’s. It was good over-all. The kids and I liked it, but Sheila didn’t enjoy it much so I doubt it’ll become a regular stop on our annual trip.

Wal-Mart was our last stop before heading back to camp, where we picked up some needed supplies and the kids managed to spend some of their vacation money on things they could have bought at home. It rained during our trip back to Tahquamanon and the site was pretty drenched once we arrived. Thankfully the tents stayed dry and the wood was dry enough to get a camp fire going. Sheila and I tried to play some scrabble after the kids fell asleep, but we were too tired.

We had some drunk idiots near us tonight. They were loud and foul-mouthed, but thankfully the kids had all fallen asleep long before they got lit. I would have complained and tried to get them kicked out, but they left the following morning.

Click here for all the images from the first full day camping…

More soon!

Well, we’re back! We really enjoyed our 9 day camping trip to the UP and I have a TON of pictures to share. I’ll get to it soon. Yesterday was just a recoup day and today is “put everything away” day. Thanks for all the comments that were left while I was away, I’ll try to reply to some of those soon as well…

We went to the annual family picnic on Sheila’s side of the family over the weekend, but due to bad weather, it was moved inside. Sheila told me that it had been moved to Maple City Bowl, one of the local bowling allies. It sounded fun and we had been telling the kids we’d take them bowling soon, but what really surprised me was when she mentioned that her cousin “OWNED” the alley! I grew up loving to play and here we have relatives that own an alley? Booyah baby!

But seriously, we had a good time and I got to meet some of her family that I hadn’t met before. We’re going to try to make it down there (about 45 minutes away) a bit more often and we can take the kids bowling too! Here are some pictures of the day’s events…

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As the day wound down, we were also treated to a tour behind the bowling lanes. I had always wondered how those things worked and the kids got a big kick out of it…

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We were at Nana’s yesterday visiting with Deb and Q (who we see WAY too little of!). I had a great time catching up a bit with Deb and came to realize how much I REALLY miss her…

Q is getting Ginormous, and he’s becoming a really great kid. I love his sense of humor! The cousins all played and had fun hitting baseballs, fishing, and all that. With we could have all been there at the same time but logistically that’s just really hard to pull off these days!

Anyway, here are more pictures for all to enjoy…

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As I’ve mentioned in a few of the previous posts, we got a new camera. I’m having a blast using it and just figured out how to use the rapid-fire feature for action shots. We tested it a few time yesterday at Nana’s. Markus “the goof” was the perfect subject!

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I just know I’m going to regret naming this post like that because of the eventual search engine results this site will be part of, but there’s simply no better way to describe Nana’s obsession with half-naked sculptures.

It started as a statue here or there, but I snicker to myself every time the collection grows. So with my recent acquisition of a great new digital camera from Canon (yummy!) and the need to practice and get use to it, I took some shots while we were visiting to show that I’m not exaggerating. Truth be told, I love these statues and would take them in a heartbeat if she ever wanted to get rid of them…

Hope you don’t mind mom!

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We all had a great time this past weekend at my parent’s house.  We hadn’t been there for a while so it was nice to see them and catch up.  My sister “Coco” was there too with her family so everyone enjoyed.  We also got to visit some friends on Sunday at a party they hosted so the kids all got to swim as well.

The kids are not great swimmers, so it was really nice to see them take to the water and stretch themselves.  Randi, Hailee, and Shalen were all jumping off the diving board by the end of the evening (all for the first time without floating devices strapped to them) and Corby finally let me hold him in the water.  By the end of the evening he was actually walking around in the shallow water by himself!  Go Corby!!!

We had a really nice time and look forward to visiting again REALLY soon.  Deb and Q are coming this week and we plan to be there again during their visit to be with them too…

If you have family or friends in these pictures, drop me an e-mail with the names of any images you’d like larger shots of. 

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Mixed in with all the gut-wrenching emotions that come with losing your job (and now hunting for a new one), there are still some wonderful moments. I’ve had a few those recently, so I thought it only right to discuss them as well.

First was finding out that the van breaking down was due to a simple bad hose. “That’s a wonderful moment?” you ask. When you’ve spent the prior 24 hours mulling over the other MUCH more expensive alternative things that could have been wrong, you bet it is!!!

Second was this past Sunday when I got to spend the afternoon with my four kids and a bunch of other friends playing some softball at the local high school. My kids have just discovered baseball this year (through videogames of course) and they just love it. They play in the backyard, just the four of them (or at times 2 or 3 of them) for hours on end. So they really enjoyed the outing. Here are a few images to enjoy…

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Third is the fact that I’ve become a great-uncle twice over in the past eight months or so, the second just arriving. On the slightly down side to that is the fact that I’m feeling a bit old because of it. I mean I feel like I just got married and the two new mothers were two of our little flower girls!

Here’s Kennadie…

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And here’s Autumn…

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Last are our beach trips. We love going to the beach in the evenings so the kids can swim and then we watch the sunset. Randi wasn’t with this time, but we got a spare kid in the trade to play with Hailee…

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That’s all, good night…

One thing I plan to do is to get a lot of the digital images that we’ve taken over the past years uploaded so that the extended family can see them, mostly for the first time. This first gallery is from our camping trip to Tahquamenon Falls State Park last summer.

See the gallery here.