Yooper Fun

We went out last night with Grandma and Grandpa Aho to see the mine-waste project Rob is currently working on cleaning up. The boys had a BLAST playing in all that slag! Nothing says "summer in the Upper Peninsula" like playing in mine-waste when you're almost-four-year olds!

p.s. Before you think I'm too negligent a parent, I checked with the "expert" (Rob)... this particular waste is harmful to fish, but not people. No arsenic, thank you. So have at it boys! Just don't pick up any fish on your way down.

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A Saturday Morning

The boys dressed themselves this morning, and did a bang-up job. What fashion sense! They both chose "onesies", which they are much too old for, and Colby paired his with Spiderman boxers. Very chic. Quinn, ever the fashion guru, told him "you can't wear big underwear with baby jammies. It's not healthy!". Thanks for your expert opinion, Quinn.

We also made cookies, just for the heck of it. We're about 15 cookies short of a full batch, thanks to lots of "taste testing" by little boys (who for some reason call it "smelling" instead of "tasting". As in "mom, I'm going to smell this cookie").

Summer -- FINALLY

Some pictures of what the boys have been up to over the past several days.... it's FINALLY warm here!!! YYIIIPPPEE!!!

Fishing with Pops

Quinn and Colby had a very full day today with Dad while Mom was at work. After a few practice casts on dry land, they went ACTUAL fishing on the lake. Each boy caught a fish! They are SOOOOO excited, and can't stop talking about it. Colby does a pretty good cast for a 3 year old.

OH, how I love summer.

A Beautiful Day

It's not HOT, but it's at least WARM - 68 degrees and sunny, which means it was warm enough to turn on the hose and let the boys have at it. They were pretty chilled afterwards, and actually asked to put on clothes, so you know it must've been some ice-cold water. Still, it's a sign of summer, and we'll take whatever summer we can get.

The boys also helped me pick some lupins today for a dining-room table centerpiece. There's something very "Garden of Eden"-ish about wildflowers... I do absolutely nothing to plant or tend to them, and there they are, beautiful and abundant.

10 Year Anniversary Get-Away Weekend

You won't find a single picture of a three year old on this posting. Rob and I went AWAY for an entire weekend, just the two of us, while grandma and grandpa wrangled with youngsters back home. It was wonderful (although, we admit, we both missed the little rascals). We journeyed to Mackinac Island, in the middle of the straits of Mackinac, where Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior meet. Beautiful! I had no idea of the rich history of the area. French fur traders inhabited the area in the 1600's, and set up a French fort. A Jesuit priest named Father Marquette established the first mission in the 1740's. The British took over the area from the French during the French and Indian wars, and Fort Mackinac was then moved from the mainland to the island in 1776 by the British, to protect it from those "rebel Americans". The first shot of the War of 1812 happened there. Interesting! The island gradually turned to tourism, and remains a very quaint, victorian-era village where motorized vehicles are banned, and everyone gets around by horse-drawn carriage or bicycle.
A rainbow! That's a good sign on a 10-year anniversary!

Rob enjoying the beach of Lake Superior


Our first night was spent "mainland", and after a not-so-great dinner (in which Rob was apparently exposed to shellfish, to which he is deathly allergic), we headed to the Indian Casino to spend our free $40 in tokens we had gotten at the hotel. We ended up $20 to the good -- enough for a souvenir each on the island! Mine was spent on fudge, Rob's on coffee, for the record. Luckily, Rob's allergic reaction did not require me to give him a tracheotomy -- although we were wondering if we should make a trip to the ER. Airways eventually opened, and the rest of the night went relatively smoothely.


On the Ferry



Rob in front of the marina


The next morning, we road a ferry to the island, and spent the day touring the fort, looking at quaint shops, viewing historical sites (Michigan's oldest house and church), watching the Lilac Festival parade, and relaxing on the porch of our bed and breakfast. We were pooped after walking all day, so called it a night by "trying" to watch the movie "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, which takes place on the island. We got about 20 minutes in before having to shut it off. Pretty cheesey (no offense if anyone's a fan).

Rob in front of Fort Mackinac

The Grand Hotel

Enjoying the Lilacs during Lilac Festival

Sipping a "cold one" while watching the Lilac Parade on the porch of our B&B

The "lookout" from Fort Mackinac

Then, this morning, after a wonderful, home-made souffle breakfast, we rented a tandem bicycle and rode around the island before heading back home. Nothing beats a bike-ride around the lake first thing.

Drinking out of an artesian spring

Our Bicycle Built for Two

Rob on the nature trail

Mud Monsters

HOL-Y COW! The boys just came back from chopping wood with Daddy, and MAN! They are grimy, bug-bitten little things! Apparently, their clothes got "dirty" in the woods, and so they decided to go au-naturel. The pictures don't really do justice to how filthy they really are. And I count double digit mosquito bites on both of them. No shoes, no clothes in the woods. I think I'm raising savages. Thank goodness they wash up nicely.