A Visit with Oma

We left Munising on Saturday morning and headed south to Escanaba to visit my family.  My grandma (which means Oma in German) lives in an assisted living home in Escanaba.  We got there at lunch time and she hardly ate anything because she was to busy watching Will and Erin.  The kids had fun being the center of attention for everyone.  I enjoyed seeing how much joy they brought to my grandma and the other people there.  At one point, Will figured out that wheelchairs move.  He walked behind a ladies chair and started to push the wheels. The next thing we knew (I don't think she knew what was going on) he had rolled her a few feet! I was slightly embaressed and also impressed that he was strong enough to move her!  We then gave him Oma's walker to play with and that kept him busy.

 My cousin Jaime and her family arrived so we went outside so the kids could play. Oma had fun watching her great-grandchildren play while we visited. The girl cousins took to Erin and followed her everywhere. Will was left to explore the courtyard. I was able to snap a few pictures before I put my camera down and just enjoyed the time.

All of the girl cousins are together: Olivia, Hannah, Erin and Grace.

Will was added to the mix of beautiful ladies. Notice Erin's hand, she puts it in front of her face and makes small sucking motions with her mouth.  She doesn't suck her thumb, but uses this way to sooth herself. 

The girls fought over who was going to play with Erin.

The kids loved the swing and wanted to sit on it with Oma.

Erin discovered that she has a nose. We have many pictures with her finger in her nose. I hope this phase doesn't last long.

Grand Marais

The black line shows the route from Munising to Grand Marais

On Thursday morning, Uncle Matt and Mark wanted to go for a long bike ride. They decided to ride to Grand Marais, which was 54 miles from Munising. We all decided that we needed to get out of the house and would drive to Grand Marais for the day and bring the boys home.   We dropped Grandpa Bill off at mile 20 so he could ride the rest of the trip with this sons. 

Lookout at Beaver Lake

Grandma Pam, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Marc, Will, Erin and I took a detour to kill a little time.  Grandma Pam had us two-tracking down a primitive road to a lookout point.  The road was only 3 miles long, but I couldn't go over 15 miles an hour in my mini-van so it took us a bumpy 45 minutes to get to the lookout and back to the main road.  This allowed the boys to get ahead of us and then we could see if they needed any help.

It was another hot and humid day. (A heatwave was in full effect downstate with 100+ temps) The boys made it safely to Grand Marais and we had a fun picnic.  The big kids rolled down the sand hill that was located by our picnic site (I didn't get any pictures because Will and Erin were too busy eating.) (A sidenote story- I was eating a sandwich and gave Will a bite. He took the bite and then took it out of his mouth and put it back on the sandwich as to say, 'No thank you.' It was very cute!)  Lake Superior was much cooler here so we didn't spend much time in the lake.

We went to Lake Superior Brewing Company and had beer.  The beer was refreshing, but we didn't stay long because there wasn't any air conditioning inside. Instead, we walked around, visited a few shops and took a few pictures.





 On the way back to camp, we stopped at Sable Falls which was beautiful! Will and Erin were sleeping in the van so Mark stayed with them while the rest of us hiked down to see the falls.  Aunt Sarah, Grandma Pam and I had fun looking at the falls, scenery and rocks along Lake Superior. We live in such a beautiful state!

Happy 4th of July!

We started the day with the annual Munising 5K Run/Walk (we opted for the walk this year). Will and Erin enjoyed the stroller ride even though it was very hot and humid.

   











   


         

We followed the walk with breakfast, naps (the kids got up at 6:30am because we were sleeping in the tent) and then headed off to the parade.

It was the longest parade (over 2 hours!) so we had a lot of opportunities to take pictures. Will was mesmerized by the fire trucks.  He studied everyone of them and watched them with an inquisitive look on his face. 


We were able to capture a picture of all the little cousins.



























They are mostly in birth order in this picture. I think that two of the girls are mixed up. While taking that picture, I zoomed in and actually got a picture of Will and Erin sitting next to each other without moving. YEAH!

We got a great picture of the whole family at this years 4th of July parade.

Will became a 'Mama's Boy' this trip. He would cry when I walked away and wanted me to hold him.

Erin didn't care who held her and spent lots of time in the arms of aunts, uncles, grandma and grandpa.

Erin loved to sit in the kid sized chairs.

When the parade ended, we headed back to camp to enjoy the beautiful 90' day.  All of the kids had fun playing on the beach and swimming in Lake Superior (the water temperature was acutally tolerable).  Erin had fun scooting down the sand on her bottom.
Will liked to splash in the water and crawl around the beach.  Both of the kids had a blast! I love spending time up here and on this beautiful beach. It is so peaceful, fun and private.

The adults had fun hanging out in the sun, enjoying the amazing views and drinking a few cocktails. 






And time at our beach wouldn't be complete without petting goats with Uncle Matt.

Heading North!

Happy 4th of July!!! We made the 6 hour trip to Munising, Michigan (in the Upper Peninsula on Lake Superior) to celebrate the 4th with Mark's family.  This is a much anticipated (in a good way) trip for everyone.  We have family that travel from Milwaukee,



It's becoming more challenging to take pictures of them together.

Lansing, Ypsilanti, Ludington, Detroit and Ohio to spend the 4th together.  This year we had 35 people (25 adults and 10 kids under 7), 2 goats (cousin Jeff couldn't leave the goats home alone) and 1 dog for our celebration. Everyone had a fun time and loved hanging out. 

Will and Erin were amazing for the long car ride.  We strategically planned our trip, by feeding them lunch and leaving at nap time. They slept for 2 hours and then we stopped at the Mackinac Bridge for an hour.  The kids had fun putting their feet in Lake Huron and walking around the park next to the bridge. After an hour, we loaded up and continued for the last 2 hours of our trip.  Thankfully, I packed a bag of toys because they came in handy keeping the kids occupied in the van.