Wisconsin 2011

We're here!  It's been a long day starting with a red eye overnight with Greatmother and Uncle Henry but we are here.  It was muggy all afternoon but that didn't stop the girls from getting in the lake after we took a nap.  While John and the girls were setting up Bongo, a pair of loons surfaced no more than 10 feet away from them.  Both humans and birds spent a moment staring at each other wondering where on Earth the other had come from.  The loons didn't seem particularly worried though and kept swimming and diving near them.  Eventually they kept going but it was cool to see them close up and realize how big they are!  It's finally raining tonight complete with lightening and thunder.  After a good night sleep tonight we can really start our vacation filled with energy!

8/ 2:
We had a pretty slow start this morning.  Time change, little sleep the night before and an overcast morning all conspired to keep us in bed as long as possible.  We found out that the storm last night dropped nearly 4 inches of rain!!  Once we got going Emily found a puzzle that we worked on for a good part of the day.  While we were working Joe and Aunt Cheryl came to visit.  The girls took off to play with Joe at the beach then at his cabin.  After lunch Joe came back down to the beach with his dad.  Claire went fishing with Joe and Uncle Matt while Daddy, Emily and I checked out the new kayaks.  We paddled down to Paddocks and passed by the fishing boat.  The kayaks are a great way to see the lake.  We saw the loons up close and could stop paddling at any time and just enjoy the quiet of the lake.  We all played in the water, on Bongo and in the kayaks for many hours this afternoon.  When we were thinking of drying off and getting dinner started Karl and Margarida showed up!  They will be here too for 10 days.  It's a full house in both cabins!  We all had a dinner together and got caught up.

8/3
We went to Hayward today.  The girls stocked up on candy provisions for the trip.  They each got new tee shirts too.  Claire's reads: I'd be a vegetarian if BACON grew on trees.  Perfect for her!  Actually we saw it in the store window and when I asked if they came in her size the guy said, "No but I can make it in her size." Sold!  Emily was allowed to pick out something too.  Since hers wasn't so obvious it took a bit longer to find something she liked.  She wound up with a cow shirt since cows are her current favorite.  Karl and Margarida were in town too and we met up with them at about this time.  Karl had been looking for a shirt for Lowell and finally found it in the same shop.  Lowell's reads: Finish your beer!  There are sober kids in Africa.  hahaha  After a quick trip to Subway for lunch, we were off to Wilderness Walk.  The girls visited the nursery area first.  There were baby skunks there!  eek!  After they spent some time there we followed the trail around to see all the animals.  As we passed the wolves an ambulance passed by the road out front.  In response to the siren the wolf started howling.  It was amazing being 10 feet away from a howling wolf.  It was so loud!  A little further down the trail were the red deer.  They are bigger than the usual white tail deer that we see around here.  The girls each got a quarter to feed the deer and we were pretty excited to watch them all get up and start coming over to see us until we realized that the keeper had walked over too and was getting ready to feed them their real meal.  They weren't too particular and were still happy to take the special treats from the girls.  We watched what they were being fed and realized that bagels and day old bread were part of their diet.  The keeper said they bought their feed from the local store and that they threw in the day old stuff too as a treat.  While we were watching we noticed a doe that was playing with her roll.  She bend down and dipped it into the mud puddle at her feet. We laughed thinking she was like everyone who likes to dip their donut in coffee in the morning.

8/4
We canoed the Namekagon River today.  Since Karl and Margarida were with us we could take 2 cars and 2 canoes.  It make getting picked up so much easier to take care of it ourselves!  And each girl got to have her own canoe.  Since there has been so much rain here this year the river is the highest its been in years and certainly the highest I've ever seen it.  All those places where we've practically had to get out and carry the canoe over the shallow spots were at least 15 feet across and 2 feet deep.  There were a few rocks that made their signature ripple on the surface to be avoided at all costs but for the most part we just sat back and enjoyed the ride.  We steered of course but it was a lazy trip.  We stopped for lunch at a really pretty campsite.  The girls and I walked ahead to check it out while the canoes were being pulled out of the water.  After we went back to help carry the lunches and get everyone else the whole group walked back up into the woods on a narrow footpath.  John was the last of the line.  He asked if any of us had noticed the poison ivy growing near the trail.  No one had.  Fortunately we didn't touch any of it either because no one reported getting itchy later in the day.  Phew!  There wasn't much in the way of wild life to see and despite their best efforts Karl and Margarida didn't catch any fish.  We all figured it must be because of the high water levels.  After we got off the river Karl and Margarida treated us to ice cream at the Village Scoop.

8/5
Finally a quieter day.  The girls played with Joe and spent a lot of time fishing with Matt and Henry.  After all the fishing that had happened all week it was time for a fish fry!  We all headed up to Bob and Sheryl's for dinner.  Matt did the honors with the frier.  We all brought something yummy to share.  In all we wound up with 19 for dinner!  Lowell came over for awhile and David, Magda and Natalie showed up in time to join us too.  It was really incredible to have so many together at once!  Joe shared his kid sized ATV with the girls - big and small.  They took turns riding laps around the driveway between the two cabins.

8/6
I was gone for most of the day today.  I drove down to Wausau to have lunch with 3 other moms from the March Mommies board.  It was a lot of driving - 3 hours each way but worth it to catch up with the moms.  On the way back I was intrigued by a sign that said "Geographical Marker". So I took a 4 mile detour to see what it was about.  Turned out to be the exact location of the 45th line north and the 90th line west.  Kind of a 4 Corners kind of thing but a good excuse to drive out into the middle of a corn field in an unknown little town in Wisconsin.
Meanwhile back at the cabin... It was a cousin fest.  Besides Magda, Natalie, Joe and our girls, Zach and Mara showed up too.  I'm not sure of the exact order of events but there was time in the lake until a rain storm forced everyone inside.  There was a puzzle done.  The Awesome Club was invented and all in the area were made members and given jobs to do.  Sounds like everyone had a great time.

8/7
If it's even possible today was even more of a cousin fest.   There were 10 of them here today at various times down at the lake.  The most at once was 8 when I was able to snap a picture.  Besides my 2, Magda, Natalie, Zach, Mara and Joe there were Ethan and Mikayla (Joe's 1st cousins) and Noah who is cousin Kevin's little boy.  Emily was in heaven playing with Noah for awhile.  After lunch Matt suggested getting the water skiis out and letting whoever wanted to try it.  Claire was first up.  She decided she was old enough to start learning.  Her first attempt ended with the rope being yanked out of her hands.  The second time she spent a wobbly few seconds mostly upright before she flopped.  That was the best she did all day but I thought it was great for a first time out.  Emily's first try was a classic up and over.  Her second time though she was up!  She held on for an entire loop around the lake.  When she got back to the dock she let go of the rope and glided into the water like she has been skiing all her life.  It was amazing!  She floated back to us all grins and puffed with pride.  She tried again later and was not as successful but she knows she can do it now and that is all that matters.  David, Kelly, Magda and Matt also had good turns around the lake.  After dinner we had a fun game of Michigan Rummy aka the penny game.  It was all good until Claire realized she hadn't won all night.  She had gotten cups with pennies but had never been the one to go out and get to collect pennies from the rest of the players.  She'll survive somehow.

8/8:
A day of rest after cousin-palooza!  Daddy and the girls did ATP rides, hung out at the cabin and helped with the plumbing situation at the downstairs cabin while Mommy, Greatmother and Grandma had a "girl cousin" lunch.  There were 9 of us total, all related somehow at a pot luck progressive lunch and dessert.  Besides the 3 of us were: Sheryl, Jill, Beth, Saralyn, Bonnie and Dea.  We had lunch at Saralyn's and dessert at Beth's.  There were lots of stories told and lots of laughs.  It's a nice tradition that they are starting.  At night we had a Michigan Rummy rematch that Claire won.  Go figure!

8/9:
The 4 of us drove up to Gooseberry Falls today.  We took the scenic route out of Duluth so we could stop at Emily's restaurant that we ate at 2 years ago after our Boundary Waters trip.  Sadly it was closed this year. =(  But we did stop at a beautiful spot along the North Shore to stretch our legs and get some pretty pictures.  In Twin Harbors we stopped for lunch.  We hiked all over Gooseberry Falls park.  There was a lot of water in the falls this year which made them especially spectacular.  Claire got a little pooped during our walk but she made the whole loop with us.