Off the Beaten Path

Grand Sable Lake across from the Grand Sable Sand dunes. You know the earth is really a beautiful place.

Kayla made it to the top!

Kota showing off. He ran up and down these a few times. If he could do that everyday he would have huge calf muscles!

Grand Sable Lake

view from the dunes

The big sand dunes at Grand Marais along Lake Superior.

Logs being hauled on a train. You don't see that everyday in Ohio.

The closest thing to a moose in the wild that I got to see.

Kyle and I by Tahquamenon Falls.

The falls have a rusty tint because of all the iron ore in the area.

Wild blueberries at Whitefish pointe.

Lens for the lighthouse at Whitefish pointe.

This light house was not working the night that the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk in Lake Superior. There have been 6,000 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes, as we visited this museum. It was amazing that the vast majority were sunk by human error and not the elements.

On my quest to find a moose or black bear in the wild we went on several roads that were off the beaten path. Although we looked real hard I didn't see any. I guess I'll just add that to my bucket list. We've been having such a great time. We ended up going to MN earlier than anticipated...brothers-in-law were inquiring on our ETA often. Life has really slowed down, but we are still having fun. We attended church in Brainerd yesterday. It was fun being a guest and not have any responsibilities there. We got to hear a return missionary speak. Wow was it a powerful and spirtual meeting! He told of how he really didn't know much about the gospel before he'd left. He just went because that is what was done in his family. But, when he was leaving he figured he'd better know what he was teaching was true. This was a great thing for my son to hear! I'm so glad we decided to go.

Days at the Beach

We went to our favorite beach on the North shores of Lake Michigan. It is about a twenty minute drive west of St. Ignance. You just pull off on the side of the road and go down to the lake. We decided to stay another day at St. Ignance because our planned day at the beach was cold and rainy. We decided to go anyhow, but it was just too cold.

Today however, it was warm, sunny and breezy. It was a perfect day at the beach and worth the extra day at St. Ignance. We came back to the camper and made calzones and breadsticks for Kayla because she doesn't like pizza toppings too much. It was so yummy! We are having a great relaxing time at the lake! Tomorrow we are going to head out into the U..P.. My goal is to see a moose and black bear in the wild. We are going to try to experience as many firsts as possible.

The kids would snorkle for treasure.

Kyle getting crafty with the digital camera again. I burn easy so I stayed close the the umbrella reading a great book!

Here is the rain coming down outside the camper Sunday.

Rainy and cold day at the beach.

The kids found a lot of these clams bunched together with their snorkles.

The water was so clear you could see the sandy bottom full of ripples from the waves.

Kayla and Kyle finding clams.

This is the view from our campground driveway. It looks out over Lake Huron.

Kyle digging a hole for my umbrella.

Fort Milimakinac, British Revolutionary War Settlement

Sitting in the community latrine, I'm sure glad we don't go that way now!

Spinning yarn, I want to buy one of these for my class.

Grinding corn for cornmeal. We'll have to remember this is the electric fails!

Musket firing squad.

Canon ball, this one is 6 pounds and can go 1 mile.

Fort Milimackinac

Oh no! The British are coming!

Kayla getting scalped.

It was so comfortable even though it was 88 degrees. The lake breeze even made it so wearing long dresses would be doable.

The fired the cannon out over the lake. I got each step so that I could show my students. It was so loud.

Michigan or Bust

Kayla all cozy for our two hour impromptu trip to Dundee, Michigan.

Kota getting his tunes ready for the journey.

Kyle fueling up for the first-leg of the trip.

Whohoo! We're 13 miles from camp!

Chinese checkers to relax after a rush pack job. We forgot several items. Thank goodness for Wal-mart.

Sunrise on the Wilderness Retreat. What a great way to start the car trip.

Kyle the breakfast chef cooking french toast!

We drove through Crawford County Michigan. I will have to look up how it got it's name at a future time. Wonder if it's a relative???

It's a perfect blue sky and puffy white cloud day. My favorite kind.

Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet at the Makinac Bridge.
It is so beautiful here!

We are spending two nights at Tiki RV Resort in St. Ignace, Michigan. It is a beautiful campground just on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge. We love it here and would possibly come here every year. The bonus for us was that every Saturday night between July 4th and Labor day is Fireworks on the bay. We got to see about 15 minutes of beautiful fireworks shot off a barge in Lake Huron. It was amazing, much better than Ashland's! The only weird thing is, no birthday the day after fireworks. That's okay, who wants to be 36 in just 2 weeks of turning 35.

We decided to leave one day (night) early. We stayed just outside Dundee, Michigan then drove the 6 hours to the bridge Saturday. That allowed more time for sight-seeing yesterday. We went to a Revolutionary War fort in Mackinac City. Fort Milimackinaw was a British Fort where a lot of fur trading taking place. The only attack on the fort was when the Pontiac Indians attacked the fort. When the British leaders heard that the rebels (colonials) were going to attack the fort they burned it down and moved. The oldest archealogical digsite in the US is located here. We got to see archealgoists in progress. I took so many pictures to use with my fifth grade American History class. I even got some ideas for hands-on activities I can do with the students. Win-win on getting to see the fort and getting ideas for teaching!

The Errand of Angels...

Dakota and Elder Paulson

Brecksville Bishop's Storehouse

This is where we packed orders.

Dakota helping the Elders and Storehouse volunteers.

This has been a service-filled week. I am enjoying the blessing of being RS president. I have got to have a lot of wonderful experiences because of it. Tuesday I had my car literally filled with school supplies and food to deliver to Hillsdale Cares and Associated Charities. All of which were donated by RS sisters. Tonight I am going to the hospital to visit with a sister who had surgery today.

Today, I went to the Bishop's Storehouse with Dakota. We were working on completing one of his Duty to God requirements. We also went because he did not get to attend Youth Conference because we were leaving for our vacation. I wanted him to be able to also have a spiritual experience.

While up there we got to pack all of the orders that are going to be delivered to our branch next week. We also got to meet up with Elder Paulson, who served in our brach this winter. Kota really liked him. The most amazing part of the trip today is we got to take the place of a ward who could not be there to fulfill their assignment. Had we not been able to come the storehouse would have been short-handed today.

I feel so lucky as to be blessed enough to recieve such nice blessings.