Wednesday July 14th

We had been hearing rumors for a day or so about storms and heavy rain all day on wednesday. So in the morning while it was still clear we took Abby (Matt and Amy's dog) and the kids and used up some energy on the Bearskin trail - the trailhead is only a little ways down the road. Alex, Amy and Abby went several miles. Maya must have walked over a mile herself. I made her turn around before everyone else because I knew I was going to end up carrying her part way back and I had left the sling in the car. We hunted for wild raspberries and blueberries and picked flowers and jogged.
The air was very strange and heavy and felt still but you could hear the wind roaring in the tops of the trees. Storms were blowing in while we were making lunch and the weather radio was blinking red and warning of all sorts of nastiness coming from the east. Thankfully all we ended up with was some heavy rain and minor thunder and lightening. You could hear the bulk of it going to our south.
We took nice long naps and snuggled and read extra time, then got out the legos and coloring books to play away the afternoon.
We baked cookies and made a good supper. The kids cleaned up their toys while I washed the dishes and then they helped dry all the dishes - who knew they would be that into drying dishes! We started to get out some games but the sun came out and we had to take advantage and spend some time on the dock in the sun for the first time that day. It was already around 7pm so I told Alex we would just go down for about half and hour and come up to bed......
Well..................it was so beautiful they wanted to swim and then the neighbors came out swimming so we went down and joined them, then some other neighbors with kids were just arriving and they all came out too and the sun was setting and the moon was rising and there was beer in the boathouse fridge and then my dad got there and another neighbor came out to visit and we stayed down much longer than half an hour!

Tuesday July 13th

Into town for dog food, new coloring books from the dollar store, new shoes from the clearance table at Andy's bike shop, playground fun at Torpy park, hours and hours of swimming and floating, walking the dog, more evening swimming and ended the day watching the eagle swoop down over Knust's boathouse looking for fish.

Monday July 12th

I made a big breakfast this morning and the kids ate a ton. Then we went in to the library for new books and the natural food store. Just as we were getting home Amy got here from Marquette. After lunch Maya napped and Amy and Alex went down to the lake. Maya and I joined them after nap and we played all afternoon with the neighbors until supper time. After supper it was so nice we came back down to the water and read books and swam some more until after 8. Popcorn and bed soon followed!

Sunday July 11th

Into town for a few things, cousins visiting from Portland Oregon, card games, swimming between rain showers, having the cabin all to ourselves (me, Alex and Maya), stormy supper, "Mama Mia!" and popcorn while it thunders, books and bedtime, and an attempt at a sibling sleepover in the same bed (which I pulled the plug on sometime in the middle of the night when I noticed Maya climbing all over Alex and him swatting at her in his sleep).

Saturday July 10th

This morning my mom was volunteering at the grand opening of the new community art center in Land O Lakes. (she works and has her art in a gallery there) We decided kind of last minute to go along and explore while she worked and have a picnic and then come home.
We started out by walking around town a bit. Alex wanted to walk to Michigan (Land O Lakes is right on the MI/WI border) so we went to the library because their parking lot spans both states. In the library we were given a "treasure map" with 22 locations in and around town to find. Each location gives out a sticker or stamp (and often a prize or treat) and then when you get all 22 you get a big prize from the library. Not what we were planning on doing that day but the kids were all charged up to try it. We ended up going to about 15 of the 22 stops and they made a haul - candy, pencils, free ice cream, free swimming passes, etc. It turned out to be a lot of fun and a lot of walking and took the whole morning and introduced us to some interesting little local places.
After picking up mom and having a good picnic we went back to Minocqua for an afternoon of swimming!
I find it's hard to take pictures when totally submerged in the lake all day. Therefor I only have evening shots.

Friday July 9th

No pictures today.
Dad and I biked Escanaba Lake trail in the morning. Mom took the kids in to town to the Nature Discovery Center and the library.
Lunch then naps, then Alex and I went down to the lake to wash up. Maya was too tired and stayed in the house to help Grandma sew. Alex and I swam a bit then sat in the paddle boat and had a snack and watched the boats. There was a lot of boat traffic and a pretty significant wind so the waves were pretty big, it's a good think Maya stayed in the house as she wouldn't have liked swimming.
Alex hit the vacation overload lack of sleep wall that evening and was sent to bed at 6:45 and promptly fell asleep before 7. He slept almost 13 hours that night.