Michigan 2013

(the text of this blog post was copied and pasted from Dave's laptop which we brought along.  I kept a written journal on a word document each day)

Michigan 2013

Friday, July 26^th, 2013

Preparation and list-making started a few weeks before our trip, but the packing began Friday the 26^th of July.  We had a goal to leave by noon.  Instead, we backed out of the driveway about 2:00.  I spent an hour re-arranging car seats to get 3 seats across together in the back row.  This would allow us to take out a middle row captains chair to allow for more luggage room.  I could not believe how much stuff we had to bring.  My list was a full page long of small writing.  I laid out a tarp on the garage floor to put all our stuff on.  The tarp was full!  While I rearranged car seats Dave mowed the lawn.  This took us an hour to complete together.  I found that the blue car seat forward facing for Vanessa would fit next to two boosters for Violet and Calvin.  Eli got to sit rear facing in Vanessa’s Marathon car seat. 

I fed the kids yogurt and fruit for lunch, all things that had to get eaten before the trip, since we’d be gone 8 days.

The plan was to drive to Green Bay and stay in a hotel.  It took us 6 hours to get there, and we ended up stopping 3 times.  Once for us all to go pee a whole 45 minutes after leaving.  Then to change Eli’s diaper on the side of the highway.  Then to stop once and grab sandwiches at Jimmy Johns and go to the bathroom again.  The last hour was absolutely gorgeous as we watched the sky change colors as the sun went down, dark and white clouds appeared simultaneously, rainbows appeared, and rain came and went.  We made it to the Hampton Inn on Ramada way about 8 pm.  Josh and Carrie had gotten there around 4pm.  We agreed to meet up at the same hotel to swim/hang out before our trip.  The kids all swam in the hotel pool until it closed, at 10 pm.  Calvin swam where he could touch, although he can’t really swim well himself.  Vanessa stayed on the stairs the whole time unless an adult swam with her.  The adults did not swim Friday night.  I stayed out with Eli in the stroller.  Josh/Dave talked, Carrie and I talked.  Then we quick rinsed them off in the tub and got them all to bed.  Vanessa slept in a cot, Eli in a pack n play, Violet and Calvin shared a bed, Dave and I in another bed.  Full size beds, felt pretty cozy.  Somehow I slept really well.  Dave was up parts of the night dealing with kids.  I think he ended up sleeping with Vanessa in her cot for part of the night. 

Saturday, July 27^th, 2013

We got up around 7:40am, and headed down to eat continental breakfast.  They had sausages, waffles, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, muffins, etc.  The whole spread!  Kids all wanted waffles and sausage.  J&C and family ate with us, then we all went swimming again.  Josh and I sat out, Dave, Carrie and all kids swam.  We let them swim until about 10 am, then it was time for baths. Kids watched Cat in the Hat on PBS while Dave and I got ready, and we got re-packed up in the van.  Had to take the entire van apart and repack it again.  I think we left Green Bay around 11 am.  Goal was to get to the Escanaba Walmart and shop.  Eli was not happy in car traveling to Escanaba.  I drove.  Scenic, beautiful drive right next to Lake Michigan for most of it.  Calvin exclaimed seeing the huge body of water that he could see an island out there somewhere.   Got to Walmart and Dave took 3 older kids with him to playland at McDonalds while I took Eli and shopped.  I took about 2 hours to get everything on my list and my cart was completely FULL.  Even got a fishing license.  And Allegra D for Dave, along with groceries for a week.  Finished up shopping, Eli was a trooper.  Towards the end when groceries were piled up so high they were with in his reach, he began taking everything he  could and chucking it on the floor.  Not so fun.

At the Walmart checkout, the lady discovered a hole in my yogurt containers.  Someone ran back to get me a replacement.  Then she beeped my milk gallons through and accidentally dropped one on the floor breaking the container and spilled milk everywhere.  Someone had to run back to dairy to get me another gallon of milk.  Fun times.  Kids watched Looney Tunes while we packed in even more stuff in the van.  We had that vehicle jam packed to the gills with stuff.  Only 3 nectarines got smooshed in transport.  The drive to the cabins in Wetmore, MI was approx. an hour, but Josh got pulled over and got written a warning for speeding.  Cabin #12 by the lake is big and the 2 floors and multiple bedrooms are plenty for our family.  We have room for lots of extra people!  Violet and Calvin helped carry in groceries, I got right to work setting up the kitchen and getting stuff from coolers to the freezer and fridge.

Carrie planned supper that night which was sandwiches, chips and watermelon.  They are in the same cabin again so once we got set up enough with our food we went over to their cabin to eat.  Josh was excited to put a line in the water so he went out in the boat for awhile.  Caught a 15” bass.  I don’t remember details but kids were just everywhere, all excited and crazy to finally be with their cousins and hanging out together.  We brought a bucket of Legos so they played with those a lot.  They are only allowed downstairs, not upstairs.  Eli is good with stairs now so that is great.   Eventually got them all tucked in bed with a Bible story about Joseph and how he interpreted Pharoah’s dream and was made 2^nd in command in Egypt and had to store up food for the 7 years of anticipated famine.  The kids chose to all sleep in the basement bedroom, which has enough beds for 9 or 10.  Vanessa picked the bottom bunk and Violet and Calvin are sharing a queen.  Dave and I picked a bedroom but the night didn’t go all that smoothly for me.  Dave slept pretty well, and so did the kids, but somehow I did not.  I was awake and not feeling sleepy AT ALL and the bed we ended up in was really creaky and crinkly (plastic mattress cover or something).  Every move I made was a loud annoying sound, so I eventually gave up trying to sleep there and took bedding from another bed and laid on the couch.  My mind was racing and I didn’t fall asleep until 3 or 4 am.  Got up at 7:40.  *sigh*  I was praying I’d feel rested and the Lord answered my prayer.  I didn’t feel all that groggy all day Sunday.

Sunday, July 28^th, 2013

Carrie and I decided to trade off days making breakfast and dinners for everybody.  It is working out really well!  I started out Sunday, making pancakes and sausage for the crew.  I had to get creative using measuring tools and mixing bowls.  I brought my 2-burner griddle.  They came over to our cabin at 9 am.  Everybody ate and since it was misty, cold and a little windy, we hung out in the cabin for awhile, then decided it was time to go fishing in the rain.  Dave took Violet, Calvin and Vanessa out, but Vanessa didn’t want to be out there.  Josh and Austin joined them I think.  I think I remember the boys saying everybody caught something.  During that time, Carrie came to my cabin and I made scotcharoo bars and prepped the chicken for supper.

We didn’t really have lunch.  Everybody snacked on stuff.  Fruit, granola bars, trail mix, popcorn, etc.  The kids were cold and wet, so they all settled on couches and played games on the Kindle and watched a few TV shows.  The adults sat down to start a game of Blokus when we saw Ted and Cindy at the door.  They came to visit before heading to Chicago for a funeral. Cindy’s uncle died so they are going to his wake/funeral and will return to visit with us Wed-Sat.

We ended up sitting around in the cabin and talking to them for a few hours.  The kids kept playing games.  Eli ran around (Renee loves to babysit him!) and took a nap.  Carrie laid down with Wes and Vanessa and got them to go to sleep. 

Ted and Cindy left then.  Dave started the charcoal grill, I finished making the rest of dinner.  Made coleslaw, garlic cheddar biscuits, broccoli, and Dave grilled the marinated BBQ chicken.  Yum!

Dave and Josh took Violet and Austin out on the boat to fish.  Dave ended up catching one bass fish that was about 15”.  During that time, Carrie and I walked the younger 5 kids back to her cabin for a change of scenery.  We walked along a trail and I carried Eli in the backpack carrier.  Vanessa played with pop-up brush, Wes and Renee were casting their fishing poles with ornaments on the ends of the string over the balcony.  Eli chewed on toys.  Calvin found toys to play with.  Carrie and I sat and tried to relax….tried. J  walked back to our cabin about 9pm.

I put 4 kids to bed (Violet got dropped off at our cabin) while Dave went around the lake once more with Josh, they didn’t catch anything else.  3 older kids were giggly but fell asleep really quickly.  Eli was  cranky and super tired.  He went to sleep super fast.

I switched bedrooms with Eli to ditch the crinkly bed.  Caught up recording on my journal here.

Monday, July 29, 2013

This morning we woke up after sleeping much better.  We spent time with God in devotions separately and together.  Kids slept in, of course, the time change makes it seem like they are sleeping in because up here its an hour later.  So when they normally wake up at 7 am in Iowa it is 8 am here.  Somewhere around 8:45 they rolled out of bed.  We walked over to J&C’s cabin for breakfast since it was her turn to do breakfast/supper.  She messaged over the walkie talkies that she needed flour, I had some, so brought it over when we came.  She made biscuits, sausage gravy, fried eggs, and a mixture of strawberries and blueberries.  I made a quick run back to our cabin with their van to grab a pitcher so we could mix up a batch of juice.  The cabins are stocked with some kitchen things but every year its slightly different as to what its stocked with – I’m guessing people who come every year take back whatever they left behind and wanted to keep.  So breakfast was delicious.  Josh prepared a devotional about John 17 and shared how impacting it was to learn that we are loved just as much as Jesus is loved by the Father. 

We sang some new songs Josh brought the lyrics for.  Kids played around.  We sat and talked about what to do with our day.  Josh and Dave each caught a bass over the last day or two so Carrie needed to clean them.  She is the “fish cleaner” of the group.  Dave wanted to learn so he watched her do it.  We packed up stuff and headed down to the fish cleaning station.  Josh cuts off the heads for Carrie, she won’t do that part.  So as Carrie and Dave cut up fish filets, Josh and I watched the kids play down by the water/beach area.  The sun was FINALLY shining and everyone seemed to enjoy splashing in the water and they all wanted to go paddling around on paddle boats.  This required an extra trip to go get swimsuits and life jackets, which was all worth it, because their interest in playing there ended up being close to 4-5 hours.  Carrie and Dave finished the fish, J&C decided to let Dave and I go out and fish while they watched the kids, and vice versa.  We watched  their kids all play while they went out fishing.  When Dave and I were out, he caught a bass but as he was reeling it in it let go of the hook right as it was near the boat.  Must have been a smart one.

Violet, Renee, and Austin all know how to paddle and steer the 2 paddle boats so they gave rides to everyone, the main attraction was the floating “island” about 25 feet away from shore.  It was a floating raft and they paddled to and from the floating raft giving kids rides to it and away from it.  Eli took a nice long nap during this play time in our cabin too.  Our cabin is right by the water so it was convenient for him to sleep nearby while the others could play outside.  He slept for close to 3 hours.  He even splashed around in the water and got all sandy/soaking wet but he loved it.  Eli loves splashing in water!  He kept putting rocks in his mouth and spitting them out.

After everyone was done with the paddleboating/swimming, we all went to our own cabins to change.  Carrie started supper, Josh grilled the chicken.  She made a delicious supper with grilled teriyaki chicken, coconut sweet rice, grilled pineapple, and an Asian salad.  Josh and Dave took the 2^nd eldest pair of kids (Renee and Calvin) out on the boat to go fishing.  Dave caught one fish.

Meanwhile I served up root beer floats and Carrie and I started up a fire outside.  Violet and Austin helped get firewood and Carrie started it.  I carried Eli in the backpack carrier, it was the only way to keep him contained.  I poked and fed the fire.  Carrie and I hung out by the fire and the kids ran around the yard.  The boys and Renee and Calvin came back and joined us by the fire.  We sang songs and sat around for awhile.  By 10pm kids were all tired so we headed back to our own cabin by flashlight.  The woods were pretty dark.  Calvin found a frog on the way back and was brave enough to pick it up.

Kids to bed quickly…we went to bed very shortly after that.

Tuesday, July 30^th, 2013

So today was my day to cook food.  When Dave and I got out of bed around 7:45 am nobody else was awake.  I started making the coffee cake and I scrambled 24 eggs with milk/salt/pepper and sprinkled cheese on top of it.  Dave cooked 3 pounds of bacon.  When everyone came for breakfast about 9:30 I served food with cut up nectarines and blueberries.  Everything was delicious!  24 eggs was the perfect amount to cook and all the eggs got consumed.  I like not having leftovers.  The plan was to rent jet skis for 5 hours today.   

We sang some songs, Dave had a devotional. Packed up lunches for the kids, and drove to Peet’s Lake to play at the beach and drive jet skis.  The guy George who runs the place dropped the jet skis in the water for us and Dave and Josh jetted the skis over to the beach where we were.  They went SO fast!  Dave and Josh took them out first, Carrie tried out tubing first before the kids did to see how it would be behind the jetski.  Dave showed me how to drive the jetskis, and I went out.  I have never driven a jetski before and it was so much fun.  I never knew how uncomplicated and easy it would be to drive them.  I zoomed around the lake and then took Violet out with me.  She was whoopin’ and hollering saying how awesome it was.  She got a turn to sit in front of me and push the throttle and steer, and she seemed like a pro.  She loved it so much.  We spent the next 4 hours on the beach, playing with sand, collecting little shells, splashing in the water, taking turns on the jet skis, and playing around.  Eli was a grump, he wouldn’t settle down and take a nap in the stroller, he preferred to fuss.  He got fed, changed, and played with but still was not happy.  He liked behind held. J  go figure, he’s a baby after all.

The most fun part of my day was tubing behind the jet ski while Violet (and Dave) drove it.  I got such a wild ride and slid out of the wake so many times that I could barely hang on.  I let go at one point and fell in the water, and Dave told me he saw a fish flip out of the water right next to me.  I didn’t see it however.  Josh somehow flipped over his jetski when Carrie and Renee were riding on it with him while pulling Austin.  They found instructions on the bottom of the jetski on how to flip it right side up.  Renee was pretty cold and scared.  They got it turned back around.  We did have to pull it up on land so the water  could drain out of the plugs at the back of the jet ski.  Wesley picked out all the green m&ms from the trail mix.  Renee tended to Eli.  Calvin played in the sand.   Calvin got a ride on the jetski but didn’t really seem to like it all that much.  Vanessa, however, LOVED riding on the jetskis.  She would go take a ride every chance she got.  She had a wild smile on her face during the whole ride and encouraged the driver to go super fast. 

About 5 pm we turned in the jetskis and headed back to our cabin to get tacos prepared for supper.  The kids all went downstairs to play something.  Josh and Dave hung out on the porch, Carrie helped me prep taco toppings.  The meal came together pretty quick.  When all the food was ready, the kids were all still quietly playing downstairs.  Us adults decided to eat on the deck and feed the kids after we were done.  It worked like a charm until we were all about done when the crowd of kids came running up wondering when supper was going to be ready.  They all got fed, and we had ice cream for dessert.  No lack of food around here. J

Josh and Carrie decided to go out fishing together and Dave and I agreed to hold down the fort.  It turned out to be a great night for fishing because Josh and Carrie together caught 6 huge bass.  The night for us went mostly smooth, other than Wesley puking all over the bathroom because his tummy hurt.  Thankfully Carrie was close to arriving so I bathed Wes and Carrie cleaned up the mess.  Josh came to get his kids and take them back to his cabin.  The kids were all up til 11 pm, and then Violet said she was hungry.  She and Calvin ate some blueberries/nectarines. Recapping the day Violet said it was an awesome day.

To bed, quick Bible story.  Dave told the kids awhile ago (and apparently they never forgot) that he would read the Bible every night no matter how late it got. 

Carrie finished cleaning up all the bass fish and since the fish cleaning house is so close to our cabin I agreed to drive her back to her cabin when she was done.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

This morning got off to a late start.  Yikes, I woke up sore from tubing yesterday.  A little ibuprofen kicked the pain though.  Kids finally rolled out of bed at 8:45 am because Vanessa apparently woke everyone up.  Dave and I had gotten up not too long before them.  We showered and the plan was to go to J&C’s cabin for breakfast.  Our day’s plan was to go to Munising and throw in laundry at a Laundromat and hike a short trail and then go to the DogPatch for dinner.  We got such a late start to leaving that Vanessa ate a bowl of Life cereal and Eli snacked on things.  Before leaving to go to J&C’s cabin I gathered up all the dirty stuff and threw it in a laundry basket.  Violet really wanted to walk so her, Calvin and Dave took the dirty trails and I drove the van with the younger two and all the laundry over to J&C’s cabin.  We planned to leave right after breakfast.  We all had on our “hiking” clothes (walking shoes, not flip flops).  I brought along the backpack carrier for Eli.  Carrie cooked up some bacon, hashbrowns and fried eggs.  The kids played Austin’s PSP while the adults all finished up breakfast.  Discussion surrounding Carrie’s parents led into our devotion and some song singing.  I lost Eli’s pacifier and connecting string at their cabin somehow that morning.

The drive to Munising was approx. 15 minutes.  Somehow all the kids sitting in the car created a dynamic of fighting.  All 3 across the back were grumpy.  Eli of course, fell asleep.  We stopped at a grocery store quick – Carrie had to pick up some things, and I got some more quarters for laundry.  Josh put clothes in his machines at the same time I did.  I bought some chocolate with my debit card after putting in the 4 loads of clothes into the washing machines so I could get more cash back to pay for the dryers.  The kids ended up sitting in the van with Dave and watched a movie.  Renee sat with Violet in there.  Carrie and I chatted while we waited for the clothes to dry.  Some lady came up to me in the Laundromat and told me I took just like Jennifer Aniston.  Never heard that one before!  We got all the clothes folded, filled the basket up with clean folded things, and packed it in the van.  At some point in the day we decided to invite Ted and Cindy to join us at the DogPatch restaurant for dinner, they agreed to meet us at 4pm.  By this time it was 2:20 pm so we had just enough time to go hiking on a short trail to see a waterfall.  We went to Miner’s Falls, I think.  Only a 0.6 mile hike to the falls, perfect for kids the ages we have now.  The hike started out perfect.   The sun was shining.  We got to the falls in good time, saw the waterfall, and snapped a lot of family pictures.  We knew there was a chance of thunderstorms or rain in the area, but they were scattered, so we kept on going.  We started to hear thunder on our hike back.  It was loud and powerful and everybody loved hearing it on top of what seemed like a mountain in the middle of the woods and overlooking Lake Superior.   The thunder rumbled on, and then it got louder.  Then it started to rain some, then it started to POUR.  Vanessa was on top of Carrie’s shoulders while it started to pour.  Eli was in my backpack carrier.  Carrie handed Vanessa to Dave, and then we started running as fast as we could to the vans.   It felt like mass chaos.  Nobody was upset, we were just in a hurry.  Violet was laughing gleefully!  We spotted the vans at the end of the trial and got in as quickly as we could and sat in the van catching our breath, completely sopping wet.  Eli wasn’t really crying, he was just really alert, wondering what was going on.  It started to hail within 2 minutes of getting back in the van.  The kids didn’t really like being so wet, so I changed them into dry outfits.  Thankfully we had just done laundry so I had plenty of clean clothes to choose from to change them into.  Josh and family did not decide to change until we got to the Dog Patch so they patiently waited for us to finish.  Dave and I left our wet stuff on.  The drive to the restaurant was 10 minutes.  We were supposed to meet them at 4:00 and only arrived a few minutes late.  Ted and Cindy were there and we got a table and sat down with in 10 minutes.  They put a lot of tables together.  I got pizza, kiddos all got PBJs, Dave, I do not know, he sat at the opposite end of the table from me somehow but got to chat with his dad the entire time.  Eli had fallen asleep in the carseat on the drive over to the restaurant and I was so thankful he stayed sleeping when I got him out.  At the restaurant he continued to sleep in my arms for about 30 minutes and woke up super happy and ate some pizza.  He then filled his diaper and I changed him on my lap in a tiny little bathroom stall.  Violet had taken Vanessa to the bathroom earlier and did not like wiping her so Vanessa came with me for Eli’s awkward diaper change in a dark small area.  Vanessa kept asking who was in the next bathroom across the wall from us.

After dinner at the Dog Patch was over (something I remember was when Josh took Wesley to the quarter toy machines to buy something with the quarters he “earned” at the Laundromat.  Some guy was buying detergent at the dispensers and couldn’t reach the box through the skinny slat so Wes and his little hands wiggled it out for him, and the guy gave him a quarter).  Wes picked out a toy that was a plastic ball with a little tiny gray rubber creature, a hippo or something.

When we got back to our cabin Dave took Violet and Calvin out fishing.  Calvin wanted to be done fishing not too long after they started so Calvin got dropped off, and Vanessa joined the boat.  When Dave was out there with the girls he caught a 24” northern pike.  Violet was so excited because she prayed that daddy would catch a big fish! 

Dave and I took a turn out on the boat fishing on Wednesday evening.  The “surprise” we had been planning for the kids was a cousins sleepover at our cabin.  There are enough beds in the basement room to sleep 8 so there was plenty of room.  Josh and  Carrie watched them all and put them to bed while Dave and I went out fishing. 

The night was very eventful.  It started beautifully.  It was about 6:30 pm.   The water was calm, it was cloudy.  I put my line out with Josh’s pole and his lucky lure and immediately caught a bass fish.  It was too small to be legal (had to be 14”, it was 12”) but it was still fun to get a bite and reel it in.  I put my line in again and caught another one, this time larger and legal so we kept it.  The sky started looking a little dark and with in a few minutes, we could see a big wall of rain start coming towards us.  We got seriously dumped on.  We got completely soaked!  The rain passed over quickly after a few minutes and we stayed in the boat.  Dave got a bite.  He pulled in a big bass somehow by the lure snatching the side of the fish.  Whenever either of us would catch one we’d reel in our lines to focus on netting the fish the other was pulling out.  Josh gave me a tip to use the net as a “catch”, not actually scooping it up because that gets the lure all caught up in the netting.

Well, the night went a little sour after that.  I cast out my line and saw the lure go flying, but it wasn’t connected to the fishing pole.  The line snapped and the lure was way gone.  It is supposed to float, so we boated over and searched for it where I thought it landed, and we searched for 10 minutes or so but couldn’t find it.  It seemed to be the only thing catching fish so we were a little bummed (mostly because it was Josh’s favorite lure!).  Anyway we went around the lake a few more times, tried other lures.  Dave tried another one on my line, and I reeled in a 26” northern!  This fish faught me harder when pulling it in.  They are like little sharks of the lake because they’re feisty and have teeth. 

Dave helped me with everything fish-related.  He put the fish on the stringers and in the net cage thing. 

Then the night went sour again.  Dave tried a new lure, cast it out, and then somehow let go of his pole as he was casting.  The pole slipped into the lake and sunk to the bottom.  Dave was pretty frustrated.  The line on the cast got caught and the lure jerked the pole (he thinks) and his grip didn’t hold the pole.  He was bummed because he had just bought that pole a few weeks ago.  It was getting pretty dark too so we went around the lake one or two more times and Josh met us at the dock to help bring stuff in.  Dave had to go clean the fish we just caught so he spent the next two hours in the fish house.  Josh decided to pull a little prank on him (getting him back from years ago in their childhood when Dave pretended he was a bear).  Josh came sniffing by the window of the fish house and gave Dave a pretty good scare. 

While Dave was cleaning fish Carrie, Josh and I ended up watching something on TV and Josh put new fishing line on his pole.  Got to bed pretty late – Dave is new to cleaning fish and had 5 to get done so he finished up at 1:30 then took a shower to wash off the fish stink.

Thursday, August 1^st, 2013 

Well the sleepover was interesting.  Wesley woke up at 2 am and was crying so I gave him his blanket and he went back to sleep.  Then he got up a few minutes later and said he had to puke and he actually threw up in the toilet.  We gave Carrie and Josh a ring to let them know and I drove Wes back to his cabin to be with them.  I think Dave and I finally settled into bed somewhere around 2:30 am.  Violet reported to me that Austin, Renee and her woke up in the middle of the night sometime to create a new lego scene on the building board and make a surprise for Calvin. 

Renee was the first one up, I think, and wanted to eat, so I gave her a toasted English muffin with strawberry jelly and some juice.  I was trying to bake blueberry muffins, and realized when the batter was all put together that I did not have a muffin pan.  Huh.  Ok, so I pulled all the coffee mugs out of the cabinets and sprayed nonstick spray in the coffee mugs, and poured the batter into them.  The leftover batter got spread in a 9x13 pan.  I made muffin bars. J  The muffins in the coffee c ups actually turned out really good!  Josh and Carrie came back to our cabin around 9:00.  The kids all were hungry so they ate their muffin bars, melon, and sausage/egg/cheese sandwiches before J&C arrived.  They played Austin’s PSP most of the morning.  Dave was still grumpy about his pole in the morning. 

The plan for the day was to drive to rent 2 pontoon boats and drive through the “chain of lakes” which his a few miles south of where we were staying.  We packed up all our stuff – food for the day, towels, diaper bag, supplies, fishing stuff, etc.   We were supposed to meet Ted and Cindy at Corner Lake beach at 11 am but we didn’t get TO the pontoons until 10:45 so we knew we’d be a bit late.  We could all tell the water level was much higher than last year which meant navigating through the channels between lakes would be much easier than last year. 

The weather looked beautiful, at the time we took off it was sunny and the high temp was supposed to be 74.  The first trip across the lake and getting up to the first channel proved to be a challenge for J&C.  We eventually made it to Corner Lake Beach and we set up to sit for awhile.  It was not as warm as we hoped.  The majority of this beach was in the shade because we were infront of a forest of pine trees and the sun was behind them.  We all shivered and wrapped ourselves with towels and snacked on cherries/grapes, granola bars, doritos, and sandwiches.  The kids did still play in the water and sand – collecting things and splashing around.  The game was to chase the sunny spots and rays to get warmer.  The guys went out fishing in one of the pontoons.  Dave caught one bass.  The ladies stayed on the beach.  At some point an hour or two later we decided it was getting too cloudy and cold so we packed up our stuff and got back on the boats.  1 minute after we got back on the boats it started to downpour.  We raised the sunshade and stayed protected for the most part.  I was really glad I had packed coats for everyone, so Violet, Calvin and Vanessa snuggled up in their sweatshirts and tried to stay warm while we navigated the boats through more lakes.  The rain clouds left, the sun came out, and everyone was cheerful.  Dave and Josh slowly boated around each of our boats and fished for a few hours.  Caught nothing.  Josh’s boat motor died, we went to connect our pontoon to his with a rope.  Eventually got his motor going.  Fished some more.  During the rope tie up adventure Ted and Cindy got on our boat.  We fished around for a few more hours.  Eli slept in his stroller.  Violet curled up in a corner and fell asleep.  Calvin and Vanessa followed suit and pretty soon we had 4 sleeping kids on the pontoon.  Amazing!  Calvin was totally out on the back bench seat.  Vanessa found a spot on the floor of the pontoon using my sweatshirt as a pillow. 

About 5:00 it was time to call it quits on the boating.  We boated back to the boat ramp and connected the pontoons with roped, packed up the van, and drove back to our cabin.  The plan for the rest of the evening was to build a campfire and Ted and Cindy planned a “corn roast”!  They had bought 5 dozen ears of fresh sweet corn and put them in a big metal garbage can that was propped up with a couple of cinderblocks.  Underneath it was a torch fueled by propane that lit a fire under the can which steamed the corn right in its husks.  They also baked a dish of mac and cheese.  The kids helped create a fire ring of rocks and Josh started a fire.  Dave and I carried down a picnic table that was near our cabin closer to the fire.  Ted and Cindy like to celebrate all the kids birthdays at once because they see them so little.  They brought gifts to each child and a birthday cake.  Violet has a princess spelling work book, Vanessa has bubbles and Calvin got a magic trick thing.  Eli liked his little stuffed animal too.  The food was delicious.  I have never eaten such good corn.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we were dipping the corn into a crock pot full of melted butter and salting it like crazy.  Violet said the corn tasted like heaven.

I think I ate 6 pieces of corn.  Who knows, maybe 7.  It was amazing corn. 

The night was gorgeous.  We watched the sun set on the lake and the kids ran around with glow sticks that Cindy gave them.  When it got dark we packed up and got kids to bed – they got to sleep somewhere around 10 pm.  Dave had a goal to get to bed pretty quick because he, Josh and Ted planned to get up to go fishing at 5:30 at Grassy Lake, a lake where they all went fishing as kids. Grassy Lake is known for having huge fish, but they are hard to catch.  Ted really wanted minnows to fish with. 

Friday, August 2^nd, 2013

The week is coming to an end way too fast!  When Dave woke up early at 5 am I could hear him banging around making coffee and getting ready.  I woke up to help him find something.  When he was gone, I couldn’t get back to sleep so I grabbed Dave’s computer and finished journaling here.   I ate a blueberry muffin and watched the darkness outside turn to light.  It is downpouring rain.  Dave came back to get his plastic poncho at 5:20 am and a couple extra garbage bags for his dad and Josh.  I hope they have a good time fishing, even if they don’t catch anything.  And if they do catch something, that would make it even better. J

Its 6:56 am and I only hear Eli humming here and there.  I am going to lay down for a little longer – knowing my mind can rest so I don’t have to remember everything anymore, its all written down here.

The plan for the day is to have breakfast at Carrie’s cabin, and then “chill” the entire day.   ~~

So after I finished journaling Friday morning I slept from 7-8 am.  Calvin and Eli snuggled with me first.  The girls continued to sleep in.  I took a shower.  Girls eventually woke up around 9:30 or so.  Carrie and I were communicating on walkie-talkies and planning breakfast.  I brought over leftover bacon (which is sort of unheard of, lol) and pancakes.  By the time I got everybody dressed and ready to go, it was around 10.  I got Eli packed in the backpack carrier and I hiked with him on my back with the kids over to Carrie’s cabin.  She planned yogurt-fruit-granola parfaits.  As we walked the 5 minute path through the woods Calvin handed me all the flowers he found.  J  When we got to their cabin, the guys pulled up in Josh’s van returning from their Grassy Lake fishing trip.  Grassy Lake is a government-owned lake so nobody lives on it.  Its pretty remote.  Dave, Josh and Ted used to fish there when they were kids so it was nostalgic to go fishing there with their dad as adults.  The lake is also known for their super large fish, but they are also very hard to catch.  They returned with nothing, no bites at all.  But they were so glad they went.  Everybody ate together then the kids retreated to the loft to play games.   I let the kids play games on the kindle.  The guys took naps because they were so tired.  Eli even fell asleep in my arms and took a nap on a bed in their cabin for about an hour.  Carrie and I noticed the sun shining and sat outside with our coffee.  Renee bopped around with Eli once he woke up.  We munched on things for lunch when we got hungry.  After awhile the kids got ansy so I suggested we take a walk to our cabin and eat popsicles (had to eat them up! Not easy to take frozen food home).  So we did that, and the kids got involved with legos in the basement area.  Dave went out in the fishing boat to try hook his fishing pole with no success.  He brought Vanessa with him.  She seemed to enjoy that.

After eating popsicles Eli went down for a long nap, probably 1-5 pm. 

Dave got back on land.  Ted and Cindy showed up to hang out, Josh somehow got paddles free for the kayaks so Carrie and I went around the lake on kayaks for a long time.  It was Carrie’s first time kayaking.  I decided to kayak from one end of Town Lake and back and Josh timed me, it only took 10 minutes.  Kids were swimming and playing with paddle boats.  At one point Vanessa fell in the water (with her life jacket so she was fine) but Violet saw it happen and she and Calvin helped pull her up.  I kayaked around with kids on my lap. 

Austin and Violet got hungry so I fixed them PBJs.  It was somewhere around 4 pm.  The plan for supper was to fry up the fish we all caught.  The adults all got involved with dinner prep somehow.  I thawed out as much bass as I could find.  We decided to skip the northern pike fish because its harder to get bones out and we didn’t want to deal with it at the moment), I also baked a cornbread mix Carrie brought (didn’t have a 8x8 glass dish so I used a circular metal pan used for cooking stove top and it baked up just fine…thankful for nonstick spray).  Ted and Dave cut skin off the fish.  Carrie got to work cutting up the fish into small pieces and getting the beer batter ready.  Ted got the oil heated up in his deep fryer.  I cut up potatoes, carrots and onions and put them in foil packs to grill.  Josh heated up charcoal and grilled veggies.  Cindy helped with stuff here and there, set out her cucumber salad.  Carrie and I made a run somewhere in the middle of the prep to buy more charcoal, dump garbage in the dumpster, and find an extension cord so we could put the fryer on the basement level.  The store did not have one we  could borrow so instead we borrowed one from the construction site next door.  The fish took forever to fry up because the batches were so small.  When there was enough fish we fed all the kids food. They loved the fish. 

When the fish was done cooking the kids were done and were off playing.  The adults sat down to eat and the food was delicious!  Fish was awesome.  Veggies, cornbread, and cucumber salad were all really good too.  Josh started a fire.  Kids ran around with glowstick balls Cindy had brought them.  I threw a line in the water and caught nothing.  Kids all had s’mores.  It got dark…Carrie had gone back to her cabin with Wes because he threw up again earlier in the night.  Josh took his older 2 kids back.  Ted and Cindy left, Dave and I gave our kids all baths.  Violet freaked out because Dave tossed a little glow stick in the fire.  Finally got fresh clean kids in bed.  Dave went to get Ted’s minnow bucket from Grassy Lake.  I started cleaning up outside, bringing in stuff and tossing garbage in the fire.  The kitchen was a disaster.  A few minutes into cleaning up, Violet came outside crying.  She was terrified of having nightmares because she kept thinking about when Vanessa fell in the water right next to her.  She said Austin told her that there were big fish in the lake that bite your toes off.  I sat her in my lap next to the fire and we talked for awhile.  We prayed for her together. I focused on the praises – things God put in place to keep her safe.  She was right next to Violet, she was wearing a life jacket, others were there and could help, Vanessa didn’t seem to mind all that much.  She wimpered a little but recovered quickly.  Mom was right here in the kayak to take her to shore.  I changed the subject and we talked about random things and then started at the unending clusters of bright stars in the night sky.  She seemed more cheerful.  Dave then returned and wondered what was up and she explained to him why she was upset and got all sad again.  We talked for awhile longer and she eventually got tired enough and I put her back in bed.  Dave and I cleaned up the kitchen, it was about 1:00 am when we climbed into bed. 

Saturday, August 3, 2013

The first thing I heard was the beep of the walkie talkie and Carrie’s voice at 7:30 am.  I didn’t hear what she said so I got out of bed and answered.  She said Wes was running a fever so it probably wasn’t a good idea to get together for breakfast.  Agreed!  I climbed back in bed and then heard Eli humming in his bed at 7:45.  I tried to keep sleeping.  But I couldn’t fall back asleep.  My mind was already racing thinking about how much stuff we had to get packed up and leave today.  I got out of bed about 8:00 and nursed Eli in the kitchen.  Calvin woke up and cuddled on the couch but I could tell he thought it was way too bright.  I suggested he go snuggle in my bed instead so he did that.  I made coffee, Dave got up and showered.  I let Calvin play games on the kindle because he was the only one awake.  I showered.  The battle plan was to eat breakfast and pack up and go.  Easy to think about, hard to execute.  Dave cooked some sausage (wanted to eat freezer food), toasted bread, and cracked open the last 9 eggs but found they were all frozen.  I made a run to J&C’s to see if they had any extra eggs and they gladly gave us their box which had about 3 dozen eggs left.  They were almost packed up.  I brought the eggs back t our cabin, Dave cooked up about 10 of them.  We ate breakfast as a family for the first time that week, which was pretty nice.  This got us thinking that maybe we should have planned more family alone time.  Once we finished breakfast, we tried turning on the TV so the kids could be in one place while we scurried to pack up but it didn’t work.  They ran around with their glow sticks and Eli was so fussy.  I just stuck him in his high chair and gave him things to eat/drink.  He still wasn’t all that happy.  Food to pack, clothes to pack, toys to put away, put away tackle, pack shoes, gather bathroom things, unplug fans, pack up crib, etc….it was a lot of work.  Dave made a run to take garbage to the dumpster before packing our van with stuff.  Dave and I looked at the amount of things to put in the van and really wondered how it would fit.  Dave said his approach to packing the van was to put the heaviest/hardest things at the bottom and left the squishier things for the top.  Kids somehow got hungry (even after a big breakfast) so they ate leftover muffins, yogurt, and granola bars.  Vanessa ate an apple and it looked like a wood carving – little baby bites along the surface of the whole apple.  I think all she ingested was apple skin.  All took bathroom breaks.  Dave checked the boat, found a fishing pole we brought along in the backyard, etc.  Loaded up completely, we prayed for safe travel, and took off at 1:30.  I lost all of Eli’s pacifiers.  Found a pink one in my purse. 

We’ve been on the road now for an hour and a half and haven’t stopped yet.  We do not plan to stop at a hotel on the way home.  The GPS said about 8 hours and 458 miles when we left.  So we should get home about 9pm.  But in reality it may be closer to 10-11pm.  We do gain an hour on the way home time-wise.

Dave and I both agreed the trip was worth it.  Experienced a lot of firsts, cousins got to play a lot together, made lots of good memories, relaxed, good conversation, good food, beautiful lake, good fishing, etc.  We made a list of things that worked and things that we’d do differently if we go for this next year.