Tawas Get-away

Bob & I by the AuSable on our getaway

Bob & I took a spur of the moment overnight

trip to Tawas City the end of August. We finally

had a beautiful summer day. It was a little

cool but not bad. We went to some antique stores

in town & walked out on the pier. The next day, a

Monday we drove up to Oscoda & took River Rd.

inland along the AuSable River. There's supposed

to be a lot of bald eagle nests along the river &

we were hoping to see one.

We stopped at a couple turnouts & at the Lumberman's

Monument, Canoer's Memorial & Iargo Springs.

Really a nice trip with some beautiful scenery. Looking down at the AuSable

Bob tries his hand using the lumberman's tool at the

Lumberman's Monument.

View of the river from Lumberman's Monument.

Bob enjoying the view from one of the

roadside parks.

We were very excited to see a bald eagle at the

Canoer's Memorial! It was fairly easy to see & we had

also brought binoculars. It was neat to watch him

ride the wind currents farther up into the sky.

Iargo Springs was very interesting. They had

board walks all through the woods so you could see

the springs as they flowed into the AuSable.

There were 282 steps down (& up!). I'm glad

we didn't know that before we went down

or I might not have attempted it! We counted

on the way up. Thankfully they had resting spots! :)

It was worth the effort.

the view

Boardwalk through the woods

Another view of the river

I thought it was cool to see how the river

winds through the woods.

Metamora Days

Every year Metamora has an end of the summer

Metamora Country Days celebration. There are

crafts, a petting zoo, car show, parade, etc..

Tim, Cody & Egan met us in town to watch the parade.

John, Heather & the boys met up with us a little

later but caught a little of the parade. Very small town

but fun. I worked at the library used book sale so

I didn't get any pictures of Owen at the petting

zoo. He rode in a horse cart. The weather wasn't the

greatest. Part of the celebration is a hot air balloon

festival. It's really fun to watch them fill up & float

away. We went up to the balloon field to watch

but the weather was too bad for them to go up. :-(

James, Amanda & kids had come up for that so

instead everyone came over to our house to hang

out & eat pizza. Flag bearers at the beginning of the parade.

Bagpipers Egan waving at the people in the parade.

Have to have some tractors!

Bob, Owen, Tim & Cody

Papa & Owen

Lapeer West marching band-I always wished

I could have played drums in a marching band!

The hounds from the Metamora Hunt Club-

it's amazing how well trained they are.

Owen & Egan had a great time playing in the

tall grass while we were waiting to see if the

balloons would go up.

Isadora Lee & Ethan Rome

Welcome to Isadora Lee Mattila! She's our 9th grandchild, born on

Friday, August 14, 2009. That will be an easy date to

remember because it was my brother Kevin's birthdate.

His middle name was Lee also. Kinda neat to have her

born on his b'day. :) We joked at Nana Camp the day before

about her having the baby the next day (the 14th) but none of

us thought she would have her so soon! She had her so quickly

that I didn't even have my camera with me to take pictures at the

hospital. I was already in Birmingham with my mom when James

called so at least I was close by. So these pictures are from when she was

2 days old & meeting the Mattila's for the first time.

The family also got to meet Ethan Rome for the first time. Isadora Lee Mattila
Ethan scrutinizes his great-grandma Mattila

Grandma checks out Ethan's toes-baby toes are so cute!

Great-grandma with her two newest great-grandchildren

Great-grandma with Izzie

Great-aunt Margaret with Ethan

Emma with Isadora

Last Nana Camp for 2009

At our fifth (& last) Nana Camp for 2009, we went on

a couple of hunts. First the kids glued photos of wildflowers

in a little book & we went on a nature hunt to find those flowers.

They got to put a sticker on their page when they found the flower.

We looked for Queen Anne's Lace, chickory, wild bergemont,

milkweed, daisies & knapweed. They all grow quite close

to each other just down the path to the back so we didn't have to

go far. Then I had made some "treasure boxes" (I knew

there was a good reason for my Chai Latte addiction)&

hid them around the yard. I took pictures of different places

around the yard & the children had clues in envelopes that directed them

around until they found their "treasure"-which

was mostly candy & a few small trinkets. They seemed

to enjoy the hunt & even shared their candy with their moms.The Treasure boxes
Cody & Egan working on his wildflower book

Grace gluing in pictures

Eva works on cutting out her pictures

Kaylee

Berlin & Amanda; Heather & Owen

Kaylee searches for her clue

Cody, Egan & Grace in back look for clues on the birdfeeder

Egan finds a clue

Berlin has to find the white fence for her next clue

Eva found her treasure box!

Hayden found his too!

It's hard to believe the summer is almost over. Next year, they'll

be even more kids at Nana Camp! I guess I have the winter to think

about how to organize that! It was a little crazy at times, but fun! Hopefully

the kids will have good memories of Nana Camp.

Pine River Nature Sanctuary

We took a drive over towards the east & went to the Pine

River Nature Sanctuary. The river is more of a creek but it

looked like the area was newly renovated. Unfortunately, the

Nature Center is only open during the week & we were there

on a Sunday. We were about the only ones there. They

have very nicely groomed walking trails & the longest isn't

much more than a mile long. Very nice trail map & clearly marked.

It'd be a good place to take kids. They had a wigwam & lean to but it was fenced

in & closed when we were there. It was a nice day. Definitely need bug spray though. This is the outside of the nature center-I want this for my house!!!
The "tree house" out in the woods-has picnic tables & places to sit.

Bob inside the tree house

A self portrait by the "river"

By the pond-most of the trails go through the woods but

one goes by this pond & through a field.

There's not a lot to see but it's a nice walk.

A New Car

We took advantage of the government's

"Cash for Clunkers" program & turned in our van.

It was rather sad-we've had it for over 10 years.

I have lots of fond memories of all the kids still being

at home, family vacations, camping, etc. It was a

little hard to get rid of it-especially knowing they

were going to destroy the engine. :( But... we

really don't drive it much & it's a gas guzzler, & at the age

where things are always going wrong with it. But it was

still sad... But we got a great deal on a new Avenger

for Bob to drive. This is his first brand new car in his

whole life! (Mine too) It's so quiet with a smooth ride. Not the

color he would have chosen but the program was so successful

in that first week there wasn't much choice. He's very excited about it!

We even get satellite radio for a year! :) Easy to please, aren't we?

Anyway, here's the last photo of the old "clunker". Here's Bob with his new 2009 Avenger!

Nana Camp #4

Nana camp #4 was on July 30th. Thankfully we had

nice weather. The kids did "feet painting" outside.

The wind made it a little hard to keep the paper on the ground.

I'm sure Bob appreciated the red & blue grass!

Then we did some fingerpainting with chocolate pudding.

I'm not sure they did much painting but they enjoyed

eating the "paint"! Everyone gets in on the painting.

Hayden & Berlin running down the paper.

Egan priming his feet-he wasn't too sure

about the whole process here.

Eli getting into the chocolate painting.

Owen & Hayden seem to be buddies-enjoying

their chocolate pudding. Owen still had his

hand wrapped from his burn.

Eva says "yum"!

Kaylee & Grace were much more subdued about this activity.

Egan really got into the chocolate painting!!

Poor Ethan-he's just not old enough to enjoy

Nana Camp. Neither is Carter, (didn't get his pic),
Katie J.'s baby-he just watched from the car seat. :(

Eli was anxious to get in the pool-didn't want to

wait for a bathing suit!