U.P. Family Vacation-Day Two

I guess technically this is our first day together but our

Day One was at Sleeping Bear Dunes. We stayed at

Balsam's Resort about 5 miles west of St. Ignace. We shared a

cabin with Timmy & Erin the first night since there

weren't 6 available but after that we each had our own cabin.

We used John & Heather's place as a meeting point & had

campfires there each night. It was crazy at times but

I enjoyed being with everyone.

Ethan by the firepit.

Izzie

Owen, Heather & Ethan in front of their cabin.
They all look pretty tired.

The kids really enjoyed playing in the dusty dirt in

the road that went in front of all the cabins.

Eli & Owen having fun jumping in the dirt!

The guys hanging out-John, Timmy, Dave & James

The girls-Kate, Erin & Eva, Heather & Ethan

Timmy & Owen "high-fiving"

The two "E.J.s"

Cody, Egan & Tim got up a little later because

Tim had to work. Also, Egan had been sick.

Thankfully he felt better quickly & was able

to enjoy the trip.

Eva & Berlin roasting marshmallows.

Grace & Kate

Erin fixing breakfast Saturday morning.

U.P. Family Vacation-Day One

We took a family vacation to the Upper Penisula. It was fun to

be all together. Erin wanted to show Timmy

Sleeping Bear Dunes so we went up a day early. We stopped

in Bay City to see the Tall Ships. It was really hot. We waited along

the river. Finally some of the ships came up the river but

didn't have their sails up. We drove up to Cadillac, spent the

night & then went to the Dunes the next day.

Timmy & Erin
On the Pierce-Stocking Drive overlook. We didn't

run all the way down!

Climbing up the Dune Climb

Judy & Bob at the top of the Dune :)

Timmy & Erin

Running down-As we were getting ready to leave

after running down the dune, Bob realized he had lost

his cell phone. It must have fallen out as he ran down.

He has it set to vibrate so we wouldn't hear it if we called it.

I called anyway just in case. The other three started climbing

back up to look for it. I tried calling again & a girl answered!

She & her friend had found the phone & were just

getting ready to call the "missed" call. What an

answer to prayer!

Ethan's First Birthday

We celebrated Ethan's first birthday at John & Heather's house.

Heather played lots of fun activities for the kids to do.

Kaylee works on a mask.Egan, Grace & Eva had crazy fun in the bounce house.

Owen, Egan & Eva ate together. The boys had fun messing
with each other's food-to the annoyance of their parents. :)

Ethan enjoying his food

The kids took turns trying to break the pinata but it was

really well made! All the kids had 2 turns but John finally

had to break it. Ethan got to go first.

The kids going after the goodies after John broke the pinata.

Kaylee being silly

Ethan's not too sure about this birthday cake.

He finally got into it!

Playing with his presents.

Pennsylvania Trip

We went to southern Pennsylvania to go white water rafting with

some old friends from our old church. Bob & I stayed a few extra

days in Bedford, PA to see some of the historical sites. So these

pictures are really in the wrong order.

We took a driving tour of the area. This was an old log church

built in 1806. Many of the tombstones were dated from the

1800's & a few birthdates were from the late 1700's. Part of the tour were some "odd" things like this huge quarter.

This was an ice cream shop shaped like a sundae.

This was an old coffee shop-no longer being used.

This was called "Hawkwatch" maintained by the Audobon

Society. We drove way up in the mountains on a little dirt

road to get up here but what a great view! It wasn't the

right time to see hawks but it was still really quiet & beautiful.

This was all part of a covered bridge tour-I think there were

13 in all.

"George Washington slept here"-during the Whiskey

Rebellion when he was president. The town of

Bedford was really neat-full of history. We did a

walking tour of the town, went to the Fort Bedford

museum & to Old Bedford Village.

We went rafting with Steve & Nancy Runyon, Ron & Lori

Benedict & Bob & Gayle Losinger. The day we were leaving we

went to the Fort Necessity Museum. Very nice museum.

There was also an old inn that we toured.

Fort Necessity from a distance-the only place that Washington surrendered.

A waterfall near where we rafted.

There was a natural waterslide also in the Ohiopyle

State Park. Only Ron & Steve were crazy enough

to give it a try. It did look like fun but a little

hard on the body!

Ron going down.

Steve

Nancy, Steve, Bob L. & Gayle rafting the Youghighany(sp) River.

We had a great time. It was good to re-connect with old friends &

the rafting was really fun.

Judy, Lori,Ron, & Bob-we were stuck on a rock.

The group: Ron & Lori; Steve & Nancy; Bob & Gayle; Judy & Bob

We stayed at the Lodge at Chalk Hill-a little rough but comfortable

enough. The view was great!

Random Times

It's been a while since I updated the blog so I thought I'd just post some

random pictures from the last couple months. We've had some of the grandkids over

for "sleepovers" & got together with some of the family on

Memorial Day weekend. Ethan at Great Grandma Mattila's house.

Berlin spent the night & we visited Seven Ponds Nature Center &

made a birthday cake for Uncle Tim.

Eli had fun splashing in the mud!

Berlin posing with her popsicle.

Izzie & her popsicle-ewww, cold!

James & Izzie -he headed off to VA a couple days later :(

The kiddos "eating".

Owen spent the night & had fun blowing

bubbles with his Thomas the Train bubble

pipe.

Papa reading to Owen

Owen was washing the car & filling it with "gas".

Izzie climbing the slide

Grace, Eva & Kaylee spent the weekend-we went on

a hike down by the ponds.

The girls blowing bubbles.

Hiking

Dr. Egan checking for Papa's heartbeat.