Soso's Art

She is drawing this a bunch since our stay at Jellystone. Any brave guesses?

Trout!

SK caught a 20 inch brown trout on a gurgler at 10:53pm out of AuSable River near Grayling, MI. We may never leave...!!

Petoskey!

We have moved south...by a little. Crossed the Mackinac bridge for the last time today.
Went rock searching on beach. Swam at pool. Did laundry. Little ice cream before dinner...then bed!

PINTA!

There were apparently traveling Nina & Pinta ships that were docked in Petosky, MI. We stopped off to check out the "PIRATE SHIP!!!".
It doesn't open until tomorrow, but this was a good enough look!

Van Cleve Park 7/3/2012

While doing a drive around exploring the Escanaba area,

we found a playground in the lake at Gladstone!

 Having our swimsuits in the Jeep,

we stopped on the way back towards the campground.

 the sand is soft like Destin...but dirt brown. it really doesn't wash off the skin easily either!

 Group shot!

 Steve was designated catcher!

 SJ is still a tummy slider

 waiting her turn to slide

My Sophia did not want to leave...

The water was chilly as all the lake water up here is generally.

Our rule is when SJ's lips turns blue...time to get out! 

The ice cream truck pulled up while we were washing

the sand off our bodies.

Mark it, FIRST ICE CREAM TRUCK PURCHASE!

SJ and Sophia were both so excited about this!

SJ got a spongebob and Soso a fudgesicle.

Steve had an ice cream sandwich and I had a crunchbar!

Very cool afternoon driving "adbenture"...

ending with a unique place to swim and play!

Fishing Big Bay de Noc 7/5/12

We put in at the campground at Fayette State Park.

 Beautiful scenery

 Watermelon break...only way to eat it.

Then wash off in the lake!

 Carp on! SK was using a flyrod only

 I think he said it was a 20 pounder...it wouldn't register on the scale.

The kids love looking at and petting on the fish.

 SJ was so excited about releasing the carp...

that he rolled over the side with it!

SK was quick with the handle grab!

Two catches over twenty in minutes of each other!

 Kids washing off the doritos dust from their fingers

 FISH ON! SK was excited about this smallmouth!

 His lovely assisstant coming in with the scales...

it's as if she doesn't believe it's a 5 pounder.

 It's reading in KG...but if you do the math:

2.32 KG=5.11472448LBS

 SJ practicing his grab and grin like a pro...

he just has to quit saying "PHISH" while the photo is being taken!

 Sophia with her catch of the day...SK called it 15 ounces!

She was proud of it!

 Helping daddy look for fish as we pull into the "Historic Fayette Township"

Fun day of fishing!

SJ tends to nap on the go...

whenever...

doesn't care!

Fourth Of July Celebrations

Cookout at the campground in Escanaba, Michigan on July 4, 2012. Shorts, Cooks, and us had a festive meal. Sophia and I decorated, Tammy and Kerry cooked :) I did bring a fruit tray that was well liked...by my kids!

 A huge storm rolled in as we were just finishing up eating.

 We cleaned up quickly and ran to our respective campers!

The fireworks display was cancelled due to...well...RAIN and LIGHTENING!

We spent the next night at a new campground.

Fayette State Park on the Garden Peninsula of th Upper Peninsula.

It's located on Big Bay de Noc, part of Lake Michigan.

Northern end of Green Bay.

 Sophia's rock for the hoodoo we built on the beach.

 SJ watching the sunset after swimming with SK

 SJ thought the piling of rocks was the coolest thing ever!

EveryONE was suppose to add ONE rock...

I believe SJ added quite a few!

 Tammy and her dog Moxy

posing for Ken... borrowed a shot too!

We watched the sunset.

Burned our box of sparklers.

Watched the tiny fireworks across the bay.

Happy fourth multiple celebrations!

Walking Up AuSable

Steve and Sophia look for brown trout on the AuSable River in Michigan. Soso is loving hiking in the water with her Daddy. SJ and I are throwing rocks in the river...beautiful day up here. Air temp 83 degrees...

Mackinac Island

We took our boat over to the island for dinner at the pink pony! Walked around. There are virtually no cars here. Horse drawn carriages and bicycles! The movie "Somewhere in Time" was filmed here?

First Round of putt-putt!

Off the camera Wisconsin Fishing

 Fishing for fun out of Peninsula State Park in Wisconsin.

We met the Shorts out on the water, fished the same area for awhile.

 Kevin catching a fish

 This was a really sweet moment I caught on film.

Sophia walked to the bow, grabbed Steve's hand.

Stood there for a minute, then said,

"Daddy. I'm going to be a good fisherman like you."

 Mommy's turn to land a smallmouth!

I was a bit rusty, but I got it in!

Sophia's second smallie.

 She was fighting it like an old pro...

 Snack break from all the fishing action...

 Sophia lands her first smallmouth bass!!

 SJ fighting and landing his first smallmouth!
 It looked like the fish might pull him in for a minute!

Children crashed while the boat was running!

They never made it to the lighthouse...

Great day of fishing.