Enjoying the U.P. (Part 1)

The weather in the U.P. has been beautiful.  We have been keeping super busy enjoying time with family.  We started out with a 4th of July parade on the 3rd.  They decided to change the Baraga parade and fireworks to the 3rd this year so unfortunately Roger, Saundra, and Vinnie were not able to join us for the parade.

Here is what we have been up to…

The girls waiting for the parade to start so they can collect candy…

Loud firetrucks going by in the parade are too loud for Annalyse, Avalon, and Meredith…

Cooling off after the parade with a refreshing swim in Lake Superior… 

Ready for the fireworks, all set with glowsticks…

Ready for the 4th of July parade in Lake Linden…

Waiting with Great Grandma for the candy to come…

Getting ready to help Uncle Denny blow out his birthday candles…

Strawberry Picking and More…

On Thursday night, I took the twins shopping with me.  We went to Target and they talked me into going down the toy aisles.  Well, it turns out they want almost every Princess toy that Target carries.  They were all set when we got home to write a letter to the Easter Bunny to tell him all of the toys they wanted (I told him that he was not coming back for a LONG time and they told me “We’ll see Mommy.”)  It turns out, we didn’t have time to write a letter because we had to get ready for the fireworks.  Well, they, especially Meredith, was VERY disappointed Friday morning when there were no presents in the living room.  Anyways, unto the purpose of telling you this story…I told the girls that if they ate a strawberry I would buy them a toy they wanted from Target…to my surprise, they were all psyched up to eat a strawberry.  I was thinking that it was going to be an expensive trip to the strawberry patch.  When we got there, Annalyse decided that she was going to wait until we got to eat her strawberry.  Meredith was not waiting…she was going to get that fake chapstick like Addison has, no matter what…or maybe not. 

Eating a strawberry pretty soon after we got there…

Well, maybe I really don’t need that fake chapstick, I can wait until Christmas…

Megan doing a good job picking…

Meredith enjoying “looking” at the strawberries…

Annalyse standing at the end of the row, not even going down the row… 

Alison picking strawberries…

Megan taste-testing…

Meredith and Uncle Bob picking…

Annalyse standing at the end of the row…

Mike picking…

Meredith picking…

Annalyse…STILL at the end of the row…

Some…actually most of our strawberries…the picking was not good, very small and sparse…we gave up and didn’t come with many…

Annalyse…yep, still at the end of the row…

 

The prize strawberry…

And another one…

Uncle Bob trying to find some…

We are done…

Annalyse…oh yeah, she got into the day when it was time for cider donuts…happy as a lark…

 

After strawberry picking, we went to the annual Fishfly Festival parade…waiting for the candy to come…

Onto the playground after dinner… 

And then…off to bed early for a full Monday morning…Vacation Bible School and Swim Lessons before lunch!