Day 9

Drinking Hot Chocolate

Dennis, the photographer

Back to hike by Jacob's creek

An old mine

Esrey Park

Leslie let the boys use her tools to make things with clay!

Boys with Leslie

Adam trying to ride with two scooters.

Eli woke up this morning and said, " when its night out its time to go to bed. When its morning its time to wake up. Its morning so its time to wake up!"  After breakfast I took a scooter ride around with Eli. Then the older boys took a bike ride with Daddy to the fort store to get ice. The boys watched the swimmers in the triathlon while they took turns spraying a water canon that was left by the lake. Around 11:30 we headed up Brockway Mt. We made sandwiches for lunch at ate them up there. Around 12:30 we meet Jared's coworker and his family at the jampot. We got some goodies and then walked up to look at Jacob's falls. We decided to take them to hike the trails on the Monastery grounds.The boys loved leading the way and showing Darren and his family all the things they learned on our last hike through this woods. After our hike we headed to Copper Harbor. On our way we stopped at Esrey park and hiked up on the rocks there. We saw 3 orr boats. We'd left Norman in the van and he jumped out Jared's window and was hanging by his leash. We also stopped at Dennis and Leslie's shop. Eli fell asleep on the drive and continued sleeping in the van. Leslie let Jacob and Adam make some thing from clay and they got to used her tool. They really enjoyed that - thank you Leslie! Jacob wanted to show Dennis the campground so they stopped there for a short time before leaving. Eli woke up just before dinner was ready. I helped Jacob knit a couple more rows on his scarf. This evening we went to the Berry Patch for ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa. Then we sat by the fire until bedtime. 

Day 8

Looking at rocks with Grandma

Sword fight

The boys wanted to pose like this

Looking for minnows

Daddy caught one

Eli found a nest

Adam is happy to have a new Dennis bowl!

At Gratiot River park

Playing with Grandma

Trying to have a serious faces

Eli was the first up after Jared and I. Grandma plans to increase her pancakes to 3 1/2 cups tomorrow. Eli brought his rocks over to look at after breakfast. He asked, "Do you wan to see my rock collection?" Grandma and Grandpa taught him which rocks were hematite's. He told Jacob, "This is a hematite" as he held it to show him. We took a walk around the campground and found some wood. Then we walked over to Pebble beach. The boys rolled up their shorts and played in the water for awhile. We threw sticks for Norman to fetch. There was another dog loose on the beach that Norman really wanted to play with but he listened well and stayed by us. Eli fell in the water again and got all wet so we set out his clothes to dry. After a little over an hour we loaded up with nice rocks and headed back to camp. Jared headed back to camp with the rocks while the boys and I went over to Lake Fanny Hooe. We looked for minnows but there weren't to many. Daddy came back and helped us catch one. After lunch we headed with Grandma and Grandpa over to Gratiot river park. It's a beautiful rock beach by Lake Superior that Leslie told us about.  We stopped on the way to get directions from her. Adam went in to buy his Dennis bowl which he is excited about. We found alot of really pretty rocks on this beach. The boys had fun playing in the rocks, sand and with the drift wood. The sand on the beach has so many pretty colors. We got back to camp around 6pm. After dinner Daddy and the boys took a bike/scooter ride. This evening we sat by the fire and made smores. I helped Jacob learn to knit and he plans to make a scarf.  

Day 7

Daddy typing on the computer Jacob made for him. He also made me an underwater camera.

Lake Fanny Hooe

Hiking on the beautiful trails by Jacob's creek

Looking at all the fish in the pond.

By Jacob's creek

Checking the map. Jacob got us going back in the right direction.

There were so many neat benches on this trail.

Showing Eli his caterpillar. 

Bullet shells from Dennis. They fit on Eli's fingers.

                                                                         

We were up around 7am. After breakfast we took a walk with Grandma around the campground. Adam and Eli rode their scooters. Eli can keeps right up with the older boys on his scooter now. Jacob stayed at camp and worked on making things wtih the art kit. Then we all took a walk over to Pebble beach. Jacob sat by some people who were fishing and watched them. He lay down on the rocks and said he took a little nap. We got back to camp around lunchtime. After lunch we headed out to hike the trails at the monastery grounds with Grandma and Grandpa. These trails, by Jacob's creek, were so beautiful and we had a really fun hike. The boys took turns carrying the map and Jacob led the way most of the time. Eli only rode on Daddy's shoulders for a short time because he had a mosquito bite on his ankle that was bothering him. We stopped to visit with Leslie on our way back to camp. While Jared got the fire ready for dinner the boys and I took a bike ride over to the fort store. They had brought some of their saved money to  spend. They all choose to fill rock bags. Adam got the smaller bag because he had a Dennis bowl picked out. Eli and Adam got some candy and Jacob got some arrowheads. I had Eli lay down to rest for a little while and he quickly fell asleep.  We woke him after eating dinner. We walked with Grandma around the campground to give Eli some time to wake up. He ate when we got back.  This evening Grandma and Grandpa came over to sit by the fire. The boys looked at their new rocks and also checked on their caterpillars. Dennis gave the boys some bullet shells and Eli wore them on his fingers. We made smores. Adam made smores for Dennis and Marsha. We were in bed around 10pm.