A Visit to the Tahquamenon River

Another visit while in the Upper Peninsula was to my brother Keith's cabin on the Tahquamenon river! It is BEAUTIFUL there! It is not located that far from my parents' cottage, however the location is hidden away (far away) in the woods. The roads are not well-traveled which makes getting there quite an adventure. While driving down the two-track, Sloane let out a "whoa" while looking out the windows at all the wilderness surrounding us. Just before reaching the destination, Russell looked out at the darkening woods and said, "what in the world?!?!" It was hilarious! In the end, we absolutely loved our visit to Keith's hidden treasure!

Aron, myself, and the kids loved exploring the river.

Water Fight!

Russell is always up for a water fight, but this time he chose a true competitor to mess with... Uncle Keith! Keith is not a very good loser so when challenged by Russell for a water fight, the game was ON! Russell soon chose Keith's girlfriend Kelly as a partner and also got Sloane on his side. You would think 3 against 1 is pretty good odds, but by the end of the fight Russell, Sloane, Kelly, and myself were soaked! To give us credit though, Keith didn't exactly walk away dry.

Big kids (even doctors) like to play too!

At one point, Sloane retreated to the cottage and reappeared with her beach hat in hopes that it would keep her dry.

A Fun Fourth in the North!!!

It is a tradition for the Sleeper Family to attend the local parades on the 4th of July. My favorite parade it the Curtis parade located along the shore of South Manistique Lake. As children, my brother Keith and I loved to see the decorated floats, listen to the bands, and most importantly collect the candy thrown to us! Russell and Sloane are now enjoying those same traditions! What a beautiful and fun Fourth of July we had!!! God Bless the USA!!!

Russell waits for the parade with Papa.

Sloane cuddles Grammy as she hears the parade starting.
The kids loved waving at all the people parading by.

Their favorite part...CANDY COLLECTING!

The Bear Ranch

One of our first stops during our 2-week vacation in the Upper Peninsula was Oswald's Bear Ranch. Mr. Oswald rescues abandoned or injured bear cubs and raises them on his property. The public is welcome to visit the ranch and view these fascinating animals. During our visit, Sloane was extremely eager to see the baby cubs and pulled me to the fenced in area where they were actively playing. She was entranced to see them climbing, running, and teasing one another similar to how her and Russell interact. When asked by Mr. Oswald if they wanted to go in with the cubs, Sloane did not hesitate! She rushed in to see them and pet them while Russell was given the opportunity to feed them fruit loops! It was an awesome experience!!!

The Story Continues...

We are officially on summer vacation and loving every minute!!! We headed back to St. Jo this past weekend where we enjoyed hours of fun on Lake Michigan. We are so blessed to have our own private beach at Aron's Uncle Dave's house. What make it even more special is that while we are running along the sand, collecting rocks, jumping waves, and soaking up the sun, we are also thinking of Auntie Karen. Every memory of her is surrounded by memories of the beach...her favorite place. She most definitely was looking down upon us this weekend laughing at all the fun we were having! A great BIG thank you to Uncle Dave for sharing his treasured spot with us!!! On another note...today is Aron and my 7-year anniversary!!! What a wonderful and exciting 7 years it has been!!! We will be heading to Mackinac Island on June 30th for a mini-vacation to celebrate!

The kids have become quite confident water bugs in the great lake! Sloane began by holding my hand while she swam, but by the end of the weekend she was an independent water adventurer!

Russell could not get enough of the waves! He swam for hours!!!
Mac is definitely our watch dog...never letting an eye off of his family!

We're not ready to stop...5 more minutes...PLEASE!

Check out the awesome kite Aron's dad gave us!

Russell took a turn trying to manage the kite.

Sloane took in a lot of time walking the beach, just like her mommy.

Time for a break!

And a snack!

Rock collecting!

Riding Aunt Karen's kayak.

After our busy day on the beach we put on pajamas and took a stroll downtown St. Jo to enjoy the "hot diggity dog" statues and ice cream!

Russell decided to begin a career as a "blue moon" ice cream model.

Sun, Sand, and Surf in St. Joe!

We spent last weekend on Lake Michigan while visiting Aron's family in St. Joseph. Our pictures show our weekend full of fun. Our last day of school is tomorrow so we are heading back to St. Joesph for another weekend on the beach. We are already enjoying every bit of summer vacation (and school's not even out yet)!!! I am definitely looking forward to relaxing days in the sun, nighttime strolls, and mornings of sleeping in!!!

The kids were in a hurry to dig and build in the sand.

Mac is our water dog! He LOVES the beach!!! Saturday evening we had a BBQ and ran through sprinklers.

We visited the water fountain and playground on Silver Beach Sunday morning.

Check out these blasts of water that shoot out every 15 minutes!

We spent Sunday afternoon at the Carlson cottage on the St. Joe channel. The kids helped Bevie clean the bird bath.

FUN! FUN! FUN! We love Lake Michigan!!!

Graduation Season

It's that time of year... the school year is coming to an end! For Russell this ending is extra special. He graduated today!!! He is now a graduate from pre-K! Due to a fall birthday, he had the opportunity to be in the pre-k classroom at our daycare this year and will be attending their kindergarten classroom in the fall. Don't worry he will be attending kindergarten again at our local public school the following year, but with the December 1st cut-off date we are taking every opportunity to give Russell all the wonderful school preparation we can without sending him off too early to public school! We are so blessed to have a daycare that offers these enriching programs!!! So, Russell and his pre-k classmates entertained the parents this evening with songs, a slide show, and snacks! The slide show brought tears to my eyes thinking back to the first day I dropped him off at daycare over 4 years ago. I cried the entire way to work and fought tears back all day long. Now I have become so attached to our daycare that I have to fight tears back thinking about someday saying goodbye to these women who have loved, nurtured, and taught my children so much. Thankfully we have a couple more years before this goodbye is upon us. What a fun night! We are all whipped and wishing it was the weekend already.

"Jesus, Our Super Hero"

Russell's best friend, William is right next to him.

"The Lord's House"
All smiles in his cap and tie-dyed shirt!

Sloane gives two thumbs up to the graduates! Here she was having fun with her best buddy, Ellie! Ellie's brother is in Russell's class. Yep, Aron and I aren't the only ones crazy enough to have kids only 17 months apart :-)