they could swing ALL day...

Munising

Today we went for a drive to Munising, a town about 40 miles north of Manistique on Lake Superior.  In Munising they get a lot more lake affect snow, have lots of waterfalls, and have a National area called Pictured Rocks along the Lake Superior shore, all of which we visited today with J.R.'s parents.  It was cool, windy and in the 20's on the lake shore (compared to 40's at our house), but breathtaking.   Here are a few pics from the day.  Again, can't wait for summer, there is so much to explore.

Ice update

Here is from our bridge Saturday afternoon 3/20.  We saw open water in front of our house yesterday for the first time.  I can hardly wait for summer!!

S is for Sunny, the fish

Sunny is like a nursing home fish.  He hangs out on the bottom of the tank most of the time with a few spurts of energy each day.  We looked it up and Beta fish live an average of 3 years and Sunny will be 3 years old for our house this summer.  He truly is an "old age fish."

Better Luck next year.

Leprechauns?

We recently read a St. Patrick's day book about catching Leprechauns that Nora brought home from school and she is all about it.  I was a little disappointed when that was the first thing she said this morning and after work.  I am prepared as a parent for Santa and the Easter bunny, but I have to admit as Irish as I am, I still was not prepared for Leprechauns, thank goodness J.R. was.  So here is a picture of J.R. setting the trap.  (I had a few more pics but my memory card ate them up--trip to Radio Shack tomorrow).  We have a quarter hanging from a rope in the box (because Leprechauns like money for their pot of gold) and we draped the Irish flag over the box to attract the Leprechaun.  Now the story goes that if we catch one we have to make him laugh to get the pot of gold.   Stay tuned to see what happens....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Spring= ice melting

This picture is from our deck around 5:30 on Wed 3/8.

Nora

Nora wanted me to take this picture of her for the "blog."  She is growing up so fast (not to sound like all mothers watching their children grow).  Nora will be 5 in a month and it shows, we had a rough patch a few weeks back but she has come through it with flying colors :)  She is really starting to become her own person; she spends more time alone/independently coloring or creating things, she can pretty much get herself ready in the mornings, and she is growing intellectually.  She is in a class of kids a year younger than her, so my prediction is she will just shoot up once she is in kindergarden with kids her own age.

Another day, another conglomerate of accessories

Outdoor show

Sat. we went to an outdoor show in Escanaba (the "big" city of 12,000 about 50 miles west).  They had a trout pond, ATVs, RVs boats, and various booths.  I fell in love with the campers. Clara could not get enough of the ATVs.  Nora fished and did a mini golf--it was a fundraiser for "Big Brothers, Big Sisters."  For $1 a person got three golf balls to make a putt, if they dropped it in the hole they won a 12 pack of pepsi.  Nora really wanted to do the golf, so of course we let her.  My first instinct was to help, but then I realized that I didn't want the Pop, well, Nora sunk her third shot!  She was sooooooo excited to win the Pepsi.  The irony is that there was Pepsi in school for a Dr. Suess thing 2 weeks ago, so now she has attached herself to that name--marketing at its finest--get them while they're young.

For all of you reading this wonder what has happened to me letting my kids drink pop, fear not, the Pepsi is in the garage and I talked to Nora's teacher about her not drinking pop.  (Soap box: Can you believe that the entire school got pop, I think even nationally, for "pop a top" (whatever that is) on Dr. Suess' Birthday?  Seriously I could go bananas thinking about marketing unhealthy foods to such young influential children! end of soap box)

Her are some pictures.