North Shore Trip - Day 2

On Tuesday, we drove to the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.  We first hiked the Day Hill Trail which was a 1.5 mile hike that took us out onto a cliff overlooking Lake Superior. 

Before we went to see the lighthouse, we went to Pebble Beach which was a beach full of gray rocks of all different sizes.  They had fun throwing and skipping them in the water.  Jason found another rock to climb. 

Ellingsen Island - view from Pebble Beach

Lighthouse view from Pebble Beach 

Inside the tower of the Lighthouse. 

 View of Pebble Beach and Ellingsen Island from the Lighthouse.

Standing on the shore by the pump house near the ruins of the tramway.  There were many stairs to get down from where the lighthouse was to the shore.  The stairs followed the ruins of the tramway. 

In the afternoon, when we returned to Gooseberry Falls, we went to the beach there.  The water was too cold to swim in, but the kids had fun playing at the beach and wading a little.  There is no sand at the beach, but tiny rocks and areas of bigger rocks.  Jason climbed another cliff.  Some other teenagers were jumping off the cliff into the Lake.  So Jason brought Jesse up to see the top of the cliff and then Jason decided to jump off the cliff, which was around 8 feet high.  He said it was very shocking when he hit the cold water.  I didn't get a picture since I didn't know he was going to jump off until he did it. 

In the evening, we hiked to the Fifth Falls at the park.  This waterfall was further upstream than the others and you could only get to it by hiking.  We were lucky to make the hike in between rain showers.  Earlier, we did eat supper while getting a few sprinkles.  We didn't make it back in time to have S'mores before it was already raining, so the kids were a little disappointed.

 On the way back, we got another good view of the Upper Falls.

North Shore Vacation - Day 1

We went camping at Gooseberry Falls on the North Shore of Lake Superior, August 7-10.  On the way, we stopped at Duluth to see the Aerial Lift Bridge and the Duluth harbor.  We did get to see it move up and down to let a sailboat go through while we were there.

Standing on the Lift Bridge.

The kids all loved climbing on the rocks around the

Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls at Gooseberry Falls. 

Middle Falls

Kora sitting under an arch in between the Middle and Lower Falls. 

Middle Falls

July Summer Fun

We went tubing in early July with our friends, who have 3 kids similar in age to our kids.  They all had a good time.

 Kora on the carnival rides at the fair.

 Feeding deer at Paul Bunyan Animal Land.

12th Birthday

Megan and Jason turned 12 on July 23.  We were not able to have their birthday parties on the same day, due to their friends not being available on the same day.  Jason had his party first.  He chose to go Miniature golfing and Go-Kart riding with his friend Trevor. 

We put candy inside and wrapped a heavy duty box with paper to be used as a piñata.  We wanted to see how many hits it would take before it broke open.  They had to hit it pretty hard several times before it broke apart.  Once it did finally break, candy flew out all over the place.  Jason also didn't want a regular cake, but instead a cookie and fudge ice cream dessert for his cake. 

Kora rode with Jesse in the double Go-Kart.  She always wanted to go faster.

Megan had her friend, Leandra over to our house a few days later for her party.  I surprised her with a Roblox cake.  Megan chose to go swimming at an outdoor pool.  We also did the piñata again, but we did a better job of keeping the candy from breaking out of the bags after it got broken open. 

Kora couldn't resist helping to blow out the candles.

Middle School Color Run

On Friday, May 26, Megan and Jason had a color run at the Middle School.  They had fun, but it took a while to get all that color off.  Megan had to shower twice to get it all out of her hair.  They also got to go to the eye clinic after school looking like that since Kora had an eye doctor appointment. 

Preschool Graduation

Kora graduated from preschool on Thursday, May 25.  She got to sing several songs and walk up on stage to shake hands with her teacher, Miss Jen.  She is very excited to go to Kindergarten next year. 

Kora has wanted a bouquet of flowers of her own for a long time. 

So we got one for her to open after her graduation.  

Snow day

First snow day of the year.  Played outside in the new snow and baked Christmas cookies.