Northwoods Vacation 2011

 I love those movies that you can find on TV and just start watching at any point and you don't have to watch it, but you can watch it, and just having it on keeps you company.  I'm sitting here watching TV and blogging...My blog is lately one more thing to feel guilty about.  The fact that I am so behind keeps me from even trying to catch up.  Blah.  Here are A LOT of pictures (probably too many) of our Northwoods vacation last summer.  A-MAZE-ING.  Comparing one vacation to another is hard.  However, if I had to rate this vacation over others, it would be awarded "most relaxing".  We stayed with three other families in a lakeside home.  We enjoyed our own private beach and dock.  The kids had a paddleboat, a canoe, a ski boat, a sailboat, and several other floating devices to keep them busy.   They spent a lot of time sitting and playing in the sand, as well as the very shallow water off of the beach.  With nothing but a gas station for shopping and no T.V. to speak of, it's wonderful to just slow down and chillax.

 This is a picture of one of our friends "towing" a tube behind the paddleboat.

The one and only adorable little Jack admiring a frog.

Me (open your eyes) and my friend Heather chillin' lakeside.

Did I mention we loved the sand?

Wait.  I'm missing one!

My kids are jaded fishermen.  I grew up sitting on the side of a lake.  Fishing and waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting.  Fishing off of the dock here, we could barely keep baits on hooks and get fish off of hooks fast enough.  You're actually happy when the fish works himself off.

T-Bone

Playing on the tube.  If I recall, the was some kind of "king of the mountain" style game going on here.

A friend found this great "museum".  It was an old steam engine.  We rode the engine from the "station" to a small town where the kids fed farm animals, pet icky kittens, and toured a logging museum.  Very off the beaten path.  Very unregulated.  Very, very fun.  

 These darling men were the engineers.  The one I remember (still) was named Salty.  I think they have their dream jobs.

Like I said, the "museum" was pretty unregulated, no rules kind of a place.  The kids had fun playing on the train tracks.  (What kind of parents are we?)

 Kiddos had fun in the petting zoo.  Poor Sadie later got bitten by a pony.  She didn't feed ANY animals after that.  

Back at the lake.

Oops.  Got a couple of dorks back at the train.

A few of us...not sure where the rest of us were...

 Ty loves to do "tricks" when her waterskis.  It is truly amazing that he doesn't wipe out.  Goofy kid.  It's so much fun as a parent to watch.

Judging by the lack of wake, that sign is a big thumbs down for "SLOW DOWN DAD!"

Anyways, sorry about having so many pictures.  Good times.  Good memories.  Come join us sometime.  It's like living in an LL Bean catalog for  week.