Again this weekend, by choice, we were able to live outdoors. Spent a couple hours on Friday afternoon hiking through the hunting woods. It is of course a tangle of briars and low brush this time of year but it made economic sense to stop. We were headed to EC for a canoe trip and I wanted to set some stands before the bow season started so rather than drive back and forth twice we just included the EC forest in this trip as well. It did make for a longer drive but the kids enjoyed the short hike. We were really dressed wrong in shorts and flip-flops and after about a hike of slowly picking our way through the berry bushes, tag alders and prickly ash, we had all had enough and it was time to head to the car. The woods was very thick and Sophia said she only liked that woods in the Winter and Merrick didn't want to go back until everything was dead. We will be back in October and I think they will both enjoy it as much as they have in years past. I did take the kids through the old neighborhood showing them all the places I did stupid kid things and stopped into visit the Great-grandparents as well. Everybody walked away with a loaf of banana/zuchinni bread appropriate for their size. We were able to go out to eat with Grandma when we arrived and then had a pretty chill evening and morning before heading to the dark waters of the Chippewa River. The ladies of the families dropped us off at Hobbs with three deer watching from the opposite shore and we headed down river. The kids were excited to do everything at once and after about 6 minutes in the canoe they started asking when we were going to get out and camp. We pushed on for several more hours and didn't make camp until around 5ish, stopping along the way to play on some smaller islands and scout for descent place to camp. We passed up several below par camping areas before settling on a large island and a great site. We think the island is called Pasture Island. With camp set and the kids off exploring and making forts supper was started and wood was gathered. We watched the sun set and the rain clouds move in but as the day disappeared we did play about an hour of "Telephone" around the fire which lead to breathy giggling whispers in everyones ears and some of the best campfire entertainment that I have had in a very long time. The kids were exhausted and went to sleep with the start of the rain and slept until almost 8 the next morning. We stayed dry and warm and slept as well as anyone sleeps on the ground. Sophia did wake up once and ask what that sound was, our tent was only 15 feet from Grandpa's tent and his snoring was clearly audible. When I told her it the noise was grandpa snoring she snuggled back into her bag says that the bears would get him first. After a leisurely morning of coffee and breakfast and slowly packing up we again hit the water and headed downstream. We had been seeing eagles and herons but this morning we also saw two golden eagles. Merrick caught good size bass while in grandpa's canoe. Ollie and Evan munched on black licorice in my canoe while Jake fished like crazy in Brad's canoe. Jake's persistence paid off and he too landed a small mouth bass. We hit Caryville just a little before Becky and Mom pulled in with the shuttle vehicles. We pulled back into the real world, with dirty hands and faces, puffy faces and swollen eyes, some new scrapes, scratches (and a bear tick that would also drive back to GB) and more memories of the commoraderie and beauty of outdoor living. (**All photo credits go to Brad, as I remembered my camera but not to charge the batteries).
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