Shoulder Season

We are heading into the shoulder season, the promise of fall is on the air each morning and yet the mid day sun reminds us that summer isn't done with us quite yet.  Be that as it may the calendar dictates that summer vacation is over and we try to squeeze in a couple more adventures before we are relinquished back to a weekender's status.  We headed North as well as West.

We did hit the Oconto to check on some Deer stands and while the bugs were not that plentiful, neither was the sign for the upcoming season.  Luckily we hadn't forgotten about the nearby A&W for couple of frosty mugs and some walrus toothed fries.  We were able to head over to visit grandma and grandprize as well for a couple of nights.  There were of course ripsticks to ride and toads to catch but we snuck in some time for visiting and even headed to the mall for some back to school clothes.  Sophia was pretty happy to carry bags around the mall and just shop in general.  Merrick is pretty much fine wearing whatever can be purchased the fasted and has no problem letting Sophia carry the bags.  He was had more fun riding through the mall on my shoulders and being taller than everybody else.

Southbound in "Dork Ounty"

On the way up to hike Newport we stopped to pick cherries, they waited and rippened to perfection as we covered the four mile loop.  We also left a bannana on the hood of the car, it too waited patiently for our return.  As we headed out of the park we placed bets on how fast we needed to go before the bannanna would fly off the hood, turns out it requires a little over 60, fast decrease in speed and then a sharp right hand turn, but it was a great road kill bannanna and the first I can remember eating.  The kids were howling with laughter.  We stopped for lunch and little shopping and after a required ice cream break in Fish Creek we stopped for minigolf and water wars.  Mini golf is easy enough to understand and terrible painful to play with four kids.  Even skipping several holes on the back nine didn't prevent three or four groups from catching up to us.  We did offer to let them play through but the opted to watch our snail like progression.  There were several water hazards and even a ball lost in the "ruff" about 1.25 feet from the tee.  Water wars was more enjoyable each kid got a bucket of water balloons and was able to shoot them from a launcher at the other kids. It was laughter, It was wet, it was perfect.  This was after our hike out to the woods in the moring and needless to say with that much activity in one day the kids were pretty much spent.  The next morning it was time to rebound and school shop our way back into reality.

Hike School Proper

 

It had been a long time coming but we made it out for our first overnight backpacking trip.  The kids packs initally weighed in between 8-10 pounds, but as Merrick's google prove there were some items that were added after weigh in.  He knew we might swim and when he asked to take googles I naturally assumed he meant swimming.  To his credit he did wear them almost the whole first day.  We hiked into site 9 at Newport State Park near the tip of Door County.  We were passed by one other hiking group that coincedently had the same packs as the kids were wearing, it didn't go unnoticed and I like to think it added to their feeling of real hiking.  The whole trip was almost too cute, particularly as the helped each other buckle up their pack harnesses as soon as we got out of the car.  We hiked in, with plenty of snack breaks and had lunch on the trail.  There were some bugs but not too bad and the temperature was great.  We also grazed for the first time on thimble berries.  I had found them in the woods before but never ripe enough to eat, this time they were fall of the vine ripe and wonderful so long as you heeded Merrick's warning and did not eat two at the same time. The tartness is too much and as Amy found out could make you cough a little.  They are an interesting flavor that starts off like strawberry and finishes like a tart raspberry or apple while the whole texture is almost jam like and disintegrates in your mouth almost immediately. We ate lunch, tortillas and peanutbutter on the trail and the kids had some room to run in the woods were we stopped. From our last water break the two oldest headed off to camp on their own and were happy to be there until we caught up with them and reminded them that they had left their hiking sticks behind were we sat for a break.  On their way back to get their staffs they luckily, we thought, were quiet enough to see two snakes.  Camp was set up, water was filtered and wood was cut and collected for the night's fire.  With all the work done we headed Lake Michigan for a swim.  The water was clear and cool but Grace, the fish, lead the way and ultimately convinced Merrick and Ella to join her for a swim among the ancient rocks.  We traveresed some pretty good drops off the old granite ledges to a sunny area.  I have forgotten if it was Sophia or Ella that first hit a small patch of grass on the ledge and without noticing sent two garder snakes of multiple feet in length sliding out in front of them and into the cravasse immediately in front of them.  With the view so beautiful Merrick quickly joined them and when he hit the small, less than 2 foot square, patch of grass another snake scurried behind him and into a crack.  I said nothing, fearing that they would start to dance out of fear and tumble over the rocks.  Once they were all back and Amy and I told them what had happened we started looking around the area much closer, we came across 5 snake skins that were in the 3-4 foot range and as we stood there we lost count of how many snakes showed up, including Grace pointing out one that was slithering towards from a Tree!  In time we headed back to camp to change and let the kids try the dehydrated food that they had picked out for dinner (2 Macoroni and cheese, spahgettie and meatballs and an alfradeo)  Only Ella filled up on her meal as the others found them much less edible.  There meals were augmented with some string cheese and later the sipped hot chocolate around the fire.  Ella and Sophia had a tree that was good for climbing including a perfect branch that Ella used for reading and the two younger ones seemed to spend a lot of time 'helping' around the kitchen (bear box) area.  As dark closed in the kids retreated for a breif poker game in the tent, but we did hear coyote howls over the cacuphony of children laughter.  We had some rain over night but awoke to blue skies and cool temperatures for a relatively easy hike out after an oatmeal and bagel breakfast.  It was fun to listen to the kids talk about whatever hiker talks about at meal time....how much lighter their pack will be when they put it back on.

Heritage Happenstance

 

It has been another busy week and we are packing in plenty of summer fun into what is arguablly summer weather.  Monday night was Music on the green and the whole tribe was able to bike over to Heritage hill and spread a tarp on the late summer grass.  The kids ran around playing football, petting pigs and various versions of hide and tag.  We munched on some popcorn and sipped our drinks from the cooler that fit nicely on the back of the bike.  Grace had a sliver in her foot but with a little humours distraction and handy multi-tool she was quickly back in action.  Merrick lost another tooth and it became "toothfairy hell" when it occured to me that he was sleeping somewhere under a massive blanket fort that the kids had made, with their nearly matching sleeping bags it took nearly ten minutes of dimmly light sniper crawling to find where he was before I could even try to find where the bagged tooth had ended up.  We made it over to the Packers' training camp and watched the big guys play for awhile.  Also made our first trip of the summer down to the local swimming hole and spent a couple hours bobbing and jumping from the high dive.  Grace was at camp and Ella and Sophia stayed at home but Merrick guided Amy and I  on a fishing trip.  The gobies were gobbling up the worms off the bottom, but a nice couple gave us two more tins as they walked away.  Those worms were the only thing we caught that day.  Sophia and Merrick and I were also admitted back into Heritage hill for a kids free day.  We were able to make rope, watch the printing press and try our hand at the old fur traders cabin.  Merrick was able to tote the 12 lbs militia gun as well.  Seemingly, Merrick's legs were tired only after he saw the trolley in the distance.

Boot Lake Olympics

 


Boot Lake camping comes with an annual theme and this year it was the olympics, team "Hike School" showed  up in full force!  The games began with the torch processional around the campground.  The torches were actually cake cones filled with cheeto flames and really cool.  The relay event started off the events with a double lap around the campground loop, followed by variation on the biatholn that involved towering cans as well as a bago toss.  The final game was a popcorn relay in which just the kids had cups on their feet and had to carry the popcorn to an end goal and drop it in, the chipmunks loved this idea.  There was medals for the winners and laughs for everyone else.  The weather was great, cool and dry.  We still found plenty of time for the beach as well as tubing.  The kids build the required sand castles and found several frogs to swim with as well.  Merrick and Grace and I were able to sneak out early on morning and get a little fishing in and landed a decent rock bass.  The older two were planning for the aforementioned Olympics.  There is a candy store in town that is part of the traditional trips during Boot Lake so the kids all got five bucks to spend and to their credit ended with only a penny unspent.  The store had some great 'old school' candies so I made sure that everyone got some candy cigarettes and bubble gum cigs as well.  We lit the ends of the candy cigerattes and blew out the powdered sugar from the bubble gum ones, the kids and I thought it was a riot, the other parents maybe not so much.

Home and Gone again

We were home for a while this week and made time for some laundry and lawn cutting before we packed up our bags and headed north again this morning.  Sophia finished up her soccer season last night and will now continue to focus on gymnastics.  Merrick was able to join a big group playing 'doctor-doctor" a version of dodgeball while Sophia was flipping in the gym.  We also ran into our friend Craig and he gladly made his annual trek to the Zippin Pippin with us for a couple of runs on the old wooden thrill ride.  As the picture shows all the kids had pedicures done, yes all of them.  Sophia and Ella tried thier hands at making homemade ice-cream which turned out pretty well.  The kids are currently hovering around my shoulders and the car is packed, so the update is brief as it is already time to head to the Nicolet for the next couple of days!

Golfing away the time

Seems we hit a mid summer motif this week and an unexpected one at that, golf.  Not the standard white guy only type of golf but more of a hippie meets third world country mix of golf.  The week was off to a banner start when we hit our favored frisbee golf for a nine hole grudge match.  Having lost two discs last year I was happy to just complete the course and return with all the discs we came with.  We even swung into Taco John's after the round just to top off the day and replenish the salt we lost from sweet, we now have enough salt to last until the frisbees naturally decompose.  Sophia is still playing soccer and scored another goal this week.  It was a tough match as her team mostly went on vacation and there didn't have any subs.  Merrick was surprised by a rip stick, although he was obliviously in the car when I bought it.  It has been his main transpo all week and we even hit the bike trail with the new coaster board.  I sneaked off into the woods to get us some good hiking sticks and on our return we spent some time on the patio whittling the tender bark off of them and allowing them to dry in the cool summer air.  The end of the week brought us back to golf again, but of a 'hole' new variant.  We played a round of foot golf at the local links, and it was a riot.  You play with soccer balls on a normal course and aim for holes that are adjacent to the traditional greens.  We had water hazards, sand traps and like traditional golf I had to ask my partners to help me find my ball in the weeds.  Top that off with a little slip and slide action and it rounds up to another great week.