Porcupine Mountains Trip

This Labor Day weekend we headed to the Porcupine Mountains for a camping trip with Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Glen.

 

 

Grandma and Grandpa brought their camper and our little family stayed in a yurt!

 

 

We just love listening to waves of Lake Superior.

 

 

We snapped a quick family picture on the rocky beach. The kids are becoming very good at skipping rocks!

 

It stormed on Friday night so it was still very wet and a little rainy of Saturday morning. We ate breakfast in the yurt and played a few games before heading out for the day. Lucy schooled Grandpa on the rules of Mancala.

 The first hike of the day was to scenic Lake of the Clouds.

This place is so beautiful! Someday we will make it up here when the leaves are turning.

Here we are overlooking the Lake.

 Our next stop was a picnic followed by a hike up to an observation tower.

Here is the whole crew at the top of the tower.

 

 

Just look at this spectacular view! 

 

We found hollow logs on our hike!

 

We saw lots of streams and waterfalls!

We spent time wading and skipping rocks in Lake Superior!

 

We visited one of favorite footbridges near Overlooked Falls.

 We love hiking with Grandma and Grandpa!

I love this crew!

 

 

And here is proof that Mama and Baby Storm were on the hike as well. :) 

After all of that hiking, we needed to end our Saturday evening with ice cream!

The kids loved visiting the outpost!

 

Here is a snapshot of life at Camp Hoekman/Storm!

 

 

The children loved hunting for frogs and toads thanks to the recent rain.

 

 

On Sunday morning we found a sandy beach and these crazy kiddos did some swimming in Lake Superior. It was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g!

 

 

 

We hiked an old mining trail on Sunday afternoon.

 

 

We saw all kinds of remains from the old copper mine.

 

 

The path was a little bit muddy but there were a few raised paths over the very messy areas. Lucy like to pretend that these were balance beams ... she was practicing some yoga on this one. ;)

 

 

It was another beautiful trail. We love visiting the Upper Peninsula!

 

 

And, as usual, we finished out our trip with some games of Rummikub by lantern and flashlight in the yurt.  

 

 

What a wonderful weekend! Thanks again Mom and Dad for joining us on this adventure!

Open House 2018

This year's Open House at school was extra special because both kids were able to participate! First up - we visited Roman's 4K classroom. Here he is pointing out that he is now a big 5 year old. Also, how cute is this Big Brother shirt? I actually found it at a consignment shop - it is actually kind of hard to find a big brother/sister shirt for bigger kids so I try to grab them whenever I see them! :)

 

And, extra special this year - Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Glen were able to visit school with us.

 

Lucy found her locker right away.

 

She completed a scavenger hunt in Mrs. Edwards' classroom and had the best evening!

After our evening at school we headed out for Mexican food!

 

We are excited for a great year at school with our first grader and 4K'er!

 

Week with Grandma Sharon

During the last week of August, the kids were able to enjoy a week of Grandma Camp with Grammy Sharon. They had so much fun!

 

They played dress up - check out this Ninja turtle!

 

 

They enjoyed bran muffins for breakfast - always a favorite. ;)

 

They blew lots of bubbles. Roman got a bubble sword for his birthday and it was a big hit!

 

Mom took the kids to the Rhinelander public library. They were able to see a caricature sketch artist during their visit. Roman asked him to make a sketch of him looking like the Black Panther. He was so pumped to get this little drawing. :) 

 

 

Grandma Sharon took everyone to the children's museum in Eagle River which is always a favorite!

 

And they had a picnic afterwards - a very fun afternoon! Grandma let the kids pick out a little treat at the museum gift shop. Roman chose a hot pink stress ball that looked like a giant piece of bubble gum. The other day he was squeezing the heck out of that little ball and repeating, 'I need some stress!' over and over again. Hahahaha!

 

Lucy and Roman had fun visiting Hodag Park and checking out the docks on Boom Lake.

 

 

They also visited the museum at Pioneer Park.

 

They love going to the lumberjack camp and little school house.

 

They also caught a bunch of toads, read books, played at home, and baked with Grandma.

 

 

Thanks for an awesome week of Grandma Camp, Grammy Sharon!

Roman's 5th Birthday!

 

Wow! Time really flies - it seems like just yesterday that we brought our sweet baby Roman home from the hospital and now he is 5 years old! Our little guy requested a pirate themed birthday party at Buck Lake this year and we happily agreed. The best part about a late summer birthday? Parties at the park or lake!

The weather wasn't awesome for swimming - very overcast and not quite 70 degrees but we made the most of it!

We met up with friends at Buck Lake and pretended to walk the plank!

 

 

 

The kids loved this treasure chest cooler (Just a few dollars on Amazon) and we even made a game out of it - everyone tossed in gold coins before choosing a drink!

 

 

Of course we had a piñata - I picked this one up at Hobby Lobby.

 

Here is the eager group of kids, ready to take a swing at the treasure chest!

 

Lucy and Roman helped me color this hand crafted Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate game.

 Roman had lots of buddies from school attend the party!

 

Here is Captain Roman with his crew. 

 

 

Our little man with his best girl friends - Singer and Evelyn. I just love that little thumbs up sign!

 Many of Roman's friends have sisters that are Lucy's age so she had a very special day as well hanging out with some of her favorite girls.

 

We made cupcakes for everyone - Blue Velvet treats with blue or white frosting and Jolly Roger flags.

 

We all sang to the Birthday boy (It was quite windy out so it was hard to keep that candle lit!)

 

This is what Lucy looks like after a sugar rush. Watch out!

 

And here is Roman after cupcakes!

 

 

Roman's good friends Korbin and Fielder were at the party.

 

The 4 to 7 year old crowd loves bunny ears!

 

One of the most special things about this birthday party was that Grandma Sharon was able to come! Grammy just retired so she didn't need to worry about heading back to the classroom this fall. Roman was thrilled to have her at the big event. Grandma even borrowed a pirate costume from a friend and pretended to be Captain Hoek-man at the party. Best day ever!!

 

 

  Even though it was a cool and cloudy, the weather did not deter the kids from swimming in Buck Lake! Brrr!! 

  

Another thumbs up from the birthday boy! He loved this new surf board swim toy that he received from Singer and Roan. 

 

 

Thank you to everyone who made Roman’s 5th Birthday so special!

We kicked off Roman’s actual birthday with pancakes and sprinkles. No better way to start the day!

 

After church Lucy decorated the table for our family party. 

  

Our sweet 5 year old! He is showing me that he is now a whole hand old.

Romy was excited to open a few more gifts.

We enjoyed another cupcake for good measure. ;)

Love these kids of mine so much!

For a few months each year Lucy and Roman are just 1 year apart in age. Here are my 5 and 6 year old! 

One of Roman’s absolute favorite things these days in the Greatest Showman. He wants to listen to the soundtrack everyday, we have rented the movie many times, and he says that he wants to be a ‘circus man’ when he grows up. Well, you should have seen Roman’s little face when he opened a birthday present from Lucy and realized that he had his very own Greatest Showman DVD! Priceless! 

We love you with our whole heart, Roman Daniel! Five is going to be a big year for you - you will start school and become a big brother! You bring so much joy to our family! Xoxo.