Friday, August 28, 2009

Last Month of Summer Fun!!

Well, August was another fun filled month for the King Family!! We started off the last week of July to the 1st week of August up in the North woods!! The first stop, Winchester WI where my Mom and Tom are living. As usual the weather was cool there so unfortunately we weren't able to advantage of the lake as much as we would have liked to. We did get a fast ride, 60mph in Grandpa Tom's new bass fishing boat!! We also celebrated Grace's bday with the Ghiloni family which was a first and a wonderful time. I was so happy Grace got the chance to celebrate with my extended family!!
That Sunday, Aaron headed back home and myself and the kids stayed through the week. On Sunday night my Step Brother Mark and his family arrived. Owen and Grace adored my older nephews Matt and Phil. They were so good with both of them and I think the kids may have wore them out! On Tues. Mark took us all on a canoeing expedition on the Manotowish River that ended up to be quite the adventure. What was supposed to be a 4 hr. tour ended up to be a 7 hr. tour by missing our turn on another river. We didn't set foot on dry land until almost 8:30pm when Tom came to rescue us at a boat landing on the Turtle Flambeau flowage!!! It was a really fun trip despite the numerous nightmares running through my head at about the 5-6hr. mark! Grace rode in the canoe with Matt and Phil. This provided us with at least 3-4hrs of entertainment with the boys portaging the canoe over a big tree and tipping the canoe with Grace hanging in for dear life, quite funny I have to say!!! This will sure to be a story that will be told for many years to come. Poor Mark isn't going to hear the end of it!!
Wednesday we attended Loon Days in Mercer and had a good time checking out all the unique crafts and enjoying some great treats!! The kids got to swim at the little beach by the house in the afternoon that has been there for decades. It was SO cold but the still enjoyed splashing around. It reminded me a lot of my days at the cottage as a kid. It is so wonderful to be able to bring my kids there to experience the same joy!
The week went by fast and before we knew it Thurs was upon us and Dad was coming to pick us up to head to the U.P. of MI. We couldn't leave though without a little more fun added in by Mark. Late that afternoon we set out for a quick fishing expedition onto N. Turtle lake. Mark had rigged up cane fishing poles for Grace and Owen to teach them a thing or two about how to catch a fish. Well, they didn't need much help. The minute the bobber hit the water they were pulling in fish faster than we could get them off the hooks. Turned out to be one of the best fishing expeditions I have ever been on! The kids loved it and Owen was SO excited and amazed by the whole thing!! What a wonderful experience!!
The next weekend was spent at my Dad and Holly's cottage on Little Lake in the U.P. We go here every year with Nate and Nicole for the guys and kids to ride the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike race. Friday we took a drive over to Marquette to play at the Children's Museum and had lunch at a neat old soda fountain shop. Sat. was race day. Nicole and I headed in late morning to see the guys cross the finish line. We were starting to worry when it was going on 2 hours since start time and we hadn't seen any of them cross the finish including Nate that is the fastest rider and wanted to finish in 1:30. Aaron was the first to cross at about 2:20. We all raced over to find out where Nate was. Come to find out he endured 2 flat tires!! Aaron had a good race finishing just a little faster than last year. Later that day they did the kids races. Grace rode in the 4 mile race where she once again beat her older friend Grace Suiter by a couple of seconds! Owen did the Littlest rock 50 yd. dash on his new Strider bike which was a huge hit with the crowd and he had a blast!!
Sunday we got to stay and finally enjoy a late afternoon on the water with a little swimming. Later that evening we had a fun spaghetti dinner with some of my Dad and Holly's friends!
So.... the rest of the month..... we tried to sneak in some home time and fun time. We actually had a couple of weekends home with odd trips here and there. After our jaunt up north we dropped Grace in Rapids for a little horsing around with my Aunt Linda, Cousin Kay and Abby. They own 3 Ponies of America horses that they show around the country each summer. Grace was invited to come and experience the fun this summer. She spent the week with my teenage cousin taking horse back riding lessons and playing around. On the weekend they attended a show where Grace competed in a variety of events. She ended up coming home with 4 1st place trophies, 2 2nd place ribbons and 1 4th place ribbon!! She was SO excited and didn't want to come home, surprise:) So, I guess now a trophy case is in order, ha!!
The Sunday after the horse show I came to town to pick Grace up and attend a bridal shower for my longtime school friend Carol Koch. It was a great time seeing her and a few other good friends from high school!
The next weekend we enjoyed our Sunday at Noah's Ark with passes Aaron got in a silent auction package he won. We did a kid swap with my friend Kim and took her daughter Becca who is also Grace's friend and dropped Owen with her. We had a great day of water park fun and rode the Jet Boat which was a blast!!! Great way to wrap up the summer!! School starts next week, YAY!!!

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