Family vacation and our joy before we knew.....

 Diabetes sucks but I refuse to let it steal our joy before we knew.....

June 24th, 2016 

The week marked for our family vacation at the cabin with the kids and grandkids.

We had a fun-filled 4 days before Carson (our grandson) 

became ill and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes while at the cabin.

That blog will come later, but for now

 I choose "JOY" and great memories in the 4 days before everything changed....

We had a wonderful time as a family, swimming, boating, laughing, 

playing games and making memories.

 Carson driving the boat with Grandpa

Uncle Brice and Audrey always up to their shananaghans, 

while uncle Gavin encourages Scarlett to watch.

 Playing in the sand

Scarlett was not about to let go of Auntie Brie 

 They love their Uncle Gavin

 We ventured over to our beloved Camp "Pine Haven" 

just around the bend from our cabin. Playing Carpetball

 

all 3 grands swinging, I love this one.

  

Little Scarlett with her mamma (Jennifer)

watchin' the ducks

Morning talks (sister in laws)

found this idea in Pinterest

Brice is gonna take this dandy off the hook for me

Gavin's getting ready to tube

boat rides 

 playin' in the sand

 

 On the boat with daddy, 

My son Brice and granddaughter Scarlett

I love fishing off the dock

Carson loved letting the water hit his hand

 Brianna & Audrey loved tubing together

Carson caught about 5 sunny's, The look on his face was priceless

 

Miss Audrey caught a big one!

 Playing games with Grandpa

This girl LOVES the water  (Audrey)

Cousins, I love these three so much!!!

 She loved playing in the sand  (Scarlett)

 Brice and Scarlett out for a Kayak ride

and you cant be together at the cabin without some jams

I love our family like no other, 

we are blessed to have each other, and I'm glad we were together to support each other 

when we got the news of Carson's diabetes.

We are missing Chris (carson's daddy) in this photo, 

but he was with us through phone calls and "facetime" (in Rochester)

 We are thankful for technology.

Thanks for hanging in there through all the photo's....

see, we really did have a lot of fun.

Update to follow on the not-so-happy part of our vacation... stay tuned

A climb well worth it...

It's a cool breezy morning here on the North shore. 

Rick and I are on our annual autumn get-away, a little piece of heaven on earth. 

This is the view from our sofa, as I sip on my Irish Cream Latte,

 and listen to the roar of lake Superior, it's quite breath-taking!

Yesterday we arrived in Tofte, MN about noon. 

Our lodge is basically in the heart of the Superior National Forest. 

We have many options for hiking, this time we decided to try a trek we had never done....

Carlton peak

The peak is 1526 ft above sea level and is part of the Sawtooth Mountain Range which boarders Lake Superior from Beaver Bay to Grand Marais.

Before I go on about our adventure....

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.

Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities, 

His eternal power and divine nature. 

So they have no excuse for not knowing God.  Roman 1:20 NLT

This did not happen by chance....amen

 Never a dull moment with this man...he's the best!

We know we are on the right trail by the blue marking on the tree....whew  :) 

It was a bit of a challenge, but nothing I wasn't up for 

The summit

 Yay, we did it!!! 

Lake Superior in the background, it's so hard to capture the dimension on camera, 

just take my word for it....we were Wayyyyyyyy up there.

 Of course, there had to be a golf swing (with my walking stick)

Perched on the summit of Carlton Peak

 Pure beauty

Today the forecast says, 100% rain 

 We may have a day of R&R, or we may venture into Grand Marais and do some shopping, 

either way we are happy to be doing what ever our little hearts desire.

Ethnic Festival, Walker....Part two

While Rick and I were wandering the streets of Walker last Friday evening, 

we noticed posters in the store windows advertising an Ethnic Festival the next day.

 There would be vendors selling their goods, a parade and 

ethnic foods in the park....SCORE!!!

 Something fun to look forward to while we were visiting this little community 

We listened to this Ojibwe Indian as he gave a presentation

 and played some beautiful tunes on his flute. 

The Ojibwe bands moved into the region during the mid-to-late 1700's.

The reservation is SE of Bemidji with Walker just outside on the SW corner.

The Vendors...

 Beautiful handmade goods

 Working on her craft

Hand painted window hangings

 Loved this dress

Couldn't resist this photo, 

their mama was selling baked goods and was close by

My social butterfly (Left) striking up a conversation with

 a guy selling Djembe's (african drum)

The parade ...

Off with the hat...

I love how there is still respect when the national anthem is being sung!

 I'm half Norwegian so I especially liked this float...

"Eat Lots of Lefse" I love Lefse!

 The elderly showing they can still play a good tune!

 Oh, I just loved this beautiful sweater,

(and her cute little over the shoulder bag)

These long wooden horns produced a beautiful sound...they stopped right in front of us to play. 

Does anyone know what ethnicity this represents?   Danish perhaps?

 Pow-wow float

This little guy was quite proud of his heritage, his dancing showed it!

 More dancing

Did I mention there was food.....

 Rick and I shared a Gyro, It was delicious

We decided that it was a big partaking to eat this messy morsel, 

so we sat down with a fork at a near by picnic table and visited with some locals 

while we enjoyed our lunch.