Skip to main content

Closing the Cottage 2019

By
You could say we go to two places too much: the cottage and Culver's. Turns out the kids had enough kids meals to get a prize, a kickball, this time.

Meadow was off school so I took a day off so we could enjoy going to the cottage one last time before New Year's. 

Theo loved kicking and passing it around.

 

My mom told us to eat up all the food at the cottage since they would be closing up soon. Except the first few things I ate were expired!

The pizza was so bad.


Before Brooke's rents were here we had a day by ourselves. I got in some fishing without any luck.

Meadow and I gathered leaves to make a rainbow.





I also worked on making Meadow's crown for Halloween.

Meadow wanted to glue her leaves on paper to save them.

Those are real leaves folks.

We had homemade gorditas for dinner.

The next morning we were back out exploring the woods and lakeshore.

Theo loves the sandbox.

And just being outside.


Our kids love to swing.

Theo tried, but couldn't quite get up the ladder. Next year he'll be up there.



And we were back to swinging.





Back to the sandbox.




Theo has his favorite cottage wood haunts.


I found a princess puzzle in the closet. Of course Meadow had to try.

We played frisbee until my parents showed up.

Hey, look it's Mr. Mike and G.G.

Theo was so confused that they were here.

My parents stopped at Fleet Farm on their way up and picked up a Toyland catalog. Meadow circled a million things. 

Today was a nice day so I said we should go to Michigan to see Bond Falls. The entrance is already closed off this time of year so we had to walk in.

The kids were excited for the waterfall, but the wagon ride was worth the drive.

Meadow was excited to see all the red leaves.

There it is Bond Falls. At long last.

We had talked about going for years. I definitely want to come back in the winter and snowshoe in.


Mr. Independent wants to climb the rocks himself.

In fact, everyone played on the rocks.





Especially Mr. Mike.


When we thought we'd seen the entire falls, we rounded the corner and the second half appeared.




Dang. 

It was really cool to see.

We climbed up the hill to see from the top. It was from up here that we noticed there was an actual path on the other side. 


Apparently it was warm according to Meadow.




We made it to the top to a little picnic area. We also realized we were right by where we parked. My dad went back down to get the wagon and brought the van over.

Above the falls was a dam and behind that a giant lake. The lake has multiple campsites including a few on an island.

A map showed that there was another waterfall not to far from here. Next time.

We were heading back through Land O' Lakes, so we settled on the Gateway Lodge for fish fry and drinks.

Mr Never-Wants-To-Sit-Still.

The bar is worth the drive.

And the dining room is something.

This place was very popular among celebrities in the 1940's and 50's. 

I know I said a few weeks back that cod isn't that good, but somehow this cod was much better than Honeybear.


Someday we have to stay here.

Theo is the new Meadow. The king of the swing.





He would have loved our sandbox at our old house.

The forecast called for rain so I suggested we get in a quick hike beforehand. We took my parents back to Sam Campbell Trail.

We had to take G.G. and grandpa.

It was a much better hike with no bugs.


The interpretive signs really make this hike a great one. You learn a lot about Northwoods' forests and trees that inhabit it.

Theo walked on his own for while. We finally let him hike as long as he wanted. 




Soon it started drizzling and got colder.


We'll have to boat here again.

We went on the same trail as last time, next time we have to take the other path. Now I want to come back again with snowshoes.

Too bad we don't have back country skis.

With Mike getting a bit older, I took over the brute work, removing the dock from the water.

It's time for us to learn since we'll being taking over some day.

You may be learning, Brooke. I've been helping for years.

 Even with the dock out, we took a quick boat ride.

I stayed back to watch the Packers.




 I guess the fall colors were even better last week.

Silly fella.

I spy Theo. 

As soon as we got home, Theo was back to cooking in his kitchen. One of these days we'll call the health inspector on him.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Backcountry Camping with Kids in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

By
Day 1  Back in May I stumbled upon Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had no idea there was a National Park in North Dakota and that it was the northern end of the Badlands. Usually our summer vacations coincide with Scott's work trips. Since he didn't have any this summer I thought we should take advantage of actually taking a vacation. What, my workcations are always classics? I suppose a second real vacation this year wouldn't hurt. We definitely have more time than normal. As long as we took Covid-19  precautions and avoided people. We finally settled on a time to go. Blake joined us so we borrowed our dad's van so we could ride together. Scott had just driven from Michigan the day before. Blake had met my parents in Wisconsin to get the van and then drove from Duluth to pick us up. I offered to drive since I literally only drive twice a month.  I was still pretty tired from a long drive home. Since we were near Fergus Falls we had to stop by the abandoned state ho...
Post a Comment
Read more

Work Trip: Carlinville, Illinois and a St Louis Walk on the Hill

By
Every few shoots for my main client I end up somewhere I'd never heard of before. This time it was Blackburn College in quaint Carlinville, Illiniois. Apparently famous for it's chili factory and its parlor. The family friendly chili parlor faces the town square, meanwhile the Anchor Inn faces the street behind it where the chili is also served alongside beers and rail drinks.  I was informed the chili comes with a kick and that was no lie. Knowing this fact I went with the chili mac and I'd do it again. Even though Carlinville is much closer to St Louis, the Anchor is definitely a Cubs bar. This town rules. After my shoot at the tiny Blackburn College I drove back to St Louis, where I'd flown into, for dinner. Well, one of the inner ring suburbs that's more urban than parts of Minneapolis. Anyways, Balkan Treat Box may have been the best meal I've had all year. After dinner I drove over to the Hill, an old Italian neighborhood of St. Louis. I don't know wh...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Weekend of Bike Rides

By
With the kids finishing up school we had to treat them to Sushi Train. They picked the downtown location, which meant a family bike ride.  Theo asked why we don't go to this location anymore. The other location is more convenient but we agreed to go the one downtown this time.  I swear we did in fact eat sushi. We seem to always miss strawberry picking season. This year I was determined to go. Afton Apple was the first place I found that was open for the season.  One of their old fields that they were ready to retire was producing a lot of fruit this year.  Luckily today turned out to be a cooler day.  I treated the kids to strawberry shakes.  Then we drove over to Prescott to pick up some food for lunch and ate at Point Douglas Park. Then we did some hiking at Carpenter Nature Center to do some geocaching. Later Scott and I bike through some rain to Northeast to go to the soon to be closing Bauhaus one last time.  Gonna miss you Bauhaus. In the mornin...
Post a Comment
Read more