On the Road to Michigan..............

We were invited to Michigan to the Ramage cabin to spend time with Scott and his family. When Scott and I were younger we use to travel as a family to Canada to our Uncles place. I have always wanted to return with my children some day. We have many fond memories of those days, fishing off the dock, the out house, the ice house,the dog taking the fish off our hooks as we caught the sunnies and I could go on and on. Well we arrived in Michigan and Scott met us at the small grocery store and we followed him back the lane to the cabin. It was very similar to Canada. The cabin belongs to Meghan's mom (Dorita) and her aunt (Dorita's sister). It was so kind of them to share their cabin with all of us and their family. We had many good meals and wonderful fellowship. By the time we left there was 21 people enjoying each others company and we all would enjoy dinner together nightly. Meghan's brother Rob is very into fishing, this was like a magnet to my son. Brandon got a fly fishing rod in town and Rob helped him learn to use it properly. As for town let me paint you this picture, you have a small grocery store, a Ace hardware with a gift shop in and a small general store in someones garage. That's it!!! Oh and they do have a library, bank and country club with golf course. It seemed Scott's favorite place to visit was the cemetery, he had to go to the cemetery to check his cell phone once in a while (or to twitter). Scott and Meghan's phone did not get service at the cabin, it was a dead zone for them. Back to the fishing, Brandon did not catch anything big enough to keep but he was happy just being able to fish and going out on the boat with Walt and Rob to fish. Rob has a cabin of his own on the lake, so his wife Pam and daughter Rhea shared their cabin with Rob's brother David and family(Terry and Hannah), then Robs two other children came up and joined us too (City and JD). The only 3 children missing were Drew, Kathy and Mallory. But Mallory was coming on Tuesday. David is a natural at jet skiing and water skiing so he was kind enough to take the kids out tubing. He had the speed boat to pull the tube. Brandon and Nicole have never been on a speed boat so that in itself was a new experience. Brandon debated about trying the water skiing but went with tubing instead. Neither of the kids would go first so they had Uncle Scott go then Nicole followed and Brandon. They both went around the lake 4 times on the tube and loved it. Brandon was going to try the jet ski too but on Monday he got a headache, sore throat and fever and didn't get a chance. Nicole did get a another chance at tubing on Monday and this time she fell off and learned it wasn't as easy to get back on in the middle of the lake, but she still loves it. The kids enjoyed fishing off the dock and swimming in the lake with their cousins (Tradd and Cooper). The one day a cat showed up and it seemed to have attached itself to Cooper. If Cooper was out it was following him, if he wasn't outside you didn't see the cat around. The family plays a card game called Nertz and taught us so we could join in. We all had a good time playing that in the evening. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable vacation! I know my children have many fond memories they made in Michigan and although it wasn't Canada there were lots of similarities. Thanks to the entire Ramage family for making us feel welcome and sharing their family and cabin with all of us!! Enjoy the next couple posts of the pictures from our trip.

More pictures of Michigan

Here is a picture of the beautiful sunset off the dock over looking North Lake.

Brandon and David (Meghan's brother) in the speed boat. Brandon and Walt in the speed boat, pulling David while he water skis.

Some pictures of the kids, Tradd 6years old, Drayton will be 1year in Nov. They are all growing so fast!!

A nice picture between the trees in the evening, that Nicole took.

We rented a van from Scottown Auto to take to Michigan. It rode nice and no problems.

Some days even the older ones needed a nap. Here is Scott and Cooper napping.

Tradd wanted to try and water ski. Meghan went out with him and gave him instructions on what to do. He didn't get up but at least he wanted to try. He decided he no longer wanted to be in the deep water.

Nicole and Coleman were stuck together like glue. Nicole is missing Coleman!!

Here is a picture of Tradds 18 inch bass he caught.

This is of David skiing. He puts on a good show, really knows what he is doing.

Big Guy Cooper!!!

Our Trip to Michigan

Here is 5 of the 6 grandkids.

Next is Nicole, Tradd and Cooper on the alligator swimming in the lake. The weather was a little rainy and a bit cold but the kids did manage to do some swimming. The next picture is a shot off the dock from the cabin and the pontoon boat we got to enjoy rides on. Here is Poppy and Drayton. Nicole and Coleman were best buddies. In the canoe is Meghan, Nicole, Tradd and Cooper. They went to pick up the ski that David kicked off so he could ski solo, the boys took the opportunity to fish.

Nicole and Brandon got to experience many firsts, while in Michigan. They got to go tubing, many thanks to David (Meghan's brother). They loved it!!! They also got to kayak. Brandon liked this but Nicole will "NEVER" do that again. Not a favorite of hers.

Brandon purchased a fly fishing rod and got some great pointers from Rob (Meghan's brother). Rob took Dad and Brandon out jitter bugging one night and they really enjoyed themselves. No not the dance, this is a fishing term.

Here is a shot of the fishermen (Dad, Brandon and Walt) on the pontoon boat. Walt (Meghan's father) was great about taking the guys out fishing and giving us nice rides on the boat.

It wasn't easy getting front shots of Tradd. He spent most of his time on the dock fishing, and it payed off. He caught many blue gills but did catch a 18 inch bass from the dock. He was so proud and cousin Brandon was happy to help him land it. I can't even imagine how many containers of bait they went through but they had a great time. In this picture is Brandon and Tradd fishing.

Here is Scott rowing Nana around in the row boat. Mom is really happy in water as long as she is dry!

Beautiful sunset over North Lake.

Another shot of the sunset. It was as peaceful as it looks, too.













Enjoy the videos of the kids tubing!!!

Robins have moved in.........

A robing has taken up residency in the tree in front of our camper. Here are pictures of Momma bird feeding her young.

Look what the rain washed in..............

There are snapping turtles in the pond at Hidden Valley. This turtle (and big I may add) apparently made its way up the road when we had the hard rains on Saturday. It really rained hard Saturday evening at one point we were under tornado watches. We didn't not have any damage other than rain.

4th of July Picinic

We had a nice 4th of July picnic with many friends and family. We made a "ham in a can" and it tasted wonderful as usual. We played games and had lots of food. I think we all had enough to eat and if not......we had wonderful french fries and funnel cakes later in the evening. We made funnel cakes around 11pm. What a great day!!!

Hidden Valley Olympic Week

Here are some pictures of the Olympics at Hidden Valley.

We all had a great time taking part in all of the activities.

The family came home with many awards, I think Brandon had the most. Both kids made many new friends and got to see some that only come in this week. They had many different events from pool events to football throw, frisbee toss, badminton, volleyball, quoits, horseshoes,basketball, scavenger hunt, tire roll,and many more. The groups were broke into age groups so that it was fair competition. As you can see in the pictures everyone has a good time.

They even have opening and closing ceremonies. They have a torch that

they light at the beginning of the week and it burns all week. Mom helped

with the awards this week. They have gold, silver and bronze awards for each age group and each event. When ever possible Dad, Chris and I pitched into help too.

It has been nice to be able to be there all week and the kids like being with their friends.

The kids driving the golf cart was for a golf cart rodeo. They could drive but an adult had to ride along.

Conner swimming in one of the events. He had lots of fun too! There wasn't many boys in the 2-4 age group so he got lots of medals.

Nicole and Conner sitting on the side of the lake waiting for opening ceremonies to begin.

Kids at the football throw.

Brandon and Matt getting their medal for the pool crash. Nicole and Brynn came in 1 tenth of a second behind them. Next year should be interesting.

Nicole and Brynn doing pool crash.

Bumpper Tubes!!