North Woods 2013

We took our annual trip to Ely in July this year over the 4th holiday! It's always busy on the island over the fourth which has its pros and cons. But, we got to see a lot of the cousins and spend time with them, which is always nice! We invited our 15-year-old neighbor, Sam, to come with to give him a little break from sitting at home this summer. The kids all love Sam so it was a fun treat to have him with us.  I think the 8 hour car ride with 3 kids about did him in though! It was a lesson in patience for him, I'm sure!

We kind of did our "usual" Ely things...tubing, swimming, eating, canoeing, kayaking, etc.  I'm always amazed at how the kids seem to "grow up" in Ely...it just seems like they make a lot of strides when we are there. Joey seemed to change the most over the last year. This year at Ely, he wanted to be so independent, wanted to challenge some of our normal boundaries. So, we had our struggles with that kid, but at the same time, it made me happy to see him grow up a little bit. He kayaked by himself for the first time, he jumped off the boathouse without his life jacket, he saunaed without his life jacket, he jumped off the cliff (whoa...that freaked me out), he drove the  jet ski by himself (with joe on the back but joe let him have free reign) and wandered the island with his cousins.

Saylor was a little dare devil too which surprised me....she got on the jet ski on her own AND she tubed! She kept saying "my turn, my turn" to tube and finally we decided to put her on the tube figuring she would cry! But, she loved it! It surprised all of us!  Saylor was really good through the whole trip- but she requires a lot of attention like the  boys did at her age! At the island, I never truly relax with three kids as I'm always counting kids and counting lifejackets!

It was a great time but I think we were all ready to get back to routine!

Back to life...back to reality!!