We made our annual pilgrimage to the North Woods in July. For the first time in a long time, we were headed up with a much, much smaller group! Bobbi and Joe would join us for most of the trip, Cary and Ali would come for a couple of days, and Bobbye and Mike and Larry and Paula would come for a couple of days. It was just what I needed this year....I wanted more peace, more quiet, more reading, more relaxation, less noise...and I got most of that! The only thing that we really missed was a few days of loudness and crazy- the kids crave that much more than I do. But every now and then, it's great to just have a peaceful time...
And, as always, I got to see the kids all "grow up" in certain ways at the lake again. Joey went out on the paddle board all by himself, and for some reason, that made me want to cry. It was some kind of symbolism for me that he would be rowing away some day to college out of my reach....
And, Maddox caught a walleye on his own on Burntside Lake! Huge catch for him! He loves to fish and that makes me happy.
And, Saylor...she sort of grew up in all sorts of ways. She jumped off the boathouse on her own, swam to blueberry island, picked blueberries, went tubing OUTSIDE of the wake (this was her big accomplishment) and did the sauna with us every night!
We did enjoy our time with Carter and Brynn...we got Brynn on the tube, in the sauna, swimming to Blueberry Island, and more. I could also tell Carter was so much more adventurous with Maddox around! Cousins are good for that!
We had a lot of great meals again...pasta, ribs, leftover night, roast and potatoes, coffee cake, homemade ice cream and more! Paula, Bobbi and I also had a new blueberry beer and walleye in town which might have been my favorite meal of the trip!
Another year of Ely in the books!
