Over the river and through the woods...

"Are you sure we're supposed to be up this early!?!"

As you can tell, our early departure from Ludington on the S.S. Badger was a bit exhausting for us after a somewhat restless night in the hotel room. We sure were thankful that we had Nana with us to help us get to the ship on time! So, with baggies of dry cereal in hand, we climbed on board along with cars, motorcycles, motorhomes, and even a HOUSE!! Max was very impressed (not that this photo shows that!).

Once on the S.S. Badger we explored the ship--they have several lounges, two eating areas, a kids play room, a movie room, and lots of room up on deck to get some air. The highlight of a trip on the Badger must be the BINGO though. I'm not sure I've played bingo since my grade school days, but it was fun (even though I didn't manage to win). Somehow, they manage to get you caught up in the adventure of the trip and even have you happily chanting, "Big Ship, More Fun!" dozens of times over the course of the trip.

The kids enjoyed the playroom for a while, but we spent much of the trip migrating from place to place-- a little bit of BINGO, a little story time, a little coloring, and a lot of exploring the ship. All along the way we were peppered with fun facts about the coal-powered car ferry. I was most shocked to find that the four hour trip across Lake Michigan was only 60 miles long! I guess I thought we were moving a lot faster than that. Amazingly, the four hour trip went by quickly and we were excited to see Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Bollman waiting for us when we arrived in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

The trip from Manitowoc to Bruce was a bit long (nearly 6 hours with all of our stops), but the kids did well on a steady diet of cartoons. Thank goodness for DVD players. I'm not sure what two year old boys can do in the car aside from watching videos... Though I understand and appreciate the need for carseats, things sure were easier for car travel with kids when you didn't have to be strapped into a 5 point harness!

The day after we arrived in Wisconsin it was Grandma's birthday! I made a cake for her big day, but as it turned out we had plenty of sweets including some delicious cupcakes made by Aunt Judy in honor of Grandma's birthday so Grandma decided to share some of the goodies with Susan Mayer. She claimed that she would, "pass them off as (her) own"! Though I'm quite sure all that know her well enough to be a house guest know that she does not bake. ;)


I'm sure that Grandma will be thrilled that I put this photo of her and Max blowing out their candles together online for the whole world to see, but I thought it was cute and it's my blog, so I win!

As I try to think back on what we did while we were there it seems that eating desserts figured in pretty high on the list. I know for certain that I had two kinds of cake, cookies, cheesecake, strawberry shortcake, and some sort of fruity crisp dessert. Good grief, how do you people stay so slim with all of those desserts!? I must say that the kids were in heaven, though now we're back to the real world of desserts just now and then.

Much of the time around the house was spent down by the Flambeau River which runs behind the house. The water was quite low, but just perfect for the kids. Ruby and Maxwell had a blast searching for freshwater clam shells and especially treasured those that still had both halves connected (at least until Max would crack them apart!). Ruby also enjoyed searching for crayfish claws to pinch us with. Meanwhile, I just sat in my chair and read a book. The easy life!

My one annoyance was Max's very frequent bathroom breaks. One of the things that we're struggling with right now is that he's figured out (as all boys do) that it's actually kind of fun to go potty outside so he would wait until we were outside, down by the river to need to go. Arg! Since then he's actually asked when he's inside the house if he can go outside to pee!?! Uh, no!

I thought this was a cute photo of the kids in the river. They really are good buddies most of the time, which I'm so thankful for.

I think that right around the time I snapped this shot we saw the tail end of a bear across the river! There is SO much wildlife out there--I can't even remember how many deer, rabbits, and squirrels we saw. Max, especially, thought it was the best.

One of the biggest highlights of our trip to Wisconsin for the kids was going out to Susan Mayer's house where they met Indy (her dog). They just thought she was the best and were talking about how much they missed Bubba and Fink and every other dog they've ever known for weeks afterward. They also really enjoyed getting up on the hay bales--a story that I've heard many times since!

We were thankful to be able see some of Grandpa's sisters for meals and games while we were there. We even had a chance to visit with Aunt June for a while out at Susan's which was a real blessing.

We took a few outings to parks in Ladysmith--always a hit with the kids-- and even brought a picnic lunch one day. The parks were like a flashback to my childhood with the TALL metal slides and merry-go-rounds and monkey bars. It was a whole new experience for Ruby and Max!

I really enjoyed seeing some of the places where Grandma and Grandpa grew up. Of course their house is very close to the original stone house that Grandpa grew up in. Also, we saw the farm where Grandma grew up, which looks very different now and the route she walked to the little school house. I can't imagine sending Ruby out for that looong walk in the woods all by herself!

This hotel is one that Grandma worked at while Grandpa was in Japan. It looks like a really neat place and reminded me of an old hotel that Jared and I stayed at on our honeymoon. I wish we could have seen inside, but that wasn't on the kids' wish list!

Well, that about sums up our trip to Wisconsin. We had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma. Ruby and Maxwell are anxious to see them again... maybe this time in our neck of the woods!