Ooh, spooky.
Here we are in the Delaware MIne on the self guided tour, like I said in an earlier post, Lydia was none too thrilled about going underground but she toughed it out for us. So we were about 100 feet underground on the first of 9 levels, the rest of the lower levels are now flooded so needless to say no one goes down there anymore. It was very cold and damp and dark, of course and every once in awhile, Kai would get all paranoid and grab us. Silly boy. It was a cool experience, I'm glad we did it.

I swear we are doing much more than viewing waterfalls and walking through cemeteries but a cemetery is what I have for you today. We were driving out of Copper Harbor yesterday on our way to Silver City and I saw this itty bitty sign that said 'Cliff Cemetery' so I turned off and we all trudged out of the car. This was not your ordinary cemetery location, there was no fence, no driveways leading you through the well manicured lawns. Instead, there was a small walking trail directly off the road leading into the woods. The overgrown, taken back by nature woods. We started walking on this tiny trail and did not see anything but trees and underbrush. Finally after about 200 feet, there was a broken gravestone laying on the side of the trail. Very sad, we kept going and saw the occasional gravestone off to the side almost buried beneath the weeds and wildflowers, then we got to what appears to have been the main section of the cemetery. They had wisely planted some kind of ground cover so the woods could not take over as they did on the outskirts of the cemetery. There were several gravestones standing and off to the side there were the ruins of what may have been a church. But we're not sure. I don't know what it is about old cemeteries that I find so intriguing, but I read the inscriptions and get very emotional. Anyway, I took these and I tried to convey the sense of peace among the wildness that was all around. The last photo gives you an idea of the size of the trail.

Yes, more waterfalls. Isn't it pretty? So we left Copper Harbor this morning after spending 3 nights in the area. We went to a gorgeous beach on Monday at the Tobacco River park. The river ended at Lake Superior so the kids could take a dip in the cold lake, then go in the warm river to warm up. It was ideal. Yesterday we went to the Delaware Mine, we went on a walking tour in the old mine. Lydia was very freaked out about going underground but it was only 1 level down 100 feet so she decided it was ok to go. We all thought it was so cool to walk around down there, but kind of creepy too. The highlight for Kai was Oreo the skunk who is a house pet of the mine caretaker.


This picture looks like fall, doesn't it? But actually the weather has been almost perfect. High 70s during the day and 50s at night.


The lake at Tobacco River park.



This is some remnants of an old building that was at the front of the park, we couldn't figure out what it was. I thought the brick looked so pretty against the background of the green trees.

Well, we made it to Baraga in one piece. I'm sitting here in the dark with Kai sleeping in his roll-a-way bed. David and Tess are downstairs swimming in the hotel pool and Lydia is hiding out in the bathroom reading a book. Well, it's the only place where she can leave the light on and she refused to go down to the lobby. Poor kid can't go swimming in her present condition. What a bummer and bad timing for her.

So we took a pretty leisurely drive getting up here, I like being able to stop wherever and whenever we want. We walked on a couple of trails and saw two waterfalls. The first one was Wagner Falls, you can see it in the picture. On the way back to the trailhead, Kai ran a little bit ahead of me and Lydia and he got out of my sight. I didn't think too much of it and when we got to the parking lot I figured he would be right there. He wasn't! David and Tess followed soon after and we started calling him. I figured he was hiding behind this big boulder he had found interesting when we first got there. No sign of him anywhere, David started yelling K's name in his extra loud daddy voice and still no Kaiser. I was really beginning to panic and then Tess said, "oh, he's here in the car!" and there he was, completely clueless. David had unlocked the car as we got closer to the lot and Kaiser just got right in to wait for us. As soon as I got into the car I burst into tears, I can't even describe the fear I felt in those few seconds when I didn't know where he was. I had even imagined him being in one of the two cars that had driven away right as I had walked up to the parking lot. Needless to say, the no running ahead rule is being strictly enforced once again. I was so angry at myself for letting him get that far ahead of me and not taking his safety into concern. So stupid!
Never again, I can assure you.

Laughing Whitefish Falls was gorgeous. David took all the pictures, he can be a camera hog and since he's more technically proficient than I am, I just let him take over.

Didn't I just write about how much I hate seeing myself in photos? Well, I like my new haircut more than I loathe pictures of myself so here ya go. My hair was way longer than I like so I went for the much shorter style with many choppy layers. I like it, I really do!

I'm supposed to be getting packed for our big trip to the Upper Peninsula, I am so excited. I love love love the UP, it is so beautiful and tranquil and wild and full of so many things to see and do. We're headed all the way up to Copper Harbor this time and then a few days in the Porcupine Mountains. I'm looking forward to hiking for waterfalls and visiting some of the mining ghost towns. Ah, the many photo opportunities that await! We're bringing the laptop so hopefully I can blog a few times while we're away, if not, I'll see you when we get back.

Back to the real world.
I have a tendency to stick my head in the sand when we're not at home. I get most of my news from NPR but the station up north mostly just plays classical and jazz. Unlike the Detroit station, which is pretty much all talk all the time. Or I read the local paper up north, the most serious issues they report on are the school millages and the condition of the lake. Which is serious business to their tourist driven economy but not as urgent to me as some of the things going on in the rest of the world.

So I come home and flick on the radio and am inundated by what is going on in the world and don't want to listen but I do anyway because I have to be informed, right? You know what I feel mostly? Scared, scared of what kind of havoc that idiot is going to wreak with his remaining months in office. I don't like this helpless feeling at all and I don't really like blogging about stuff like this. I suppose that's shallow but I like for this space to show a more upbeat version of myself. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can be kind of a downer at times and I don't like to show that side too often.

In the meantime, I turned off NPR for a few hours to listen to the local "Morning Show" radio people chat about Dancing with the Stars and gossip about Paul McCartney possibly getting married again. I'll go back to the serious stuff but I just needed a little break. Promise I'll be back to my regular chatty blogging next time though. Thank goodness for kids and photos and coffee with friends and upcoming vacations to talk about.

My dear friend and her family came to visit us at the cottage a couple of days ago. We haven't seen them since last summer. They moved to Texas last year and we miss them so much. We all had a great time, talking, playing, eating. A lot of the time I was trying to take pictures of their youngest. As you can see, I had to get rather sneaky with her. David took the two oldest kids on the sailboat, it was really windy that day but sunny. The other kiddos went out on the paddle boat. I warned them about how wavy it was and they ended up having to walk it back. Silly kids.

5 things I am hating right now.

1) Seeing myself in photos and thinking I look enormous even after losing 26 pounds. I still have such a long long way to go and that discourages me a ton.

2) The fact that my sweet little 5 year old is not being as cuddly and loving with me as he usually is. I miss my baby!

3) My damn eyes, which appear to be needing bifocals soon. UGH!

4) Gas prices that never stay the same for more than a day.

5) My hair! It's too long and dried out looking and thinning on the top. My hair is thinning!!! What is up with that? Hello, I am not that old yet. wah!

To end on a more positive note.
5 things I am loving right now.

1) Summer! My kids are all home, my husband doesn't have too work overtime as much and we spend so much time together.

2) My husband who spent all last week landscaping our front yard. For years, all that has been there are mounds of dirt and humongous weeds. Well, now there is slate and plants from our backyard like the hosta and the lilies and new ones like lavender, sage and coneflowers and a sweet Japanese Maple tree. The best thing about it? He did all this work last week while the kids and I were up north and didn't say a word about to me when he was with us last weekend, So we drove up Tuesday to what looks like a totally different house. To say it looked trashy before is an understatement. Now it looks lovely and well taken care of and I admit, I cried when I first saw it.

3) My adorable children. My oldest Lydia who is so brave and adventurous. She went on her hiking/backpacking trip in Pennsylvania without knowing anyone and had a great time. It was very rustic and they hiked a lot (17 miles one of the days), I'm so proud of her. My little girl Tess who has such a good heart and can love so much and isn't shy in showing it. Then there's my baby boy (I know, 5 is not a baby to most people) who is so hilarious and has such a sophisticated sense of humor. Sure, he can laugh at a good potty mouth joke with the best of 'em but he can also come up with these jokes that take a few steps of thinking instead of going straight for the obvious. Of course, my mind is blanking on examples right now.

4) My online photography class. Yes, I'm mentioning it again. It is informative, the community is supportive and the teacher is awesome.

5) Project Runway is back!! But can someone please tell "Suede" that taking about yourself in the third person does not make you cool. It makes you a douche. Jane thinks you are annoying, Suede. Jane liked your dress in the second challenge but thinks you need to tone it down. Jane has to go now. Jane is going to get slapped if she keeps this up.