Day 1 - The Beach

so we got to the beach and this was our view.

pictured rock.

the whole reason i knew i needed to find this place...

We had kayaks ready to put in the lake and warnings from park rangers that it may not be appropriate to take chidren out kayaking in this area.

for real.

they were obviously very scared...

 or not.

either way, i wouldn't let ayla go.

i have lines people.

sometimes they are fuzzy, but they are usually somewhat visible.

so we sent the 3 big kids out on a kayak.

along with jordan and lauren.

off they went...

 Becky and I stayed back.

That story will get a post of its own.

It involves Becky and approximately 5,243,876 "stable flies".

Seriously ugly part of the U.P.

Obviously they all made it back safe and sound and we headed back to our place to grill out and sit by the campfire.

Did I mention earlier that our backyard is incredible??

 We sat around the campfire and talked and laughed and occasionally yelled

WHERE'S THE BABY??

Only to find Ayla was on it.

Too funny...

 We decided Ayla was perfectly capable so Becky and I sat back and laughed some more.

Somehow we are never short of laughter when we are together.

It's been that way for about 18 years now.

There's a reason our friendship has lasted this long...

Love that girl.

(and you do know that I've known Jordan since kindergarten. For real. How fun is that!)

Love their family.

Love being her in this place at this time with these people.

Just what I needed this week.