Bear Head State Park

Our first camping weekend without children. Can you believe we have never been camping without the kids? Not only that this was our first trip waaaaaay up North. We have never been further north than the iron range. I take that back Bob’s been somewhere north bear hunting… remember that’s where he found Big Foot.

Before we headed out Bob decided he wanted to check Craigslist for a tandem bike. We were lucky enough to find one…. in Maple Grove, the total opposite direction, but hey! Who’s on a clock anyways?

By the time we got out of town the storm was brewing, cars stopped all the way across 35 W as the hail came down. When we were just outside of Gilbert, a tire blew on the trailer. I believe Rodney cursed Bob before we left. We stopped at Rod’s house to change one tire and he told Bob he should have put on 2 new tires. Hmmm, is it Rod’s fault for cursing us or Bob’s fault for not listening? Anyways, the rain had stopped long enough for Bob to put on the spare. We pulled off at the West 40 Campground in Gilbert just in time for it to continue raining all night. Small favors. :)

We woke up to a beautiful morning. Since we were just of the Mesabi Bike Trail we took our new bike out for a spin. Getting to the path we had to ride down a HUGE hill. Yep… the whole ride I was thinking “we have to go back up that hill to get back to the campground.” The trail was pretty flat and after the first ten minutes our legs were numb. We spent a couple hours on the trail… then walked the bike back up the hill.

When we left the house around noon on Thursday we knew we had to grad tabs for the four-wheeler. It just so happened that after we pasted each destination bob would remind me.. "the next town we have to stop to tabs"... It was around 3:30pm when we past the DNR headquarters just north of Tower, when we realized again we hadn't stopped for the tabs. We pulled in hoping we could pick them up, but no luck, our closest option was Ely... and we were cutting it close to closing time... on a Friday.... No problem we bought the tabs in Ely with minutes to spare. It also allowed us to visit Ely...BWCA headquarters. What a cute town, it is very charming!

We finally got to Bear Head State Park where we spent the weekend camping with the Gale gang, mosquitoes, snakes, spiders, martins, and rain. With all that we still had a fabulous weekend.

Saturday, Bob and I trailered the 4 wheelers to Stony Spur Trail in Babbitt. The trail was empty and the ride was nice. It was very scenic, we ran through a lot of mud, it ended somewhere in the middle of nowhere with a toilet, shed, and fire pit. It ran into the Taconite snowmobile trail. When ever we stopped the mosquitoes would come out out the woods and swarm…even with bug spray! We didn’t stop long.

Sunday we rented a canoe and enjoyed a relaxing day on Bear Head Lake.

We ran into the Gales on the way. Kaylee was just an infant when she came to my daycare, now she’ll be in kindergarten in the fall. Look how big she is!

We stopped at a boat in camp for lunch… Hobo dinners, my favorite camping meal.

When we got to the dock there were HUGE spiders (the picture doesn’t do justice) I asked Bob to take a picture. He was on the dock unloading the gear. He said something needed to be in the picture for perspective, so he put his face down below the dock and handed the camera back to me. Foolishly, I leaned over to snap the picture and I capsized the canoe.

Too funny, why can’t I ever have a dry ride in a canoe? I really think this time Bob set me up for failure.

We canoed over to Jim and Wendy’s camp… It really is a nice group camp, the kids had a lot of room to play, the dock was big enough for several boats, they had there own little swimming area…

the other side of the coin they had snakes, there was a weasel looking thing (martin) that would steal there trash, the mosquitoes were awful, even worse then the norm around camp, the toilets were stinky… I didn’t use them, but I heard they were and the camp came with huge bear lockers to put your food in. Doesn’t that just say “look out you’re in bear country.” And they were all sleeping in tents! No thank you!

We took the canoe back to the landing and went back over to the group camp so Bob could fish with the guys. I guess the fishing was great; Bob caught his biggest bass ever! Not that he’s caught a lot in his life… ha ha ha.

Then around 7 pm it started to rain again we moved into the screen tent… it continued to rain… we moved into Jim and Wendy’s tent… it continued to rain… we put Kaylee to sleep and started watching a movie with Lilly… that’s when the fun began.

All of a sudden we hear noises outside of the Tent. By the way Jim and Wendy’s tent is a fortress. It’s like a huge tent with an attached car port. Then over the whole thing is a rain barrier, not a fly, but rather anther layer that extends all the way to the ground. We realized we were inside, something was outside, there were no guys to protect us, and we couldn’t see what was out there because the fortress is closed for the storm….

Should we make an escape plan?? What are we running from??? skunks, raccoons, the martin, the BEAR!!!! Dang, why did we let the girls bring cookies into the tent? You know whatever it is it’ll want cookies when it’s finished.

After a lifetime of contemplating our crises, we decided to brave the situation. We had to reach OUT to unzip the tent, but we did and we shot the spotlight on all the coolers, nothing seemed amiss. So we HAD to look up front, where the noise was coming from.. we had to reach down near the sound to unlock the front zipper… We really were not very good at keeping each other calm, saying one thing, “I’m sure it’s just the martin coming back”… thinking another “It’s a bear!” all the while pretending nothing was happening so we would worry Lilly. She kept asking “what’s wrong as we were barricading the edge by the noise, looking out the back window.. scrambling for a plan. We remained calm on the outside.. “ the rain is getting in..” We’re watching the storm..” thinking to ourselves “where are the guys!!!!”, “How could they leave us stranded with children, in a tent, in the rain, in bear country!”

… so we reached down to unzip the front zipper, not knowing what we’d find and if the noise and light would attract or scare whatever it was… zzzziipppp …. Nothing…. We look around….. nothing….in the trees…. Nothing…coolers, buckets, pans,… nothing looks turned over…. The noise!!!.... it’s just the rain thumping the things right out the door. RELIEF!!! We zip the tent shut, take a huge breath and sit down to watch the movie, Goonies, with Lilly.

Less then 5 minutes later the guys arrive. Thank goodness I had a camper to go to that night. I’m not sure I could have fallen asleep in the tent. We said goodnight and headed back to our site for a peaceful night of sleep. It continued to rain until around noon the next morning. We got up had coffee, something to eat, and packed up our camp. We headed over to the group camp and no one was there. They decided to pack up early (in the rain) and head home.

Really we had a fabulous weekend up north in bear country… minus the mosquitoes, snakes, and spiders!

It's a Freebie

I have spent the last year playing with digital scrapbooking. Most of what I use I find on blogs or forums given away for free. Don't get me wrong, I spend more than I should on my hobby, but something about the word FREE motivates me.

So I finally decided to try the "freebie" thing. I think it's a great way to get started, and with the economy being what it is, I know I appreciate everyone who shares their talents.

Hopefully I did it right.

Here's a title I used on a birthday page. In the digital world it would be called word art. Enjoy it if you would like.

More Graduations

One nice thing about not working.... you can make time for all of the little things.

My niece Grace on her graduation day.

Thank you lauraskathi for the Freebie Kit: Black and White sampler
Thank you Yin Designs for Freebie Template 114

My Godson Ryan on his graduation day.Thank you lauraskathi for the Freebie Kit: Black and White sampler
Thank you Yin Designs for Freebie Template 114
Thank you Bethany for the Word Art


Where does the time go???
Do you remember those days??? It's amazing we still do!

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I
learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school
mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things
I learned:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life--learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing
and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and
stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The
roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but
we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the
Styrofoam cup--they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you
learned--the biggest word of all--LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love
and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult
terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or
your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world
it would be if we all--the whole world--had cookies and milk about three
o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or
if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where
they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are-- when you go out into the
world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

--Robert Fulghum

Levi Graduates from A School

Here’s Levi’s A School graduation news. He graduated as a "Gunners Mate". If I have that right, I believe it's a weapons specialist.

He is excited to be continuing training in the field he requested Riverine….. As far as I can understand he is going to be brown water (off the ocean) infantry. Yikes!

By the way he graduated with honors... this is the same student who barely passed high school. We knew it was in there, and we are very proud of the commitment he's showing in the Navy. No more slacking? Wow, it's the old Levi... reeaallly old. We haven't seen honor work from him since 9th grade when he dropped out of all his Advance Placement classes because it ment too much homework.

I kinda think it was because they threatened him with the alternative to excelling... hard work! A constant reminder of what sailors do with down time. :) Bob and I couldn't help but laugh at the sight we passed on our way into his graduation.

Swab the deck... vs. palying with guns...

Well he wanted excitement. He shouldn’t be bored under these circumstances. The plan is a little while in Louisiana then a few months in Virginia before he’s sent into active duty.

If you want to know more check out the following links. I just “googled” it .

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/navy/a/riverine.htm

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=91569

Iraq War

U.S. Navy Riverine Squadron 2 patrols the waters above Haditha Dam, Anbar Province, Iraq, in a Small Unit Riverine Craft.

U.S. Marines began patrolling the inland waters of Iraq soon after the beginning of the Iraq War, using a variety of patrol boats. In 2004 the Marines received a new type of fast boat, the small unit riverine craft (SURC), to patrol the waters of the Euphrates River and deny water passage to the insurgents. Beginning in 2006, the Navy established the Riverine Squadrons to assume this task from the Marines. A Riverine Squadron was deployed to Iraq in March 2007 and has been patrolling the waters of the river around the Haditha Dam.