Willow's First Backpacking Trip

In early August, I took Willow on her first backpacking trip. I had rented a rustic cabin in the Porkies wayyy back in like, January. The past few years, I had always wanted to do that, but I'd think of it in the spring, and when I would go to reserve one, they'd all be booked. So this year I remembered to do it far enough in advance. The original plan was to bring Sharon and Andy, and/or Amy and Biz, my best college friends. But then Biz got a new job that didn't give much time off, and Sharon ended up being too pregnant to go, ha. Also, Josh was reluctant to ask for more time off since he just started a new job. So I turned it into a girls trip. Emily came along with her little cousin, Dannika. Us four hiked in on Friday morning.

Here we are at the trail head.

It was a 4-mile hike in, which I thought would be do-able with a 3-year-old. I was sort of right. On the way in, Willow probably walked for 3 of those miles, but had to be carried the rest of the way. At one point, Emily and Dannika were so far ahead of us, I actually set my pack down on the side of the trail, grabbed Willow and booked it to catch up to them. Then I watched the girls and Emily ran back and retrieved my pack. Thanks Em!

Our first night was fun. The weather forecast had looked pretty ominous, so we were relieved when it only rained a bit during the night on Friday. We stayed in the "Lake Superior 4-Bunk" cabin. It was right on the Lake, near the mouth of the Big Carp River. The water was warm, and we laid on the beach and went swimming. The girls has fun. That night, we had quesadillas for dinner, and then we made a fire and had s'mores for dessert. Willow wasn't a fan of the s'mores but was happy to just eat marshmallows.

Here she is sporting her very own headlamp.

We slept good on the bunks - that is, after we finally got every last crumb hidden away. Until we did that, a mouse kept us (at least, me) awake by crinkling wrappers and scurrying around.

Saturday morning was eventful in that Willow decided to regress in her potty-training skills and pee her pants, and then about an hour later, poop her pants as well. I only brought three pairs of pants for her, and two were now unusable. It is not fun to have that happen when there is no washing machine. Oh well.

Beth and Amanda hiked in to join us on Saturday afternoon. We all went on a day hike to a waterfall. It was such a beautiful hike. I love the Porkies with all of its huge trees. You feel like you're in a magical forest or something. Willow was carried most of the way on this hike, which was OK since we didn't have our packs. She fell asleep at one point, even.

Beth helped too.

I had to include this photo.

Here's Dannika by a huge rock that had its own ecosystem right on it.

The actual big waterfall that we hiked to (I think it was called the "Shining Cloud Falls") didn't really have much of a vantage point, and I guess I didn't even take a photo of it. But we were hiking along the river and there were many smaller pools and waterfalls along the way. We stopped in one area where the girls were entertained for quite awhile by taking sticks and throwing them in the river, then watching them go over the little waterfall and collect in the small pool below. We dipped our hot feet in the water.

Dannika was cute; she carried around her "bug barn" the whole trip, and collected bugs, dragonflies, and toads. We also showed her how to identify spearmint, which she then became an avid collector of. I think she even brought a bunch of it home. She wanted to show her grandpa. She was really a good camper and we were glad to have her along.

Although we were facing west over the lake, we didn't have great sunsets. The cloud cover was just the wrong way. This is the best we got. Still not bad, I guess.

Sunday morning, the wind was whipping. We went down to the beach briefly and checked out the crashing waves.

That was sort of a hard morning. Willow woke up whiny. We ended up having to carry her the entire 4 miles out. The technique for this was, pack on the back, baby carrier on the front. Thank you to Beth for carrying her probably half the way. We were really dragging. In retrospect, I think Willow was a little sick or something. She hardly ate that day, and then the next day at home, she complained of tummyaches, and then puked.

Overall, it was a great trip, and completely worth any minor hardships we had to endure. :) I can't wait to go again next year!


In other news, we found out that Willow did get a full-time slot at Little Huskies, starting after Labor Day. We're excited but sad about losing Linda. I don't really want to think about it, yet. I still have a few more weeks to avoid that.

I mentioned potty-training. Yes, I think we're finally there, despite the accidents while backpacking. There are still accidents here and there, but she wears undies every day, and Little Huskies sent home her diaper stash; I guess they decided she didn't need them anymore. Finally!!!

Here is Willow proudly showing off an art project she made out at camp with Grandma Judy.

And here she is at the Hidden Acres farm. We signed up for a raw milk share, mostly for Willow. Raw milk is really good for the gut. But before we signed on, we went out and took a tour of the farm. They have 9 cows. It was pretty cool to meet the actual cows that our milk would be coming from!

Summertime

It's crazy to think that the summer is half-over already. They just fly by, faster every year.

I mentioned in the last post that Willow started school, Josh started his new job and we got a new pet. I know you've all been waiting in suspense to hear about the pet. OK, maybe not, but here he is. His name is Coos; Willow named him.

He was a total impulse buy; Willow and I were at the mall and a new pet store had opened up. I dug up an old gallon aquarium that used to be mine when I was a kid. I don't remember goldfish being so high-maintenance!? His water gets yucky after like 5 days and I have to clean the tank again. Does anyone have any advice? Am I doing something wrong? It's an actual little tank with an aerator. I thought goldfish could be OK even in a small bowl with no air. I feel bad for Coos when his water gets all cloudy. :(

Here's Willow on her first day of school, looking proud with her Dora backpack.

She's afternoons-only for now. The first three days went great, then Thursday and Friday of the first week she had a little separation anxiety and cried and clung to Linda when she dropped her off. Then week 2 was fine again and it's been fine ever since. She seems to enjoy it. It's good to see her playing with other kids...that was the main reason we wanted to do this. Her favorite friend there is a girl named Zelda who she knew from music class. When I went to pick her up yesterday, her and Zelda gave each other a big hug before saying goodbye for the weekend. It was so cute. One adjustment for us has been the napping situation. Willow hadn't napped for several months, but at school, they do nap, and she does sleep. It's made going to bed at night a struggle again.

We love Linda for being so flexible and agreeing to stay on in the mornings. I think the more gradual transition will be good for Willow. We're expecting to get in for a full-time slot in the fall.

Bridgefest weekend was a lot of fun as usual. Lanners came up for the Chain Drive bike race again. Here's the two boys after the race. As usual, Lanners had something up his sleeve. Last year he did the 32-miler on a single speed. This year he did the 16-miler but on a snow bike. It got a lot of comments. He still had a decent time too. Crazy man.

Aspirus Keweenaw had a bouncy thing down at seafood fest for the little kids. Willow had fun but was a little intimidated by all the rough and wild kids who were bouncing all around her. She is sort of timid that way.

Seth was home from the island that weekend, and on Saturday, he and Beth had a party. It was fun, and culminated in watching the fireworks display in the middle of a sudden, isolated downpour. I got some pictures of the boys playing beanbag toss. It was notable because we realized that all 4 guys - Josh, Sean, Lanners and Mark - were Minnesotan. Ha.

Last weekend we went to Hastings for Josh's cousin Chris's wedding. The wedding was on Friday, and we left on Wednesday - on the 4th of July. So we sort of had a non-4th. We did no parade or anything like that, and we ended up skipping the fireworks in Hastings because the mosquitoes were horrible and it was late (it was mostly me being the wuss, I admit). Still, we had a fun (and very hot) weekend. One day, Josh, Janna, Jean, Willow and I went to the beach. It was a beach on the St. Croix river. It was surprisingly not too crowded, considering it was about 95 degrees. I didn't get very many good photos, but here's one that is sort of OK. The water was so warm!

I got a couple of really cute shots of Willow and her second-cousin, Natalie, at the wedding. The wedding was not that fun for me, I have to admit. Willow had some digestive issues at the reception, and we were running to the potty every half hour. She had tummyaches too and I felt so bad for her. Towards the end of the night, that subsided. But then she had a meltdown because the balloon that was on her wrist came loose and flew away. Oh, that was tragic. She could not be consoled, even with a new balloon. The one that flew away was purple,and she really wanted that one. Right before we left, we managed to find another purple one, and Willow thought that daddy had flown up in the sky and retrieved the original one for her. She kept going, "Daddy can fly!"

We also carved out some time to stop and visit my cousin Katie, her husband Jon, and their kids Ben and Aubrey. I got this shot of Willow and Aubrey.

My brother happened to be in the Twin Cities, so he stopped by for dinner and spent the night at Jack and Jean's too, before his flight left the next day. He also brought his girlfriend Audrey. It was great to finally meet her. Willow really loved her too. Unfortunately I did not get any photos of them with Willow, stupid me!

Here are a couple other random photos of a beach day here in the Keweenaw. This is at Great Sand Bay. We went with our friends Scott and Sharon. The other girl in the photo is Willow's friend Aspen.

New York City!

We had a great time on our trip to NYC! We took so many photos and I've tried to pare them down for this post. There is a lot of other news too...(including Willow starting preschool and a new pet). I may have to save that for another post. This is what you get when you wait over a month between posts: feeling overwhelmed when it is time to update!

We went to NYC over Memorial Day weekend, a Friday through a Tuesday. We flew right out of Hancock, which was so worth the extra few hundred bucks over driving to Minneapolis or Green Bay or somewhere! The flights were uneventful, with the small exception of almost missing one connection and having to sprint through Chicago O'Hare. Oh well, it wouldn't be exciting without some sort of small glitch. We were very grateful for our fold-up stroller - it was the savior of the trip. We walked everywhere!

We stayed with my cousin Jen and her boyfriend Bruce. They live (lived, more on that later) right in Manhattan, near Harlem and the northwest corner of Central Park. They have a very nice 2-bedroom apartment, so we even had a bed to sleep in which was great. As of the date I am writing this post, they actually no longer live there. We visited them just in time: they moved to Australia last weekend. Bruce is an economics professor, and he got a job there, and Jen will be starting a 2-year residency in Pediatrics (she's a recent med school grad). Anyway, it was so great to see Jen again. She lived with us for a couple months out in Jackson Hole, and she is awesome. And Bruce is a great guy too, they were both very hospitable and great tour guides.

Overall, we were really impressed by New York. The last time we were there was 2001, and it seemed like it has gotten a lot cleaner and greener since then. Maybe it was just because we were hanging out in different neighborhoods than last time, or maybe it is really true. There was a noticeable lack of the garbage/urine smell we remembered from last time. Of course, the best part of going to any big city (especially when you are a sheltered Yooper), is the food! We ate large quantities of it with no regard to how much we were spending, and it was so fun. Willow was really adventurous too. She tried Peruvian...
















Japanese...
















An apple from a street vendor (we were just walking by and she yelled out "I want an apple!")...




















Pickle-on-a-stick....






















and, this is not New York-ish at all, but at Jen and Bruce's, she got hooked on vegemite toast. So after the trip we had to order some online and it's now a popular breakfast choice at home.
















Here are Jen and Bruce with some delicious-looking food at a seafood/Mexican place in Brooklyn. They were such great tour guides, I have to say it again. They brought us to all their favorite restaurants, and half the time ordered for us too. It was nice not to have to guess at what would be good. Every place we went to was just amazing....ah, I love food, in case you can't tell. Oh, at this place, Josh and I finally had oysters for the first time. Also at this restaurant, Willow pooped her pants, when we were about to leave. Luckily we didn't have this problem the majority of the trip (Willow did very well with staying clean and dry most of the time), but it can be hard to find a place to change a kid in NYC. Josh ended up changing her in a deserted corner of a sidewalk near a dumpster, ew.

















We did a lot of kiddie stuff, quite a contrast from our last NYC trip when we partied the whole time. Times change. We went to the Central Park zoo one day. Here's Willow and Jen near the ticket area.

















Here's a shot of us three by the sea lions. A good picture, if I do say so myself!

















Willow pointing at some sort of animal, not sure what it is.

















Also at the zoo, they had a short Dora movie that was "4-D". Meaning, it was 3-D but also had someother effects - like water spraying, seats vibrating, smells (basically, being sprayed in the face with an air freshener, yuck), bubbles and fake snow. Willow enjoyed it, of course. She loves Dora and Diego, I admit it.
















The three of us also went to the Manhattan Children's Museum. It was great, although very crowded, as was the zoo and everything else we did. I guess that is New York! Or maybe just...New York, at popular children' activities, on a holiday weekend.

I had to take a picture of Willow going into the intestines. Very appropriate, ha.




















I am not sure what we're doing here, but it looks like Willow is learning something.


















They put finger paint on a big wall, and the kids were supposed to make a mural of sorts. Instead, they just smeared it all around until all of the colors were mixed, and covering every space on the wall. Once that happened, the other kids got bored and left. Only Willow wanted to stay and keep smearing.


















We also hit up many playgrounds. Like I mentioned, we walked many miles every day with the trusty fold-up stroller, and every time we passed a playground Willow wanted to stop. There were playgrounds everywhere. There were kids everywhere too. We were amazed at how many little kids we saw everywhere. Every New York parent seemed to have an expensive-looking-yet-compact stroller with one or two kids in it, and a bag on the back filled with useful supplies. We even saw, on two occasions, a parent whip out a little potty, have their kids go in it, and in one case, the pee ended up on the ground (ew), and in another, into a plastic bag which the woman then tied up and ran over to a garbage can! I guess you have to learn to adapt in a city with few public bathrooms when you are potty-training someone!

































Did I mention it was HOT when we were there? About 85-90 every day. Every playground had a fountain of some sort that sprayed water for kids to play in. We were never fully prepared with swimsuit, etc., but Willow did participate little bit.

















One night we took a ferry ride along the river. We started in Brooklyn and we ended in the financial district in Manhattan. That was after a long day and Willow was out very late. She had a good time on the boat...

















...but soon after we got off the boat she was asleep, and stayed that way the whole walk/train ride back to Jen and Bruce's.





















Speaking of trains, we did, of course, use the subway a lot. Willow loved it and talked a lot about the "fast, fast, fast, FAST trains!" Here are Bruce, Willow and Josh on a train.


















One day we went to the Museum of Natural History. In hindsight it was probably not the best thing to do with a 3-year-old. We thought she'd be pumped to see the dinosaurs and stuff, but it was too adult-oriented and crowded for her to have much fun. Luckily, there was a big fountain out in the courtyard of the museum where all the kids were playing, and we sort of took turns watching Willow play and going in to try to catch some of the exhibits. Here's me and Willow by a big head (Mayan, maybe, Incan? I honestly didn't get to read many of the placards because I was too busy trying to entertain Willow).




















One part Willow liked was a butterfly garden. It was cool, but all she wanted to do was grab the butterflies, which of course was strictly prohibited. That was sort of hard and we ended up having to make a hasty exit before she had a fit. In this photo, you can see a butterfly on the leaf if you look closely.

















Here's Willow by some early humans. Even though the photo is a little blurry, I had to include it because that display resulted in the quote of the trip. Willow shouted out, really loudly, "Hey, those monkeys are naked!" Hahaha. Well, they were.

















And my last two photos were taken by a big fountain (not the one at the museum, but another one). The fountain was full of kids (and some adults) getting cool.




































It was a great trip, one we'll remember forever, for sure. I wonder if Willow will remember any of it...

Thanks again to Jen and Bruce for a wonderful time!

Josh's big news

We've been slacking on the blog...it's so hard to find the time!

The big news of this post is that Josh got a new job! He's going to be the Operations Manager at The Marketing Department , a marketing firm here in Houghton. In fact, its offices are downtown, just a few blocks from our house. He had applied for a different job there a year or two ago, and that didn't pan out. But a couple weeks ago on a random Wednesday night, the owner of the company called him and said they wanted to hire him for this manager job! He hadn't even applied for it or anything. So of course we are super excited. Although Josh appreciated his job at Halonen Lawn and Landscaping, it was definitely time to move on from the manual labor - and actually use his marketing degree, to boot! He starts mid-June.

The other good news of the post is that we think Willow's GI issues have been improving, just a little. I hate to even put it down on the blog in case I jinx it, but over the past month or so, her poop has become a little more normal, most of the time. Still not 100% normal, but better. So we've been dragging our feet on starting this new diet her doctor recommended, in hopes that maybe we won't have to do it. I don't know...there's obviously something not right in her gut, and I am sure the diet would help her, but it's so daunting. We may just implement parts of this diet...we'll see. In the meantime, I've been excited to get texts like the one Linda sent me yesterday at work: "It's a perfect poop day!"

We've had a lot of spring fun lately. Last weekend we went canoeing, for the first time since we've had Willow! She even went swimming in Lake Perrault. Unfortunately, I did not take any photos. But here are some other photos.

Two weekends ago, we went to Hastings to celebrate Josh's Grandma Eva's 90th birthday.For some reason we didn't get any photos of Willow and Eva. But we did get some of Willow and her other Great-Grandmma, Lois (or as she prefers to be called, "GG".

We went out to brunch at a nice restaurant with a bunch of the Ethen relatives. We had our own separate room away from the rest of the diners, which was great because the kids could play without disturbing anyone. Here's Willow with her second-cousins, Afton and Natalie.

And playing hopscotch with Natalie in Grandma Eva's back yard.

With auntie Janna:

And here she is in our yard last week.

In our hammock:

Helping with the yardwork. Great-Grandpa Zip made this wheelbarrow.

Enjoying some real ice cream. We stopped the dairy-free diet; can't remember if I mentioned that before.

Happy 10th birthday to Scouty!