Fall 2020

Coming back from vacation usually takes us right back to school!  Our first day back, the bus came a little earlier than we were all anticipating and this was the one pic I was able to get:

The next day we were able to take much better photos.  Our school district started with a hybrid option and we chose to send the kids to school in person with all precautions in place.  Here's our 4th and 6th graders with and without masks!

Kayla was asked to be one of four kids to release a rehabilitated kestrel at Tallgrass. It was such a fun experience for us and even better for her!  She even made the front page of the Milton Courier.  :)  We first had to practice with a fake bird.  You can't hear it in the photo, but the kestrel bit her!

Chillaxing on the couch with a box of goldfish crackers.  Doesn't get much better than this!

Probably playing a Roblox game together

Colin's exploring the innards of our old mattress

Two and a half weeks after school started, our numbers were getting high enough that the school district switched to virtual learning and we've been doing that ever since.  It's certainly been an experience!

Not our best Halloween at Blackhawk photo but we had lots of fun trick-or-treating by golf cart

Round 1 of pumpkins.  The kids are not thrilled about getting the goop out!

Colin made Fridays pajama day and they usually consisted of this cute Care Bear number or a extra large but very warm CatDog one

Kayla often had to turn in gym logs with photos showing her doing physical activity.  She did a lot of Ash-walking and I took pictures of her at soccer.

Ashy selfies

Chubby bunny!

Aww....

For Halloween at 'school,' Colin dressed up in his CatDog pjs while Kayla was Billy from Hocus Pocus.  She did her own makeup and it turned out really well!

Playing in the leaves.  Can you find Colin in the last photo??

We did do drive-by trick-or-treating with masks and really filled up our bags!

Northern Wisconsin 2020

Our original summer vacation plans called for going down to New Orleans and cruising to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. For obvious reasons, our cruise was cancelled so we thought about following the Oregon Trail out west.  Then decided maybe the best idea was to just stay in Wisconsin (and Michigan) and tour parts of the state we haven't visited yet.  We started at Council Grounds State Park.  Our friends met us there, and I surprised Jordan by hiding a birthday cookie in the camper and bringing it out for dessert.

It was a great place to go fishing.  Even Ash enjoyed checking out the fish!

Colin and Archer practicing ninja moves and playing by the fire

The family's favorite song is Steal My Girl by OneDirection.  Here we are all singing along on our way to the next stop!

And the next spot is...Porcupine Mountains!  Our campsite was almost next to Lake Superior.

Just a short walk from our campsite was a rocky beach where we enjoyed the views and waves.

Enjoying a hike, and Colin caught a fuzzy caterpillar!

More pictures by the lake.  This was such a peaceful spot.

More hiking and waterfalls

All waterfalls lead to the beach!

Gotta stop for ice cream and the beach after a long day of hiking

Relaxing at the campsite

Last time at "our beach" which clearly was other people's beach too since we watched this cairn get built by various people (including us!) over the three days we were there

Next stop is Copper Falls State Park.  We did the waterfall loop and got caught in the rain.

Playing our favorite family game while it rains - Mexican Dominoes!

We spent the next day (our anniversary!) touring the Apostle Islands

We took the boat taxi to Washington Island

Went swimming at Big Bay State Park then stopped for ice cream

Found this cool wolf sculpture made out of recycled materials on the way back to the campsite

We went wildlife searching and found an elk!  Can you see her?  We then caught a wolf cross the road.  Love this part of Wisconsin!

                                        

Then we drove to Grantsburg and ate at the local drive-in.  It was a little chilly!

Another day, another hike exploring.  Colin had fun with my phone taking pictures of mushrooms and himself!

Stopped for the largest ice creams we've ever seen!

After going to a demolition derby and checking out another state park, we made our way back home.  Caught the kids playing chess against each other!

Our traditional end of vacation meal at Mr. Brews.  While this wasn't what we had planned, we certainly had yet another fabulous family vacation.  :)