Anna at Catholic Youth Camp

I love CYC!  Carolyn and I went to pick-up Anna from camp on Friday and celebrated Mass with all the campers.  (They have Mass everyday and it is awesome, full of great music and messages!)

 Really cool, but a bit creepy.....when I log onto the camp website and give them a picture of Anna, they pick her out of all the photos they have taken.  (She was in 15 photos and I could just see part of her face, but the software knew it was here.)  

Vacation: Thursday and Friday

 These days were mostly for driving home.  At 10 am on Thursday we picked up our frozen fish from Captain Caleb and drove to Madison Wisconsin.  (Stopping for cheese curds on the way.)  We went to a pub for dinner (really a bar with food, but it was across the street from our hotel, so we stayed).  Yes, my husband wore his Hawkeye hat in a Madison neighborhood bar....oyi!

The next morning we got the kids up early and hit the road for Iowa City, getting more cheese curds on the way and driving through Dubuque.  We dropped off Matthew and arrived home in the early afternoon.

Great trip.  Especially great to have a few days to recover before going back to work!

Vacation: Wednesday

Pictured Rock Kayaking

We took a 40 minute boat ride to our drop off point.  I really liked the idea of having the big boat with us the entire trip.  We didn't need it, but it gave me peace of mind.  A group with younger kids did go back to use the bathroom (Ryan had a walkie talkie and could hear everything that was happening with the other groups, but we really had our own tour.)  I also liked that if someone go tired, they could take a break.  In the end we didn't want to miss anything.  We did hurry a bit due to the weather (the 10 am group stopped short, while we got to do the entire 5 miles).

This photo showed the waves.  We only had 2 times with any waves (related to the passing of the big tour boats, not actual weather issues) and retrospectively they weren't big at all!  At the time, they felt bigger :0)

This was called "the limbo".  I begged Matthew to skip it, but now I kinda wish we had done it.  I think if I could do the trip a 2nd time, I could have enjoyed it even more.  A bit of the unknown made me nervous.  Plus we had a bit of rain, although this was a little bit of a blessing because then only 2 sight- seeing cruises were out while we were there.  They add waves!  Although as Ryan said, we had sea-kayaks and they were built for waves.

Joel and Carolyn were the most adventurous, paddling right along the rocks the entire time.  Matthew would have been more adventurous without me, but alas he drew the short straw.  (We didn't really draw straws, but I insisted that Anna be with Ken.   It probably was good I was with Matthew, because the person in the back controls the kayak and I would have been at Joel's mercy.  He is more athletic than Matthew so I think he just flew through the water, while Matthew was willing to stay further from the rocks for me.)

Most of the photos were taken by our guide, Ryan.  I certainly didn't take my camera on the kayak.  Matthew and Joel did and took a few photos.  Here is a photo from Matthew of our guide.  He was fantastic.  Nice, funny, experienced and knowledgeable.  Plus he took so many nice photos and shared them with us.  I felt a great deal of happiness having him there with us.  He was only responsible for our family.  (There were 4 guides total off of our big boat.)

I know we saw the place that inspired Michigan's 2018 quarter.  Not sure if the photo above is the exact spot.  I will need to look a bit closer at all of our photos and ask the kids.

I ordered each of the kids one of these quarters for Christmas.  I will hunt for it in the wild too, but am pretty sure I could never find 4!

Update....here is the spot!

                                              

I highly recommend the trip.  It was like nothing we had ever done, like nothing we had ever seen!

 

Vacation: Tuesday

Our view from our hotel in Marquette Michigan.  Lake Superior

They used to have trains go out of this dock to load iron into boats.

Everyone but me went on an afternoon fishing trip.  I didn't want to risk sea-sickness and having a miserable time feeling queasy for the rest of the day.

Instead, I went to a cool Maritime Museum (with another great WWII sub story) and walked around Marquette.  Great little college town on Lake Superior.  It had a very Duluth-like feel, and I love Duluth too!

I would have toured the light-house too, but missed the last tour by less than a 1/2 an hour.

Back to the fishing trip.  This was a trolling kind of fishing trip.  Anna tried to catch the first fish, but just missed it.  The 3 other kids caught a fish and Anna was able to try again but without any luck.  Still this was the most fish we have ever caught.  Carolyn shared that the DNR (or some such organization) evaluated all their fish when they arrived on shore...checked the gender and I think kept the jaws of each fish to monitor age or something.  Then nice guide fileted the fish and offered to freeze the fish for us since we were in a hotel and couldn't do this ourselves.

                                         

Dinner Saturday night after we returned home.

 

Vacation: Monday

 We left the hotel and went to the Museum of Science and Industry before driving to Green Bay to stay the night.

Matthew took this photo of Joel matching the Lego statue!

Carolyn, Anna and friend.

We didn't take too many photos, but there was an AMAZING WWI submarine exhibit that I highly recommend!  We also considered stopping by the Field Museum after the Science and Industry Museum, but mostly the driving in Chicago made me unmotivated to try.  In 2015 we took the L to the Field Museum and walked home as it was close enough to our hotel.  We couldn't swing that and make it to church on Saturday.

Vacation: Sunday

 We walked to the Navy Pier.  

Here the boys in full goofy mode.  A family walking by us with little kids offered to take a photo, but I could sense that we would just get more like this one.  They said, "So it never ends huh?"  (implying that kids stay crazy)

Here is one of the few green spaces in downtown Chicago.  It also was connected to a dog park.

Matthew took this action shot.

It was foggy when we went to the Pier.  It also was a bit cool all day, which was excellent!  (Anna's photos)

We did have clear sky-line views on Monday though.

Then Ken's favorite part of the vacation.....CUBS Baseball!

People wear shirts from retired (and traded players) all the time.  Here is Anna in her Lester shirt.  He was the pitcher for the World Series win, but we just like it because it has Grandpa's name.  Years ago we had 2 shirts that said Lester, but Anna outgrew hers and here she is wearing mine.

We took the L (elevated train) to the game and had plenty of time to hang around Wrigley before the game.  After the fact, wish we had worn masks on the L because it screamed "super-spreader", but we all made it out Covid free from our vacation.   Now Anna just has to make it through Catholic Youth Camp, Marching Band Camp and Show Choir Camp.....the girl is going to be busy.  Her carefree vacation is over as she knows it!

                  

When Ken bought the tickets, I asked him to get 2 good tickets (so he wouldn't have to sit alone) and 4 "cheap seats", that really weren't cheap.   I figured he should get good seats as an absolute CUB FAN and I didn't want to waste the money for the other "semi-fans" (myself included).   In my mind Joel should have come and trade places with a sibling during the game, but he declared, "I never left my seat" (because the game was so intense....it really was a great game).  Carolyn and Matthew really aren't baseball fans, but Carolyn did declare that it almost was her favorite thing of the vacation.  (It didn't beat Kayaking, but she had a great time.  Matthew got a Chicago Dog, so he was happy.)  The game was especially good because we were losing the series to the Mets, but then won this game.  There were MANY great plays and it was exciting.  (Some baseball games aren't quite so thrilling....ex. pitchers duals.)  Plus Wrigley just has a great vibe.  Ken joked that the Cubs asked us to come back (because the Cubs seem to win the games we attend)

their view....they really did have great seats

After the win.

Outside the stadium.  Carolyn missed out on the Cub selfies somehow :0)