there are wolves in the north woods...

Looking at the pictures from our trip, it looks like Summer packed into a matter of days.  It was an incredible whirlwind, both for what we managed to do - learning to kayak, paddling a canoe, caving, swimming, playing, hiking, picking apples, visiting - and for it being so deliciously Summery in its s'mores-filled, sun-kissed, dribble-castle glory.  We have come back to Ohio to find that kids have been in school several days already and we're still shaking the sand from our shoes. Sigh.

I'm so not done with sharing photos of our trip, but it's getting a bit ridiculous, trying to catch up, so I'll do as I can and move on!!  These shots are of a 3-day trip to a cabin up north with my mom and my sister's family, and it was glorious.  We ate, slept, played, swam, hiked, looked for wolves, canoed, tied knots, played charades, breathed in the pines and just really enjoyed being together. It's what I would wish of all of our visits together.

I become a bit obsessed with nature, you know, and when I heard that the owner of this amazing house we stayed in had seen a black bear and a wolf this summer, just down the road a piece, my internal switch turned ON and I was determined.  I even talked my sister and mom into a twilight prowl in the car, slowly driving around looking in the dimming light. No luck.  But the last night we were there, Ani crawled into bed with us for some unknown reason around 4.  As I lay there listening to her breathe and fall back asleep, I was suddenly aware of something outside - it seemed to be a thing, rather than a sound - a rushing of winds and motion that turned into the chorus of what could be nothing other than wolves.  I held my breath, trying to wrap my mind around the sound, and then gasped "Dan" and he immediately responded, "I hear it". It didn't last long, but the sound was there, letting us know the wolves were around....