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....

4010

Last week we stayed at "forty ten", as my grampa's house is known in our family.

 

This was the first time we've stayed there as a family, and it was so good to make some new memories in that house, with our children.  There are so many touches of my grandma around, which in a melancholy moment just boggles my mind.   They're here? She's not? What?? The beautiful quilt on our bed was one started by her mother and finished by her many decades later.

I remember sleeping in this room during a visit home from college, and waking up to hear mourning doves outside my window and the smell of coffee downstairs.

When I called my grampa, Marzo (is that a great name, or what?),  to ask about staying with him, he told me he'd already dusted off grandma's piano for Eliza (who is named after my grandma), that's how ready he was for us to come be with him.

I sat and talked with my grandpa more than I have in the last 10 years and could not soak up enough of the stories he had for me, about the beautiful, buxom, white-haired Scotswoman who was his grandma, and who I got my early white hair from; the grandpa who always wore a suit and tie, even to walk across town to go fishing; catching chickens from the back of a truck in the middle of the countryside in Germany during the war.  I hope the extra dishes and laundry and feet pounding up and down the stairs weren't too bothersome for him, 'cause it was so worth it for us to have this time with him.

Marzo and Eliza made several of these rugs in their home

There were lots of moments like these.  Just hanging out together, playing the piano, making food, watching the birds.

New shirt from Eliza!

Hey, we all have our stenciled shirts on! We're so cool...

"Big Papa", who turned 94 in February, works for Habitat for Humanity a couple of times a week, and he is also pretty much game for anything, so was happy to join us one of the night we were with him, for a picnic at Olbrich Gardens and to hear Ani's favorite performer, local musician, Ken Lonnquist.

She was one happy girl.

 We soaked you up, Papa, but we're already looking forward to our next visit at 4010...

Bright as a new penny, these days

Wisconsin is a beautiful place, but our visits are about the people.  Much of this family we see only once a year, for a few days at most, but we seem to pick up where we left off...
 

We were with Dan's brother's family at the beginning of the week, and again this weekend, as we near the end of our trip.  The game the girls look forward to - "Princess Anika" - resumed almost immediately, within 10 minutes of our arrival.  Mind you, the kids - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 3 - had not seen each other since last August, but they wasted no time with donning costumes, figuring out new roles and reassigning old roles and getting down to it.

The girls' cousin E has written 14 chapters of a book called "Princess Anika and Other Stories", which the boys shared with us.  Amazing. 

 

An important part of this visit was meeting our newest niece, and storing up the snuggles and baby-ness to last us through the year.

Baby A with the block Ani made for her!

 Today's visit was all about the apples. 

E up with the apples

J wheeling the barrel up to the press

 We picked apples last year too, but this year was also about the cider press.  First it had to be cleaned and let to dry in the sun. 

 

Hey! Look where the press was made!! Back home in Ohio!!

Quick break for lunch

As you can tell, this was an all-hands-on-deck kind of operation.  Picking, sorting, cleaning, ogling the apple worms, pulping the apples, turning the press, catching the drips, avoiding the yellow jackets...

...and finally the rewards of tasting some of that good stuff.  Totally worth the hard work.

And where was Dan during all of this? Teaching Baby A the important things in life, like using her tongue for more than nursing.

And leading the gang through about a million verses each of  "Home on the Range" and "Freight Train". 

We try to squeeze so much in and we're never really satisfied, but we'll take these sharp, brilliant memories and savor them throughout the year.