Back home to Marquette

We have come full circle. We started our trip on Aug 1st 2009 in Marquette MI and have nearly come to the end back in Marquette (MQT).

We arrived on a beautiful sunny day, in the 70's and it took our breath away. Little did we know it would be about the only nice day we had! LOTS of rain in June this year. But, we weren't there for the weather, we were there to see our family, the people that make up our family when we are away from our real family. The last 3 years of our military career were spent in MQT and we all had a wonderful time. We all made some lifelong friends and I know that we will continue to make an effort to visit for many, many years to come.

Isaac and Mr. Newman. They were buds and had a lot of fun together.

We stayed at our dear friends the Newman's. We failed to get any pictures of the adults with each other! UGH! Even after spending three weeks there. So sad! But we did manage to acquire 2 little kittens from the Newman's, so that will have to do.

Mickey the mamma nursing the two kitten we took. So far we think their names are Yooper (the gray one), and Pfeffer (the white and striped one). Both boys and both soooo adorable!

Lara holding Pfeffer in her pocket. SOO CUTE!

The Newman's are great. They allowed us to move right into their lake house that overlooks lake Superior. What a beautiful sight, especially for the sunrise at 5 something. Suffices to say, I (mom) did not see it more than once :) My early rising husband on the other hand almost never missed it. The Newman's made us all feel at home and we will miss laughing and enjoying their family on a regular basis. We also spent some time at their cabin on a smaller lake in the area. It is so peaceful and quiet, even if it did rain most of the time! But there was plenty of fun to be had!

The first ones to try out the newly build pontoon at the Newman's cabin. Rainy, but loads of fun.

While there we had planned on seeing a lot of sights and doing some hiking to places we failed to visit while we lived there. But............none of that happened. We just spent time with the people we love.

Z-man has a group of friends he spent nearly every night with, played soccer with his old team (including two tournaments) and enjoyed seeing other friends from church and our homeschool group

Toley and Pooh spent many days with different friends, sleeping over, playing, swimming and crafting.

Toley, Brianna, Megan and Pooh

Kik got to see his teachers Aide from last year. He was so excited. Not to mention all his time in the water and playing on the Newman's swing.

Dad spent his time with friends from NMU and friends from church. He was busy riding his bike in all his old places and even did a road bike race. We also had an opportunity to go kayaking with Dave and Susan Michels on lake Superior before we left. It was a sunny day, a bit windy, but so neat to see MQT from the water!






Dad leading the race! WAHOO!!

Mom spent many days with friends over coffee, homeschool friends chatting while the kids played and lunch with my dear friend Susan. I will miss our talks.

We all enjoyed going back to our church for 4 Sundays! It will be hard to match Bethel when we leave. They have set the bar high. But I am sure God will put us in the right spot.

The highlight was that the whole family got to participate in VBS at church! Kik actually got to go while the other 5 worked. Dad and Z did the games, Pooh was a teachers helper with a group of 8 and Toley and Mom did hair and face painting. We all had so much fun and it was so nice to be able to volunteer our time.

We left at the end of June and headed down to WI to visit Grandma! We spent 2 weeks with dad's mom and had a great time. Hopefully someone will write about that soon!!!! hint hint!!

Butterfly picture by Pooh.

MOM