Esme's Seventh Birthday

Our little girl turned seven years old today!

She chose to have her birthday portraits taken at Meijer Gardens. We all had fun finding cool places to take her picture!

This one just shows how silly she can be. :)

Here's what happens when you tell her to open her eyes wider. :)

There's our cute little elf girl.

Clearly the sculpture behind her doesn't have the sun in its eyes.

Jim said, "Esme, look like you're thinking..."

We wish our dear girl the happiest of birthdays and many blessings for her 8th year!

Aidan at 10

Just a quick note for posterity:

On Tuesday 27 July 2010, at his 10-year checkup, Aidan weighed 80.7 pounds, and measured 55.75 inches. In one year, he gained 11.5 pounds and grew 2.75 inches. His measurements are still in the same percentiles they've been in since he was 2 months old. :) Even his doctor marveled at his consistency.

Our Minnesota Vacation

These first few pictures are from Aidan's new birthday camera. He's been practicing a lot and has taken some really good photos!

Okay, this one's not from vacation! This is one of the sets Aidan received from his Grandma Lowry. It's called Lavatraz. Kinda like Alcatraz, only it's for rock monsters.

This is the Moose River, near the back end of the Lost Forty.

This is the equipment hard at work in the Hull Rust Mahoning Mine. Aidan got much better pics than I did here!


They were preparing this area for blasting.

Isn't this a nice picture? I knew he would be a good photographer. :)

Okay, now we're back to my pictures. Here's Esme, having finally conquered the bicycle without training wheels. She still refuses to ride on concrete or asphalt, but it's progress, believe me!

Our friends the Dennies gave Aidan this great Lego Star Wars t-shirt for his birthday. It's a good one!

Okay, NOW we're to the vacation pictures! Here are the kids on 2 August, at Tahquamenon Falls in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We drove from home to Marquette, MI on Day 1, taking a sizable detour to see the falls in the rain. :)

On 3 August, we met Melissa and Ryan in Superior, WI, and lickety-split drove over to Duluth, MN to try to catch the Tall Ships in the harbor...but no such luck! We could just see their shadowy silhouettes on the horizon from Canal Park. This ship, however, was giving tours from the bay into Lake Superior, and we got to see it way up close.

Ryan and Melissa at Crabby Bill's in Canal Park, enjoying some fishies before heading to the aquarium to see some fishies. :)

My little sister's office. I have a much better understanding of what she does for a living now, and it ain't for sissies. Sister not sissy.

The kids are wearing miner's hats at the Minnesota Museum of Mining.

Getting ready to drive the car onto the Lake Express so we can get rocked side to side and try not to toss our cookies for 2 1/2 hours...still beats driving through Chicago! :)

Okay, now the "real" pictures! Tahquamenon Falls.

A moose once bit my sister.

The children are standing in front of an American Chestnut tree outside the smithy at the Forest History Center. It's really quite a rarity.

Esme tries her hand at rolling a log using a cant pole.

Aidan gave it a try as well.

Esme, Aidan and Melissa all tried the climb to the top of the fire lookout tower. Esme made about 6 flights of steps before getting freaked out and giving up. Aidan made it pretty close to the top but then "my legs turned to jelly, Mom". Melissa made it all the way to the top!

...and was rewarded for her diligence by being admitted into the Ancient and Honorable Order of Squirrels. :)

We visited the Judy Garland birthplace, where the Garland family home has been beautifully restored. What a nice home! Here are Esme the Scarecrow, Aidan the Tin Man, and Melissa, aka Dorothy.

Me and my little sister, at the end of the trail in the Lost Forty.

Aidan and Esme seem very serious about this stand of tamaracks.

Ryan and Lis took the kids fishing at a little lake near their home in Marble. There didn't seem to be any fish...until it started to sprinkle! They were biting in earnest when it started to rain full-out, but Esme caught three fish before we headed for cover...

Ryan had to get the hook out of one of them!

Aidan caught two fish! Many thanks to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Melissa, who don't mind touching leeches and fishes.

At the Minnesota Museum of Mining, the kids perched on Paul Bunyan's marble while Aunt Melissa gave them rabbit ears. :)

Crazies. :)

We old people even got up there.

They had all sorts of dilapidated disused machinery and visitors are welcome to climb and pretend as much as they want.

Here we are at the Hull Rust Mahoning Mine, which is still in operation, but they also have exhibits of modern machinery for folks to see.

We had to take a picture of the Detroit Diesel engine for Dad. :)

Here you see the pit at the Hill Annex Mine State Park. This mine has been closed since the seventies, and they stopped pumping out the water two years ago. The conveyor in the water is a recent casualty of rising water levels.

Little teeny waterfalls like this one are filling the pit at a breakneck pace.

This big scooper machine looks like they just left it where it was digging when the mine closed.

We had a wonderful vacation and send our thanks and hugs to Melissa, Ryan, and Daisy for showing us such a good time and feeding us such excellent food! We had, among other things, homemade pasties, fried black-eyed peas, blueberry pancakes, and buffalo burgers.

It's good to be home, but we'll always remember our fun times in Minnesota!