Back from vacation

I can hardly believe July is half over, it seems to have barely begun in my mind. We left for camping with family up by Pequot Lakes before the 4th and then headed to Duluth for the next week. We had an awesome time overall and Sarah handled all of it very well. She already seems to be back on a normal sleep schedule after we threw her off on a fairly regular basis.

In the interest of sharing a few of the highpoints of our time away I have compiled a list.

• Sarah did very well getting acquainted with a lot of family at once (and four dogs). Her comfort level with others has definitely taken a huge step. She also played in a sandbox for the first time.
  
• Elizabeth learned how to drive a four wheeler (with Dad) and ride a motorized dirt bike (by herself!). Both Elizabeth and Rachel had a great time riding the four wheelers with their cousins.
• The girls (minus Sarah) went tubing for the first time.
• Sarah slept in the camper for 9 days and only fell out of bed once and did not injure herself otherwise. (We do use a bed rail, but she can push it out in her sleep.)
• At the Great Lakes Aquarium we saw seahorses (plus lots of fish) and learned how big Lake Superior really is. It's the second largest fresh water lake in the world.
• We saw 4 or 5 of the biggest Great Lakes ships, including the longest at 1013 ft, pull into port in Duluth.
• We hiked the hardest incline at Jay Cooke State Park down to the river and my camera battery died early on the way down!
• We toured Split Rock lighthouse where John, Elizabeth, and Rachel took the stairs down to Lake Superior and tested how cold the water was. Frigid I hear!
• The girls played in the water at Gooseberry Falls and Rachel caught a leech between her toes.
• Rocks, rocks, rocks. They climbed on rocks everywhere and had a ball!
  
• We watched the lion cubs play at the Duluth Zoo.
• We took the girls to Cold Stone Creamery for the first and second time! And had a chocolate caramel apple at Rocky Mountain Chocolates! Yum!
• We all went on a family bike ride and carriage ride the last day.
• In the course of the week we were able to enjoy the lakeside boardwalk at a beautiful, calm, sunny 70 degrees and a cloudy, blustery, cold 55 degrees. It definitely gave you an appreciation for those who tough out the winters.

The hundreds of pictures we took do not do justice to the beauty we saw along the lake and at the state parks. I kept thinking that if whatever God has created on this earth can be so beautiful, what must heaven be like?

Thanks for checking in on us now that we're home again.