We spent a wonderful weekend visiting Granny or GG as the kids call her (short for great-grandmother). Granny is doing pretty good for an 87 year old, still living her in own home. And she can beat anyone in Scrabble!

No trip in the summer is complete without picking raspberries from GG's patch. These berries have been filling bellies for at least 40 years. We picked in the mornings and evenings each day. Nothing says summer like fresh raspberries on your Cheerios!

We also went to Copper Harbor, which is the furthermost northern point in Michigan. It's a cute little town with shops and a few restaurants. Speaking of restaurants, we made sure to stop at Toni's for pasties. They were sooo good, wish they were available in Indiana. While in Copper harbor, Matthew found some bear slippers that he couldn't live without. He calls them his "bear feet". It's pretty sweet.



We also stopped at Eagle Harbor Lighthouse. We've visited this lighthouse each year for 3 years in a row. But the kids love to climb it and there really isn't much else in the area to do.


Looking up the spiral staircase.No one goes to bed without a helping of ice cream and fresh raspberries.

We had a really nice trip. I hope we're able to go up there for many more summers.

Back from the UP. Other wise known as a beautiful area of the country to visit but probably not to live. Kids did great in the car considering it takes 4 hours to get to my parents house and an additional 8 hours to get to Granny's house in the UP. Not much to look at either, various stores selling cheese and beer in Wisconsin, road kill and lakes. But once you come over that hill and see the Quincy Mine on the top of Hancock Hill, your heart just soars. Mainly because you know you're almost there but also because it really is a beautiful place.

This picture doesn't do it justice but it gives you an idea.
Granny (85 years old) has been living in Hancock, MI for 50 years or something. My grandfather worked at the above mentioned mine, mining copper. That area of the country is known as the Copper Country - during it's heyday it was the largest copper supplier in the world. There is still millions of dollars of copper in the ground but it's too expensive to mine it any longer. So unfortunately, when the mines shut down, so did a lot of the towns. The area now mainly survives on small businesses and tourism. Lots of Harley's in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. They average over 300 inches of snow a year so it's a snowmobile r's paradise. Too bad it takes so darn long to get there.

Raising 'em right.

I'm raising the kids to enjoy classical music. In addition to knowing the difference between Mozart and Vivaldi, Kylie plays a mean air guitar to the opening lines of "Sweet Child of Mine" by GNR. And Matthew says "Aie, aie, aie" just as well as Ozzy in "Crazy Train".

I'm going for a well-rounded childhood experience.