Report from Isanti, June 2024

Another fun time at Granny and Grandpa's house in Minnesota...

While my father-in-law and I were taking my oldest to a month-long Spanish immersion camp, my children made friends with the cats and did some rowing on the lake at Granny and Grandpa's house.

Simon and son

Cuddling the other cat

So much fun!

Kayaker

Switching boats

A happy sailor

Coming in for a landing

One last shot on the lake

There were some other activities that I never got a report on...

Random harp playing?

The next day I got out in the canoe with Grandpa to check on a geocache they have hidden. My daughter did some more kayaking, just for fun.

Cruising German Lake

Later, we went on a geocaching and playground odyssey that took us to some fun spots.

A fun spot for the youngest

Back at the house with a cat in the yard

The chickens in the yard

We ran some errands in Elk River and I did more geocaching. I discovered the most amazing Little Free Library ever--Bag End! 

The path to the hobbit hole

The front door

Inside

Opening the door activated a gizmo that started playing the Hobbiton theme music from the movies. 

Back at the grandparents, the kids helped to build a life-size yeti cutout to either draw closer or scare away Bigfoot-type creatures. Or maybe just to scare away unwanted visitors. The project involved blowing up a smaller outline and then cutting it out of several pieces of wood.

Bigfoot needs a bigger foot

Almost finished

The grandparents took the kids strawberry picking, which resulted in a lot of strawberries being brought to the house. 

Only part of the collection

To use up some, we made strawberry shortcake.

Macerating the strawberries

Shortbread

Portions for the freezer

It was a great visit and we look forward to the next one!

Kayaking at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Our first kayaking trip was the first full day we were on Hilton Head Island. We enjoyed it so much, we went a second time later in the week. This resulted in a deluge of photographs. I'll start with pictures from the first excursion.

Suited up, ready to go

Launching, with help

Figuring out the controls

Second launch

Third one in the water

Exploring the river

Going in the right direction; also, leading from behind

Two out of three people relax when they kayak

Some bird (sorry, I'm no ornithologist)

Cruising under tree branches

Passing a cool house

Passing each other

Passing under a bridge

My turn

Palms on the shore

Someone else going under branches

A third intrepid explorer

Golfers on shore

Potential conflict

Going in style under the bridge

The bigger boat we needed

Conflict breaks out

Boat name or dad joke?

The only alligator we saw (on the first trip)

Paddles everywhere!

Spotting a bird

The bird spotted

A last bridge?

Pipe pretending to be an alligator

Strange name for a road

Really the last bridge

Back by the docks

Our second kayaking trip had more alligators and birds, though the alligators were camera shy. That's okay, because I was alligator-shy. We took a longer, different route and saw some other things, including bubbling waters! I assume that was to keep the waters from being stagnant, though I don't think that would really be a problem.

Second launch

Duck the Branch

My turn at Duck the Branch

Getting out of the woods

Didn't we already pass this house?

A slowly sinking tree

Sunshiny house

So many bridges

Shore bird

Another bridge

Nice reflection

Big house

Trash I picked up

I guess I really like bridges

Bubbling water

More bubbles

Riding through the bubbles

Is this dock bent on purpose?

I guess taking its picture scared the bird?

Ready to fly

Ready to rest

Luckily, too small for us to explore

Crossing the bridge in the other direction

I zoomed to get this shot

Ditto

Last bridge

Coming in for a landing

Pulling himself into drydock

As I said, I did not get any pictures of the gators on the second trip. I barely saw only one of them, though the rest of the family says they saw two different gators.