August 2011 U.P. Trip with GBM Before Italy, Airforce Departure

We took a trip to the U.P. of Michigan for a week. The reason for the long vacation was to celebrate Garrett's last Hoorah before he is shipped out to Italy to begin his Airforce Service for 2-3 years. Before we started our vacation, we had Garrett here in Chicago with us for a weekend. Garrett then had 2 weeks of recruiting duty to serve in Oshkosh. During one of his weekends there, we visited with my Mother, Grandma Margaret, and Lee.

The beginning of our trip to the U.P. allowed for us to spend time together in Oscar Bay. Our friends, the Aldrich's came to visit with us. We spent our entire day there fishing off the dock.

The second leg of our trip, we visited with mom and dad at the Superior cottage. It was great to see our extended family including Grandma Margaret, Grandpa Jack, Uncle Joe, and Aunt Jodi. We spent our few days there golfing, taking walks on the beach, sitting in the hot tub, going to an art fair, having a campfire (where I caught on fire), doing a puzzle, and Bob went kayaking. The best part of the trip was getting the news that Meg and Dave are engaged and expecting their first baby. CONGRATS MEG AND DAVE!

The last leg of our trip was a blast as well. As you'll see in the pictures below, we went canoeing down the Paint River, Garrett caught a 22 inch Birch, we shot a couple rifles, had campfires, played poker (GBM was the winner), and had a lot of laughs.