Cascade River State Park.....

 This year for our annual family trip we decided to go to the North Shore. The state parks fill up fast so by the time we got our dates picked the parks in the area were pretty much full. So we ended up at Cascade River State Park We were in sites all over the campgrounds since we took what we could. The campgrounds was pretty small so it worked out just fine. The campsites are all pretty small but nice. The bathrooms were super nice! They even had private showers. Everyone was happy about that. The trails in the park that we went on were all very well marked and nice trails. If you know Rick and I at all you know that we need the trails to be marked good even if we have a map....

Rick and I went up on Tuesday and brought Eli with us. We had a great time having some time with just him. He was super excited to be the first grandchild to be able to sleep in Nana and Grandpas camper.

Checking out Lake Superior 

Grandpa and Eli headed down the trail .

 They both had to have walking sticks to help them walk down the trail. 

Eli checking out the view 

Eli decided he could move no further down the trail without a break so we sat down in the middle of the trail and had a snack. 

Everyone else came on Thursday. We did a lot of hiking and agate hunting. 

Making popcorn over the fire was a big hit! 

Liam skipping rocks 

We found a ton of wild strawberries on the trail. The kids were super excited and spent a lot of time hunting the tiny berries down and eating them. 

A honeysuckle growing out of the rocks over the waterfalls 

Larina loved the water. It was so cold but she did not care and went wading in. 

Agate Hunting 

On Saturday we made our way to Grand Marais. It was only 9 miles from the campgrounds. We of course had to stop at the Worlds Best Donuts shop and all have a donut or two. 

Larina was so excited to have a donut with sprinkles. 

It was a major decision for her on how to eat it. 

We got everyone together to take a family picture. The picture turned out great except for the fact that the lens on my camera had fingerprints all over it and it made the picture blurry. I was so sad when we got back to the campgrounds and I looked a it. But on the good side we were all together and having a lot of fun! 

After we got back we all went down to the lake again and tried to take another picture. It did not turn out nearly as good but we tried. 

Rick was setting the camera up and snapped the above picture. I love it! You can see that we are all having fun! 

Eli turned 7 years old on Sunday! 

Eli and Oliver playing with Eli's birthday gifts.

We are very happy that Cassie and Nick are adding to the family with a baby boy due on November 14. 

Lady Slipper

We had such a good time. We love the North Shore and are all talking about going up again. It is fun to spend time with all the kids and grandkids, playing games, hiking, eating, exploring and just being together. 

Sharon