Last Hurrah

We started the last weekend of summer with a GNO (Girls Night Out) down at Butch's Place with a fish fry and drinks. Morgan was a cheap date with only one drink but she flirted with the bartender so we got really good service. Megan was the lush at 3 drinks (kiddie cocktails) and we finally had to drag her out of the bar. A good time was had by all while Noah and George went to Park Falls to watch Stratford slaughter them in football.

The next day everyone got up and after a breakfast of eggs, the kids wanted to go fishing. Grandpa George spent most of the day putting worms on hooks and taking fish off them. There was also the occasional snag and line that would get snarled. Tara even tried her hand at fishing too and caught a 27 inch Northern which she promptly named Michael. She was so excited because she doesn't get many chances to fish and has never caught anything remotely close to this big. We cleaned it, threw it on the grill and ate it for lunch. Yum! Yum!

There was some quiet time where the kids sat and watched the water or just talked to each other and I swear to God there was no fighting! Later we all climbed into the boat and headed around the lake for a ride. The kids were excited to see all the lily pads and the pretty flowers and they saw the eagle fly down and try to catch a fish.

Then Carla and Tegan came and there was another boy for Noah to play with. Those two boys explored every inch of the beach looking for snails, clams, turtles and anything that would move. They parted bushes, dug through sand and even dived into the after trying to find the biggest and best prize. Of course when they did find something they had to show everyone and then find a place to keep it so they could look at it over and over and over.

We had hamburgers on the grill for supper and then it was more swim time. The kids couldn't get enough of the water. It was absolutely wonderful warm weather and they would have stayed in there until they pruned if we had let them.

The next morning, the Kauffman family joined us after Jennifer got done with work and after a breakfast of buttermilk pancakes ( a cottage tradition) all the kids donned their swimsuits and hit the water again. They swam and fished and just had a heck of a great time all day long.

Kip, Jennifer, Sydney, Sadie and Sailor went Turtle hunting and came back with 7 of them. They let all but 2 of them go and the kids played with those two the rest of the weekend. They thought they would make great pets and wanted to take them home. There was not a lot of agreement from the parents to that idea and the turtles were set free before we left for home

Al and Linda Grassl came down for a big Labor Day cookout Sunday evening and to finalize the destination for our February trip. I had narrowed it down to 4 places and we went through all the pictures and prices and other statistics I had compiled to finally pick one. It was a tough job but we managed to do it and now i can call my travel agent and book it. We are trying somewhere new and different this year and I can't wait to go.

Monday was a quiet day, Tara, Megan, Noah and Morgan had to pack up and head back to Nebraska after breakfast. The rest of hung around for a while. Grandpa George and I finally managed to take the boat out and do a little fishing all by ourselves but it was too windy and nothing was biting. Had some lunch, cleaned everything up and headed home. The last hurrah of the summer. The kids are all headed back to school now and soon fall will be upon us. What a wonderful way for summer to go out though. Surrounded by family up north at the cottage. Doesn't get any better than that.