Fourth of July Week Fun

We had a lot of company over the weekend and good weather for the festivities. The kids all had their share of sun on the beach and fireworks over Lake Leelanau. On Wednesday we went to visit with the Goodfallows and had a barbecue in the back yard with them. On Friday we went to the Cedar Polka Fest and on Saturday we went to Traverse City for the air show at the Cherry Festival. Saturday night we had a bonfire on the beach at Good Harbor and we saw fireworks on the beach at Lake Michigan.

Here are some pictures from last week.

Beach day on the Fourth, 2012 

Mike and Hannah

Kate, Jacob and Ben

F-115 at the air show

Waiting for the action

We had a good time watching the planes and jets

Eleven stunt planes n the air at once

The crowd along M-22 at West bay

Saturday night beach fire

The Lockes at the bonfire

We saw this eastern hognose on Sunday. Scary looking but harmless.

3rd of July

The holiday week is here and the time is flying by. Nancy and I have both been busy and enjoying the part time work and getting used to living in the north country. The towns are full of tourists now and the crowds are getting bigger each week. We have been bike riding on the trails, and canoeing on some of the small lakes in the area.
Jenny and her puppy came up on Sunday and are here for the week and Mike's family and Becky's family are coming up tonight for the long weekend. Looking forward to a fun time.
Here are a couple of pictures from the past week.

This is Tucker Lake, on the west side of Miller Hill. This is the small lake we saw from our walk on Sunday.

A beaver hut under a fallen cedar tree.

Looking east to Miller hill. The opening in the trees in the center of the picture at the top of the hill is where we were standing on Sunday. 

back at the launch.

Sunday Strolling

We went for a seven mile walk around the block this morning. Wheeler Road north to Darwin, then Darwin west to Miller Hill Road, then south to Cheney and east to Wheeler. Its a long loop up and down the hills and mostly through the deep woods. At the top of Miller Hill is a look out over Tucker Lake and the countryside to the west. It's a fabulous view on a clear day, but today was a bit hazy and overcast.

Here's what we saw...

Tucker Lake is in the foreground and lake Michigan in the back. From this vantage point you can see Glen Haven and the Sleeping Bear Dunes at the top left of the picture.

Summer Time

We've been enjoying the warm (and Hot), weather this week. We had temperatures in the high eighties with not much cooling the past two nights. The beaches are tempting, but the stable flies have been bad and keep us away. Hopefully they run their course before Fourth of July so everyone can enjoy Lake Michigan.
Ron and Diane Kerner came over yesterday and spent the afternoon with us. They took an unexpected trip to Traverse City for their anniversary and sent us an e-mail. We did some sight seeing with them and had a nice dinner before they went back to their motel.
Here are some pictures from last week.

Kara and Nolan at Fishtown with their two day suckers

Nolan was wearing his in no time!!

Old time fishing boat in Leland

Construction on the new boat launch.

Part of the fishing fleet in Leland. Salmon fishing was still very productive.

The new bike trail from Glen Arbor to the Dune Climb (5 miles).

Beach at D H Day Campground looking to Homestead Resort.

A calm evening on Sleeping Bear Bay

Summertime in northern Michigan

Summer is running rampant here in the north country. We have had a great week with lots of company. We watched Kara and Nolan for a couple of days and now Mike and the girls are here for the weekend. The weather has been beautiful, although we could really use some rain right about now. We see that the roads and towns are getting busier so the summer visitors are starting to come up.
Glen Arbor is hosting the Barbecue and Brew festival this weekend so it should be crowded in town.

Tuesday, June 12

We had a fun weekend with Dave and Becky and the kids. We went for a boat ride on Big Glen Lake and hiked up to Pyramid Point. On Saturday evening we went down to Good Harbor beach to watch the sun set. It seems that this is getting to be a really popular thing to do and the beach gets almost as crowded for sunset as it does during the day.
This week we have Kara and Nolan with us for four days while their parents are away from home for work. Laura is in Knoxville and Sean has an audit in Houghton Lake. We are entertaining the kids as best we can. Everyone seems to be having a good time.

Dave carried Trevor in a backpack up to the lookout at Pyramid Point.

When we got to the top we found that the biting flies were a nuisance. We hurried and got some views of the lake and islands and had to hurry away from the dune to get away from the flies.

We had a beautiful couple of days with sunny skies and warm temperatures. It was a perfect summer weekend.

Finally a new Post!!

The weekend flew by as we were down state from Wednesday through Sunday. We spent time with Tom and Evey, Dave and Becky and the kids, then with Mike and Amy and finally at Laura and Sean's for Saturday night and Sunday. We watched Kate graduate from pre-school, watched Ben play baseball, had dinner at the Polish American Century club with Mike, Amy, the kids, and Mr. and Mrs. Wright. On Sunday we attended Kara and Nolan's baptism and then celebrated Nolan's birthday in the afternoon. We packed a lot in and had a great time.
The weather has been wonderful this week since we got back and we got some more much needed rain over the weekend. Yesterday we rode on the new bike trail in the National Lakeshore and pedaled the ten mile round trip from Glen Arbor through D.H. Day Campground, through Glen Haven and then to the Dune Climb. The trail is awesome and I'm sure it will be packed all summer with bikes and pedestrians. It goes through the most scenic woods and s as level as they could make it with all the hills in the area. It is blacktopped and nice and wide. I'm sure it will be a hit!!

Kate marching in to her graduation ceremony.

So proud to be moving on to kindergarten!!

The Locke Family

Ben with his baseball team

Trevor had a determined look on his face before the baseball game.

Kara getting baptized

Nolan's turn. He got a big kick out of getting water poured on his head!

Godmothers and Godfathers