All good things come to an end - Summer is done!/Boundary waters, Michigan, Fairs, lots of rain/Our God is so close to us! - +JMJ+

Since their  engagement they have had a pitchfork picture on the order of the old picture we are all so familiar with...  Each year they add to it, and this year they will have a kayak paddle in place of their half broken pitch fork.  Why?  They made the big 8 hour trip to spend some days on Lake Michigan!  It was the first time for Bobbi and the kids, and they loved it!  

"Now you will know what I am talking about when I speak about Michigan."  "Yes!"  I grew up in Michigan and spent the summers on the Big Lake, and it goes very deep for me as a yearning love for the sugar sand and the clear blue waters.  Thanks to Ruth we found a place big enough and 2 hours closer and with perfect sand beach and shallow sand swimming.  There was nothing we could find wrong with it!  

The true beauty of our week was getting the cousins together including our three boys that are all now 6 and going into first grade! 

Pat and I were so filled with happiness to see the smiles even on the older bunch that are now teenagers!  

Ruth has such a crazy life and had been so hectic before coming to find some peace by the Big Lake!  She took advantage of every moment she could find to read, write and still made wonderful meals for the at times 27 gathered to share time.  She came with 3 pans of lasagna!  

This is the view that greeted us when we entered our wonderful cabin!  Many places for our huge family to eat and sleep in comfort!  

These 3 girls are within less than a year from youngest, Joy, to oldest, Josephine.  They all received their First Communion in the last year, and are together a lot of the time.  I think they would say that they are some of their best friends! 

Our week was originally for the girls as the boys went to the Boundary Waters with grandpa farmer Pat.  That was altered to include Therese as she had 3 brothers going and could sleep in their tent.  Then with the size of our place which had beds and rooms for 20+ we added the boys, and even my wonderful husband drove to spend the last day with us!  There is nothing like seeing it for yourself and he thought it was wonderful in every way.  

So much room!!!  This was in the Master bedroom - we normally sleep in a double bed, so we had a hard time finding each other!  Nancy and Gina shared it with me for some days too.  

Pat loved the huge fireplace!  

Serving up ice cream for the troops! 

The Big boys in line for ice cream... they went from the water to war board games to digging trenches and playing war games outside.  

Maggie with her rainbow ice cream cone.  Maggie and Tommy were best buddies for the whole week!  

Pink suit and scapular in the sugar sand!  

A group shot just as Birdie was heading home after the first 3 days in the cabin.  It all went too fast!  Today the words are so true - All good things must come to an end.  Tomorrow is Labor Day and the end of summer with school the next day.  I will have Tommy for the last time as he is going to Preschool next Tuesday.  

I am feeling sad at that change!  Tomorrow Nancy and I with her kids are having our first canning day!  Salsa day!  

How I loved this picture of my 3 girls sharing together while doing hand work!  Ruth is working on an afghan, Maria on a cross stitch Christmas stocking and Nancy had been on line meetings for Catholic Sprouts - her ministry in the morning.  

Tom with his girl possy!  He loves his girl cousins that are his age!  

So wonderful to get 4 of the 5 together on the beach of Lake Michigan - my happy place since I was a girl!  My parents also had a deep history of the Big Lake in Michigan, and built a cabin for us the year Ruth graduated from high school in 1998.  We went there as a family until about 10 years ago when we sold it.  Last year was my first year back since than, and now it seems to be feeling like an annual trip.  Time will tell!  

Watermelon on the beach - sweet 4 year old Magdalene having her first time in Michigan and seeing the playing in the Big Lake with her buddy 3 1/2 year old Tommy.

We walked both way from our wonderful place and discovered that we had the primo beach!  It was hard to have it come to an end, but as in life all good things do come to an end, and with the ups and downs of life - the ups are wonderful!  

Our return to Michigan after 10 years after selling our cabin last year was very sad because Maria could not join us.   They were moving to Fort Riley, KS so it was not possible for them.  This year it happened so that Maria and her 7 kids were there from the minute we arrived to the minute we had to leave at 10a on Friday.  

The picture is complete with farmer Pat!  Our hearts are full with so much gratitude and love we shared in this wonderful land in Menomenee, MI!  

Grandma with the 18 that ended our week on the shores of Lake Michigan.

A special grotto where there is a paver in honor of my parents and their years as dad served as a Permanent Deacon in the Catholic Church in Manistique, MI.  

A visit to my brother, Dan's camper close to a beautiful beach.  We shared a chili lunch - Ruth made from all the tomatoes she brought from her garden- 4 boxes!!  

My parents' anniversary was yesterday - 76 years!  Their happy place was Michigan, and so it was great to remember them there vising my brother and sister.

Going down to see the beach while visiting my brother, Dan.  

Brother, Dan, with Magdalene, who he has gotten to know as now Maria lives very close to Dan and Angela in Taylors Falls/St Croix Falls, WI.  So grateful to my brother for helping our Maria now that Major Joseph is 9 months in Poland away from his family.

Trip up to visit family in our old stomping grounds at my parents' cabin - Manistique, MI.  

Shocking news of the attack on those at Back to School Mass at Ascension Church - we prayed our family Rosary for many nights - Pat on his knees with the kids!  Lord, help them!  

How we needed to know that our God is close to us in the midst of this hard time so close to home.  Our own grandkids will be attending Catholic School on Tuesday.  Prayers for safety from such hatred for The Church to the point of killing little ones gathered at Mass!  

Therese made a gift for Bernadette, who was unable to spend time with us!  Drift wood frame with her watercolor.  

Making us Jumbolia for the large crowd - so good!  

The boys dug a trench- that needed to be filled in to make the beach back to perfect!  

Therese took her little sister, Maggie and little Tom on a long kayak ride .  

Gina and all got an ice cream when we met Nancy to drop off her 4 kids that finished the week with us. 

These two missed the picture of our group and they spent the first 3 days with us before they had to go home. 

Fires and smores a couple nights in the fire pit.  

Water colors with the girls!  

Birdie painting...

This could go on an on... Jesus, I long to know that you are with all those that suffering after the tragedy in Minneapolis.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Bless-bless, Barb and all 33