Sunday Adventure Part II

After lunch, we drove out to the Pine Grove Park, where the old Huron lightship is permanently moored.  The Coast Guard and the old U.S. Lightsaving Service kept a number of floating lighthouses around the country, including in the Great Lakes.  The Huron lightship was stationed six miles north of the mouth of the St. Clair River and three miles west of the US shore, and was decommissioned in the 1970's.

Before boarding the lightship, we watched a freighter head north into Lake Huron.  Will she fit under the Bluewater Bridge?

Yup.   Looks like she'll fit!

Charlotte found the Huron's bell.

This is what happens when I ask the Stringers to pose.

There's the light.

On deck.

We were instructed to go down the ship's very steep stairs backwards.  Peter dutifully complied.

Down stairs, Charlotte VERY BRAVELY stood on a grate over the engine room.

The Huron was crewed by 8-9 men, but each crewmember had 1 week off a month, so there were typically only 7-6 men on board on any given time.

Here is an officer's stateroom. 

Before we left, our intrepid DG gave the DG salute with the Huron's anchor.

Sunday Adventure Part I

This morning, even though the temperature was 50 some degrees when we woke up, and even though the weather called for storms, we hopped in Big Red Van and headed off to Port Huron to have an adventure.

Our first stop was the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse, just northwest of the mouth of the St. Clair River.

The lighthouse is one of the oldest on the Great Lakes.

The lighthouse is right on the beach, and when my back was turned taking a picture of the lighthouse, Peter waded into Lake Huron . . .  of course.  That strip of land behind Peter?  That's Ontario.

After visiting the lighthouse, we drove into Port Huron in search of lunch.  We hung a left on Quay Street, and found this little park next to the boat slips on the Black River.  There was a checker/chess set . . .

 . . .  and a roaring fire.  I mentioned that it was cold, right?

We had lunch at the Quay Street Brewery, another one of Michigan's brewpubs.  Niki and I ordered a sampler of their beers.  Samplers are normally 4 or 5 beers.  It seemed like our waitress brought out about 15.  (And no - we did not finish them.)

Our dates for lunch . . .

Dinner in Detroit

On Saturday, Niki and I met up with our friends Joel & Natalie at Niki's Pizza in Greektown (Detroit).  We followed dinner up with drinks at the Detroiter Bar.  The feta cheese pizza was awesome, and the company was even better!

Camp NanaB 2013 Kickoff!

Tonight, we kicked off Camp NanaB 2013.

Quinn quickly got into the swing of things . . .

Granny-Great and Grandpa-Great were on hand.

Learning about the first adventure:

Quinn of the Woods #1

Off to find the Bug Camp

Which way to the trail?

And while Connie found some water to play in . . .

 . . . the kids found the Bug Camp.

Quinn of the Woods #2

In the woods

Campers, Camp Counselor, and Camp Director

Camp NanaB sign is out.

And then Granny-Great and Grandpa-Great hauled out the water guns . . .

Niki, Connie, and Kayla

Charlotte nails Quinn.  Check out Grandpa-Great's expression.

Peter looks positively bad-a*&.

And the water fight is on!

Maisie expertly timed a break in the action.

What will tomorrow hold?

Aaaaaand this is what happens when the kids use Photobooth on the iPad

Evans cousin convention

Does it count as a cousin convention when there are only three cousins?  Sure!  Why not?  Erin and Sonia made the long (though not nearly as long as it used to be) drive up to Michigan to see us for a few days, and the kids are having a blast.  All three kids are obsessed with Star Wars and have been acting out scenes from the movie (well, if the movies had scenes involving things like interaction between Yoda and the Ewoks) and acting like complete goofballs.  Here is just a taste of the mayhem we caught on film (or at least the SD card):

The kids have played in the cinnamon-infused sandbox.

They have wolfed down ice cream.

Charlotte found and befriended a dragonfly.

They played some more in the sand box.

Aaaaaand, they ended the day with a wild dance party in their Abbey nighties.

Shake your booty!

The end.