Fun at the Secret Island - Michigan Vacation, Part 3

Jessie & Kevin and their crew went home last night, so today was pretty quiet since we were down 4 kids at the house. We decided to take a boat ride over to the "Secret Island." It's actually a bay on Grand Island, which is in Lake Superior off Munising Bay. It's part of the Pictured Rocks National Park. We went there a couple of years ago (not last year while I was pregnant) and the girls still talk about it.

The lake was pretty calm, and it was a nice day for a boat ride. It took us about a half hour to get to the bay. The girls proceeded to have a great time snorkeling, and looking at all the minnows in the water. There were lots, and Emma discovered that the liked to hide under things, so she poked at pieces of bark and such in the water and watched them swim frantically away. I wish we'd remembered the minnow nets, because the girls do love to catch minnows. Maybe next time.




Isaac enjoyed the water too! Initially, I forgot to put his swim diaper on, so he was cruising around with a regular diaper. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, all full of water - I had no idea they could get so big! He and Grandpa had a good time in spite of the silly diaper:



And he had the best time trying to put the lid from one of our thermoses onto a water bottle.



He's a funny little nut.



You know, when Abbie is done with something, she's done.



On the way home, my dad let them both drive the boat! Here is Emma:



And here is Abbie:



He was remarkably patient with them. Why, you might wonder, is this a big deal? Let me tell you - when I was a child, one did NOT look for opportunties to drive the boat. One was almost certainly guaranteed to do it incorrectly, and thus be the recipient of much yelling from Dad. The yelling increased the stress level and decreased the quality of the boat driving even further and... you see where I'm going with this. He seems to have gained some patience since the last time I had to drive, though, and the girls enjoyed learning how to do it.

Emma had decided on the way over that she was going to go inside the boat and organize all of Grandpa's stuff. Grandpa wasn't too keen on the idea, but he let her do it. I think what she really wanted was to be able to do this:



I felt seasick just looking at them in there. Bleah.

My sweet, sweet boy fell asleep both times on his Daddy's lap. He didn't care much for his life jacket, and couldn't move around in it very well. Between the noise and the motion of the boat, and the fact that he was pretty well immobilized, he snoozed for the ride.



It was a lovely afternoon on Lake Superior. I'm so glad we got to go and take Isaac, too.