pt 13. nates b-day!

 fri we woke to celebrate nate's 12th birthday!  muetti made this lovely cake and candle plate. she had nate keep his eyes closed

 happy birthday buddy!

 he was thrilled

 so thoughtful. thank you muetti for making his day special!  we love you

 joey smiled through the whole thing!

 after cake we went to tobermorry/the grotto.  we stopped at lake huron

 it was so windy

 we saw this sweet little lending library. i took a nature book on pond life

 the girls each took a book and read them in a canoe!

 outside the bathroom we found this!

 tools!

 we hung out in tobermorry, had ice cream and treats

 and relaxed

 we went to the visitor information and climbed the viewing tower.. i was a bit nervous we were up so high!

 joey was fine. haha the tower had to been 100' or higher

 after a quick rest, chris took the kids to the informational  center where they watched a movie and i practiced the art of public napping and napped for 45 mins

it was almost 4 and our time slot for the parking lot was FINALLY here.  the grotto is free but you have to book and buy a parking spot. we had 4:30-8:30

 the girls ran the whole 30 min walk

 we got to the grotto

 see the tiny hole? thats where you climb into the grotto. we all went in

 inside!

 i was welcomed to a bunch of guys yelling "go mom! you did it!" when i climbed down. haha

 i sat and watched the water was too cold for me

 the girls jumping in

 after the grotto, i took the girls to the beachy part so nate and chris could swim more in the grotto

 so fun

 the grotto was PACKED but started to clear out around 7 which left it mostly to us the last hr or so

 i would def pick a later time slot the next time. by 8 there was 2 other families left. 

 sisters helping each other

 so nice to watch

 chris and nate joined us for the last hr

 and the kids loved swimming with dad

 my 12 yr old!

 more cliff climbing. in bare feet!

 love this kid. he's almost as tall as me

 it was the BEST way to spend nate's birthday.  we left around 8:45 and got to the farm around 11! it was another late, long day! 

 sat was our last day, we chilled around the farm, cleaned and packed. i spent the afternoon painting with this little bug

 such a hoot

 i saw this plate and thought it would be fun to try to paint the flowers

 i drew them out in pencil then added water color

 1/2 way there

 voila.  i think ill see if i can take some classes, its very relaxing!

after paint time, we had supper, packed some more and bath time....

Posted by mel at 2:52 PM