Ely 2014

We spent the second week in June in Ely and it was really one of our best trips there yet. Cary even went so far to say that this was his favorite trips to Ely ever.  From the very beginning, I was worried that this vacation was doomed.  On our way up, the air conditioning wasn't working in our car.  We also heard that the sewer hadn't been working, which made me very hesitant to even want to go.   After all, I am 8 months pregnant and need to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes.  And then when we were just a few hours away, we heard that power was out on the island. We spotted this rainbow while on the road and I hoped that it meant a better week was ahead!  Sure enough...it ended up being a fantastic week!

Tony and the boys had been there over the weekend and so we overlapped for a few hours on Monday.  The kids had so much fun playing together, fishing, swimming at the beach, kayaking, tubing, and roasting hot dogs.  We begged them to stay another day, but they were out the door by Monday afternoon.  Uncle Mike and Aunt Bobbye left early Tuesday morning, and we were happy to have Monday evening with them.  Brynn loved going on a hike with Aunt Bobbye and, as always, Carter loved the candy in their cabin! :)

A little morning fishing...

A stop at Blueberry Island for a hike and to hear Tony's "Legend of the Bone House"

Roasting hot dogs

Lunch! 

Davis and Carter tubing

Totally model-worthy :) 

So of course we had to take a "which model looks better in these ridiculous life jackets?" photo

Brynn and Aunt Bobbye

By Tuesday morning, we were completely on our own on the island.  Being the only people there has it's ups and downs, but we tried to relish in the fact that this would be our last vacation as a family of four.  The weather the first two days was perfect so we spent most of our time on the beach or in the boat.  I drove the pontoon while Cary took Brynn tubing and Carter spotted.  We took the kids on kayak rides.  We did a little more fishing.  We played music as Cary built sand castles with the kids and I read my book.  It was relaxed and lazy and perfect.  The second two days were a little colder and overcast so we had to be a bit more creative.  We went into town one morning and Cary went for a run while I took the kids to the park.  We played games in the cabin and let the kids watch cartoons in Bobbye and Mike's cabin.  Cary and the kids went for hikes and roasted marshmallows.  We went into town another night for dinner at Sir G's and frozen custard.  One night we even had a fish fry (with walleye we bought in town).

The kayak was lots of fun and so easy on the calm waters

Brynn would sort of obsessed with tubing.

I sat and read any chance that I had. 

Nothing is more fun than playing in the water with their dad!

Boat rides are fun even if it's a little cold out.

Loving our ice cream.

A little game of checkers.

It's hard to believe that the next time we're in Ely, we'll have another child to look after!  Being in Ely with a baby really changes the trip, and being in Ely with a toddler is not much fun at all.  It was so nice to have two fairly self-sufficient kids who didn't complain about wearing their life jackets, could be left alone for a few minutes, and didn't needn't need afternoon naps on this trip.  We loved every minute of this trip and kind of had a hard time getting back to reality once we were back in town.  It's sure nice to spend so much uninterrupted time together!