Cousins, Cousines

One reason we travel is to snag some cousin time. Saw Sophie in Shorewood, then headed up here where eventually the LeBlancs swept down upon us from Canadia. But then there's my cousin Anne and the girls' second cousins, too. Who got a boat.

That's Miabelle and Lily, they're "half Asian, half Woodchuck" cousins.  As a matter of fact, Miabelle just turned six!  And if you look closely at this picture you can see cousins Lillian and Sylvia LeBlanc eating some pancakes.

Miabelle is neither particularly photogenic nor attractive, but we were happy to help celebrate her 6th.

The Last Moments of Without Mama

Eagerly we awaited Ella's return to us; whoa, we had fun trying to manage on our own, but we were getting somewhat ragged.  She had embarked on a major overnight flight into bus ride strategy and we had to go intercept her.  We decided it might be wise to do some horseback riding and a quick foray to The Farm on our way...

Here is Ida upon her mighty Steed, Remington!

and Miki on Harry Potter:

Caramel Collision!

Whoa, Mama on the Scene!@@!

Super Whoa!  What's that?  Grambee doing some swimsuit gardening??

Back at it!

Ella got a root beer float, in case you were wondering. And it was a "caramel collision" root beer float, not straight vanilla. Extreme!!

Soon we arrived in Ephraim, Wisconsin, where we set upon many varieties of watersports. SUP:

Kayaking!

Canoe!

As Grandpa Jim famously said, "We are now once again able to provide rides for people in various boats."

And then we began accomplishing the many expensive activities that needed to be accomplished.  Ida did some deft work with mosaics and Hands On:

Miki, upstairs, was working on this ceramic M.

There's Jim himself!  Hanging at the beach!

Single Parent Travel

Before we left town, both girls got married!

(Actually, they were allowed to try on our friend Amy's veil...)

And then the three of us took off.  Long delay and had to race through SeaTac like crazy, really running, to catch our second flight to Milwaukee...

Once in Milwaukee, we were taken out on a yacht by this seasoned Salt. 

V

Much as we missed Ella, we got in the rental car and headed North...

Non-Stop Beach

Whoa, even before the girls had a grand time at Westwind--perhaps photos from Ida to follow--we were partying at Cannon Beach. Man, very generous friend let us use her house!

Scored some wetsuits, some boogie boards, got ready to boogie.

Camp

Here's a nice picture of Miki taken by her hero, Hugh, with his big camera.

Very quiet and slow around here for a few days while these girls are out on the coast at Westwind--Miki's first sleep away camp experience!  Here they are, bravely getting on the bus:

DKV has a better camera

Some say I never post photos of me.  That's because I'm documenting...

So much dam building on this trip.  Damn.

This is Arthur's favorite kind of hat...

Oh, there I am again, with Mount Hood!

And Miki, with lurking Cousin.

And Theodora...