Finally, a Cookout!

Made some good progress on the greenhouse this week, but definitely far behind my initial goals for the end of the summer. It will be a busy fall. Working on the rafters this week. Discovered the pond liner I ordered for the roof is a few inches short, so that was annoying, but I think I found a solution. Lots of design work. Both girls helped with the build this week and that was fun! 

They also had their back to school night. Middle school! Wow. Their teachers seem wonderful. Really happy with the school we chose. Lots of fun clubs too. 

We had fun with Auntie Claire and Matt as well. The girls went on a great hike with them up Hogback Mountain. It took us all summer, but we got to have a cookout on our land with them and some other friends. My mom even came up to join! Amélie and I cleared the road and trails on Tuesday in preparation. It was fun. Hoping to finish the job today as Naomi thinks she lost her car key out there. We can combine it with a goodbye at the airport for Claire and Matt. 

Hike to the top!

Rafter time.

Amélie and I found some interesting mushrooms.

Plenty of support.

Fun to work in the rain. 

Abigail made the library hall of fame.

They had a great week together!

Chaos to Quiet

The beginning of the week was a house full of people! Claire and Matt were here, my parents came up for the girls birthday on Tuesday in separate vehicles - my dad even brought up a load of firewood, and of course they had their big party. It was a lot of fun! Amélie made Abigail breakfast in bed and Abigail made an origami fidget for Amélie. Lots of other fun presents and the games at the birthday party were a big hit. We ended the day with a cookout. Then it was goodbye. 

My parents took Claire, Matt and the girls down to Escanaba leaving us with an empty house! The next day my dad left on his 50th anniversary PCT hike in Oregon. He will be gone for about a month. Hopefully nobody gets hurt!

Strange to have such a quiet house for such a long time, but Naomi and I are able to get a lot done. She is working a ton and I am making progress on the greenhouse. Went to pick up another load of lumber on Thursday and got some big hugs from the girls. They came up to say hello. Amélie is feeling really homesick. Naomi and I got to go out to dinner and have a social night on Third Street. They close it down once a month and have music and food. Saw lots of people we know. 

Went to a little rummage sale downtown and picked up a banana plant yesterday! Fun find. Also managed to get the main structural beam up on the greenhouse after cleaning up the flood damage. A big thunderstorm broke through my water defenses. Ouch. The rafters will be tricky. Planning to start puzzling those out today. 

Birthday breakfast in bed!

Making pizza dough in Escanaba.

Garage party due to wet weather.

Nail pooping!

Present time!

The flood.

Morning after sunshine.

Back in the UP

We had a great trip to Wisconsin. Wonderful to see the family and the wedding celebration was so much fun. Great how happy and comfortable the girls feel there. They also had so much fun in the lake: swimming, kayaking, tubing, etc. Claire, Naomi, Jenny and I even managed to visit Grandma and Grandpa's house for one last time. So strange to see it totally emptied out, and pretty interesting to check out the blueprints and building invoices. Stopped by Jung's greenhouse to pick out some subtropical plants on the way back to the lake, and that was fun!

The drive back took a lot longer than expected. Ran into a huge detour and had to stop for dinner in Iron Mountain. It sure felt good to finally get back home! The girls had their final NMU camp and I got right back into the greenhouse project. Mom and Dad came up on Wednesday and Dad was able to help out. Great to see so much progress! Two support posts are now in. One more to go. Finished up a can of propane - it lasted quite a while. 

Naomi is getting stressed about the start of the new school year and all the extra work she has piled on top of her normal job. It will be difficult. Good thing she filled up the freezer with plenty of meals! We have a new piano teacher lined up to try out. Hopefully the girls will like her. 

North wall.

Hot day in the hive.

Stopped at the 45th parallel.

Sunrise at Sunset Lake.

Fun at the wedding party.

South wall is in and so are two support columns.

Final visit to 5th Street.

Abigail the builder.

Walls

We had a great visit with Aunt Caryn and Uncle Paul this week! Played some games, got the tent legs attached, and even walked around Presque Isle for a while. Grammie and Grampie came up not long after they left, and got to watch the last soccer game of the season! Their team went undefeated. Lots of fun. Abigail and Grampie camped out in the backyard. 

Got the floor turned into a wall. It's taller than I expected! Glad Dad was able to help out with those panels. Pretty heavy. Got the back and sides burned. The tent is so nice to work in! 

Finally got to say goodbye to the bad air from Canada. Winds shifted. The filter I put together got a real workout this week. Got some design work done for the next walls that need to be built. Hopefully my measurements are good. Auntie Claire has been working hard. She even ordered a special monitor and has a good workspace set up in the guest room. Now I just need to finish up that last closet door and the room should be in pretty good shape. 

Just needs a few more ropes.

It's up!

No need to worry about covering stuff up now.

After a game of euchre.

Party Tent

Yes, we are excited about Auntie Claire coming, but that's not what the giant party tent is for. I am setting it up to shelter the build site. Hopefully it will be secure enough in the thunderstorms. It is kind of fun to set up so far! Just wish the air quality would improve so we can spend more time outside. 

Made some good progress on the guest room. Those doors take a while, and, unfortunately, they are not as straight as I wanted them to be. Trying to get everything to line up is a pain. We also got to go blueberry picking with the neighbors and the girls both made some tasty treats. 

We had a really fun visit on Wednesday with Aunt Caryn, Uncle Paul, Uncle Brian, Aunt Marti and Grammie and Grampie! Spent some time down by the lake and enjoyed a cookout. The girls had a good soccer game and they enjoyed having someone sit and watch the whole thing - Uncle Paul! Caryn and Paul will be up for a couple days to help us welcome Auntie Claire back into the US. 

The outdoor workshop.

Making progress on the back walls.

A monster crawled out of the Dead River!

Blueberries, huckleberries, and serviceberries.

Blueberry lemon cake.

It didn't last long!