Gooseberry Falls

This weekend we ventured out to Gooseberry Falls. The hike was easier than Tettagouche--less hilly and icy. We're looking forward to returning throughout the spring and summer to see how the falls change through the seasons. The view was great, too!
Jackson has Spring Break this week, so no alarm clock--woo hoo!

Tettegouche and more

Yesterday we set off on a little adventure to see more of the area that we're now living in. We started out at Tettegouche State Park, which is less than 5 miles from our house. We parked at the trail head and set out to do some hiking. The sign said 0.7 miles to the high falls, so I was think that 1.4 miles round trip would be a piece of cake. Of course, I wasn't thinking of 1.4 miles in the snow/ice, up and down steep hills, while carrying a 20+ pound child, so it wasn't quite a piece of cake for this out of shape mama. But we made it to the high falls and back again all in one piece.



Next we continued to drive north on highway 61. We drove past the Lutsen ski resort which was packed! Barry's trying to convince me to take up skiing next winter. We'll see.

Then, since we were only 20 miles away, we continued north to Grand Marais. We ate lunch at the Crooked Spoon and walked around the town a little bit.


We then headed back home. During the whole trip we must have seen at least 40 deer along the side of the highway--they're very plentiful up here! They seem to gather in 2's or 3's.


Everyone enjoyed the day, and look forward to more hiking in the many state parks up here.

Week in Review

Last Sunday, we took an afternoon drive just getting to know the area up here. Silver Bay is nestled in rocky hills, and the scenery is awesome in many places. Lots of great views of the lake and surrounding areas.
Monday we were adjusting to the time change--it's been tough this week getting the kids to think it's bedtime!
Tuesday I called JCPenney because they were supposed to mail out the pictures we had taken there, but they hadn't mailed them out yet due to some mix-up. They usually try to sell you some extra sheets, but she just mailed them to me for free because of their error.


Wednesday I went to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). There are about 15 women in this group, and it was nice to meet some moms from this area. Incidentally, I won the door prize which included a MOPS mug identical to the one I had that broke earlier in the week.
Jackson had an extra homework assignment this week to create an "I Spy" poster. His theme was In the Kitchen. At the same time Jackson worked on his project, Raina created her own Noodle Art. She's been very into artistic endeavors lately--lots of coloring, water color painting, and other projects.


Thursday I did my first "big" grocery shopping since we've been up here. I went to Super One and was pretty pleased with the selection and prices. Now we're stocked up again for at least a couple of weeks.
After Jackson got home from school, Denise (who works at the Blue Anchor) watched the kids while Barry and I went to Duluth. We were invited to a wine tasting for a local distributor that wants us to carry Black Oak wine at the restaurant. I'm not a big wine drinker, but it was interesting and I learned a little more about wine. I liked the White Zinfandel the best, as it was the sweetest/least dry of all that we tried. The distributor had a life-size stand-up of Dale, Jr. that he gave to us for Jackson. Dale, Jr. has Mt. Dew Amp as a sponsor, one of this distributor's products.
Before we went to the wine tasting we did a little scavenging at a couple of Goodwills. We need a dresser for the kids' room and were also looking for things to use to decorate at the restaurant. We did not find a dresser, but did find an old Coast Guard trunk, a couple of egg decorating kits (new for 49 cents each), a pair of pink pants with white polka dots for Raina and a couple of shirts for eBay.
We saw at least 8 ships that have been in for the winter. They should be going out soon--as early as next week.
Today we didn't really do anything interesting. Tomorrow Barry plans to clean out the garage. I was going to check out the library with the kids until I saw that they're closed on Saturdays. I'll have to find some time next week to go instead.

Happy Birthday to . . .

my Mom! Hope you had a great day!
We had parent teacher conferences at Jackson's new school today and learned some interesting things about this town. It's the newest town in Minnesota--was built in the 1950's during the mining boom. At it's peak population, there were eight sections of each grade--8 first grades, 8 second, etc. Now there's one section of each grade. Most Minnesota schools are built with taxpayer money, but this school was funded by the mining company. At the time it was built, it was state of the art. Now, of course, it's 50 years and and not as state of the art, but is still a very good school.
Jackson's fitting in well with his new class. He gets to have a root beer float tomorrow for complete his MCA practice math test. He must be excited as he's told me several times.