Munising, MI Vacation 2013 Favorite spot #2 Log Slide!

My second favorite viewing spot in the U.P is from the observation deck of the Log Slides. This is just a picture I snapped on my cell phone and it doesn't do the scenery justice. It's even more gorgeous and breathtaking in person. Last year, on our trip to the U.P. we drove right past this scenic area several times and just didn't "have time" to check them out. I made sure this year to make the time and I am so happy that I did. Traveling down the Log Slide can take only seconds, but there are warning signs all over of the many people who had to be rescued because coming up can take an hour or more. You can read about the history of the Log Slides on THIS blog. John walked pretty far down the Log Slide before I started yelling at him and begging him to come back up. The boys were itching to go down and I could see them all being stuck at the bottom. If I weren't such a wuss, I would have loved to have seen them go down and try to make it back up. The following pictures are from the actual Log Slide and not on the observation deck. The Slide goes straight down into the water, no gradual dip down, it goes STRAIGHT down.

Vacation 2013 Munising, MI

I've been MIA in the blog world lately, but since we just got back from another fabulous vacation in Munising, MI, I will blog about that for the next few days. I'm going to blog some of my favorite shots of our trip. If you've never been to Munising, MI, I suggest you go. Last year was our first trip to the U.P of MI and it's clear, The Powell's were all born to be Yoopers. Yoopers? For the non U.P people, that's what the people of the Upper Peninsula are called. The picture posted above is a shot of Miners Castle, a part of the Pictured Rocks shore line. It is my absolute favorite place in the U.P. to look at. This was taken on the observation deck, you can hike down a trail to get a closer look at the rock formation. The family did, I stayed on top at the observation deck this year. I am not one who believes in Vow renewals for anniversaries, and I'll spare you the "why", but if I did, THIS is where our renewal would take place. Right on this overlook. You can't ask for better scenery. Maybe one of our kids will decide to get married here, can you just imagine how pretty that would be? In 2 years, we will celebrate our 20th anniversary. I'm thinking we should celebrate it right here. :D On your way to Miners Castle observation deck, you would have noticed signs to Miners Falls. If you have not gone, I suggest you stop and hike to Miners Falls as well. The hike is an easy one and one I would highly recommend. This is a picture of what you are missing if you decide to skip that hike. It would be a shame to miss something this beautiful.

Free to a good home

You are probably looking at this picture wondering which is free to a good home; the boy or the dog? Both would be fine with me right now. OK, neither, really, but right now in my mind, I'm giving them both away. You see, looking at this picture, you see a comfy, happy dog, but in reality, you have a bitch who flips her empty water bowl over and howls until it gets filled, then simply snubs the fresh, cold water you put in there and opts for the gross toilet water instead. There are 4 kids in this house, there is no guarantee that water is always "clean". She has decided the food she has been eating for the past 12 years is no longer good enough for her. No matter how hungry she is, she will snub her Pedigree and only eat Beneful, the sort of expensive stuff, of course. We tried several different kinds, cheap, mid priced and expensive before she settled on this kind. It could be worse, there are way more brands that are still more expensive. This dog has also decided she will no longer go in our back yard because *GASP* there is a big scary cat who frequents the yard. OMG! A cat!! This dog weighs over 60lbs and she is scared of a cat???!!! So, she now poops in the front yard, or, on our enclosed porch, where ever she feels like it. This is new. No explanation. She has been house trained since before she came into our lives and until recently, she has never done this. Today, she has been banned to the back yard only. I don't want to see her in my house or near me at the moment. I fully admit, I hope that cat is dancing in front of her, tormenting her all day long. I'm tempted to find the neighborhood stray and tie it to a tree near her so it will torment her, just for payback. The boy...oh how I love this little boy of mine. Right now the only "problem" with him is that he is afraid of his own shadow. So when he wakes up at the crack of dawn on a day when there is no school, he wakes the 4 year old and makes him go to the living room first. That long journey, about 30 feet, from his bedroom to the living room could cause serious trouble with all the monsters and spirits who live in our house. He knows we have ghosts, he rolled over one night and felts it's nose. I have a feeling that was the 4 year old's nose because Joey makes Nic sleep in his bed with him!!! Bunk beds are not close enough, they both sleep in the same twin sized bed on the top, together. It's pretty funny because when Nic gets mad at Joey, he will threaten him with "I'm not sleeping in your bed toinght" and Joey suddenly apologizes and straightens up. I love the power the 4 year old has over his 9 year old brother. LOL!

Cool whip cookies

Dominic loves to cook and bake. My 4, soon to be 5 year old could spend every second he has in the kitchen cooking. He is our only child who has ever shown any interest in helping me. Dominic loves food. I mean, he really loves food. There are very few things he will refuse to eat. In fact, corn might be the only thing I can think of that he doesn't like. My sister ruined his whole life a year ago on Thanksgiving by putting that "nasty stuffs" on his plate and thinking he was going to eat it. While searching through Pinterest, I came across a recipe for Cool Whip Cookies on this blog. Those seem easy enough for Dominic to make and we have all the ingredients in the house. So, he got to baking this morning and here is how his cookies turned out.

I totally forgot to get a picture of him actually making the cookies. I was too busy standing over him and forcing myself to give up control, so this is the only picture I have of the cookies. We let them cool and decided to give them a try. I have to admit, I was very skeptical that these would turn out. How can something so easy even come close to tasting good? So few ingredients, not enough of anything to make them taste good, right? WRONG! These things were pretty darn good! I used Cherry Chip cake mix and I used 2 cups of cool whip instead of the 1 the recipe calls for. I also had to double the cook time to 16 minutes.

Wow, it has been almost a year since I last posted on my blog. It is my resolution to post at least once a week. I would love to do it once a day, but you know, even my kids aren't always funny. Looking back at this, I have to wonder who these kids are that I posted pictures of. They look nothing like my kids. Hmmmm, have I forgotten what they once looked like? I must have. Time to update some pictures. Hailee:

Hanna:

Joey:

Dominic: