Rogers City (Guest Blogger)

Last week Bob and Amy and their boys, Dan and I and our boys, and Mom and Wally went to Rogers City, MI. My mom was kind enough to rent her cousin, Marvin's cottage for us. There are 3 bedrooms and 1 huge loft room and 2 bathrooms. The cottage is just down the road from Lake Huron. It is on lots of land. The kids built a fort which kept them very occupied. There was enough room in the yard to play baseball and kickball. You know it's going to be a good game when the pregnant Aunt Amy is the best player on the adult team. Bob and Dan might have been better but they had to hold Max on their shoulders for pitching and batting.

One of the favorite things to do while we were at the cottage was using the ATV's. Marvin has 7 ATVs. When we were finished only 4 were in the same condition we found them in. 3 are being repaired. The kids were doing great on them at first and we became a little lax. On the first day Matthew, Andrew, and Alex ran into trees. No one was seriously hurt though Alex had to have stitches in his forehead.

Later we were more responsible and had an adult start the line of ATVs and another adult at the end.

I loved riding the ATV and was not in charge of any children when the accidents happened.

Marvin went up to the cottage the week before we arrived to make sure everything was in order. He went around and changed all of the names on the trails so that each of the kids and I had our names on a sign. The kids thought this was great. It was a very special touch that we would never have found anywhere else.
When we arrived Stephen's baby found its long lost dog. It was sitting on the porch waiting for our arrival.

Casino was one of the highlights. Bubba Wally is teaching all of the kids to play poker and black jack. He even supplies the money for gambling. Each of the kids came away with approximately $7. We also taught the Dudley's to play Speed Scrabble and Hearts. I learned to play Cribbage. We played lots of checkers and chess, too.

We tried to get a good picture at the end of the trip. The only place we could get Max to smile was sitting on the ATV. So the background on this picture isn't the greatest but Max is happy. (Mom, you look great in this picture).

Max turns 2 on August 18th (Happy Birthday Max!) and Stephen turns 8 on August 22nd. We celebrated their birthdays at the cottage. Stephen got a bunch of stuff from the dollar store (cap guns, trick cards, a whoopie cushion, flarp, and other items that made his mother extremely happy). Max got a flashlight and Little People boat.

We also went to Mackinac City, St. Ignace for the Mystery Spot, the beach on Lake Michigan that runs along Rte. 2 in the UP, Ocqueoc Falls, the beach in Rogers City, and the quarry in Rogers City. It was a great vacation. All of the kids got along great. My children picked up some new Samisms and Maxisms. We were all sorry to see the week end. We hope to be allowed to go again.