Cascade River State Park Beach 001

We were able to spend time with all three of our granddaughters this past week and enjoyed many outdoor adventures. The weather was hot but Lake Superior’s 50-degree water provided the necessary air conditioning.

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Cascade River State Park Beach 002

We hiked to a secluded beach on Lake Superior’s shore in Cascade River State Park. Since it was out of the way, we had it all to ourselves. The grand kids braved the cool waters and even went swimming.

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June Buck Moon 001

That evening the beautiful June “Buck” Full Moon came up next to the lighthouse. One of our granddaughters, Addie took this photo using my camera and tripod. She was eager to try her hand at photography. The hardest part was timing the shot so that the light was on in the lighthouse. This was the one that came out after about ten attempts.

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June Buck Moon 002

Silje, another one of our granddaughters also wanted to try. She took this photo. Again, it took about ten tries to capture the moonrise and the light.

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June Buck Moon 003

The moon slowly started to pass behind some clouds.

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Grand Marais Fireworks

Just after the moonrise, we watched the July 4th fireworks from the beach in the Grand Marais Rec Park. All of us agreed that it was one of the best fireworks that we have experienced--mainly because it was such a beautiful evening and we got to see it together.

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Kayaking

With the beautiful summer days, we kayaked on two different lakes.

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Tettegouche State Park

Hiking Palisade Head in Tettegouche State Park was another highlight.

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Mallard Family 001

The two beaver ponds by our house were occupied by a family of mallards this year. The grandkids got to see the babies each day. Nature was also in action which isn’t always pleasant. The mom started out with five ducklings. The next day she only had four.

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Mallard Family 002

Then she was down to three.

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Mallard Family 003

This is the log where they seemed to spend their nights. Every day, she would take the babies through the woods from one pond to the other and it was then that a baby would disappear.

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Mallard Family 004

One day when she reached the upper pond there were only two babies. She was frantic. Flying from pond to pond quacking as loud as I have heard a duck quack. Something got the third one. Ducks have lots of predators but the pine marten comes though often and I think that might have been what was getting them. She still has two left as of today.

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Painted Turtle

When the ducks aren’t occupying the log, painted turtles are. The grandkids had fun watching the painted turtles and catching frogs. We definitely enjoyed our time as a family.

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