A journey to Kelly's Island

Since we had camped on South Bass Island last year and visited Put-in-Bay, this year we headed over to Kelly's Island.  We had heard that Kelly's Island was really family friendly and had some hiking trails.  We had put up the tent in the backyard earlier in the week to make sure all was in working order.  We had a split tent pole to replace, and a new air mattress to purchase.  The kids got excited for camping once the tent was up. We even let them sleep out there by themselves for a few nights. (They were fine).

We left for the island early in the morning once the car was packed up.  We stop to see the Marblehead lighthouse, but it wasn't open for tours at that time.  Eventually we got over to the ferry.  Both boys love riding the ferry...though Tamlin was nervous that Jude would go overboard (he kept a hold of him whenever Jude ventured over to the guardrail.

 

The Kelly's island campground was nice.  The campsite weren't nearly as small as the one on South Bass, but we still had a shore-side place that was quite nice.  Rock lined the water, so no private beach...but the beach was just a short walk away and MUCH nicer than South Bass.  And the bathhouse was really close.

It was very, very hot.  We actually hit the beach twice that day.  The water was warm and very calm since the beach was in a bit of a sheltered bay.  The sand was fine and stretched out into the water a long way, so the boys had fun wading far from shore and the water only being about chest deep.  Tam has been practicing his floating and loved it when I would toss him up into the water.  Jude has been practicing going deeper into the water and still loves to cling to me for rides around. 

We had a little fluttery visitor on the beach.  The butterfly flitted around Jude, much to his delight.

Back at camp, the boys had fun exploring around, climbing on the rocks, looking for snakes, and playing with our neighbors, who were awesomely friendly and talkative.

Of course, after dinner we had s'mores.   Jude likes his just slightly warm... meaning he waves his marshmallow stick in the vague vicinity of the fire before asking for the graham cracker and chocolate.  Tamlin likes his more burnt, but not on fire.  I think we all just really like this summer-time treat.

 At dusk, the boys tried some fishing...with no luck...though they all fun casting out into the calm water.  We did see several water snakes which sped away through the water.  After fishing, the boys were briefly washed up and set into their jammies.  We all relaxed around the fire as the sun set, and the stars came out...billions of stars.  I loved just sitting and listening and being at peace.

We did go hiking and saw the glacial grooves, supposedly some of the largest in North America.  They were cool to see, but the boy were quite disappointed that they couldn't go climbing all over them. (It was a bit sad to see that a fence was needed).  I love Tamlin's choice of hiking wear here...yep those are woof ears atop his hiking hat.

 The trail we went on was through the woods and through a mess of misquitos.  We went along fine until we hit a quagmire of mud...gobs of mud....mud mud mud.  And I, unsmartly, was in only sandals.    So, we turned back...and decided to a take an acess road through the shrub/prarie instead.  A cool choice because we then saw snakes (or the same snake twice), lots of butterflies and dragonflies, and the edge of the old quarry.

Back in "town", which consisted of only a handful of streets, we did stop for lunch and a round of mini-golf.  The boys are still horrible at this, but we all had fun.  Despite many demonstrations, Jude insists on holding his club in some odd fashion and push/dragging his ball down the green.  No holes-in-one were made, but no one beamed anyone with one of the clubs either.

When we got back over to the mainland, we again stopped at the lighthouse and were able to do the little tour to the top.  The kids liked looking out at everything, but going down the spiral narrow stairs made me nervous.  Jude especially would make me flinch since he kept trying to step down on the tiniest part of the stair...I eventually made him turn around and go down the steps like a ladder just to ease my fear of him falling. (No one did).  At the gift shop, Tam was able to get his first light-house stamp for in his journal :-)

 Here's Kelly's island off in the distance as we left via the Ferry.

 Here's the view of Cedar Point from the top of the lighthouse.

It was a fun camping trip, and I would certainly do it again.  I liked both islands and wouldn't mind alternating between the two each year...It would be easier to get around if we could ditch the car and all ride bikes, but I don't think that will happen for a few more years yet.

A good trip, the tent and new air mattress held up well, and we all had fun. (Even if Tam really wanted a wooden snake that I wouldn't buy for him).

Next year, we need to drag more friends along!

Blueberry Picking

 It's blueberry season!  We hit up our favorite blueberry picking farm this morning...early this morning before it got too hot.  This year, I'm pretty sure we all picked more than we ate!

 There are rows and rows of blueberry bushes; all of them dripping with ripe blue fruit.
Of course, we all had our hats on.





 
 Each boy had their own bucket to fill. 

 Lots and lots of blueberries! 

And more than a few little grey spiders hanging out too.  The boys had fun peeking between the bushes, picking blueberries, eating blueberries, finding spiders, eating blueberries, chasing each other, smiling, and eating blueberries.

 Blueberries!

 Yum...Yum...Yum!

 After about an hour of blueberry picking, the sun was up, and we we.re all getting hot.   We picked a total of 7 pounds of blueberries...I froze most of them, we ate a good portion of them, and we made a batch of lemon-blueberry muffins. (which were eaten within 24 hours!)

Last day - July 2

Our last morning in our yurt was a whirlwind of packing.  The boys got in one last round of fishing before we finished packing our cars.  We also had a final romp on the playground before snapping some family pictures and giving our hugs goodbye.

It was a fun time and I'm sure we will all do it again...together...soon.
:-)

Tallies:
1 boatride

2 dozen worms used as bait

5 splinters pulled


Birds: Orioles, osprey, bald eagle, cardinals, geese, wood ducks, barn swallows, loons, pigeons, sparrows, robins, red-wing blackbirds

Animals: squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks, skunk, red fox

Fish: Rock bass, perch, catfish, sun fish

Numerous smiles and laughs!

Day 4 in our Yurt - July 1

After another full day of excitement, everyone slept wonderfully.  Jude was actually the LAST one awake!  It rained again in the night and morning was overcast and cool.  Breakfast was a shared hearty affair between our family and Scott's.  All the boys at quickly and got off the decks to go play in nearby puddles.


All the guys were ready to try fishing again, but this time with live bait (worms).









 
Success!  Brian caught the first fish, a little perch.  He proceeded to tell the boys all about it and how you can identify a perch compared to other fish.

Quickly after Brian's catch, Tamlin caught a fish!  I think it was a rock bass?  Tam was uber proud and was very willing to help daddy toss the fish back into the water.  Scott got the third fish and then a few more for Brian and Scott.  Aaron had lots of nibbles on his line, but no fish reeled in.  Two of the fish had swallowed the hooks badly and were not so well off when thrown back into the water.  Brian told me that they watched an osprey swoop down and nab these injured fish right in front of them. Even Jude and I catch a fish!  I was quite surprised to feel the tug at the line while Jude was holding it in my lap. It had been Brian's line with a real hook and worm, and not Jude's little hookless bait...Brian had be unhooking the previous catch from another line.   I'm not sure if Jude was truly disgusted at the fish or just weirded out to see it up close and personal.

After lunch, we caravan over to the Pennsylvania side of the park to check out playgrounds and the dam.  The kids had fun playing on a different playground, this one old school, wooden, and had a fun bouncy drawbridge.  I taught them if they stood on one side of the bridge, and someone else jumps hard on the opposite side, they will be flung up into the air.  (Love physics!)  There was also a huge pile of sand here...perhaps even the same pile of sand that was here three years ago!  After repeatedly having to tell the boys NOT to throw/fling/sprinkle or otherwise place sand into the air, we left.  We then stopped at the dam, but were disappointed that we couldn't walk out on it because it was under construction.

The sun was hot by afternoon.  Shelly arrived again with the girls and we let everyone go to the beach for a refreshing swim.  We brought down the squirters and squirtguns...I even got in on the action with squirting all the kids with water.  We played in the water until dinnertime was called...a huge feast of burgers, brawts, hot dogs, chips, and soda.  We also had a smattering of vegetables just in case someone was trying to eat healthier. (Ha!)  I think we all ate until near bursting.

Early evening and it was time for another round of fishing.  Aaron desperately wanted to catch something.

Success at last for everyone!  Even Isiaac caught a fish or two, even though he was really only dropping his hook about a foot from the shore.  Aaron fish was the largest caught but Tam had a good size one too, caught with only a nibble of worm left on his hook.
Eveyone has smiles as we head to the showers for clean-up before s'mores.




A roaring fire to use the last of the wood.  S'mores for us all...enough marshmallows that I think Jude's brain was turning into pure sugar.  The kids all stayed up until full dark and then crashed into their beds.  A full moon shown down on us through the trees.  It was nice to see a clear sky instead of rain clouds.  We adults stayed out around the campfire until the bugs tried to carry us off.  Just sitting and swapping stories and eating marshmallows.