St. Germain - Day 3

Jenny’s parents stayed with us last night, so Ethan went to sleep at Jacob’s cabin with the Abholds. That didn’t last too long, unfortunately. At about 1:30 we heard somebody talking to us through our window - it was Micky telling us that Jacob had gotten sick and that Ethan was now feeling sick, so she was returning him to us for the night. So much for that idea…

By morning, Ethan was feeling fine. It was rainy and a little cold today, so we went up to the U.P. to check out a waterfall up there. It was pretty awesome. Bond Falls, it was called (I think). One really neat thing about it was all the trails around the falls. They had some permanent, wood trails built that gave you very good access to the entirety of the bottom of the falls. They then had some “off road” trails you could take up the side of the falls on one side, and a paved set of stairs on the other side. Ethan found his way up the non-paved side and made us all follow him, but it was worth it. What views!

We quickly ate some lunch then headed into town for some go-karting and mini-golf. Ethan had been looking forward to this all year. Last year we tried to go go-karting but Ethan was foiled by the fact that he was about an inch or two too short to drive the cars himself. He was sure that he would be tall enough this year. Sure enough, he stood next to the measuring line and was clearly tall enough to pilot the go-kart himself. He was smiling from ear to ear! He couldn’t wait another minute to go on the go-karts, but this place was a little bit of a strange establishment. They had plenty of different go-karts, bumper boats, mini-golf, and other assorted kid’s stuff, but nobody was really on anything, and there wasn’t anybody manning all of the different appliances. So we first took Quin over to a kiddie track that offered 12-volt 4-wheelers and gators for the smaller kids to drive. Ethan was starting to get impatient, but it wasn’t long before somebody finally came over to the “big-kid go-kart track.” He was first in line and managed to get onto the track with Tim and Jacob in one car and Micky and Allison in another, just the three cars on the track. Ethan did very well - I was both proud and surprised. After getting off the track he immediately took another ticket and did it again, this time Quin and I also rode with him. Our car was pretty slow, and Ethan took full advantage and passed us at his first opportunity.

After the second bout of go-karting on the regular go-karts, Tim A. asked if anybody wanted to try the “slick track” with him. Ethan immediately volunteered. After somebody finally came over to that station, he took a look at Ethan and said, “he’s not tall enough.” We simply looked at him and said, “of course he is.” Well, that didn’t convince him, so he made him stand next to the measuring line. Apparently the minimum height on this ride was 54" rather than 52", but Ethan backed up to the scientifically measured line and very slyly stood on his tip-toes, just a little bit. Apparently the kid running the ride wasn’t all that bright because he just shrugged his shoulders and said, “OK.” The slick track was pretty cool and Ethan immediately picked up on how to turn the opposite way of the turn when you started to spin. Pretty cool.

The night finished out like all nights up here - put the kids to bed then went to the fire for some beers before hitting the hay ourselves. Tonight, however, Jacob decided he wanted to sleep over at our cabin. That worked out just fine for awhile. While at the fire, around 10:00 or so, we saw the lights go out in the cabin signaling that the kids had finally decided to turn off the movie and try to sleep. It wasn’t 5 minutes before Jacob exited the cabin and headed towards his own cabin. He claimed that his mom would miss him too much if he slept in our cabin, and he didn’t have a sleeping bag with him and he couldn’t sleep without one. Oh well, 0-2 on the sleeping over attempts.