Gull Lake and Maddie's Birthday

Every year since Maddie has been born we have been able to go to Gull Lake, Michigan and celebrate it with her. Alysa's father-in-law lives there on the lake. He is gracious to have us each year. There are a number of things we do each year. One of them is to go to a restaurant for breakfast at least one of the mornings. It is called Frona's.

It is hard to believe that Maddie is 6 years old. She loves the water, frogs, turtles, butterflies, bugs, etc. Doesn't sound like things a little girl would like, but she does. She hunts turtles and frogs with her daddy. They go out on the seadoo(?) to various places on the lake to catch them. It's fun to see her walking by the water looking for frogs and possibly turtles.

This year was special because Jack took the training wheels off her bicycle and she learned to ride it without them. She was so proud of herself and of course we were outside cheering her on. She also is in the process of learning how to use the snorkel when she swims. Occasionally she comes up out of the water sputtering.

Several times a day we go out on the pantoon boat, which I love doing. We cruise around looking at new summer houses. We also go across the lake to a good place to swim.

Jack and his dad get up and go skiing. Jack is a great skier and this summer has taken Jackson with him as he skies. He holds him up and then will let him down on his skies. It is a back breaking thing, but Jackson loves it. It is fun to see him waving as he skies with his daddy. Jack has done this also with Maddie.

There is a bird sanctuary close and we usually make a trip to it. When you pay to get in, you can buy corn to feed the geese and ducks. We went Saturday morning. It was lightly raining, but that didn't stop us.


Maddie's party had to be held inside because of rain. We ordered pizza and of course, had cake and ice cream. She looked so pretty in her birthday outfit. She does love to dress up. She got a butterfly book and a turtle book, a bug watch, a bug vacuum and a number of other fun things.


After opening her gifts Alysa and Jack asked the neighborhood children to come and have a turtle race. Jack and Maddie had caught about 10 turtles for the race. This is the third year that she has had the race. I'll include a picture of the race.

The Lord blesses us in so many ways. Grandchildren are one of those blessings. I'm looking forward to being with all five grandchildren this weekend and making great memories with them.