soo locks {boat tour}

We played tourist and took a tour of the locks by boat and learned some history of the locks and the Soo.

 locks closing

 fully closed

we rose up the 21 feet to continue up river

 viewing platform--where we watched the host enter the locks earlier in the day...also where Mim and Uncle Joe came to wave to us on our tour.

 Canadian locks closing so we could drop the 21 feet to go down river

 another freighter entering the American locks

 the Coast Guard boat 'Mackinaw'...an ice cutter

 another tour boat

 our boat, the 'Holiday'

putting a boat thru {soo locks}

Saturday morning we went to the Soo Locks to see a freighter enter the locks.

 We didn't see the Burns Harbor, a thousand foot freighter, exit the locks.  We had to leave to catch our boat to go thru the locks ourselves.

A smaller boat entered the 1st lock to go down river while we were there.

the big bridge {mackinaw city}

We headed up to the UP for the weekend.  I insisted on a stop in  Mackinaw City for a picture of the kids in front of the bridge.  We have one of Madison when she was around 5 months old...also the last time that we have been to the UP.

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Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

nature trail {john ball zoo}

We took advantage of our zoo membership and went to see the new nature trail.  We also saw a few animals that were not out during our visits in the fall and spring.

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We played with log 'building blocks' and on log 'balance beams.'

t-ball {week5}

Next week is the last week of t-ball.  John is at rookie/prospect camp this week, so I took the kids to t-ball and got a few pictures.

happy {4th} of july

We spent 4th of July at our new house with some friends!

It's pretty warm in Michigan so we got out the sprinkler to keep cool and make a water slide.