Trip Report #3: Cabin at last

After a few days at Madeline Island we made our way back to the cabin at last. We had one marginal weather day, and then after that the skies opened up and we were able to enjoy the long-hidden sun. That Friday afternoon I spent the afternoon at the land clearing some more trees, and helping as stumps were being pulled and the road was beginning to take shape. We'll make sure to take some pictures next time we're up! Other than that we were able to relax with the rest of the family, as everyone was able to make it up for the 4th of July weekend.

Saturday morning half of the family went over to the Carlson's for Reghann's baby shower, while the other half of us spent the morning running in the heat at the Lake Nebagamon Drag'n Tail 5 miler. It actually was a bit cooler than in previous years (probably high 70s or low 80s), and was a great chance to test out my achilles to see if speed affected it (it didn't seem to). It went ok considering the frequency and speed that I've been able to run at. It was a good year for T-shirts too!~ Usually the folks from the Village of Lk Nebagamon Fire Dept aren't the most creative on t-shirt colors. The rest of the afternoon we were able to take advantage of the sun for some sauna-ing, swimming, pontooning, as well as some skiing and wakeboarding. Noah had a bit of a rough day, as he didn't really want to take a nap. That all came to a head a matter of hours before we were going to head to see fireworks. After a few hours of unsuccessful attempts to get a fussy man to nap, we headed out on the pontoon with a bottle. Within seconds after finishing he was out like a light and proceeded to sleep through the chest-pounding fireworks! We were pretty worried about him being able to sleep that night, but he had a great night.

Sunday morning we took part in the annual Lk Nebagamon games down at the auditorium. It was LaFrance's first appearance, so the competitive juices were definitely flowing! Overall a great showing by Team LaFrance, although training and preparation will begin shortly for the 2010 events. Steph and I kicked some Nebagamon butt in the potato sack races, but were upstaged by the Horner Family (I heard rumors of performance enhancing drugs, but you didn't hear it here!)--so we had to settle with 3rd. Mike and I had a firm hold on the wheelbarrow race until an unfortunate last second stumble, which catapulted us from 1st to 4th. Disappointing. I patented a new shoe toss technique, but afraid of being called on a technical I chose the traditional style, which wasn't nearly as successful as Stephanie's crowd wowing (seriously!) shoe toss field goal to take 1st! Next year make sure to tune in here---hopefully we'll have podium places in all events! We'll be prepared, I assure you! Noah won't be old enough to participate for a few years, but training starts soon.

A great vacation indeed! Enjoy the slideshow.