So we all tried to go back to sleep, but it really didn't work.  So we got up and dressed and went to have breakfast.  We didn't miss the free  breakfast this morning!!!  We decided today would be our hiking day!   First we had to Exchange Josh's hiking boots and he wanted a smaller size.  We headed to the mall and exchanged the shoes and also went to Barnes and Noble.  We bought the book about the Secrets of the Glensheen Mansion since we were going to go there tomorrow.  I had read the book years ago, but Josh and Amy wanted to read the book before the tour tomorrow! 

Then we were off on our adventures for the day.....

First Stop.....A historical marker along Lake Superior so the kids could climb and throw rocks in to the lake.    I just love the shore, though I am always so nervous that one of the children, mainly Tommy will fall in!  No one fell in. 

The water, the sky....so beautiful!!

Two Harbors, MN.....saw Edna at tugboat, visited the train museum gift sop and walked around a bit.   We also stopped at the World Famous, Betty's Pies, but the line was too long!

Tommy found a friend......outside the Train Museum Gift Shop.

Next Stop for Adventure......Split Rock Lighthouse........

Now I did not walk down to the shore to look up at the Light house.  It is 171 steps down  there and this asthmatic momma decided it wasn't worth it.   Good think I wasn't down there since the photo above required alot of climbing on some rock by the water that would of made me a little wreck!!!   But it is a great photo of Tommy and Josh, just glad I wasn't there for it's taking.   I rested on a bench and read my book.  Most people thought I was a tour guide and would ask me all these questions....sorry folks...I just don't want to climb these stairs!!  It is not like I haven't done it before a number of times!

Last Adventure of the Day......Gooseberry Falls State Park

I love this park and the falls, but I am always a nervous wreck by the time we are leaving the park.  All my boys are daring and climb in places I think are very dangerous.  I worry...worry...worry.....

Tommy was our official tour guide of the day!!!  He is reading the map to figure out which way we should go.  The little guy is sure good at tell people what to do.....

Tommy and Mommy Adventure...and yes, Tommy fell in!!  I ended up stepping right in the water...but I never fell!

Josh and Amy were great at climbing places that I so did not think were safe!!!  ARGH!!  This is the first of many heart flutters for me!!

Don't even get me started on where Josh climbed to get this photo!!  

OH MY!!  But what amazing photos Josh took due to his climbing where it makes his momma go crazy!!

We discovered a cave......we had to check that out!!  We left the park, tired, wet and HUNGRY!!!  We loaded up and headed back to Duluth.  We did stop in Two Harbors to get pie at Betty's Pie!   I was nearly ready to chew my arm off I was so hungry, but hubby said no pie until we have supper.  Want to know a secret, Amy was sneaking bites of pie in the backseat...not like I have hard feelings about that or anything!!  Did I mention I was ready to chew my own arm off???   Hubby had the great idea to call ahead to Famous Dave's BBQ and order our supper to pick up when we get to town.  So we grab our food once we got to Duluth and took it to our hotel room to eat!  It was fabulous....we might have only ate out once a day, but when we ate out....WOW, we ate out!!!  We certainly splurged!  And the pie was worth the wait...OH MY.....

After eating of course we went swimming....and then we all headed to bed exhausted after our day of adventure!  We vowed going to bed that we would sleep in and not set an alarm clock.....how do you think that went???

   We all slept in on our first full day in Duluth.  I woke up at about 9:00 and called to the front desk to see what time breakfast is over, ooops...9:30!  So we all hurried and got down stairs and had breakfast, except for Josh.  He didn't get out of bed and we brought a tray up to him.

Once we finally all got showered and dressed we headed out to do a bit of shopping.   We went to DSW shoe warehouse and bought school shoes for everyone.  Then we shopped around a could of more places for school shirts for Erik with no luck. 

 And no we did not buy this t-shirt!!  But it made those guys laugh.   It says " I saw your mom on the Internet!"  Then we went to Target and bought pop, sandwich makings and snacks for the room.  We also bought some pool toys for the kids.  What alot of shopping we did!!!!  We headed back to the hotel and got everything put away. 

 It was a dreary/rainy day so we decided to go to the movie.  We went to see Even Almighty.  That was a great movie!!  Very funny!  I am glad we went to that. 

After the movie we went out to eat at Timber Lodge Steakhouse.   We had appetizers and steak.  Tommy and I shared a meal.  I had the prime rib...wow...it was soooo good!!! 

Once back to the room for the evening we headed out to go swimming of  course.  That is how we spent every evening, both Erik and Tommy love to swim! 

The boys, Amy and I left on Thursday to meet up with hubby in Duluth.  We got to Duluth at about 4;00 and checked into our hotel.  We had a two bedroom suite which was a great size for the six of us.

Our Kitchen....great saver of money!! We try to eat in the room as much as possible.

Our Dining Room....

Living Room, Fire Place and the door to the master bedroom.  Someone was always turning on the fireplace.  It was a great novelty as was a dish washer!!

Other side of the living room - hot tub in the living room.  HUGE hit with Tommy.  A swimming pool in your room!

Master bedroom for Mom and Dad

Kids Bedroom....

The room also had two bathrooms which sure made it easier for us all go get showered and ready in the morning.   Also each morning there was a complimentary hot breakfast with french toast, eggs, etc... Another big money saver when feeding 6 people each day! 

While we waited for hubby to be done with his conference for the day, we walked down to the pier and on the boardwalk.  

We then walked over to the convention center thinking that hubby was there.  We went to stop by the movie theater via the skyway to see what was showing.  We walked around a bit more and then met with hubby at the hotel.  

Then we went out to supper at my favorite restaurant, Little Anige's Canteena.  YUMMY!!!  After supper we went back to the room and took Tommy swimming while the older kids went out to walk around Canal Park a bit. 

And After swimming for hours in the pool...of course you need to come back to the room and get in the hot tub!!!

Tommy my little fish....

The rest of the night we just hung out in the room once Josh, Amy and Erik came back from walking around.

Erik...

Josh being weird.....

Amy updating her check register....I wish she would teach Josh to do that!!

Home from vacation.   We had a great time, but it is good to be home.  I love my home and miss it when we are gone.  I am spending the evening on my porch and catching up on a couple of blogs.  I took my computer with on vacation, but never took it out of the bag the entire trip. 

I enjoyed my time with hubby and kids and reading when I could.  This morning I had an email from my boss and had to be available in the office today.  I went into the office from 1:00 until about 2:30 in case I would be called into the appeal hearing to testify.  An agreement was made and I didn't have to testify so I got to come home and continue my vacation.   Tomorrow I am working a bit from home, but have to go to Erik's psychiatrist apointment and tour a new school the district would like him to attend. 

Before I headed into work today, I unpacked our suitcases and put them away.  I cleaned the bathrooms and did a little shopping for milk, etc.  I still have alot of laundry left to do, but hopefully that will get done tomorrow in between Erik's appointments.   Thursday it is back to work and my normal schedule.  It feels good to stretch out my vacation a little.

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday.   We bought him a water fountain for the deck and made a sepcial meal for him when we got home from Duluth. 

And the good news today.............Hubby accepted a new position at the college.  He is now the Desire to Learn (D2L) Administrator.  He is the IT person in charge of the online learning courses the college has.   That is why he was in Duluth he went to a D2L conference.  I think this is a position he will like. 

Happy Birthday Honey, I am very proud of you!!

Ok...off to post pictures of the vacation......

FINISHED READING

Saving Fish From Drowning - Amy Tan (4/5) - the beginning was a little slow as was the end. The writing was great!  

I need to get ready to leave town with the children to meet up with hubby.   His IT conference is done late Thursday afternoon.

I have many things I like to have done before I leave.  I have to have the house clean, bedding washed and changed, etc.   I want to come home to a clean house and less stress.  Change your sheets and make your bed nice before leaving.  Fresh sheets are a wonderful welcome home message!!

If you don't want to come home to a smelly house, clean out the fridge and empty all trash bins in the house before leaving!! 

Have someone pick up for mail or have it stopped.  If you stop at the post office grab some stamps for those last minute post cards. 

Get travel size of items to save space and less opportunity of spillage. 

Bring Extra Camera for Tommy.

Bring two large plastic bags with, one for dirty clothes and one for wet swimsuits. 

I need to menu plan for the few days that we are out of town as I will be cooking in the room each day to decrease our expenses.  I also will make a list of restaurants and sites I want to see!!

Tommy is begging to use the computer, so I best get going.  More later.........

Has anyone read or used this book???  I want to purchase it for work and my work with families, but would like an opinion in it. 

Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism and Related Disorders 

Or this one???

1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Sorry I haven't had time to update in a bit.  We are doing ok, just busy.  I am working weird hours so I can be home to watch Erik during the weeks he is with us.  I go into the office two days during the week for 14 hours each day and work one day for 10 hours or so on the weekend.  I answer emails and some phone calls on my home days.  So today I was at work by 9:30am and got home after 8:00pm.  So I am a bit tired and heading to bed. 

Hubby leaves tomorrow for an IT conference in Duluth.  I will work on Monday and Tuesday and then will be on vacation for the rest of the week.  The kids and I will head up to Duluth to meet up with hubby after his conference is over.  

More of an update tomorrow.....maybe even pictures from the 4th!

I hope everyone has a great day with family and friends.  We are having a party with my hubby's family all coming over.   We are going to grill out hamburgers and hotdogs.   We try to have everyone over oncea month or so, but have not been doing that great with that.   I bought some fireworks for the kids and Josh went and bought more with the money from his Dad.  He helped his Dad move last week. 

Well I best get busy cleaning and making food.   Have a great day!!   I hopefully will share pictures later!

Today our adventure in deck building included getting our veranda put together and installed.   This is our Summer home we have been teasing each other.   We can't afford a cabin, but we saved and saved and are able to enjoy this in our back yard year after year.   The veranda is wired for electricity so there is a outdoor Chandelier hanging from the ceiling.  You gotta love Target.  We bought the floor model so they took another 25% off the clearance price.   We bought every single item on clearance.  Now is the time of year to buy this sort of thing as they are trying to get rid of it so they can start back to school sales. 

Tommy and Erik helped me get the veranda started. 

The finished product...our little summer retreat. 

Today was a family day of deck building.   We all decided on patio furniture and wanted to get the deck done to set it all up!!  We were going to buy a table and chairs set, but ended up with the new outdoor livingroom.   We love it! 

We have a ways to go!! 

Erik putting in some decking screws.

Dad and Josh.  (nice look Josh!)

Someone is sitting down on the job!

Now, he is back to work!!

WAY TO GO JOSH!!  We are almost to the end! 
We were sooo excited!

OOPPS, Now I was caught sitting down on the job!  
I did certainly put in my fair share of decking screws and held many boards for Josh. 

I really did work.  I got much better at this after the first few decking screws!