In which Steven posts a brief account of vacation activities:

FRIDAY
Drove up to my brother's cottage in East Tawas near Lake Huron. Sam the Dog didn't like it one bit--he hates travel. Such is the doggy life. At the cottage, my brother Paul and sister-in-law Kristi showed us what was where and how things worked. The cottage is on a little side street surrounded by trees and other cottages. A public access section to Lake Tawas is across the road and a few steps away. Paul has a canoe and kayaks and bikes and other stuff.

Paul and Kristi left us with a pile of brochures and advice about stuff to do. We unpacked, and went down to the little lake for some swimming to cool off.  Then we tried to kayaks and canoe for a short trip.  Lake Tawas is a hunter's lake, with lots of rice planted there by the county for ducks.  It's very pretty.

OTHER DAYS
We went to the beach at Lake Huron several times. At this time of year, the water is warm (the Great Lakes are so huge, they don't get truly comfortable for swimming until August, except for Lake Superior, which is always cold).  The choppy waves made for fun swimming.

Another day we took a paddleboat cruise on the Au Sable River.  The boys were alternately bored and fascinated.  They had a guitar player on board, and Aran absolutely hated him.  He spent every music moment with his fingers in his ears.  I asked him if the player was off-key or hurt his ears or what, and Aran said firmly, "His music is boring!"

Spent a chunk of a day wandering around downtown Tawas. The boys liked spending the money they'd saved up for vacation. Aran and Mackie each bought huge lollipops at a candy store and looked silly eating them. Maksim went into freakout overload when he saw an entire wall of jellybabies.  I bought a book at the local bookstore and read the whole thing in one day.  Kala browsed some clothing stores but didn't buy anything.

Sasha and I went on a long kayak trip around Lake Tawas.  At one point, Sasha insisted on stopping at a marshy, tree-covered island.  We pulled the kayaks ashore in waist-high grass and squished through ankle-deep mud toward some trees.  I was rapidly losing interest, but Sasha kept going and vanished from view. Mosquitoes were everywhere, and I finally called to Sasha that we were leaving now. Sasha returned, covered with huge welts. Enormous!  It looked like he'd been attacked by an army of vampires.  Since I'd stayed near shore, I escaped such torture.  We paddled toward home.  I doubt it ever occurred to Sasha when he was living in a one-room house in Ukraine and sleeping in haystacks that the summer he was sixteen he'd be kayaking on a quiet summer lake with a different father.  It definitely didn't occur to me.

Another day we rented two personal water crafts--jet skis--on Lake Huron.  Sasha was adamant that he didn't want to ride one, and it was with great reluctance that he climbed on board behind me.  Mackie, who thought this great fun, was in front of me.  Aran rode with Kala.

I'd never used a PWC before, but they aren't hard, of course.  The rental place was in a little harbor with a no-wake policy, and once we cleared that, I was able to speed up a little.

Abruptly, the roles reversed.  Sasha thought it was great, and Mackie absolutely freaked.  If I went more than 10 or 12 mph, Maksim pitched a fit and couldn't be reassured.  Sasha wanted to go faster and faster.  After about twenty minutes, Kala and I met up back at the dock. She reported that Aran also didn't like going very fast, so she took Mackie for a while, leaving me with Sasha so we could open up.

We zoomed across the lake, sometimes bouncing across the waves.  Sasha liked it, but he's a little on the short side and kept whacking his face against my life jacket.  Kala and I met up again.  Mackie wanted to swim and Sasha said he'd supervise. Aran came with me, which let Kala try some speed on her own.

I was afraid Aran wouldn't want to go fast, but when I gave the throttle more and more power, he didn't have any problems. He kept up a running commentary about Sonic the Hedgehog, in fact.  We rushed all over the lake at speeds of 30 and 40 plus.  (Faster than that, and I couldn't see for the spray.)  Aran thought it was the best thing ever, and when time was up, he begged to do it again and again.

Mackie and I took a couple of long bike rides together.  We all had ice cream at a local ice cream parlor.  We ate at a restaurant that we thought would be a nice, quiet place to eat, but then a lounge singer showed up and put an end to that idea.  (Oops.)  We thought Aran would hate this guy as much as he hated the paddle boat singer, but Aran liked this guy.

We were supposed to stay until Friday, but on Thursday it started to rain and the forecast was calling for more of it on and off all day.  So we decided to head home a day early.  We packed up, cleaned the cottage, and drove home.  A successful vacation all around.