Long Awaited Visit

We have had such a glorious week with our son Jonathan, his wife Reseth and their two darling sons Aaron 3 and Titus 1, along with our daughter Cherish from Ely and of course Joanna who stays with us at camp.  Aaron is extremely verbal and some of the most hilarious things come out of his mouth.  We were kept in constant laughter between his verbal exchanges and Titus' creative dance moves while Cherish played her keyboard or I played the guitar.  His head bobbled back and forth as he clapped his hands and crouched in a deep knee position and sometimes twirled around dipping one shoulder.  Classic moves.  They both love music.  Aaron has a complete drum set at home that he often plays on for hours in a day, so when Cherish brought him some bongos to play, he went right at it.

I think we did everything you could possibly do for fun during their week stay, including fishing, swimming, boating, four wheeling, berry picking, floating down the Lazy River, hiking, watching old family movies, playing games, and roasting hot dogs and marsh mellows around the campfire. 

There's nothing like being together with family for soul satisfying memories.  Titus is at the age where you can still hug and kiss him to your heart's delight and he doesn't mind too much.  Although Aaron is still very expressive in loving us all with lots of hugs and kisses and the two brothers are constantly expressing their affection to each other which really warms my heart.  It's probably because Jonathan and Reseth have been pouring oodles of love and affection into both of them.  It just can't help but come out of them.

We only get to see them once or twice a year, so each visit is extra special and long awaited.

Ring Around the Doghouse

Joanna mated one of her best racing dogs, Lark, to a very accomplished winning male dog near Duluth and got seven energetic puppies; six females and one male.  As you would imagine, they are hungry ALL the time, especially as they grow older and Lark is getting less and less patient in wanting to feed the brew. 

One day Joanna caught a humorous sight on camera while Lark was in the puppy pen.  They were wanting to take another slurp and she decided that was enough and began to run around the doghouse to get away from them.  In her hasty retreat, she actually lapped them and they caught up to her, latching on with vigor for a satisfying drink.

Rick and Nick

Oh my, what a fun filled, exciting, relaxing, enjoyable ten days I just had with my brother Rick from Oakwood, GA and my sister Nicki  (Nicolette), from Casselberry, Florida.  Rick has been up to stay with us two times before, but this was Nicki's first time.  She and I grew up surfing together on the beaches of Florida and she lives on a small lake, so I knew that even though she had never been fishing before, she would enjoy the water activities we have to offer here.

I went to Thunder Bay to pick them up at the airport and decided to stop at Kakabeka Falls on the way back since the water was high this year and figured it would be thundering over the falls.  There are some new facilities at the attraction now making it very welcoming.  We were all overwhelmed by what we saw and took lots of pictures.

Rick was chomping at the bit to get back to our place since his visit last year when he took his son down river with a canoe and caught probably 50 Pike just casting along the edges.  It was a memorable time for him and the other four family members who came with him.

Since it was just Rick, Nicki, Joanna and myself this time, we took a boat and trailered to several different lakes to give them a better taste of the beautiful area in which we live.  For our first fishing day, we went to Barrel Lake.  Joanna caught a good sized Walleye and was holding it up for Rick to take her picture when all of a sudden it wiggled out of her hands and fell to the bottom of the boat.... right beside Nicki who was seated in a lawn chair.  She let out a shriek, jerking up her feet and arms to get away from the flopping fish.  It was one of those moments you wish you could have captured on video.  I thought she was going to flip out of the boat.  She's just not used to being around stinky, wiggly fish.  But she ended up catching most of the fish during their stay and even learned how to put on her own worms.   I was amazed when I went to clean the fish that Nicki wanted to learn how to do that too.  I KNEW she was a pioneer woman at heart. 

Our days were full of all kinds of activities like four wheeling down logging roads, picking blueberries, floating in tubes down the Lazy River ( the winding, sandy-bottomed river going into Mamieguess Lake),  tubing the rapids under the bridge, bonfire with smores and lots of fishing.  Nicki said she wanted to have lots of Walleye meals since she probably wouldn't eat it again till her next visit.

On their last evening here,  Rick took Nicki out on Indian Lake to one of our favorite fishing spots which we call the Barrel.  It's the end of the sandbar that juts out from the peninsula between upper and middle Indian Lake.  The sun was setting in the west, the moon was rising from the east mirroring itself in the glassy calm water.  They were the only ones out there.  She said she had never known such stillness.  It was perfectly quiet except for the occasional call of the lonely loon or caw of a seagull.  What a balm for the soul!!

I'm so thankful for these special family times when we can reconnect and enjoy God's beauty together.  

Family from Florida

Last week Larry Nellis, his parents, his daughter, son and a friend drove all the way up from Orlando, Florida to stay with us for two weeks.  Wow, what a drive!  Now that's desire.  Larry came up to this area years ago to fish and wanted to bring his family to experience some really great fishing fun.  

Elea caught a 26 inch Walleye that looks almost as big as herself and she looks mighty happy about it.  Larry was equally excited about the biggest Lake Trout he's ever landed.  It is 34 inches long.  I bet his arm was aching just trying to hold it up for the picture.

It was great having some folks from my neck of the woods.  I grew up in Winter Park, Florida which is right next door to Orlando.   We look forward to having Larry and his family back with us again next year.  

Trophies from 2013

Cory and Nancy Prissel have been longtime guests at Agimac River Outfitters and have become very good friends.   They keep us laughing at their stories of fishing expeditions on Indian Lake and the surrounding area.   Last year Nancy caught this beautiful 29 inch Walleye on Indian Lake and Cory caught this monstrous 45 inch 24 pound Pike the same week.   Way to go Team Nancy!!

They are conservative fishermen and threw them both back to be caught another day.  I'm studying the picture trying to figure out where on the lake they caught them.  I bet you are too. Ha!