Nora in the Northwoods {For Real this Year}

Last year we ventured up north to get away as a family of five, anxiously waiting for a very important step in the process of bringing Nora home.  God was so present in all of the details of last year's get away ... from the timing of the paperwork approval, the location of a FedEx provider (and the owner's own adoption story), finding a small, local business for printing, scanning, e-mailing, and all of this amidst swimming, fishing, camp fires and board games.  We were in awe of how Nora was so much already a part of our family and our 2012 family get away, Nora was in the north woods with us.

This past week we again ventured up north but as a family of six.  The time away was great and the opportunity to watch Nora explore, discover and cause mischief, admittedly exhausting, in a new place was quite fun.  To see how God has moved our family in one short (sometimes seemingly long) year is remarkable.

Last year's post on Nora in the Northwoods contains many of the little details.  This year's post is riddled with many photos ... sit back, grab a cup of a coffee or a large diet coke and take a glimpse into our little family (or, scroll through quickly and move through your day as this little blog continues to be my journal into our family life, to document these moments for a certain Mama who is aging and forgetting details).

Me and my girls 

 

Exploring the water 

 

 

 

Um, driving a pontoon boat ... or at least little girls pretending to ... and, not so little boys actually being given permission to (oh dear, a glimpse into my life a little more than four years from now when Jack begins to drive ... gulp) 

 

Oodles of fishing

 

 

Miniature golf 

Side note - I adore this photo of Nora, when Lydia is excited about something she pumps her fist and raises her arms while saying "YES!" ... a certain little sister has figured out a perfect imitation of this!

 

The fish museum 

 

Nora surprising all of us figuring out to drink from a straw (we were all quite proud of this Little Miss!) 

 

Indoor activities when the weather wasn't the greatest ... puzzles, forts, hide and seek

 

 

 

Looking sweet

 

Catching turtles and frogs 

 And, falling asleep in moving "vehicles" 

 

 

This is Nora, in the canoe ... this happened multiple times ... oh, if only the girl would sleep this soundly at night 

 

Apparently I was not the only one exhausted after long days ... 

 

And, that was photo overload of Nora in the Northwoods 2013!