Category: Upper Peninsula of Michigan

We occasionally visit my home in the UP.

Family Journal: Sunday June 22, 2008

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Caspian Fire Whistle, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

I have not been posting much lately as I have been extremely ill. Yesterday morning I went into the walk-in clinic at the Iron County Community Hospital. I was diagnosed with strep throat and tonsilitis. Since Thursday evening I have had fever, headache, sore throat, and muscle aches. I think Nadia is coming down with it too. It is Sunday morning and I am finally feeling well enough to write a bit on the computer and drink a cup of coffee. I still have a sore throat and head ache.

The video above is from earlier in the week. I was raised in the town of Caspian, Michigan. It is located in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula, about 6 miles from the border of Wisconsin. There are around 900 inhabitants of the town. They have a quaint tradition to sound a “fire whistle” at 9:00 PM. This is to warn all the children to go home. In the winter it sounds at 8:00 PM. My sons really enjoy it and we have to go up to the town hall and sit directly under the horn to get the full effect.

We also rode bikes on the Apple Blossom trail. This is a trail that runs along the Iron River through town over to the nieghboring town of Iron River. It follows the old railroad tracks laid down by the iron ore mining companies at the turn of the century.

Family Journal: Wednesday June 18th

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Ocean, Papa, Owen, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

The highlight yesterday was a picnic we had at Hagerman Lake. Hagerman Lake is 586 acres and located near the border of Wisconsin and Michigan. They have a small public beach. It was a cool day with temperatures in the high 60’s, low 70’s all day so we had the beach to ourselves. I packed some sandwiches and drinks and we had a grand time. We played a big game of kick ball with Uncle Jimmer and cousin Tony. We even all got into the water! Once you got in the water was not too bad. You can click on the photo above to see more.

Nadia found out today that she will be teaching kindergarten next year at ISB. It is good that she enjoys teaching and the double income will certainly help us. It does however put a bit a stress on us in finding a quality nanny for Ocean. We visited with neighbors and old friends. Carol Drake and her daughter stopped by, we talked with the Medovichs, Kinneys, and Rivards in the neighborhood.

We are gearing up for Saturday’s 10 kilometer run in Marinette, Wisconsin and we will have a full blog report on the that. The cooler temperatures will continue and after living 9 degrees north of the equator for the past 6 years, we are loving it!

Potty Training Oliver

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Oliver M&M Ceremony, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

This clip is a short ceremony we held to encourage Oliver to use the bathroom. He is now wearing big boy underwear and Nadia came up with the idea to have an M&M jar on top of the fridge. When he tells us he has to go to the bathroom, he receives M&M’s. Yesterday he was 3 out of 5 opportunities.

We hope to have him perfect before school starts in August.

Grandma Kralovec’s Top 5 Least Favorite Athletes

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My mother, Yvonne Kralovec is a sports fanatic. She still follows sports daily, at age 67. She was a great athlete in her day, playing fast pitch softball, basketball, and bowling. She was a long time girls’ basketball coach at West Iron County Public Schools.

Her top five least favorite athletes are as follows:

#5 – Peyton Manning, QB Indianapolis Colts – “He thinks he is so great. He still complains about losing out on the Heisman trophy to the Michigan guy.” She loved it when his little brother upstaged him this year.

#4 – Todd Jones, Pitcher Detroit Tigers- “He can’t get three consecutive outs and makes me nervous.”  Note- Grandma watches or listens to every Tiger game. She has been doing this for the past 60 years.

#3 – Alex Rodriguez, Third Baseman NY Yankees – “Too much attention is paid to him, plus he is a Yankee.”

#2 – Kobe Bryant, Captain, LA Lakers – “Braggart, ‘I am the MVP’.” Anyone who campaigns for the MVP loses points in her book.

#1 – Tiger Woods, golfer – “That is all you hear about. For example, his poor knee, he won the US Open and they are worried about his knee. If he can play 91 holes, he doesn’t have problems with his knee.”

As you can see, she loves the underdogs.

Fathers’ Day – June 15, 2008

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Fathers & Sons, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

It was a wonderful Fathers’ Day holiday yesterday for us. The bright sunshine, cool breeze, and spending lots of time together made it wonderful. We started the day off with the traditional St. Cecilia’s Church Father & Son Breakfast. It was held in the basement of our family’s Catholic Church in Caspian. My parents are devout Catholics and I spent a lot of time there growing up. It was nice that all of my father’s sons and grandsons could be in attendance.

We then took the kids up to the Caspian Community Center playground. That is another place where I spent much of my youth. The center was built in the 1921 during the mining boom days and it is still open today. New playground equipment was donated by the De Paoli family for the children of Caspian. There are also tennis and basketball courts. Inside during the winter, it is open after school for kids. We used to play board games, play hoops in the gym downstairs, play pool, etc.

In the late afternoon Jim and I took Owen and Tony on a hike to Minnie Lake. We wanted to give a chance for Oliver and Beau to sleep. We parked the car just off of 424 and walked to the lake and around. I love the beautiful northwoods and the boys had a great time too. We then stopped in at Katy’s Bar to have a drink with my Dad before supper.

In the evening we all went to Nelson Field. Nadia ran several kilometers and the kids played and ran around. They were tired by the time we came home.