Mimi Day!

Did you see any pink butterflies flying around today? Ha aunt Mimi told us she was coming back as a pink butterfly and although i might not see them outside, i sure see them everywhere else! Here’s my favorite shirt that i truly believe looks like me with the pink butterfly!

8 years ago i had to say goodbye to my favorite aunt. My second mom. She was absolutely amazing. She never had children and she always told me that was so she could spoil me. And boy did she spoil me. Every fall she took me school shopping. As you can see in the photo below, that carried on way in to my adult life 😂. This is a photo of her and i out to breakfast after shopping, just months before she passed. The other photo is me holding her hand, as she took her last breaths.

Today the family and i headed to Lake Erie. This is where i go to talk to Mimi. 8 years ago, her husband and i took her shell of ashes out in Lake Erie for her final resting place. She now lives in the most beautiful lake!

2015

It was beautiful out today and the sun was shining. The shores of Lake Erie were covered with ice and it was beautiful. I said hello to aunt Mimi and took a few deep breaths of the lake breeze!

Aunt Mimi always said to me “i love you to the moon and back!” I made sure as i was taking this photo that i said it back to her!

Air you can wear

When it’s 100° outside you either play in the water or on the water. We made sure to get our morning workout in bright and early to beat the extremes heat! The morning views were gorgeous! We quick grabbed some coffee and a breakfast sandwich from our favorite shop in town and then it was time to play!

We opted for fishing on the boat, of course. It was hot hot but once you were in the middle of the lake it was tolerable. Sadly I think the fish were hiding from the heat , but a day on the boat is never a waste of a day!

We returned home to a delicious home cooked meal that mom had prepared for us!!! After a nice dinner, we headed home BUT not before stopping for some ice cream at our favorite place. “It’s on the way” 😂

She’s so good during meal time

Lake Girl Forever

That truly does describe me. Today i was so happy to spend the day on the lake and in my favorite town. My husband and dad went fishing for the day. They set out for perch but ended up catching sheephead, catfish and walley!

Mom and i walked around downtown Vermilion. We stopped at my favorite coffee shop and ran into Allie LaForce. She is from town but she was also miss teen USA, a sports anchor and a sports journalist the NBA and college basketball. She was there with her husband Joe Smith who is a pitcher for the MLB. We talked to both of them for awhile about her pregnancy and their fight to find a cure for Huntington’s disease. They were so sweet and we enjoyed talking to them!

After our breakfast stop we walked around town. We walked through the farmers market, shopped at a local boutique and checked out the chalk walk.

This evening i spent some quality time with the most needy sister ever 🤣. Luckily she is super cute!!!

After a long, but fun day, we all decided salads, pizza and subs sounded like a good idea for dinner. I was so happy to be at the lake for a million dollar sunset. As we were walking back to the house i also noticed the vibrant first quarter moon!!! It’s very rare that i catch a gorgeous sunset and a gorgeous moonrise! It truly was a wonderful day!

Baby You’re a Firework

Best firework show we have ever seen…

Monday evening our little lake community put on the best firework show the four of us have ever seen. Every year our community, as well as others, always put on a private firework show at the beach. Usually the street next to our community puts on a wonderful show. Well this year Mitiwanga out did them!

The night started off with the perfect sunset. It kind of set the mood and created the perfect backdrop for the events ahead.

The lake was filled with people. I have never in my life seen so many people sitting on our lake front. One family had a table set up and were making cotton candy for the kids. Another family had a face painting station, where high school girls were painting all the younger children’s faces. Families were sitting in chairs and on blankets, barely leaving any open grass on the lakefront. Children were rolling down the hill and running around. Mostly you just saw the flash of a glow stick running by. Our local neighbor was sitting on his deck with music playing from large speakers. It was truly a time all families came together to enjoy the evening!

My parents opted to watch the fireworks from the front porch so they could be home with Abby 🐶 so she wouldn’t be scared. Us kids went to the beach so we could enjoy all the excitement!

In years past, the street next to our community always put on the best show. Ironically it’s a family i grew up with in Berea, Ohio. Small world. Anyways back to the fireworks. So every year we all looked forward to their show. Well this year Mitiwanga showed them up! They went first from their pier and it was impressive but we quickly realized that was just the appetizer to the main course our community was ready to put before us! The first pier in Mitiwanga lasted about 20 minutes straight and WOW it was non stop amazing bursts in the sky. Everything from sizzlers to the booms you felt inside your chest! Just when we though we had reached the grand finale, a second pier started up their show! What??? It was another 10 minute show of amazing fireworks. We sat and watched fireworks for about 45 minutes straight!!! The best part is when it was over we just walked a few houses down to our parents house!

A small town on a Great Lake

My happy place…..

Nothing brings more peace to my heart then spending time up at Lake Erie. I am blessed that my parents live in a small community at the Lake. They are in the middle of two small towns that have so much to offer.

We started our day in Vermilion. We grabbed a breakfast sandwich and coffees at Brewed Awakening. Oh how i wish i could start my morning there everyday.

The city businesses always do different themes throughout the year. Current it’s a Alice and Wonderland theme!

How cute is this kids meal at Woodstock’s Cafe? I wanted to order one for myself!

In the afternoon we decided to go fishing. It was hot and nothing sounded better than being on the boat. We headed east of the Huron river. We marked a lot fish and i was just hoping they weren’t all full of mayflies. It started off a little slow but soon we were catching…..sheepshead. Ugh the rats of the lake. They were big and put up quite a fight. Never happy to reel in a sheepshead but it was better than not catching anything. We did end up catching about a half a dozen walleye. A few small that we threw back and we kept 4 of them. Good size eaters!

Wonder how long this crane has been there?

In the evening we ate dinner with my folks and headed back to clean up and close the boat. It was another wonderful day at the lake!

When the mayflies attack

The mayflies have made their arrival in Vermilion, Ohio. They say this is a sign of a healthy lake, but no one loves the days when they are here. The houses and buildings are covered. As cars drive down the streets you can hear the crunching of the mayflies that cover the roads. The first few days are always the worst and after about a week they are usually all gone!

It also makes things tough as a fisherman. The fish eat the billions of mayflies and are now full and don’t want anything you have to offer them. That didn’t stop us though. We enjoyed a beautiful day on the lake, but of course we only caught catfish.

LEWT tournament #4

Well Jimmy and Johnny fished in their fourth tournament today. They found tons of fish, but didn’t find the big ones. It’s apparent they need me 😂! I’m just so proud of them for competing and i love the smiles on their faces!

My parents brought niece, Cally, to watch weigh ins. She still isn’t to sure about this fish world, but she does love to eat the walleye. Like a typical 9 year old girl, she would just rather not see what her food looks like before it is cooked 😂

Tournament 4 standings

Standing totals for all 4 tournaments

Girls fish too!

This morning started off a little gloomy and raining so we cleaned up the house a little and went grocery shopping. By late morning the sun started to come out so we decided to head to the boat for some afternoon fishing 🎣!

The water was pretty calm and the winds were coming out of the south! We fished off of Vermilion on the west side. Our rods were busy. We caught white bass, catfish, sheep head and walleye. John and i kept 5 walleye and threw the rest back. I caught a 5 pound 26” walleye! One of the biggest I’ve ever caught. I think it was a pretty good start to summer fishing!

Afterwards we stopped at Main Street tavern for some dinner. John had the cheeseburger soup and the Philly burger with fries. I had the chicken cordon bleu sandwich and fries.

LEWT tournament #2

Well the boys had their second tournament of the season. It was a 2 day tournament launched out of Sandusky, Ohio. This tournament was combined with the Masters Walleye Circuit. Lots of teams and lots of amazing fishermen!

Day 1 was cold! I mean cold and wet and miserable. But of course the boys were fine all day out on the boat. My family and i went to weigh ins and we were frozen. It was so nice we could be there to see John weigh in their 5 fish for the day. The weighed in just over 23 pounds, which put them pretty much in the middle of the pack!

Day 2 was 40° warmer. No joke it was about 80° outside. Absolutely gorgeous day to be on the water all day. The boys headed east to fish this day! They found fish but just not “big” fish! They weighed in 5 fish for just over 16 pounds. They came in 100 out of 168.

Lake Erie Walleye Trail

My husband and his buddy Jimmy are fishing in the Lake Erie walleye tournament. It’s individual 1 and 2 day tournaments over several months. They are fishing in 4 out of the 6 which will qualify them for the championship in the fall!

These two have been so excited for this. They have done so much to prepare. They are extremely intelligent fishermen and it makes me so proud to see how much time they put in to preparing for each tournament.

Well their first day out and they came in 16th out of 73!!!! Seriously how awesome is that!? They woke up at 3am and were checked in by 5:30am. They enjoyed hanging out and meeting all the other teams before they left marina.