On July 5 we traveled to Fergus Falls, Minnesota, not far from the North Dakota border. That’s where Aaron’s great-grandmother (age 102) lives and we wanted to introduce Kayla to her great-great-grandmother. We were able to get some 5 generation pictures with Clara Grage (Kayla’s great-great grandmother), Neal Grage (Kayla’s great-grandfather), Becky Kerr (Kayla’s grandmother), Aaron Kerr (Kayla’s dad), and Kayla. Here’s one of the really good ones:
Later that day we traveled across Minnesota and headed up on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Aaron’s aunt and uncle have a vacation home in the Grand Marais area, and we had the privilege of staying there again this summer. Last summer it was just the two of us, but this year it was the three of us plus some others. Aaron’s parents joined us for a few days, and some of our good friends (Josh, Becky & Owen Hook and Trevor, Jody & Austin Reid) drove from Mt. Pleasant and met us there. While on the North Shore we hiked, painted rocks, visited Thunder Bay, Ontario, shopped, played with the kids, and enjoyed various games like pool, darts, ping pong and scum. We also had a mini prayer and worship service on Tuesday night, and that was one of the highlights of the trip.
Our final big adventure occurred on the way home. Driving through the Upper Peninsula, we hoped to make it to Marquette for the night. Kayla needed to eat and get out of her car seat for a while, so we stopped in this tiny town called Bergland for dinner. As I was finishing feeding Kayla, she threw up really badly. Normally when that happens she feels much better, but not this time. She screamed and screamed, and we tried everything we could think of to get her to calm down. All of our efforts failed, so after 45 minutes we inquired where the closest hospital was. Unfortunately it was about 30 miles away in a town called Ontongaon, near the Porcupine Mountains. We drove quickly through some thick deer country, praying the whole time. We finally arrived at a little hospital. The nurse in the ER was great, and she called the doctor right away. He too was wonderful and he wanted to do a chest x-ray of Kayla. She seemed to be having some problems breathing, and we thought it was possible she had inhaled some of the milk she vomited back into her lungs or something. Shortly after the x-ray Kayla calmed to her normal self, and praise God the x-ray came out just fine! No problems at all. If there had been a problem, God cleared it up, and it’s also possible that acid had just really irritated Kayla’s nose and throat passages. We took her to a hotel about 12 miles away (and saw 16 deer on the way there!), and she slept the rest of the night. We’re so thankful God worked everything out for us.
And finally, I just have one last picture to share with you. We stopped along Lake Michigan just before the Mackinaw Bridge, and here’s a picture of Kayla with her daddy:
Leave a Reply