The Thomas Family: Happy, Happy, Happy Hiawatha!

Hia-wa-ha?

Hiawatha is a folk/traditional music festival that takes place every July in Marquette, MI and has been a part of my life in one way or another since I was in 3rd grade. Growing up through grade school my friend Ellie and her family went to Hiawatha every summer and were gone for about 2 weeks on vacation. I hated Hiawatha then, I thought it was so dumb that my friend had to be gone for so long.

Ellie and I circa 2004 Hiawatha :)

Flash forward to 2002...my first Hiawatha. It was horrible, I was not a happy camper. We had a tiny tent with NO RAIN FLY and it poured. There was a hatching of biting black flies, we went to climb around on the rocks of Lake Superior and I fell and bonked my head on the rocks. That was it. I'd had enough. I stood up, brushed myself off then chucked my water bottle at Ryan and told him I was going home with or without him. It was a VERY silent car ride until half way home...we stopped to get something to eat and I stood up and discovered that I had melted Andes mints on my pants. My khaki capris. Right dead center on my butt. Awesome. Just awesome.

Somehow Ryan talked me into going the following year...it was better. There was this huge group of a bunch of people from Medford as well as various parts of Michigan that we camped with and meals were planned and shared, music was listened to and danced to...it was just better.


Our Hiawatha family in the early 2000s

A few years in...2004 to be exact...Ryan and I literally won the lottery...the Thursday night camping lottery that is...so we went up a day early to stake our claim on our site and start the set up for our group. We had all these great plans of going to these waterfalls to hike and then the forecast called for rain, lots of cold dreary rain. When we first got all set up we went down to the lake and beach that at that time was on the campgrounds (in a future year the dam holding the lake together broke so it was a river for a number of years but is currently under construction of re-daming - yes, that's a technical construction term, haha - so that hopefully next year the lake will be back). Ok, back to the story, so we go down to the beach and I am sitting up on this rock and Ryan writes in the sand I heart Mindy. Aww...isn't he sweet? He asks me to come down by him...being the...tenacious woman I am I say No, I don't want to right now. Poor guy. Ok, well lets go back to the campsite...so we go back to the campsite and are sitting and playing cards and he says hey can I show you something in the tent? Again, tenacious I am...NO. I don't want to right now. Bless his heart. Ryan says GET IN THE TENT. So I go in wondering what HIS problem is. We are in the tent and he breaks out this package of gummy savers...umm ok. So we are eating the gummy savers and he puts a pineapple flavored one on my right hand ring finger and says, "there, now we're engaged". Tenacious me, in a snotty as all get out voice, NO that's the wrong hand...out comes the actual ring and he says well, how about this one instead? Seriously...after I have been such a bleep all day he STILL asks me. I have one good sweet man. So obviously this event makes Hiawatha a bit sentimental for us.

Future years again, I miss one here or there, get there late, skip out early...once to go to Red Lobster prior to heading back home...oops! Overall the weekends were great, just hanging out with a great group of people, making crazy huge meals, there were a few years of meat fest...literally grills filled with all kinds of steaks, seafood you name it. Everyone just enjoying each others company, dancing like crazy people, hosting the band the Duhks at our site...everything you could ever want in a long weekend away. :)

Then there was the year that our generation really started taking over the planning of the meals...we did pulled pork and bag omelets...for some reason that year I was just tired out the whole time and really irritable...I later found out that I was preggo while at that Hiawatha but didn't know it yet...

Last year was a quiet year at Hiawatha just because of schedules being crazy so we had a smaller group which actually worked out well for being Naomi's 1st year camping up there. She was such a great little camper and we had a great time.


Naomi's first Hiawatha July 2011 Age 1 1/2

Hiawatha friends, Naomi and Hannah

This year was my favorite thus far but I'm starting to realize that may be my feeling every year going forward. There are so many aspects of the festival that pre-Naomi I didn't realize existed. There is a great Children's area that you can go to do crafts, face painting, dancing, etc. Our group is so much fun, and everyone is there just to enjoy the weekend and each other. It really has started to feel like our own little Hiawatha Family. In preparation for Hiawatha we were trying to get Naomi to say Happy Hiawatha and all she could really get out was Happy Hatha, so Happy Hatha it was. I am going to post a number of pictures below...unfortunately this is one of the weekends I was in a photo slump, thankfully for other members of our Hiawatha family there were lots of moments caught on film. Pictures of courtesy of Liz and Kristi Dolan and Beth van der Berg...