Thursday, 9/16/21, Left to meet Jim and Bev and Steve and Diane in Mt. Morris to head to Kokomo, Indiana for Vietnam Veterans Campout.

Bill after a long drive

Me

                              Our camper all set up

Bill relaxing

Tic tax toe three in a row…our friends and our campers

New decks of cards…much needed!

More relaxing 

3-13 and snack selfie

Me by the CMA booth in the tent

Our meal the ministry provided

We got up at 4 and left at 4:50. Taking Toy Hauler for the first time.  We prayed before leaving.  We met up with friends and followed each other.  Lots of traffic until 7 a.m.   Bill did amazing driving.  We got to the campground at Kokomo at around 1.  Set up was super easy.  I was so happy for Bill.  Inside set up was fast too.  Nice that Bill can put the slide outs out with a remote and also the awnings.  It also locks and unlocks the doors which is nice.  We had to use our generator because there’s no electricity here.  It’s permanently in the camper storage in front and turns on with a button inside the camper.  There is also a button to push to show how much gas is left in it.  

We drove a golf cart around that some friends got for us.  We walked through the big tent where vendors are selling things and found CMA’s booth.  Lots of people serving Jesus and doing ministry here.  We ate outside where Grisholm ministries is feeding people outside for free and sharing the love of Jesus.  We visited outside with friends and then came in and Bill beat me by 3 points in 3-13 in the last hand.  We FaceTimed with Vikki during our card gameI texted lots with Adam.

 

Wed., 9/15/21, Shopped, Stopped at Melissa's, Dropped things off to Salvation Army, Packed rest of camper and Bill has it hooked up and ready to leave

Evan with the flower he made for his mom...He has a great imagination

Looks like its a spinner now

It's a fine umbrella

Now he is at the beach with his tropical drink and sun umbrella.  He wanted his mom to take a picture of him "at the beach", but then said, "Wait, I should be relaxing better than this at the beach, I need a footrest".  Melissa Face Timed me so I could see him.  We talked for a while and he was so cute and talked so grown up.  I told him he was making me want something cold to drink, because I had been hauling stuff to the camper and I was pretty warm.  He was the highlight of my day!

I got up early so I could go grocery shopping while stores were pretty empty.  I got to Aldi's right after it opened.  After that, I stopped at Melissa's to drop off some Maple Syrup I got Bruce.  Also dropped off a Maple Syrup Bill got for Bruce. We each got one at the State Rally.  I picked up one because I heard Jerry say it was his last bottle.  I didn't know Bill had already got one.  Oh well, I guess it's a double blessing for Bruce.  Evan came running out to say hi to me and send me an air hug.  I went to drop stuff off at Bethesda Thrift Store, but they weren't taking drop offs today.  Went to Jacks, Meijer, and then went to Salvation Army to see if they were taking drop offs today.  They were, so I got rid of lots of stuff I had packed in my car.  I got home and packed everything but the food in the camper.  Bill told me he read that I needed to turn the refrigerator on 8 hours before putting food in.  At 6 p.m., our  8 hours was up, so he helped me carry stuff out and put it in the refrigerator.  Then we closed up the camper (he used a remote to put the slide outs in...very cool) and he hooked it up and parked it where we can just quickly pull out in the morning when we leave at 5 a.m.  Talked to all the girls today.  I will be missing them and the grandkids while I'm gone.  Talked to Lela today too, and will hopefully get to pay them a short visit while we are in Indiana.  

Tues., 9/14/21, Did laundry, packed some for camper trip to Indiana, Went to Melissa's, went to Flint in evening

I was happy to see Evan today

 Jack showing me Zoey in her banana bed.  She sure loves it!

So happy to get to see Jack today

Clouds on our way home tonight

Woke up early so got up to do my reading, drink my coffee and eat my oatmeal.  Did laundry and ran the dishwasher.  Went through some baskets and bins of things we took out of our old camper and put stuff away.  Went to Melissa's so she could pick out which set of nesting bowls Bruce's mom should order from Kimmy for his Christmas present.  I was so blessed and happy to see Melissa carry a set of bowls from her garage, up two steps into the house to see which color would match best, and then back out again.  She didn't have her braces on when she did this walking with the bowls and did amazing.  God is awesome!  He is healing her again as He did before.  I am sure thanking Him!  She is always so determined and really works hard to achieve her goals.  I got to talk to Jack for quite a while, and then Evan came out and talked to me.  Sure love those boys! We got some downpours during the day.  They didn't last long though.  In the evening, we went to celebrate Bev and Jim's birthdays with them and another couple.    

Monday, 9/13/21, Breakfast with Charlie and Sue, Euchre, and a tour of our camper. Jacob drove Jared to our house

 

Some new happy friends...Squishies for the pool.  The kids and us adults like throwing them to each other in the pool and at the beach.  

Sue, Bill and Charlie ready to play Euchre

Another tree down in our woods after the storm

Played some good worship music by Sovereign Grace Worship today.  Behold our God is one of my absolute favorites.  Had breakfast with Charlie and Sue, then played Euchre.  They came to see our camper.  It was fun spending time with them.  They won one game, and we won two.  The tie breaker was a close one.  We won by 1 point.  I did laundry and since I looked at the weather and it wasn't supposed to rain until 4p.m., I hung them out on the line.  When Charlie and Sue were here looking at the camper, it started raining.  I took the clothes down quickly and put them in the dryer to dry.  Bill had a fourth of the yard mowed when it started, so he couldn't finish it.  Plans seem to be changing lots today.  I got rid of my hanging plant today.  It was starting to look bad.  I also emptied 3 pails on my stacking planter.  I worked some in the camper.  Did my reading later today, while Bill was doing his.  He went to Flint to a friends house and picked up a chock to go in the camper to hold his motorcycle in place.  I texted with Adam, and talked to Kimmy, Stacie, Vikki and Melissa today.  Jacob drove Jared here to deliver some pottery for Vikki and also dropped off some nesting bowls for Melissa to look at to pick out which one she likes or let Kimmy know if she wants a different set made for Bruce.  They are beautiful of course!   It was dark out, and Jacob was getting some of his driving hours in.  It was nice seeing them even if it was only for a few minutes.  I was happy when I heard they were home safely.  

Sun., 9/12/21 Went to church, Vikki taught Sunday School for the first time at New Life, Kimmy, Jared and the boys came to help close the pool, Thunderstorms in the evening

Eli, Jacob, Jared, Adam, and Bill (other side of pool) helping close the pool

Jacob doing his Delta College work

Pizza on the deck...Jacob, Jared, Bill, Adam, me and Eli

Eli and me...he looks as tall as me now

Some fun pictures Melissa posted of their Labor Day Weekend Camping Trip

Papa Dan, Bruce, Max, Evan and Jack going for a bike ride

Hailey kayaking

 Melissa and Evan Kayaking...Jack swimming

Evan, Bruce, Max, Hailey, Abby and Jack 

                                                                                    

 Evan ready to bat

Evan at batting practice.  He loved it so much he did again instead of going on the go carts another time.

Jack on his go cart

 Evan on his go cart

Max driving his go cart

Melissa drove a go cart too!

Hailey playing her guitar

Hailey teaching Evan how to play a chord on her guitar

 We brought our stuff in from the camper and started getting ready for church.  I went to prayer which was amazing.  Vikki went in to the Children's church room to get ready to teach.  Peyton went with her.  Hailey was in church waiting for me when I got out of prayer. I gave her a pack of gum and talked to her for a few minutes before service started.  After church, we prayed for some people, then we came home and started draining the water out of the pool to lower the level and doing things to close the pool that we could get done before Kimmy and family arrived.  They came shortly after and all worked hard and fast to get the pool closed and cover on.  They also put away table umbrellas and a swing. Kimmy and Jared cleaned the floor of the storage ends under the deck so we could put things in there on a clean floor.  We ate pizza and breadsticks on the deck.  We were all pretty hungry by the time we ate.  When Kimmy and I went to pick up the Hot and Ready Pizza's from Little Caesars, they weren't ready, so we picked up our order at Hungry Howie's.  In the parking lot by little Caesars, was a motorcycle and on the seat was a little Jack Russell Terrior laying down.  It wasn't on a leash or anything.  Kimmy told me to look at it.  It looked at me and wagged it's tail happily, but stayed right where it was.  When we were done at Hungry Howie's, we came back to Little Caesars and the dog was still there on the seat. The guy whose motorcycle it was, came out and I told him what a good little dog he had.  I told him we ride a Honda Gold wing, and invited him to come to our Faith Rider's Meeting next month.  He asked me to repeat the details and said it would be nice to ride with people.  He just rides alone.  Bill kept his no cheese, and I kept a slice of pizza for dinner, then we sent the rest of the pizza home with Kimmy.  Jacob did some work for Delta he had to get done out on the deck with his computer.  Vikki and Peyton came over to get Peyton's shoes.  They stayed for a while and we went out to the camper so she could face time Paul and show him our camper.  He is always so kind and caring.  He wanted us to pick him up in our camper.  

Kenzie face timed me and showed me her new bunnies and quail, dog cage and bunny cage she got today.  Melissa and I had a nice long chit chat too.  Kimmy called me when it was storming here.  Not bad, just rain, thunder and lightening.  I typed up a report for our CMA Rally, we had to turn in.     

Sat.,9/11/21…Always a sad day remembering those who died in the twin towers in New York. Went to Bikes on the Bricks, Melissa and family came over, Kenzie came over

Bill, Isaac, Mike, Bill and Sabrina at Bringer Inn

Don, Bill, Sabrina, Isaac, Bill, me, Barb, Ron, and Mike ready to be blockers in the Bikes on the Bricks Motorcycle Parade

Time of prayer before riding in the parade

Following the police escort in the parade...Bill and Sabrina on the right ahead of us 

Me blocking an intersection

Bill blocking the same intersection

Bill, Jim, Greg, Julie and Jeff

Riding into downtown Flint....686 registered bikes (they actually think there were 1000) in  this 2 hour parade.  The line was 7 miles long of motorcycles! Wow!  

Melissa, Bruce and Evan were at our house when we got home.  Sure glad we got home before they left

Evan trying to pick up a pumpkin, but it was too heavy

Evan sitting on a pumpkin.  This year because the pumpkins are so big, the younger kids like to sit on them

Bill taking Evan on a motorcycle ride around the block

Papa and Kenzie enjoying their ice cream

Went for ice cream with Kenzie and Bill.  My big banana split.  

We left at 7:30 to meet at Bringer Inn for breakfast.  We had good food and it was fun being together.  We left for Bikes on the Bricks and Isaac led us their.  It was a beautiful day for a ride.  We met up to be instructed on blocking for the parade.  While we were meeting, another group was in front of the Harley Dealer parking lot, doing a bike blessing.  The police lined up first, then the blockers..The policeman would pull in to an intersection on his motorcycle, then the next blocker would take his place and he would leave.  We were one of the last ones to block.  We watched the rest of the motorcycles pass by, then when the ambulance came, it would let us back in the parade.  We parked in town and then walked around.  We got our free shirts for blocking.  We got a hotdog and coke.  We walked up and down the street on the brick road to look at all the bikes.  They had some vendors there, but not as many as usual.  We stopped at the CMA booth and talked to Diane and Bev.  We also watched the police go through the obstacle course as they competed against each other.  It is amazing to watch them make such sharp turns and go through these quickly.  So thankful for our policeman.  Some of our friends were setting up cones for them when they got knocked over.  We left and came back home, and were so happy Bruce and Melissa were here when we pulled back by the shed.  Bruce had picked some tomatoes for the Salsa he is making.  We took some pictures, then we opened all the doors and windows in the camper and turned on the 3 vent fans.  We all put on masks and Melissa, Bruce and Evan got a tour of our new camper.  They really liked it.  I'm so glad we could do this!  Bill took Evan for a ride on our motorcycle.  Evan so very happy and liked riding on it.  They left after that so Bruce could make dinner and Salsa.  Bill and I decided to sleep in the camper again.  It's nice having everything out there now and the memory foam on the mattress on our bed.  So comfy.  We stayed up for a while and I did my blog while he played a game of Sudoko on his phone.  We both slept really good.  

Fri., 9/10/21, Bill had therapy appt., I worked on cleaning the camper, Vikki and the kids came over, Kenzie came over, Wes got out of the hospital. Got everything put in and away in the camper,

Kenzie and Peyton

Me and one of Kenzie's cute bunnies

Isaac, Kenzie, Peyton and me holding some of Kenzie's cute bunnies

Kenzie and Peyton 

Bill went for coffee with Charlie. I put worship on, then did my devotions, prayer and Bible reading.  I started some laundry as I haven’t been able to do it because of no power.  Lots of catching up to do.  After that I started cleaning the camper.  I cleaned everything but the carpet.  Nothing was dirty, but it felt good to clean and wipe down  everything myself.  I took a load of stuff out and stated putting some away.  Bill wanted me to help him put chairs and stuff in the outside storage compartment. Vikki came after she picked the kids up from school.  I had her pick up lunch for us from McDonald’s.  We ate them started working on getting stuff out to the camper.  Kenzie came and brought her 4 bunnies. They are so cute!  She looked at the camper even though there were tubs all over the place.  We went outside and spent time with her and the bunnies, then went in the house.  Kenzie took Peyton and Isaac shopping while Vikki and I continued working. We put all the tubs in the back and the hauled in a bin at a time to put away.  Vikki’s idea and a good one.  She was a great help!  It was so nice having her help me decide where to put the kitchen stuff and other things.  She cut the foam piece we had on our king size bed in the other camper to a queen size.  Kenzie brought the kids back.  She had to get back home. The kids were both good and are still pretty excited about the camper.  We didn’t get finished until almost 8. We were both super tired. It sure is nice to have it done.