Camp Wathana

Back when I was a small girl I belonged to the Camp Fire Girls. My mom was a group leader. A few times a year our group would go to our camp , Camp Wathana, for a weekend.

Camp Wathana is located in Holly, Michigan. We would drive there from Detroit. Back then there was no expressway going out that way so it seemed much farther away than it actually is.

Anyway, I have great memories of the times we were at that camp!

Last week they had a open house so Rich and I decided to drive over there so I could see all the places I remember being.

I remember one weekend we went for a conference with several other groups from Detroit. We stayed in this lodge and I remember rows of cots that we slept on.

I remember being a little scared of the big windows because they looked out into the woods and it was very dark!

And the big fireplace that was so huge! Still is actually but to a 9 year old girl it was gigantic!

And the balcony we weren't allowed to go on!

A few of the signs on the walls. I don't remember them but I'm sure they were hanging there when I was there. If you look closely at the bottom of the sign above you can see a faint outline of the word Girls,  because we were the Camp Fire Girls. Over the years they have become gender inclusive so they took the word Girls off. I think they should have left it, personally. 

There is a huge screened in porch on the back that overlooks the lake. I actually didn't remember that until I saw it again!

And of course the lake!

Don't remember this dock either but I may not have been there back then.

This totem pole says Wo He Lo, which if I recall means Work, Health and Love. 

A few times we went with a smaller group of girls. Then we would stay in these little cabins.

There were bunks on both sides and slept 8 people per cabin. 

Ug! I wouldn't want to stay in any of those now! I don't know how my mom did it!

I am glad we went there and I enjoyed seeing all those places. They are having another on in the Fall and I want to go back with Karen because she was also a Camp Fire Girl. 

Until the next time.....

Off My Phone

Here are some random pictures off my phone:

This is a fan that my coworker has on her desk. For some reason it didn't show up good but when the fan is on there is a clock lit up on the blades!

 This is a bamboo plant I got for my other coworker, Katie, who has moved on to another job.

This sign for Fowlerville Farms has been there for as long as I can remember. We used to always stop at that restaurant with my mom and dad anytime we would head up north!

This was in the hotel we stayed at in Grand Haven last weekend. They say that the remote control is one of the dirtiest things in a hotel room. I assume this means they cleaned it but I cleaned it off anyway!

This was a interesting sculpture that  I  saw in a  hotel lobby.

This is the sunset on Lake Michigan in Grand Haven. The pier you see was closed for construction so we couldn't walk out on it.

Just grabbing a hold of all that beauty!

This is a sign by a bar/restaurant by where I work.

This is the musical fountain show in Grand Haven.

And last but not least is this cute little guy who is soon going to be 6 months old!

We watched him Saturday night so Shauna and Brad could go to dinner. This was one of his few happy moments. He was pretty fussy the whole time we were there! He is having some skin allergy issues and he was pretty itchy I think!

Rich and I drove out to Holly Michigan today because they were having a open house at Camp Wathana, which is the camp I went to several times when I was a Camp Fire Girl 1966-1970.

I'll tell you all about it next time!

Until then.......

Well!

Well it's been a little over a month since my last post. Seems to be my pattern now, once a month!

Work has been stressful but that's nothing new. My coworker got another job and will be leaving after next week. Thankfully we have a float who can cover until they hire someone. My coworker actually has been trying to find another job for about 2 1/2 years so it's almost a relief to not have to wonder anymore when she'll be leaving!  I wish her luck!

My lilac bush did fantastic this year! I think it's the best it ever has been!

They finally laid my dad's headstone a few weeks ago.

I miss him . It's still weird to go out to dinner on Friday nights and not have him there!

But, this little sweetheart has completely stolen my heart!

 Shauna went back to work and her mother-in-law is babysitting. I am so thankful that he doesn't have to go to daycare right now!

Shauna misses him though and I think he misses her, too.

Giving her the look of love!

Here he is passed out after being at a Memorial Day barbecue! Love his little plaid shorts!

Anyway, we have a little trip planned in a few weeks just for a couple nights. Hoping to see a glorious sunset on Lake Michigan.

Then we get to babysit for the weekend when Shauna and Brad go camping! Looking forward to that for sure!

Until the next time......

Big Project

About 3-4 months ago we ripped the old, crappy blue carpet out of our living/dining room. It was there when we bought the house and after almost 17 years and 5 cats it was pretty worn out and gross! 

Every time I had to clean that room the carpet caused me stress, and since I am trying to eliminate some of the stress in my life, we decided to rip the carpet up. I have no pictures of that process but here is the room after the carpet was gone and we had it painted. 

That was several weeks before we went on vacation!

After we got back we needed to get serious about doing something with the floor. 

We decided on  laminate and we also decided to install it ourselves. The color we picked is called Hometown Hickory Sable.  We tried to match it as closely as we could to the wood floor that is in the kitchen and front foyer.  After we measured the floor so we knew how much we would need,  I ordered it online and in a few days we were picking it up from H⥁me Depot. 

It took us a while and several youtube videos to figure out how to start, where to start and how to actually install the floor. We started on Sunday and worked all day. By the time we were done for the day we had about 1/3 of the floor installed. We were taking our time and trying to do a good job.

I went to work in Monday but Rich took the day off and continued to work on the floor. By the time I got home he had the floor abut 2/3 done.  Then we worked on it together on Tuesday, Wednesday (except I dropped my phone and shattered it so I spent a few hours at the phone store getting a new one!), Thursday Friday and part of Saturday! 

Believe it or not we were having 20+ people over for Easter Sunday! Here it is with the floor laid and set up for Easter. There is no shoe molding yet but it wasn't very noticeable. 

Here you can see the wood floor (bottom right) that is in the front foyer. I think we did a pretty good job matching the color, although the light shining on the wood floor makes it look a lot lighter.  Also the boards go in opposite directions but it looks fine. 

Last weekend we finally finished the shoe molding. We had to buy it on Friday night, Rich cut it  and I stained it on Saturday and Rich installed it on Sunday.  Believe it or not we still have the thresholds to go but we're having a hard time finding the right transition molding that will work between the two floors.

It was a lot of hard work but totally worth it!

 I'll leave you with a picture of Maxwell getting a bath before making his first family holiday debut at our house on Easter.

He was a hit!!

Until the next time.....

Anniversary Trip part 4 Primm Nevada and A Bullet Ridden Car

I've had this draft sitting here since April 2nd! This poor neglected blog!! 

On Tuesday of our trip we decided to drive to Primm, Nevada.

Our drive there took us in and out of California, where there was no state line signs, and we only knew when we crossed the border because our navigator would say, Welcome to California or Welcome to Nevada"

Our destination was a casino called Whiskey Pete's.

This is a statue of Whisky Pete! People throw money at him.,,apparently for luck!

But the real reason we wanted to come here is that they have this car there:

Yep, it's the real one (so the sign says)

Can't imagine dying in a hail of bullets but I guess they deserved it!

We had a great vacation celebrating our anniversary. In the airport on our flight home Delt@ airlines was offering $1,200 per person flight credit for anyone wanting to give up their seats!

We would have taken advantage of it but we wanted to get home.

Shauna had asked us to babysit Maxwell the next day.

We have our priorities, you know!

Until the next time!

Aniversary Trip Part 3-Cousin time and Oatman AZ

I have a cousin who has lived in Arizona for the last 30 years. She actually is my dad's first cousin so my first cousin once removed or something like that.


Anyway, when my dad passed away she flew in for his funeral. It was the first time I had seen her since she moved! In fact,  I had completely lost touch with her until we reconnected by the miracle called Facebook!


When we planned this trip, we knew we would only be about 4 hours from Phoenix so I messaged her to see if she wanted to meet us somewhere half way between Laughlin NV and Phoenix AZ and she did us one better. Her and her son drove to Laughlin and spent the day with us before heading on to Las Vegas.

It was sure great to see her again!

The next day we drove about 45 minutes to Oatman, AZ.

Oatman is a abandoned government controlled  gold mining town on old Route 66 that was shut down when the government needed other metals for the WWII. When the miners left town they left their burros and they have been wild there ever since,  That is the attraction to that town. When we first got there there was not a burro to be seen, though!

Another attraction is the Oatman Hotel and Bar,  Here is the reason why:

Everyone who visits signs a dollar bill and staples it on the wall! The whole place is coated with them! I don't know how thick they are but there must be thousands of them!

Here is the one we left with the pink lettering. We put it in a particular spot so my brother and sister-in-law can find it when they go there at the end of May!

There was a small gun-fight show in the street while we were there so we watched that, walked around a little, bought a few souviniers and then decided to head back to Laughlin! It was hot and crowded and there were no burros anyway!


Until we started driving out of town and look who was headed down the street!

So we pulled over for some pictures!

They were looking for food and walked away if you didn't immediately offer any!

The were so cute!

There was probably 10 or 12 of them!

So we got to see the burros after all!

Next time: Primm Nevada and bullet-ridden car.