A New Chapter Begins

Tanis had his first day of kindergarten today. I am not sure how to feel about it. I can tell you for sure that I felt a major chapter in his life ending. I realized this past Tuesday that it was really the last weekday we could spend the whole day together. I had one of those you can never get the time back moments. It caught me while we were at the zoo that our day adventures have been curtailed. I have to take him to school even if I have the day off. We can't just plan a weekday full of fun, it has to be after school. He is my buddy and now I will not have him with me on those days. It makes me feel sad. I am happy for him a whole new world of wonder has opened for him. He has so many new firsts coming. I had a strange experience dropping him off today. He was trying to get out his door but it was locked he was a little irritated as we had practiced him getting out on his own, he got out and I gave him his lunch. "Bye Tanis I love." "I love you too daddy." "Head down this path to those doors." Slam! He closed the door and didn't look back. He didn't need me, he wanted to start his adventure. I was so proud of him because he is so strong and fearless. I was sad because it didn't seem like he needed daddy anymore. I am slowly becoming dad not daddy, my little boy is getting older everyday. With today and the vacation I think I got an even better glimpse at what it was like for you. To us family really does mean everything, but we aren't very good at making them see it. We show love in some of the wrong ways, we focus on making sure we provide for them but I learned sometimes we just need to get down into the dirt and play. Love ya guy!

Finding A Voice

I am having trouble finding my voice. I look up to you and you were never in someones face. I know things drove you crazy but I never saw you lose it and go off 9employees and relatives NOT included). I have really wanted to scream lately, so many things are wrong in this world. I have to be reserved on the sales floor, I have to be reserved with my employees, and I get frustrated talking about it at home (a lot of better things to talk about). Mom and I had a political conversation the other day, but it didn't feel right, and I was concerned about going to far, I look forward to our conversations. I don't know how well we would get along now, but I miss sports and political talk with you. I have no idea how the Spartans are supposed to be (I think most years you just told me about 500). The Browns beat the Lions in a pre-season game, but as I like to point out the Lions were undefeated in pre-season last year and look how that turned out. So in the future I may get a little political with you then again maybe not. Love ya guy!

Bad Year For Golf

Well the golf outing did not happen. The re-scheduled day was shut down for lack of participants, evidently several groups couldn't make it. So I did not golf this year. They claim next year will be bigger and better. I hope so. Love ya guy!

Vacation Debriefing

I had a lot of fun on my vacation. We as a family saw a lot. We packed a whole lot into those days. It was a lot of driving and by the end we were all ready to come home. I had a lot of fun reliving things from my childhood. I remember staying at KOA, and they really haven't changed that much. One had an arcade that had games from when I was a kid. It was fun to explore with Tanis. He likes to look for things and make games out of everything. The one morning we let Kellie sleep in he just played in the dirt. He had a lot of fun even if Kellie didn't approve (to be fair he was barefoot and in his pajamas). For me the fun was seeing my family have fun. It was a lot of driving which does take more out of you then you think. I really wish we could have made the trip without Ditzy but she wasn't that bad and I think it helped her to go. I am glad we went and look forward to another vacation next year, and yes I did slow down and enjoy it. Love ya guy!

Sunday August 9th

We woke up (around 5 a.m.) to an awesome display of thunder and lightning. The power went out for a little bit in the campground and lightning struck fairly close to us. Eventually the storm subsided and we slept a little bit longer and got up. I offered to pay for another day and we could head home on Monday, but Kellie said no she was ready to go home today. I took down the tent while her and Tanis showered. She finished packing the car and we started our trip home. I wanted them to see Sleeping Bear dunes, so we put it into the GPS and were on our way. We finally got there, but it wasn't what I was thinking about, I was thinking of the dunes at Silver Lake. Kellie and Tanis climbed some of the dunes, and then we took the driving tour stopping at several of the viewing points. We had a good time, but I think everyone was ready to go home. So the GPS took us back through Traverse city and then south and east. We made decent time and got home around 8 pm. I picked up the other 2 pugs and we had pizza for dinner. We started on the mountain of laundry and talked a lot about our trip. Love ya guy!

Saturday August 8th

We woke up to rain. It was coming down fairly hard, and had started to come into the tent. I went outside and started to stake down the rain fly. I got soaked in the process but figured I deserved it for not doing it before. The rain had pooled up on the fly and was causing some havoc, but we were able to get it tied down. We all got up and dressed and I decided since we were rained out I would buy breakfast. We looked for a local diner, but ended up at the Cracker Barrel. After breakfast we decided to head to Charlevoix anyway as that was our plan before we left home. Charlevoix was having an art fair with over 150 artists. We got down to the art fair to find out that no dogs were allowed in the park that day. We took Ditzy for a little while, but I was uncomfortable with breaking the rules, so Kellie took Ditz out and I walked through part of it with Tanis. We traded off a couple of times and we were able to take in the whole art fair. It did rain a little on us, but the day stayed mostly dry. We walked around Charlevoix for awhile and took in some shops. We bought some taffy and some cherry inspired soda (a cherry ginger ale and cherry root beer). We walked back to the car and started to search for a potty. We stopped at McDonalds and took care of things and bought some food to tide us over. We then headed back to Traverse City. We stopped at the roadside stand selling raspberry pies but they had sold out of all of their pies. We then went to the Stained Glass factory and met a really friendly person. We looked around his store and found a lot we wanted, but only purchased a couple of small things. He recommended a restaurant called Sleders for dinner. Sleders is one of the oldest bars in Traverse city and they have a moose that you are supposed to kiss and something cool is supposed to happen. We ordered dinner and Kellie and Tanis kissed the moose but nothing happened. I had a lot of fun teasing them about being moose kissers. Dinner was good and we headed back to the tent and went to bed. Love ya guy!

Friday August 7th

On Friday we broke camp and headed towards Traverse City. We made a stop in Petoskey to look for stones. Petoskey had changed a lot. Finally we found a beach and went looking. We found a few that weren't very good examples. Tanis and I had fun throwing the rejects into lake Michigan. As we headed off to the car I found a great example so we kept that one and a few others. We stopped for a potty break at a grocery store. We bought a spatula so we could cook burgers that night and a hand held broom for sweeping out the tent. We passed a lot of roadside stands promising cherry pies and one offered raspberry pie. We were very tempted, but kept on going. We finally made it to KOA. We set up camp, and while putting up the tent I commented we should stake down the rain fly, but then we decided not to. I REALLY wanted a pie so I headed back down the road to buy one. I bought some dried cherries, chocolate covered dried cherries, a cherry pie and a small loaf of zuchini bread. I went back to the camp and started wrestling with the fire. I had three logs that were COMPLETELY black but now flame, finally it caught and I was able to cook dinner. We had cherry pie and the Tanis and I got dressed to go swimming in the pool. Ditzy watched us while Kellie read. We swam for close to an hour, and then Kellie and Tanis played with the big chess set. We went back and had pie and played Uno and then we all went to bed. Love ya guy!

Thursday August 6th

Okay so I implied something about Ditzy....Well all of the crusts she was fed made her throw up and of course she got it all over the sleeping bag. So here was my second morning in a row starting out at the KOA laundramat. I had been requested to make bacon and eggs for breakfast, so once the washing machine started I spent time getting the fire going and more time and more time. Eventually I got the fire started (a little tip if you want a fire proof house build it out of wood from KOA) and put up the cooking surface got out the fry pan and asked about utensils, well because I didn't tell her to pack any my wife didn't. So how am I going to cook bacon and eggs? The bacon was easy, and then I got a great idea, I took the bacon off the fire and put the pan on the picnic table, I had already cracked open the eggs and placed them in a cup, I drained the grease off and started the eggs cooking. I was able to use a regular spoon to stir the eggs and that was how I pulled it off. Because today was supposed to be a travel day I hadn't made any plans and we had asked people via Facebook what we should do. Mom and one of Kellie's friends recommended Sea Shell City and Tanis thought that sounded fun so after the sleeping bag was done in the wash we loaded the car and head out on an adventure. Sea Shell City was interesting...So we bought a couple of souvenirs including the giant jellybeans that look like rocks, I remember having them on my 5th birthday cake after Pike's Peak. We decided to head to St. Ignace next, where we stopped at Indian Village. Kellie really wanted moccasins so we bought those and Tanis got a toy slingshot. I had posted on Facebook recommendations for pasties and Mitch had been the only one to respond so I took his suggestion and we ended up at a roadside stand that didn't have anywhere to sit so we got our pasties and ate in the car. They were great, but didn't have gravy. I bought the recipe for $5.00 and plan on having a pastie party. So we had only wasted part of the day and I had an idea about where to go, I had seen signs for the Soo locks but the one I decided on was Tahquamenon Falls (I will simply say the falls from here on out). We got to the falls and decide to start with the lower. It had a very nice board walk to it, about 1/3 of a mile. We got out there and saw people playing in the water and being a bit dangerous. We did not play in the water but did some hiking. We briefly talked about the full 5 mile hike to the upper falls. We spent a lot of time here, and 2 squished pennies were purchased. We then decided to start heading back (we were about an hour and a half away). On the way back our GPS kept showing these little roads that you could see, but they weren't much more than a 2 track. Kellie wanted to take one so we did. It was fun up until the shrubs were growing in the way. Her Jeep is trail rated and the GPS knew where we were but the 1/4 tank of gas made me nervous, so we linked up with the next "road" and headed toward blacktop. We stopped in Mackinac city where we shopped around. We bought an Uno deck since we forgot ours and a Scrabble card game (plays like seven card draw). Kellie bought some popcorn, we bought fudge and then ordered BC's Pizza for dinner. It was good pizza the sauce was a little sweet and a little sparse for my taste but that meant Kellie liked it even more. We ate dinner in the tent turned out the lights and went to sleep. Ditzy managed not to do anything to the sleeping bag. I think because of the relaxing nature of the day, and all of the adventuring this ended up being our favorite vacation day. Love ya guy!

Wednesday August 5th

So I wake up kind of early. I head off to the shower and check to see if the office is open, it isn't. So I run to a convenience store and buy laundry soap and dryer sheets. I start the morning putting the sleeping bag in the wash with some of our clothes (if you are doing the laundry anyway). I go up to the game room and have a major flash back to when we used to camp, mainly because half of the games are from the 80's. I go and have breakfast at the campsite go back put the stuff in the dryer, and then we start to plan the day. We are going to Mackinac Island, what coupons do we have for the ferry? We settle on the Star Line as we have a buy 2 adults get a child free coupon, and it is my guess they are all about the same. Not knowing what the rest of the trip will entail I decide to catch the ferry from St. Ignace so we can cross the bridge (people not from Michigan might not know when a native says the bridge they mean Mackinaw bridge). Tanis isn't really impressed and wouldn't you know it there is road repair on the bridge. So our timing is right we get there just in time to catch a ferry and I hear for the first time on my vacation the word free, Ditzy rides the ferry for free. I told Tanis she had to be dragged behind the boat like a water skier but mommy steps in and tells him I am teasing (although after the sleeping bag incident it is not that unappealing). We get to the island and start to do touristy things. We buy some fudge and walk the main street. We look around to see what we can see and start to walk down the other side of the street and see the carriage tour. I wait in line to see if Ditzy can go with us and she can AND SHE IS FREE. So we buy tickets as this tour will take us around most of the island and allow us to see most everything. Our first leg takes us down the street after main street and then past the Grand Hotel. We learn some interesting facts and watch as our horses get switched out. We then go to the carriage house where we switch to 3 horse team. It takes us past the graveyards and to the arch. We get out and look at the arch and then go to the fort. We are offered to be able to tour the fort. So we get out and do the fort. Tanis really enjoyed it, and even became an enlisted man and learned to march. The rifle fire scared Ditzy half to death and I think she blames me. I knew it was coming so I tried to brace her, but it was still funny. A lot of the shops and all of the fort was pet friendly so we were able to take Ditzy most places. We caught the carriage back to the starting point and realized we hadn't eaten. This description seems short but we had pretty much passed close to 5 hours by now. We found a restaurant that wasn't pet friendly but had a patio we could sit at, it was a pizza buffet, not the greatest but a real value on the island. We feed Ditzy some crusts as she really hadn't eaten all that much. I tried to warn everyone not to feed her too much but they didn't listen. Tanis had been talking about wanting to go to the haunted house. So I had seen it and we had told him if he was good we would go. So we get there and Kellie is going to stay with Ditz and Tanis and I will go through it. That bummed Tanis out as I think he likes to scare mommy but daddy is a little harder to scare. So we go through part of it and there is a chicken out door that he wants to take. So we get out and he is still talking about Kellie going as well trying to act cool, but he is scared a bit. The clerk gives him a flashlight to use and we decide to go back through it. It is supposed to take about 15 minutes, and we do it in less than 5. We meet up with Kellie and Ditz do a little shopping including a candy store. We started to head back to the ferry, Kellie dug through a pile of clearance shirts finding Tanis one that was a good deal. We all rode the ferry back and crossed the bridge. We bought some firewood and a screen to be able to cook over the fire. We lit a fire and told a few stories. We also decided not to go to Leelanau, but stay here another day and head to Traverse city on Friday. Tanis had purchased another squished penny (I like souvenirs that cost 51 cents). We went to sleep and in the night Ditzy got up but I will tell that story as part of the next day. All in all it was a good time, we enjoyed the island and really got to see a lot of it. it wasn't as fun as the last time Kellie and I had went, it just seemed different and it also seemed rushed. This day had a lot of timed things. Departure times for ferries and carriages. Time for washers and dryers. It wasn't able to take on the relaxed pace, but it already seemed like we had been gone for days. A lot had occurred already. love ya guy.

Tuesday August 4th

I get up and pack my clothes, which takes a lot more room than I thought it would. Usually Kellie and I share a bag but I don't think that will work for this trip. I get all my stuff packed and then head to the computer hoping to make some reservations for camp grounds, plenty is open for Tuesday and Wednesday, but the weekend is looking like it will be a problem. I know I should have made reservations already but with the party the funds weren't available. So I book Leelanau for Thursday but no other. We are starting to pack the car and time is really starting to slip away I gripe a little at Kellie because I have no idea how long the drive will take. It was my plan to make it to Mackinac today and do the island the next day. The other problem we have is that nobody would take Ditzy so she was going camping with us. I ran and got ice for the coolers, and took the other 2 dogs to Deb and Bills. I guess when we left with the other 2 Ditzy freaked a little and wouldn't let Kellie out of her sight. We still weren't sure that the Jeep was going to work for the trip but taking the tent out of it's box helped a lot. So just before noon we head out (it may have been 11). I put a general address for Mackinac in the GPS and let it route. We stop for gas and hit the road. I relax a bit and decide it is no big deal if we don't make it to Mackinac today, but plan on doing some tourist things. One of our first options is Bronners Christmas World (Tanis and my first time here). We walk around outside some and then head inside, we drop Ditzy off in the car first (open the roof and the windows) and head in. It was pretty cool. I spend sometime looking around and help buy our first squished penny of the trip. I give Kellie my wallet and tell her and Tanis to have fun but that I wanted to head out to the car and check on Ditz. On the way out I see what I am really looking for.....BROCHURES. I grab a bunch including a KOA. I call the Mackinac city and they have openings, more importantly Traverse city has them for the whole weekend so I make reservations for Traverse city and feel a lot of anxiety lift. Kellie and Tanis come out, Tanis bought a book to hold squished pennies and Kellie bought a thimble. I punch the address into the GPS and realize we can make Mackinac before 8. We stop for gas along the way, and also for cheese. We get there set up the tent and get ready for camping. The tent has a light system witha remote control. The bed has a motor in it, but the battery isn't charged and we don't have c batteries. We fill it until the motor dies. We head into Mackinac City for dinner and find out the whole town basically closes at 10. Out of all we did this meal is the biggest let down. We left a little diner because it was so close to closing and ended up at the Dixie Saloon, both of us had fish and chips that were definitely overpriced. We go back to the camp go to sleep. We roll out Tanis's sleeping bag and Ditzy promptly goes over and pees on it. She had all kinds of chances to potty elsewhere but does it there instead. We figure out arrangements and go to bed. It gets fairly cold overnight but we all make it. Love ya guy

Monday August 3rd

This should be called what is the worst news. We have been planning a camping trip for this week it is our intention to leave on Tuesday. I told Kellie that she and Tanis should put the tent up the week before so we can air it out and make sure no holes are chewed in it. Well, they got around to it today. The tent isn't chewed up, but all of the poles are missing. So we load up in the car and head to Sams Club to see what kind of tent the have. They have one that can sleep 12 people, as we have very few options we put it in the cart as well as an airbed and some other stuff. We then grocery shop at Wal-Mart and head home. When we get home I am beat but Kellie says she will stay up and pack some and I can help pack in the morning as long as we aren't getting on the road "ridiculously" early like 9 or something. I think 10 is okay so I say that is fine and head to bed. Love ya guy

Sunday August 2nd

That was the day of our annual picnic. It ended up being a beautiful day. The weather was perfect, the friends were perfect and the food wasn't too bad either. The week before was my birthday and Alex spent the week with us. For my birthday I got a new grill and new grates for my old grill and finally a side fire box. So I seasoned the grates for all of the grills. Attached the side firebox to my old grill and got ready. My new grill is awesome, it is charcoal on one side and gas on the other. I had a little concert going with the grills. My friend Shawn from Cedar Point came up and was helping out on the grill. It was my intention to do the chicken breasts on the old grill using the side firebox, but I didn't have the time. I also didn't plan on using the propane either, but needed to for the corn which turned out great. We had the bounce house and cotton candy and snow cones. Cheri came down with mom even though there was a race scheduled that day. It was a fun day, I think we all stopped to think about you, I know I did. I often wonder if you help with the weather. I have so much to remind me of you, of course I have my Ducks Unlimited spatula. James came to the party as well, he is still hurting from the loss of his dad. I want to be able to tell him it gets easier or fades with time but I can't and I know my friend Amanda still hurts as well. We all miss you guys on days like these, days when we can hear your voice on the wind. Days we can feel the breeze stirring memories long forgotten. I had a real sense of peace this year. I had time to reflect and I could here you say "slow down, enjoy." Love ya guy!

A Litte Catch Up

It is ironic that the last time I posted was before the golf outing....It was rained out! It is rescheduled for this Saturday. A lot has happened since my last post. I am not sure completely why I haven't posted, part of it has to do with work. So I am back. I am going to do a several posts about my vacation. It was my intent to spend time each day last week doing a flashback to the week before, but I spent a lot of time catching up reports and other things. So I will have a few talks with you over the next few days and then I plan to talk to you at least 3 times a week. Love ya guy!