After weeks of work James finished a huge Ravensburger puzzle in the garage. Since camp was drastically shortened and the Magic Get Together in Colon cancelled, the entire family found themselves with extra time and James took advantage of it by putting together the largest puzzle in family history. The garage still has puzzles that were put together decades earlier by James’ Aunt Peg and James’ dad hanging on the wall.

We were all proud that James took his time and put together this huge puzzle and he plans to do one a little bigger in the future, a 32,000 piece puzzle.

The seventies station (7 on satellite radio) played the top 700 songs of the seventies during the 4th of July weekend.

This made it very interesting for us having the 70’s playing in the background all weekend and while each of us picked what we thought would be #1, none of us were right (James thought Three Dog Night “Joy to the World”, Mom thought Captain & Tenniles “Love Will Keep Us Together” and Dad thought Simon & Garfunkels “Bridge over Troubled Waters).

While it appears that the European Hard Rock Bands were ignored (Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Yes, etc) below are the top 25 as voted on by the seventies on seven listeners but before you click, what 70’s song do you think won. Continue reading “Top Songs of the 70’s” →

Today James took his last swim in the swimming pool as the weather is starting to get a wee bit chilly especially in the evening as the Fall season begins to take hold.

VIP Camp came to an ending with a party at Skore lanes where all the kids got to bowl and eat pizza and drink pop with their family. James did real good bowling with a 137 and said he was going to take bowling in College like his Dad did. As in the past, the party was bitter sweet for James knowing that another year of camp has come and gone, but he will be supporting VIP camp later this August as they will have a booth at Lincoln Park Days on Friday, August 24th, Saturday, August 25th, and Sunday August 26th. VIP camp will be selling tickets for raffle baskets, t-shirts and selling bracelets and need people to help and to let people know what they are all about. With this in mind, James has started a new website that he does on his own called http://www.vipcamphistory.com Continue reading “VIP Camp Party 2019” →

James got a new snorkel and mask set and is practicing his snorkeling in the back yard pool. While the water is much cleaner in the pool than it is in a lake or ocean, it gives James a pretty good idea of the limitations of the mask while he is underwater.

James enjoys spending time with his Grandma and he always comes home happy. On this visit it was a little sad due to the loss of Aunt Peg. Grandma and James worked on tributes to Aunt Peg during their time together. It was good for James to get a little closure by writing his feelings about Aunt Peg in a tribute.

On usual visits James and Grandma start things off with a meal of Kentucky Fried chicken, then move on to whatever activities they have planned for that day (sometimes its ancestry.com, other times its coin collecting or going through old photo albums, etc). A few hours later James calls home and has us pick him up. Its a nice little monthly or so routine that both he and Grandma enjoy.

Nothing better for a boy and his dad to work on a nice summer project, and this year was the marble roller coaster. On the surface this looks pretty simple, but actual construction was problematical at best as many items had to be considered. After several hours, and help from Kitty Thelma, we were finally able to make the thing work and video taped it as proof because we suspect not too many people would have the patience to deal with this thing.

Continue reading “A Summer Project” →

James got a chance to go behind the scenes as the Great American Side Show was cleaning their trailers and doing maintenance on their tent and posters in Clawson MI. While talking they brought out the “bed of nails” and showed James how to lie on the bed of nails with no danger to himself. James thought this was great and for a brief moment James did the 2017 version of running off and joining the circus. James also saw the blade box and electric chair. Dad was there as well, doing research for a book about magic illusions and the side shows over the last century. As Spring nears its completion it certainly looks like its going to be a very interesting summer.

Continue reading “Behind the Scenes at the Sideshow” →

James got a chance to go bowling with some of his friends from VIP camp and had an awesome day. These types of meetings are lots of fun for James and his family since most of his friends from this camp he only gets to see in summer, so its a real treat seeing them in January. James bowled a couple games, got some pizza and a soda, and had a great day.

We also took advantage of this time to wish everyone a very Happy New Year in a short little video!

Continue reading “VIP Camp Bowling 2017” →